Inside of the active construction area at 333 Crown Point Circle in Grass Valley, there are still remnants from when this building housed perhaps the most prominent company to come out of Nevada County.

The 16,000-square-foot building, which sold for $2.1 million in March 2023, is being transformed into Crown Point Venues, slated to open next year with a 540-seat acoustic concert hall, black box theater and meeting space.

Prior to its sale, the building housed Grass Valley Group, which helped make western Nevada County known for video technology. Now, most of the building has been gutted, though its break room remains, as does its parking lot and the same exterior footprint.

The changes the building is undergoing symbolize the decline of video technology as an economic driver for the area. But they capture something else as well: Quietly, a robust live music scene has emerged, with several venues able to draw in well-known acts. And if the changes at 333 Crown Point Circle are emblematic of another thing, it’s that this sector is growing.

Where to catch live music in Nevada County

When artist and sculptor Troy Corliss, who lives in Truckee, wants to catch a live show, he’s not just limited to driving to Lake Tahoe, Reno or Sacramento.

There are limitations, of course. A person probably isn’t going to see Bruce Springsteen, Green Day or The 1975 jam in Grass Valley or Nevada City. But local concertgoers aren’t stuck with obscure acts.

Corliss most recently caught 1980s and ‘90s alternative rock group Cowboy Junkies at The Center for the Arts, which is in downtown Grass Valley and can seat 507 people. They’re not the only name act to drop in to play a show at this venue, says Corliss, who gets their emails.

“It’s a pretty wide range of artists that come through, so ranging from small local artists to well-known artists to regional artists, Western ones,” Corliss says.

Jeff Bridges, who won an Academy Award for best actor for playing a country singer in “Crazy Heart,” has been through here as well with his band, Jeff Bridges and the Abiders. Another well-known act, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, will be playing there May 17. The center has also hosted off-site concerts at the 950-seat Veterans Memorial Auditorium, drawing acts like David Crosby & Graham Nash, Chris Isaak and Ziggy Marley.

“It’s kind of part of our mission statement to bring world-class music of all genres to here,” says Katie Littlejohn, box office manager and membership associate for The Center for the Arts. “There are some genres we kind of focus on that our clientele like, more of the country, rock, blues-type things; but the world music, the youth, more poppy Americana vibes are also good sellers.”

Beyond The Center for the Arts, there is also Miner’s Foundry in Nevada City, where Mike Love of the Beach Boys has performed his own music.

Across the street from the foundry is 89.5 FM KVMR, the area’s 200-volunteer strong community radio station whose signal can be heard as far off as Sacramento. When Comstock’s dropped in during a recent week, volunteer coordinator Marni Marshall was in the final stages of helping plan the station’s annual Celtic music festival, which was scheduled for May 2-4.

“We feel like we’re a big cultural hub for what’s happening in Nevada County,” Marshall says. “Everyone listens to KVMR or wants to be on KVMR.”

Why this local music scene exists

Adriana Kelly, KVMR’s development director who has lived in this area off and on since 1975, doesn’t hesitate when asked if Nevada City and Grass Valley comprise a hub for live music.

“It absolutely is,” Kelly says. “And it was really like this area, the kind of cultural destination that it is, was on purpose.”

Sometimes in life, things happen organically or by luck. In places like Grass Valley and Nevada City, however, what exists is the result of conscious efforts that go back a lot of years. Kelly traces the efforts to when gold mining — which traces to the mid-19th century but went on long after — finally stopped around 1965.

“There was a bunch of people in town who were like, ‘Well, what are we going to do now?’” Kelly says. “And there was a lot of folks who wanted to become a logging town. And then there were these two gay dudes from Berkeley.”

The men, Charles Osborn and David Woods, weren’t the easiest of personalities, with their cocaine-fueled parties. They also had big ideas — ones that could gain traction around town. Sometimes, the things they pushed for, such as preventing the construction of Highway 20 through town, didn’t work out. Other times, though, they got results.

Osborn and Woods saved the foundry from demolition, renaming it the American Victorian Museum. They also saved the Nevada Theatre a block over, which today has a plaque out front noting that legends like Mark Twain and Jack London once appeared there. By the time Osborn and Woods got to the theater, it had become a derelict United Artists movie theater.

“They had a big idea to turn it back into a live venue,” Kelly says. “So they were part of the team that brought that back. They’re also the reason that we don’t have stop lights or chain stores in Nevada City.”

Osborn died in 2002, while Woods died in 2011. More efforts have been ongoing since. Eliza Tudor, executive director of the Nevada County Arts Council, notes that the area is one of just 14 cultural districts in California. Her council has also been working with an organization called Creative West on a master plan.

“I think there’s a recognition, this is why we’re planning, that in order to succeed, all of us together in an arts ecosystem, we need to work together and align our work and create things together, rather than in isolation, which we could do in the past,” Tudor says.

Hopes for Crown Point Venues

When everything is complete at Crown Point Venues, where Grass Valley Group was once located, it could be a project with a price tag north of $20 million.

These types of projects can help bolster local music scenes. Ironstone in Calaveras County and Jackson Rancheria in Amador County are arguably two examples.

Ken Hardin, artistic director of InConcert Sierra, who is working with his wife Julie Hardin to build the complex, says what they’re creating with Crown Point Venues could have been a 10-year project. A fortuitous natural disaster changed the timeline. Ken Hardin says that 36 hours after they closed on the building, a severe winter snowstorm led to the collapse of its roof, which netted a $5 million insurance payout.

Now, 45-foot-ceilings are already in place for the acoustic hall, which will feature chamber music. During a tour that the Hardins gave of their under-construction venue, Julie Hardin showed off a video on her phone of Jessica Rivera, a Grammy-winning soprano, singing inside it.

Previously, InConcert Sierra had been holding shows at a Seventh Day Adventist Church that could seat 500 people but was limited on the number of days it could host shows. Ken Hardin is hopeful for what the future holds and isn’t worried either about competition from places like The Center for the Arts.

“We require an acoustic hall, and it does very, very different things,” he says. “So it’s actually going to be a really big boon for the community to have The Center for the Arts… and then to also have an acoustic hall in the community.”

He adds, “We’ve consistently filled the Seventh Day Adventist Church over the years. So we’re very confident we will be able to make use of this and attract an even, even larger group of artists to come to the region and consequently be able to attract a regional audience.”

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