Warming Up at the Crocodile

Last week, a familiar but lately uncommon scene was unfolding in Belltown. A van was pulled up outside the iconic Crocodile Cafe, and a band were loading their gear into the club.

The Crocodile, of course, abruptly closed in late 2007. Not long after, a cryptic website was launched for the club, which featured nothing more than a dictionary definition of "elitism." In September '08, the club's new ownership officially announced plans to reopen in January or February '09, with Eli Anderson as talent buyer and Roy Atizado as director of live entertainment.

The band loading in last week were Ships, and they were at the still-under- construction Crocodile to film a performance amid the rubble and renovation as part of a series that will appear on the Croc's forthcoming website, kind of like a reverse Burn to Shine, where afterward the building gets raised rather than razed.

While Ships were setting up and sound-checking in a gravel pit under the wooden skeleton of a stairway, Anderson and Atizado gave a tour of the site.

Where the old bar used to be, Via Tribunali is building a stand-alone restaurant that will also serve food in the Crocodile. Atizado says he expects the wall of multi-colored stained-glass windows as well as a couple of chandeliers will survive the transition in some form. The side door in the hallway, where Ships loaded in, will be the front door of the new Crocodile, with an adjoining box office. The old front door will lead out to a smoking area.

Up some steep stairs are the offices where Atizado and Anderson have been working amid the cold and construction since October, a space heater glowing orange on the floor, breath fogging up indoors.

Most exciting is the club's main room, which comprises both the old show room and the cafe area. A new, larger stage stands at the north end of the room, flanked by a small mezzanine area with its own bar (featuring the taps and fridge from the old bar); along the room's south wall, a long bar (that will accommodate up to four bartenders) runs facing the stage. The ceiling is three feet higher and exposed to make room for the club's intensive and soon-to-be legally mandated new sprinkler system; polished wood slats from the old ceiling now line the upper walls of the room. Felled at the foot of the new stage is the infamous, dreaded Pole, which used to stand in the very middle of the old Croc's show room, both occupying what should have been prime mosh-pit space and casting a no-sightline shadow all the way to the back of the room. Atizado says he expects the Pole to be incorporated into the new club as a relic of some kind, though he can't say exactly how.

Anderson can't confirm any bookings, but some tour dates for the Crocodile are beginning to show up on bands' itineraries (e.g., the Ting Tings' MySpace page shows them playing there on April 12); he also can't confirm a date yet, but says that the grand opening will be sometime in March (or, hedging, "Smarch"). recommended