Mexico City Rock And Counterculture Club Multiforo Cultural Alicia Closes

Mexico City rock and counterculture club Multiforo Cultural Alicia, a 400-cap venue, shut down after being in business for almost 30 years.

It had been a hub for alternative and underground scenes since it was founded in 1995, reported IQ.

The iconic music venue and counterculture hub in the Mexican capital hosted local and international music acts like Banda Bassotti, Manu Chao, Panteón Rococó and Minuscule Division.

Its doors were closed on Mar. 12.

Ignacio Pineda, the founder of the Alicia, said that nobody came at the beginning, and that it was a "tiny place, uncomfortable, very punk."

But he didn't want a trendy bar, and wanted a "place for the people."

The Associated Press reported that for many years, the music scene in Mexico couldn't grow due to the country's long-ruling Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI).

After the army repression of the 1968 student protests, Mexican authorities harassed youngsters with long hair.

There were lurid reports about a 1971 concert in Avandaro after which no large public rock concerts were allowed for about 10 years.

Pineda founded the venue in 1995 with a group of friends, who didn't stick around for long, as per The Washington Post.

Initially, Pineda considered shutting down the venue, but the emerging Mexican music scene made him change his mind.

He started inviting hip-hop, hardcore punk, surf, rock and garage bands. Then the audience started turning up.

Pineda also organized conferences and talks regarding social and political issues in the country.

He said that they considered themselves to be a "political space, rather than a music venue."

However, he closed the space last month. He said that he didn't like how the La Roma, which is a historically middle-class neighborhood in Mexico City and is around the venue, had changed due to gentrification.

A recent wave of digital nomads mostly from America has increased gentrification. Long-time residents and businesses have now been replaced with hipster coffee shops and AirBnBs.

Pineda thinks that there will be other places, and that this "won't stop here, it's an independent movement."

He shared that he might come back at some point and "sit on the bench in front of the Alicia, have a mezcal and cry."