How a little bar in Albany became one of East Bay's most underrated music venues

Shelly Cardiff sells CD's and other merchandise for the Ghost-Note band at the Ivy Room, on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018, in Albany, Calif.Paul Kuroda / Special to The Chronicle

A buzzy energy emanated from the front door of the Ivy Room, a small bar and music venue in Albany, on the evening of Aug. 3, 2017. By 8 p.m., a horde of people, most of them in black hoodies and jeans, were standing around outside on San Pablo Avenue. Old friends greeted each other, shared cigarettes, caught up on marriages and divorces and kids. In less than two hours, on the Ivy Room’s tiny stage, Jawbreaker — the beloved Bay Area punk trio who broke up in 1996 but whose cult following grew exponentially in the decades that followed — would play its first show in 21 years.

It was a “secret” friends-and-family show, and something of a warm-up; the band’s official reunion set was to take place in front of thousands at the Chicago festival RiotFest six weeks later. But for a few lucky locals, the night represented the ultimate in unexpected wish fulfillment.

The Ivy Room is tiny, with a capacity just shy of 200. It was known as a great small music venue in years past, but for the last decade, despite various owners’ attempts at revamping the place, it had mostly been your standard old-man bar in a small East Bay town.