TEMECULA, CA — An Old Town Temecula after-hours favorite is shuttering live music concerts for the remainder of 2025.
"It breaks our hearts to share that we’ve been forced to cancel all live bands at our venue for the remainder of the year," a spokesperson for the Old Town Front Street restaurant and venue shared.
After ongoing enforcement pressure from the city related to sound levels,"we've had no choice but to temporarily pause all music programming."
Baily's Old Town Temecula restaurant, located at 28699 Old Town Front Street, has both fed and entertained visitors to Old Town Temecula since 2002. After numerous code enforcement issues, they've made immediate changes.
Already, musicians who were booked by the venue have started a public outcry. DJs remain unaffected, they said. "Our DJs and nightclub will continue to operate as normal as controlling sound for a DJ is much different than a live band," according to the statement from Baily's.
The live musicians are the ones who have been silenced, as venue after venue deals with similar code enforcement issues.
A recent Instagram post, shared by Those Guys, a band that frequently performs in Old Town, stated that their Friday night performances would be coming to a close from now until the end of 2025.
"Unfortunately, Baily's in Old Town Temecula has had to cancel all entertainment for the rest of the year due to escalating enforcement pressure from the City of Temecula regarding sound levels and unresolved permitting process for their planned sound mitigation structure," a spokesperson for the band Those Guys wrote on Instagram. "The citations have continued despite their best efforts to accommodate the sound ordinance, making it impossible to continue with live entertainment without risking further penalties and their ability to operate at all."
In the meantime, over 250 supporters have commented on the band's Instagram, and Temecula Mayor Brenden Kalfus has taken a particular interest, requesting emails and further information. Though Old Town Temecula's music scene is not on the current city council agenda for July 8, Kalfus said that the opportunity for public input and discussion was available at the meeting.
The staff at Baily's suggests supporters share their respectful stories either in person at a council meeting or by contacting the City Manager.
This is not the first time a restaurant that plays after-hours music has been cited repeatedly by the city code enforcement officers. The current city code regarding entertainment licenses says that the city encourages "a variety of entertainment establishments," however there are "certain establishments that have demonstrated the potential for maintaining an environment where various types of disturbances such as excessive noise and distorderly conduct by patrons may occur," accordign to the Title 9 Public peace, Morals and Welfare code.
This ordinance says, regarding audio equipment and sound amplifying equipment or live music, that "No person shall operate any audio equipment as described in Section 9.20.020(B), whether portable or not, between the hours of ten p.m. and seven a.m. such that the equipment is audible to a person located inside an occupied building," which affects many late night entertainment venues, like Baily's, The Swing Inn, and Blackbird, all who operate outside stages.
In 2023, a longtime restaurant/bar in Old Town Temecula went out of business after the city council voted to uphold a judge's decision to revoke the establishment's conditional use permit to serve booze, offer live entertainment, and stay open late.
The Bank of Mexico, located on Old Town Front Street, closed after receiving over 100 city-issued citations for excessive noise, including one for exceeding maximum allowed capacity and the majority for staying open "late," according to previous Patch reports.
The Bank did not survive, yet its owner, Amanda Lane, wanted others to know the story of their multi-year ordeal with fines and citations.
"The Bank (didn't) survive, but I want people to know what happened," Lane said, "to hear our side of the story."
Local musicians and fans question whether this longtime Temecula-owned establishment will be forced to halt concerts, like Baily's.
"IT's not long before others are forced to do the same," the spokesperson for Those Guys shared in their Instagram post. "This affects the livelihoods of so many. YOU, the fans. US, the entertainers. THEM, the small businesses and venues. Something needs to change, NOW before we lose our beloved live music capital of the Inland Empire."
Along with over one thousand likes and hundreds of comments, several local businesses chimed in.
"My family owns BlackBird in Old Town, and they have been dealing with this as well," one commenter wrote on the Instagram message. "So unfortunate. Something has to change."
According to Baily's, they are not giving up, they said. "This pause is temporary, and we're working tirelessly to resolve the issue and bring live music back, stronger and more sustainable than ever."