La Peña Cultural Center

La Peña fills many rolls in my life. I take a Free Meditation yoga class here Tuesday mornings, participate in their community events like third Thursdays’ open mic, «Soul Speak», and next Monday I’m hitting up the FREE salsa dance party, class and potluck. Next I’m checking out a Brazilian band that is hosting a #blacklivesmatter panel discussion before their show, because they can do that sort of thing at La Peña!
I mean seriously, there is something for everyone here. I strongly suggest you check them out! They even have kids classes! And kids get in for free at the all ages shows!

Love this place as it has a cozy room with a stage and seating for a concert and for dancing. Plus they have a nice restaurant where they have tasty and reasonable guacamole and chips as well as plantains. We were here for a show and they have beer on tap and wine available. However, the only negative side was that the restaurant closes at 9 and so if you want to get any refreshments, you have to buy them before the show.

I’ve lived in the neighborhood near La Pena for several years. Recently, La Pena management has been renting event space to concert and show promoters that charge covers and host parties. On several recent occasions, Berkeley PD has responded to serious incidents at such events at La Pena. On October 10^th, GUNSHOTS were fired by event revelers and Berkeley PD arrived! La Pena needs to stick to the community-​based classes, workshops and events for adults and children that has earned La Pena respect in the community, and not sell out event space to outside concert promoters that bring this type of trouble. I will not be donating to La Pena at Whole Foods any longer.

So I went here to watch the TMI Storytelling with my girlfriend and the guy at the box office was extremely useless and unhelpful. Very off putting. He told him what we were here for and he couldn’t find our name since we bought our tickets from Goldstar. He then asked for out receipt and we had it on the phone but insisted we step aside so he can help other people. We show him the confirmation and he’s like (que stoner voice) ohhh Ya it’s for the other event and we are like ok where do we go? And he just stares at us. Hello earth to guy in the ticket box and he’s like Ya it’s over there. Very very frustrating and not a good start to my night
The rest of the night however made up for it so it did gain some stars back. Amazing performers.

La Peña is more than a venue/​cultural center. It is a hub for political activism, free thought, queer expressionism, erratic dance moves, and all channeled through fantastic programming in their theater and lounge.
In one week you can catch blues dancing on a Wednesday, Flamenco on Thursday, one woman musical theater performance Friday, and a trans folk trio’s album release party on Sunday.
La Peña = Love

I’ve been coming here since I was a boy & have always felt connected to the space. I have even hosted a few music events at La Pena. But now that I’m grown they treat me like a thug when I walk through the door. They front like La Pena is this liberal safe haven, but when you become choosy over who gets to experience love & warmth and ostracize anyone else that doesn’t fit in their cookie cutter definition of a welcome guest then you show that the positive vibes everyone else is talking about is only for certain people. That’s not progressive. I would give this space 5 stars if they were who they claimed to be, but I know weak sauce when I smell it and these precious folks reek of it. Things done changed in my neighborhood.

Food is good. Service is order at the counter and it’s brought to you. Many cultural events are held here.

Last year I found about la pena from my friend Jonathan. He is a really outgoing guy. He often drags us to random places restaurants with him. La pena was one of this random places. At first i thought I wouldn’t like it because trying different stuff is not really my thing.
One of the events we went to see was Veracuzan Music. It is a mexican style of music, that talk a lot about love. It was actually pretty good
Also, there is a restaurant that services Chilean food next door to la pena. The food was pretty good too. I tried the lomito sandwhich. It is a sandwhich with pork meat with cheese and they serve it with a side of delicious fries.
Oh, and their Sangria is like the best drink ever. Very natural and tasty.
Give it a try if you love cheese and good music.

This is for the café/​restaurant. Do not eat here, maybe it’s because they’re new but it was the worst food. Ordered nachos and it was made up of stale chips and shredded cheese… that’s it. Never was a fan before but the sangria used to be good at least. I think the employees were embarrassed to serve the food, felt bad for them but whoever owns this place needs to get their stuff together.

Very cute venue with a friendly staff but uncomfortable chairs. The sangria was good but not too fond of how the empanadas looked but I didn’t eat any so until then…
Would I come back? Heck, yeah!
CASH ONLY Café

Saw the incomparable Georges Lammam Ensemble play here and it was an extraordinary evening to remember. The music was phenomenal and the intimate setting made it all the more enjoyable.
We definitely appreciated the restaurant and bar next door as well. Wonderful staff, delicious empanandas and you can bring your wine or beer inside La Pena (in a plastic cup) while you enjoy the show.
Reasonable prices, easy residential parking. We would happily go again.

Came here to watch a show and really enjoyed the venue. It is a very intimate setting; however not too small. There is a café next door where one can purchase beer and wine. Overall, I loved the experience and would come back here to watch another show.

