After the tragic events at Borderline last fall, Conejo Valley was left shocked and grieving. But now, as the community rebuilds, young people are wondering where to have fun with their peers, since Borderline has not reopened.
Recently, Borderline’s 18+ Country Nights have been revived. The weekly event have been hosted since the beginning of the new year at the Agoura Hills Canyon Club on Wednesday nights.
Lance Sterling, 56, and a resident of Moorpark, is the owner of all seven of the Canyon Clubs in Southern California. Sterling and Brian Hynes, the owner of Borderline, are close friends and Sterling said that whenever he had a question about country music, he would ask Hynes. After the tragedy at Borderline, Sterling opened his arms to Hynes, allowing him to host the events at his clubs.
“Right after it I called [Hynes] and said that if he needed to relocate his events, that he was welcome,” Sterling said.
Sterling’s family, especially his daughter, were close to Borderline and Hynes.
“My daughter’s in college and she was a big Borderline [fan],” Sterling said, “a lot of us who work here, our kids go to Borderline and we always felt comfortable that they were there.”
Sterling and his family, especially his college-aged daughter, were affected by the tragedy. His daughter was a regular attendee at Borderline, but she was away at school during the tragedy.
“I knew some of the people,” Sterling said, “and that shock of my daughter, if she was home, she would have been there.”
Every Wednesday night at six, the Canyon Club opens its doors to a flood of college-aged youth, dancing lessons, offering line dancing, and a live DJ. They also have a mechanical bull that has become popular with the Country Night attendants. Sterling said that most of the attendees are under 25.
“I have an 18-year-old, a 19-year-old, a 21-year-old, and a 24-year-old,” Sterling said, “and it’s the first time they started coming to the Canyon club.”
Kyla Nagelmann, a student at Moorpark College and a promoter for Borderline, was a regular at Borderline since 2015 and has been attending the Country Nights at the Canyon Club since they began.
“It’s definitely different,” Nagelmann said, “It’s a lot smaller of a dance floor. It’s nice having that place, but it’s just not the same.”
Nagelmann said she attends the Country Nights all the time and her favorite part of going is “being with friends and dancing.”
Sterling said hosting the Country Nights is important to him because he feels that he’s helping the community.
“It’s a good release,” Sterling said, “I have kids in college and I know they’re safer here than they are someplace else. Here we have security, metal detectors. It’s a pretty tough nut to get in here.”
Both Sterling and Nagelmann said that the Country Nights attract the same crowd who used to attend Borderline.
“On the Wednesday nights, it’s the people who attended the Borderline,” Sterling said, “My daughter and my son come and everybody knows everybody.”
Borderline’s Country Night has been popular enough at the Agoura Hills Canyon Club that on January 24th, Country Night has gotten an addition night: every Thursday at the Santa Clarita Canyon club.
“It’s good because they’re preserving [Borderline],” Sterling said, “because lots of times when stuff like that happens, it just goes away.”
For more information on Country Nights, go to the Borderline website.
For more about the Canyon clubs, go to the Canyon Club Agoura Hills website or Canyon Club Santa Clarita website.
