DJ Ree de la Vega is known throughout Atlanta for controlling energetic crowds.
As one of Atlanta’s most prominent deejays and party promoters, she has spun records in many of Atlanta’s most popular spots for more than a decade, from Midtown restaurants and bars like STK and Whiskey Blue, to legendary lounges like Noni’s and Department Store in her Old Fourth Ward neighborhood.
She’s also developed a massive following for Chaka Khan Hacienda, her vibrant recurring dance party currently held at Pullman Yards.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Now, the respected sound selector is ready for her own space. And she’s signed a lease on a building that those who’ve watched the rise of Old Fourth Ward as a central entertainment district in Atlanta will not only recognize but likely celebrate.
The space she’s taking over is 483 Edgewood Avenue, the former home of the Sound Table, at the intersection of Edgewood Avenue and Boulevard. And while De la Vega doesn’t plan to duplicate the venerable lounge, she tells The Atlanta Journal-Constitution her intention is to revive its unique mixture of music, food and drinks in a way no other venue in Atlanta has done since it closed in 2020.
“Sound Table’s so iconic and it’s sad that it’s not here,” she said. “I just thought it was an opportunity to give the space a new life.”
The space will be named Pisces, a name De la Vega selected because she finds people born under the Zodiac sign to be imaginative and loveable. “Plus it’s just fun to say the word,” she added.
The space had a brief life as Edgewood Dynasty starting in 2020, until the owners sold the space, allowing De la Vega to take over the lease.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
De la Vega has fond memories of the Sound Table. She remembers being in the establishment on May 3, 2010, days before it opened, during a soft-opening event hosted by Karl Injex, a well-respected fellow deejay and one of the Sound Table’s former owners. Her friend, the late DJ and producer Speakerfoxxx, was spinning that night.
“It was actually my birthday party. It was like the first event that ever happened at Sound Table. I remember getting drunk and falling behind the speakers,” De la Vega said with a laugh.
She’s adamant about honoring the ethos of the Sound Table, and said she’s curating an experience to uphold what the lounge meant to Atlanta during the decade it was open, while creating something new.
“There are so many things going on in nightlife right now in Atlanta that would never be happening if not for Sound Table,” she said, bringing up fellow deejays like Ash Lauryn and Stefan Ringer, as well as bright stars in the culinary world, like East Atlanta Village restaurant Banshee’s owners, bartender Navarro Carr of Southern National, and Paul Calvert of Ticonderoga Club, also a partner in Southern National.
Credit: Ryan Fleisher
Credit: Ryan Fleisher
De la Vega said she wants Pisces to be a space for deejays and dancing, not just a restaurant that has deejays. “And not dissing those spaces,” she said, “because those spaces have been holding it down for Atlanta nightlife for so long.”
Her ambition for Pisces is supported by Injex, who told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he has offered advice on operating the space, and sees her taking the reins as meaningful.
Credit: Courtesy of their Facebook page
Credit: Courtesy of their Facebook page
“I think the timing couldn’t be better,” Injex said. “I feel that, much as it was when we came on the scene in 2010, Edgewood is in a transitional phase. Ree has the right ideas, in my opinion, to help reshape and reinvigorate the block.”
He also said he believes De la Vega is up for the challenges that Pisces will bring.
“‘I’ve often said that, with the possible exception of actual armed combat, running a nightclub is one of the riskiest, most physically and mentally demanding endeavors one can engage in. On the positive side, it is immensely satisfying and the problem-solving skills one develops in the process are formidable, and universally applicable to all areas of one’s life.”
Another big fan is Grant Henry, a.k.a. “Sister Louisa,” artist and owner of Sister Louisa’s Church of the Living Room & Ping Pong Emporium, across the intersection from Pisces.
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Henry remembers first meeting De la Vega around 25 years ago when he was a bartender at The Local on Ponce de Leon Avenue. “She was a customer and like everyone in Atlanta, we have watched her rise to an iconic place in the hospitality industry,” Henry said.
He believes the entertainment scene will embrace her vision and said her opening has already generated positive buzz among nearby operators. “Ree’s entrance into the nightlife scene in Old Fourth Ward, specifically on Edgewood, is exciting news for me, for her and everyone who cares about the long term success of Edgewood,” he said.
“People are going to enjoy bouncing from Ree’s spot in the old Sound Table building, to Church, down to other places like Joystick, Our Bar, and other establishments that continue to pop up along the corridor.”
De la Vega is still hosting Chaka Khan Hacienda, although she said the event is too big for Pisces. But she’s intent on making sure people seeking the same level of fun will receive it.
Credit: Courtesy of Ree de la Vega
Credit: Courtesy of Ree de la Vega
She said Pisces’ primary designer will be Arc Design, a boutique Atlanta-based design studio specializing in creative builds for spaces like Pittsburgh Yards, Spiller Park Coffee in Ponce City Market, and the new Old Fourth Ward location of 3 Parks Wine.
Her vision for the downstairs dance area is ironically one of limited vision, she said. She imagines a large curtain near the entrance, and wants black wall tile, high-gloss black floors and moody LED lighting that changes colors.
She is considering a small section of stadium seating near the front, but she insists the lower level will be geared towards people looking to groove to music rather than wallflowers gawking at design modeling.
“It’s gonna be, like, really hazy,” she said. “I don’t want you to be able to see across the room. I just want it to be dark enough where people can dance and they’re not worried about people looking at them.”
She has invested in a large, high-quality sound system from Void Acoustics, which she said will feature megaphone-style speakers above the deejay booth, positioned in the same area where the Sound Table’s deejay booth was located.
Like the format of the Sound Table, downstairs will still host the main bar, while she said upstairs, where food will be served, will be bright, cozy and intimate. De la Vega said Vice Taco Truck will be the venue’s food partner, providing their popular carne asada, pollo and al pastor blue corn tortilla tacos.
She said more details on food and beverage will come closer to the planned July opening.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
While she admits to being nervous, De la Vega said her commitment to Atlanta nightlife is pushing her to make Pisces happen. She wants it to feel like a return to what Atlanta lost when the Sound Table closed, she said. And while it’ll surely be a different experience, she believes it will be familiar, and hopefully welcomed by her peers and future customers.
“I really want Edgewood to be like that again,” she said of the Sound Table era. “I just want people to like it.”
Follow Pisces on Instagram.
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