For 11 years now, the Cactus has booked a diverse combination of small and local bands, national touring acts and underground cult favorites, which explains why Metro readers have voted it the best club in the South Bay for seven years. Cactus also offers weekly dance nights, currently running house music on Mondays, '80s modern rock on Tuesdays and Sinatra Night on Wednesdays. Cactus Club owners Mike Trippett and Sean Galvin on the eve of the South First Street club's 1988 opening. The club's appeal doesn't stem from the music alone, though.
Cactus bartenders are some of the friendliest in town, and the most talented with the lightning.
Co-founder Mike Trippett is fond of saying he wanted to start a club where a guy in a suit and tie could sit next to a guy with a mohawk and not feel threatened. Surviving 11 years in a fickle scene is no easy feat, but Cactus' enduring significance to this tightly knit music community keeps it going. Odds are good the next band to break out of the San Jose mold and move on to the national spotlight will have played one of its first gigs at the Cactus Club. And odds are they'll remember it. Metro Publishing Inc. Metroactive is affiliated with the Boulevards Network .