Can the Santa Monica Pier become a great concert venue?

A stiff breeze blew across the Santa Monica Pier on a recent afternoon, kicking up sand and sea spray as visitors munched fried food and watched a man paint names on a grain of rice.

But sheltered inside a seafood joint, Mitchell Frank and Martin Fleischmann didn’t seem concerned with the weather — perhaps because they were busy describing winds of change.

“What we’re trying to do is create a destination for locals on the pier,� said Fleischmann, a veteran Los Angeles concert promoter. “Tourists are here all day long, but otherwise it’s underutilized.�

Added Frank, another promoter hired by the nonprofit group that oversees the pier, “The mandate was to bring content here.�

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Content — in the form of musical performances — isn’t unheard of on the pier, which last month wrapped its 29th annual Twilight Concert series with a free show by the reggae star Jimmy Cliff. The gig drew 30,000 people, according to some estimates.

But this year the promoters expanded the menu with a slate of ticketed festivals, including All Bands on Deck! (with indie acts such as Poolside and Yacht) and September’s Beach Ball (featuring Aloe Blacc and Sly & Robbie).

This weekend the pier is to host Way Over Yonder, an inaugural two-day roots-music event connected to the venerable Newport Folk Festival with performances Saturday and Sunday by Neko Case, Conor Oberst and Calexico. And Oct. 19 will bring the comedy-based Festival Supreme, assembled by Jack Black and his mock-rock band Tenacious D.

The shows are part of what pier official Jay Farrand called “a larger effort to get people to take a second look at the pier — to think of it not just as somewhere you take Grandma from Kansas.�

But for Frank and Fleischmann — whose respective companies, Spaceland and Rum & Humble, put on concerts at the Echo and the Hollywood Bowl, among other spots — the activity also reflects their desire to establish a new home for music on the Westside, where a dearth of large and mid-sized venues intensified with the closing this summer of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

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“People here need a place where they can gather in large numbers for music,� said Fleischmann, who pointed to high rents and restrictive permitting as reasons the Westside generally lacks such spaces.

The century-old Santa Monica Pier, an instantly identifiable — but historically significant — landmark, makes for a complex solution to that problem.

Jay Sweet, who supervises the Newport Folk Festival, said the pier appealed to him for Way Over Yonder because it’s an “iconic place that’s not a traditional music venue� — similar to Fort Adams State Park in Rhode Island, where Newport has taken place since 1959.

“There’s an overall vibe there,� said Cliff’s manager, Ernie Gonzalez, who added that the pier attracts an audience more diverse than at other venues. “I went to a show recently at the Greek Theatre with an artist who’s been around for as long as Jimmy,� he said. “And it was kind of the obvious demographic. But at the pier it was all across the board.�

Yet there are also structural limitations — the stage for Way Over Yonder had to be designed according to load-bearing considerations — and the long-established reluctance of arty Eastsiders to travel west.

Brandon Lavoie, who until recently worked as a talent buyer at Santa Monica’s Central Social Aid and Pleasure Club, remembered “literally going to the Echo on Monday night and begging the opening band to come play a headlining slot on Friday.�

Still, Frank and Fleischmann say that turnout at this summer’s Twilight shows — along with strong advance ticket sales for Way Over Yonder — suggest that the pier is meeting a need, one they hope to cultivate with even more concerts in 2014.

Farrand said he hasn’t yet decided how many gigs is the right number for a location that, unlike a club or theater, caters to a varied clientele. “We have natural visitors to the restaurants and the amusement park, and we don’t want to alienate them,� he said.

But so far he’s happy with his new partners’ work. “Mitchell and Martin really see the potential of the space,� Farrand said. “They’re totally on board for next year in my book.�

Way Over Yonder

Featuring Neko Case, Conor Oberst, Calexico, Brett Dennen, First Aid Kit

When: Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m.

Where: Santa Monica Pier

Tickets: $60 to $200

Info: https://www.wayoveryonder.net

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