Corazón Hopes To Spice Up Downtown Night Life

A new music venue is set to open in the space formerly occupied by WilLee’s Blues Club in what its developer hopes will be a revitalization of nightlife in downtown Santa Fe.

“I want to get the town dancing again,” Mikey Baker, a longtime Santa Fe musician, said Saturday.

The opening of Corazón, scheduled for March 1, is the one bright spot after the recent closures of WilLee’s, the Green Onion and Silva Lanes Bowling Center.

Baker and two partners are in the process of remodeling the old WilLee’s building at 401 S. Guadalupe St., making the stage deeper, the dance floor larger and the interior brighter and more welcoming.

Corazón hopes to capture the spirit of the old Club West, which opened in 1982 and saw performances by touring acts like Stevie Ray Vaughn and The Neville Brothers. Baker said his new club could book groups for weeknight shows as they pass through on their way to weekend gigs in bigger cities.

The club will still feature nights devoted to reggae and salsa that were popular parts of the WilLee’s lineup. But Baker also wants to book a wider variety of bands than Santa Fe typically sees.

“A little something for everybody,” said Baker, who used to play with The Gluey Brothers and whose more recent pursuits include KISS and Led Zeppelin tribute bands.

Baker said he also wants to join forces with other bar owners to bring new vibrancy to the night scene, perhaps a single cover charge that would include admittance to several venues as well as urging the city to offer safe rides or late night buses.

WilLee’s closed at the end of last year because its owners wanted to move on to other pursuits. But the club was also battered by negative publicity, including November’s fatal hit-and-run involving patrons who had been drinking at the bar. Corazón will also operate as a restaurant, a function that never took hold at WilLee’s.

The restaurant will offer deli fare and free downtown deliveries during the day with more classic pub grub at night, Baker said.

Baker says he’s undaunted about opening Corazón during a recession. “People are always gonna want a place to relax, unwind, talk about their problems, forget about their problems,” he said. “So we’re really just hoping to be a new place to do that.”