"We enjoyed serving the community, but the numbers just didn't make sense." Chef David Bush said that to the Sonoma Index-Tribune when he explained why Oso Sonoma and Parkside Wine Bar would close together on Saturday, Sept. 26. The kitchen and the building needed upgrades. He and Kelley Bush co-own both businesses, and he said spending that money "on a building we don't own" was too costly. Oso had been on East Napa Street for 12 years.
Parkside, at 5 E. Napa St., was also where the Plaza's Friday jazz played. That same month, Sonoma Speakeasy closed temporarily, and the Index-Tribune's Oct. 2 column didn't give a reopening date. That's two stages gone from the east side of the Plaza in a few weeks.
The music didn't leave, though. It moved, and where it landed explains how it now survives in this town. Almost every regular show left in Sonoma is free or close to it, and it plays in a room whose real business is a glass of wine or a pint. Most sets start well before 8 p.m.
The economics behind the two closures
An Index-Tribune columnist who calls this place the "Valley of the Tunes" wrote about the closures and listed the pressures on venue owners. Those were stay-at-home habits left over from COVID-19, streaming services, people drinking less, and higher costs across the board. The column put the fix plainly: "when we do go out, we need to spend more. Period." Venues, it added, "need to offer us more for our money."
That deal is exactly how the surviving venues are set up. Nobody charges much at the door. The wine, the beer and the food pay the band. The clearest example sits about a block from where Parkside used to be.
The Friday jazz moved one block and starts at 5:30
The Sonoma Valley Jazz Society has produced live jazz in the valley for 37 years, and it booked the acts that played at Parkside. According to the Index-Tribune, the closure set off "a bit of a kerfuffle" among the musicians and a rush to find a new room.
The new room is Gehricke Wines, in the old fire station on Patten Street, on the same block as Parkside. The Jazz Society's page spells the street Patton, gives the address as 32 Patton St. at the corner of Broadway, and lists the schedule as every Friday, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., with no cover. The page also says plainly what keeps the series going. It invites people to "settle in with a few glasses of Gehricke's beautifully crafted wines" because the sales "help support our new venue partnership."
The first night at the firehouse was Friday, Oct. 9. The Index-Tribune's Sound Check listing named the players as Peter Estabrook, Jonathan Hsu, Trevor Kinsel and Joe Kelner, starting at 5:30 p.m. The Oct. 2 column had given a 7 p.m. start. The Jazz Society's own page and the later listing both say 5:30, so plan on the earlier time. The Jazz Society's page didn't post performers for later Fridays, so sonomavalleyjazzsociety.org is where to check each week's lineup.
The firehouse stage isn't only for Fridays. The Sound Check lists "Gehricke Wines, Three Badge Cellars" with David Bingham at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10.
The rooms that already ran on this model
The Gehricke arrangement is new. The model behind it isn't. The two in-town venues with the busiest calendars right now already worked this way before September.
Murphy's Irish Pub, 464 First St. E. The pub's site says it has live music six nights a week and that it won the 2026 People's Choice Award for Best Place to Listen to Music. Its October and November calendar has bands Thursday through Sunday and an open mic on Mondays. Acts listed include the Dick Conte Trio, Sonoma Posse, Jinx Jones and Voices in My Head. The pub's fourth annual American Roots Mini-Fest is on Saturday, Oct. 24, with Hattie Craven, Back PorchEstra and The Wild Premonitions.
HopMonk Sonoma, 691 Broadway. HopMonk calls itself a year-round beer garden and listening room a few blocks from the Plaza. Its weekend sets often start at 12:30 p.m. The Wednesday open mic with Matt Piazza starts at 7:15.
Passaggio Wines. The tasting room shows up in the mid-October listings with weekend afternoon sets at 2 p.m. and one Friday show at 5.
Look at the start times in those three listings. A Saturday at Murphy's in mid-October has a band at 2:30 p.m. and another at 7:30. HopMonk's Saturday has one at 12:30 and another at 6. Much of the in-town music now plays in the afternoon and early evening, alongside lunch, a tasting or a pint. The late-night slot is the smaller share of the calendar.
This week, by the clock
The Index-Tribune's Sound Check for Oct. 9 to 18 was updated today, Oct. 12. These are the in-town listings for the rest of that window.
| Day | Venue | Act | Start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon., Oct. 12 | Murphy's Irish Pub | Open Mic | 7 p.m. |
| Tue., Oct. 13 | Murphy's Irish Pub | Karaoke | 7 p.m. |
| Wed., Oct. 14 | HopMonk Sonoma | Open Mic with Matt Piazza | 7:15 p.m. |
| Fri., Oct. 16 | Passaggio Wines | Strings Attached | 5 p.m. |
| Fri., Oct. 16 | HopMonk Sonoma | Chris Murphy | 6 p.m. |
| Fri., Oct. 16 | Murphy's Irish Pub | Coffey Park | 7:30 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 17 | HopMonk Sonoma | Jeff Falconer; David Bingham | 12:30 p.m.; 6 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 17 | Passaggio Wines | High Strung Music | 2 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 17 | Murphy's Irish Pub | Northern Still; Andre Thierry and His Rocking Band | 2:30 p.m.; 7:30 p.m. |
| Sun., Oct. 18 | Passaggio Wines | Mark Dennis | 2 p.m. |
| Sun., Oct. 18 | Murphy's Irish Pub | SkyHaven | 5:30 p.m. |
The listing doesn't include the Gehricke jazz for Oct. 16. Since the Jazz Society bills the series as weekly, check its page for that night's players.
Friday, Oct. 16, has more than one evening can hold
The Friday on that table also has a free outdoor event. The City's Movies Under the Stars season ends Oct. 16 on the lawn behind City Hall. "Coco" starts at 6 p.m. and "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" follows at about 8.
That puts these within a few blocks on one night:
- Passaggio Wines at 5 p.m.
- Jazz at Gehricke from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., if the weekly series runs as billed
- "Coco" behind City Hall at 6 p.m.
- Chris Murphy at HopMonk at 6 p.m.
- Coffey Park at Murphy's at 7:30 p.m.
- "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" behind City Hall at about 8 p.m.
The early slots mean a person could hear a jazz set at the firehouse and still make the second movie, or a band at Murphy's. Before the closures, the Friday jazz had a Plaza room to itself. Now it shares the hour with three other stages and a film.
November moves the jazz indoors to the Sebastiani
The Jazz Society's season goes beyond the firehouse. Its schedule lists two Sunday concerts at the Sebastiani Theatre, with Kenny Washington on Nov. 1 and Larry Vuckovich on Nov. 29. The excerpt we reviewed didn't include ticket prices, so check the Society's schedule page for those. These two dates are the exception to the pattern above. They're full concerts in a theater, with the music as the main event. They're also produced by the same 37-year-old group that found the Friday series a new home inside three weeks.
The Speakeasy remains unresolved. Its website still lists an address at 452 First St. E., Suite G, along with posted hours. Its calendar, though, ends on Sept. 27. The Index-Tribune's Oct. 2 column described the closure as temporary and gave no date. Until the venue announces something, the calendar in town looks like this: free Friday jazz at a winery, two pubs with full weekend lineups, a tasting room with afternoon sets, and two Sunday concerts at the Sebastiani in November.
From our office in Kenwood, we follow these small changes around the Plaza closely, because what's playing on a given Friday is part of what makes a Sonoma address worth having. If you own a home near the Plaza and want to know what it's worth this fall, Del Fava Parker can give you a grounded estimate. Request a Home Valuation, and we'll walk you through it in plain terms.