This is a great venue to see fantastic smaller multi-​cultural acts. There’s not a bad seat in the house — and the sound is usually pretty good. It’s small so a cappella acts do pretty well in here. Arrive early to find parking as it can be tight in the neighborhood but it’s a very nice neighborhood.

I had the great privilege of attending La Pena’s monthly GO! OHANA showcase during a little vacation in the Bay back in Oct. 2010. My cousin has actually performed in one of their showcases last year and I’ve heard nothing but great things from her about La Pena. It’s a very intimate venue where you feel like
My cousin and I got there a little late and I was worried that there weren’t any good seats left. We ended up sitting in the back, near center. I honestly don’t think there’s a bad seat in the house, whether you’re sitting in the front at the tables or in the back with the rows of chairs.
I left La Pena wanting to see more, to soak up more of the community’s immense talent. It’s a great progressive community space and its location in Berkeley could not be more perfect. There’s so much amazing talent in the Bay that people don’t know about and I wish more people knew about & support them. I’m now hoping I’m able to attend more shows in the future to support La Pena, the artists that perform at their showcases, and organizations like RAMA. Events like GO! OHANA make me wish I lived in the Bay or went to school there.

It’s a small intimate setting for a show. There were no bad seats in the place! Absolutely love venues like that. The first two rows had tables and rows of chairs in the back.
It’s easy to drive right by and not notice the cultural center amidst the other businesses on Shattuck, so finding it can be tricky.
We were there last night for the monthly «Go Ohana» show. Great show! Layla Afrika, Chin-​Chin the Magician, Cynthia Lin, and Yo Yo Joe. It was a good time…
The theater was attached to Café Valparaiso, a Chilean restaurant, where you can get drinks to bring into the show.

Having always driven by La Pena, I never really noticed it until I got invited to an event. Apparently La Pena hosts an Asian American music showcase every month called «Go! Ohana» put on by RAMA. One of my long-​time friends was performing that night, and considering I never get to see her, I decided to come out.
At first, you’re greeted by an amazing mural on the outside. The inside is a very cozy setting with a fully functional stage, tables, all the works.
The performances were great, with a special shout out to Lailani Africa and Branden Nguyen for doing an awesome job. If you have time, come out to «Go! Ohana» and see what they have to offer. By the way, did I mention there’s amazing spam musubi too? I usually hate spam musubi, but this time it was REALLY good!

Once a month La Pena Cultural Center hosts «Go! Ohana,» a concert featuring Asian/​Asian American musical performers. I was lucky enough to see Keane L’s band, Festizio, perform here on Friday night. All the performances were great!
Chill crowd, lots of laughs, lots of great music (Keane’s band rocked!), nice ambiance, a Hawaiian Spam-​based dish (sorry folks, I don’t DO Spam). In a word: awesome!

There were few things that I did not do while I lived in Berkeley during the good ol college days. However, one thing that I didn’t end up doing was visiting this awesome, progressive cultural space known as La Pena. I’ve heard great things over the past 8 years about this place, and I finally visited and came out very satisfied and a lil bit more educated to boot.
We attended an interesting spoken word event with Brown Star (South Asian progressive spoken word duo from Beantown), Johnny Hi-​Fi singing, and Joe the yo-​yo champion. It was really a fun evening with such diverse acts, with the space being intimate enough for one to really feel immersed in the acts, while simultaneously feeling a part of something larger than oneself — the community. There is also a neighboring café/​restaurant/​bar from which you can grab some food to bring into La Pena.
Great space for npo events, which reminds me – I think South Asian Sisters should totally hold the next «Yoni Ki Baat» here!

I came out here back in November to support my bay area brothers Broken Halos.
I really like this venue, its a good spot for local bay area artistic flavor. Im all about local talent and venues that support them The show that I came out to was called Ohana and it was filled with some great hip hop, poetry, and the awesome sushi cali band.
The place is right next door to a good deli spot and an Irish bar, so there are spots next door that are cool stop by at. If you’re into local talent and smaller local venues, this joint is for you.
One of the great things about the SF Bay is all the local arts to take in. this is one good place to do it.

La Pena is a cultural staple in the East bay for musicians involved with, or just interested in Afrocuban music, especially percussion. There have been many crucial shows there over the years, and the venue is small enough to feel cozy.
I believe the 1^st and 3^rd sunday afternoons they host a free event, the ‘Rumba’ where people in the community come together to play and sing Afrocuban folkloric music. It can be really nice. I believe they still have some classes there too.
The folks behind the counter have always been nice and I have to note their ‘Death & Taxes’ ale on tap!
There’s a lot of ‘world music’ shows that happen here. Most often something with a latino flavor; but also I’ve seen middle-​eastern and hip-​hop events there.

They put out good shows with reasonable prices for good causes.
I saw some decent shows there, some of the performances were surprisingly good.