Qualla: Ché Cafe https://qualla.com/che-cafe en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:09 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/m/u/e/che-cafe-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Ché Cafe https://qualla.com/che-cafe Ché Cafe: Introduction https://qualla.com/che-cafe/ Photo credit JDREADY10, CC BY-SA 4.0. Zack de la Rocha, before Rage Against the Machine, played the Ché Café. So did many others who went on to careers in music, and many more who didn't. The Ché Café is a worker-run cooperative in a former military building on the UC San Diego campus that has operated continuously since 1980, hosting DIY music, political organizing, and cheap food in a space that the university has periodically tried to close. It is still open.

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Image: JDREADY10 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/m/u/e/che-cafe-wp/9mue-ch-cafe-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Ché Cafe: What the Building Used to Be https://qualla.com/che-cafe/ Photo credit JDREADY10, CC BY-SA 4.0. The building that houses the Ché Café was constructed as part of Camp Calvin B. Matthews, the Marine Corps rifle range that occupied the Torrey Pines mesa from 1917 to 1964. When the Marine Corps decommissioned the camp and transferred the land to UC San Diego, most of the buildi...

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Image: JDREADY10 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/m/u/e/che-cafe-wp/9mue-ch-cafe-what-the-building-used-to-be.mp3 0:06 2 full Ché Cafe: Cheap Healthy Eats https://qualla.com/che-cafe/ Photo credit Hotdogs, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Ché Café opened in 1980 as a student organization affiliated with UC San Diego's college system. Its name references Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, but students also created a backronym: Cheap Healthy Eats. Both meanings are accurate. The café has always served affordable vegetarian ...

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Image: Hotdogs | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/m/u/e/che-cafe-wp/9mue-ch-cafe-cheap-healthy-eats.mp3 0:06 3 full Ché Cafe: The Music https://qualla.com/che-cafe/ Photo credit JDREADY10, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Ché Café became a significant venue in the Southern California DIY music scene beginning in the 1980s, when the punk and hardcore movements were creating their own infrastructure outside commercial music venues. All-ages shows, local and touring bands, door prices that matche...

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Image: JDREADY10 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/m/u/e/che-cafe-wp/9mue-ch-cafe-the-music.mp3 0:06 4 full Ché Cafe: Survival https://qualla.com/che-cafe/ Photo credit JDREADY10, CC BY-SA 4.0. The university has made several attempts to close or evict the Ché Café. A major conflict arose in 2014 when UC San Diego sought to end the café's space license; students and alumni organized in response, and the immediate closure was avoided. Further disputes occurred in 2017. T...

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Image: JDREADY10 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/m/u/e/che-cafe-wp/9mue-ch-cafe-survival.mp3 0:06 5 full