Photos: Blue Sunday at Sama Sama Kitchen

If you’ve ever lamented the lack of good, non-Top 40 dance clubs in Santa Barbara’s downtown district, the folks at Sama Sama Kitchen feel your pain. This past Sunday, March 15, the restaurant hosted “Blue Sunday,” a pop-up, ’80s-inspired dance party on their spacious back patio. Santa Barbara-based DJs Darla Bea and Harvey Leche provided the soundtrack, which ran the gamut from pop to new wave to post-punk and goth, all blasted through a mighty sound system and accompanied by visual projections. The verdict: A whole lot of fun and a much-needed respite from the Lower State Street scene.

DJ Darla Bea had this to offer about the night:

“I was inspired obviously by the New Order song “Blue Monday” and wanted to do a event much like the Echoplex hosts — Part Time Punks, Funky Sole etc. — that’s somewhere that isn’t a ‘club’ per se and not on lower State Street. I’ve organized ’80s nights from the Mercury Lounge to Blue Agave and Blush, but Sama Sama Kitchen is just plain cool.”