After city shut it down, live music could return to Santa Cruz’s Woodhouse Brewing

More than a year after the city ordered Woodhouse Blending & Brewing to cease hosting live music on its outdoor stage, the Santa Cruz craft brewery might soon be able to bring back large outdoor events such as the MexiPino cultural festival, Walk to End Alzheimer’s and Vita Collective’s makers markets. 

Woodhouse, located near the Sash Mill off River Street, hosted multiple live music acts a week starting in 2021, often in conjunction with community fundraisers. Last October, after an anonymous complaint, the city said Woodhouse didn’t have the proper permit to host the gatherings and ordered all entertainment to stop. 

At a public meeting scheduled for Thursday evening, the city’s planning commission will decide whether to grant a change to Woodhouse’s business use permit that would allow for expanded live entertainment and events. The change will likely go through, based on the commission’s recommendation. 

After a year of navigating what he describes as an often frustrating city bureaucracy and an $8,000 acoustical study of the area, owner Will Moxham said he’s optimistic that the commission will approve the change of use. He received only one complaint in the three years Woodhouse had the events, has substantial community support and has done everything the city has required to reach this point, he said. 

The change of use would allow Woodhouse to be able to host live music events no louder than 79 decibels – about as loud as a busy city street – until 10 p.m. If it’s granted, Moxham plans to reinstate the brewery’s lineup of outdoor events, some of which have been held on a smaller scale inside the taproom.

The loss of outdoor music dealt a substantial financial blow to Woodhouse over the past year. Without the ability to have live music outside, most of the organizers chose to have their events elsewhere, leading to $160,000 in lost revenue, said Moxham. 

When Woodhouse opened in late 2020, hosting live music began organically as a way for the brewery to draw in customers to the industrial area and support the staff during the pandemic, Moxham told Lookout last year. At the time, the state was still sheltering in place. Businesses could host patrons only outside, and temporary permits from the city allowed restaurants and breweries to create ad hoc patios in parking lots and other unused areas. 

In the three years that followed, events grew substantially; Woodhouse hosted three to four live music acts almost every week, often as part of fundraisers or festivals. Moxham let nonprofits, schools and other organizations use the space for free, he said, while he profited on the sale of beer and food. 

Although he said he knew he was out of compliance with his use permit during that time, he believes it should be easier for businesses to adjust their business plans based on their needs. “If we want a good economy, I think the city needs to be able to evolve as fast as the marketplace does,” said Moxham. “Business plans can change based on the economy, who’s president, or if there’s a pandemic. And the painful system that we have, no matter what you do it’s a long, grueling process.”

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