New SLO County venue offers live music, dancing & drinks. Look inside the lounge
A new entertainment venue offering live music, craft beer and local wine has entered San Luis Obispo County.
Decades HiFi Lounge officially opened its doors on Friday, May 30, at 5840 Traffic Way in downtown Atascadero.
Owned by Sheldon Ferguson and Brian Golden, the new lounge is a space to relax, sip coffee, let loose, drink, dance and enjoy music across all decades and genres, they said.
“There’s so much music out there (that) we don’t want to exclude anything,” Ferguson said. “There are people waiting for Deadhead nights, people waiting for old country nights, people waiting for jazz nights and bebop nights — nothing’s gonna be excluded. We’ll try anything.”
The 60-person capacity lounge occupies the former space of The Raconteur Room. The wine and craft beer bar closed in April 2024 after five years in business, the Tribune previously reported.
After a nearly year-long renovation project, the space has been transformed into an entertainment epicenter, complete with a stage for live bands, a decked-out DJ booth and the “highest quality sound system of anybody in the area,” Golden said.
Now, Golden and his business partner are finally ready for patrons to begin flooding the venue.
How a new music lounge arrived in Atascadero
Ferguson and his wife purchased property in Atascadero in 2021, both falling for its small-town charm and tight-knit community.
He was working full-time at Apple in 2024 when he learned a bar in downtown Atascadero was on the market.
After enduring long days that left him feeling uninspired and dispassionate, he had started to resent his time in the tech industry, Ferguson told The Tribune.
So he jumped at the opportunity for a swift career change.
“I had no real plan or clue,” Ferguson said. “It was just an opportunity that I felt I better take advantage of it because this isn’t going to come up again.”
Once the deal was closed, he said, reality sunk in as he discovered the state of the business.
Pockets of mold were discovered beneath the black-and-white checkered flooring and most of the electrical wiring wasn’t up to code, according to Ferguson. The space also needed in a second bathroom.
That’s when Ferguson teamed up with Golden and embarked on a nine-month remodel.
Golden had moved to San Luis Obispo County to be closer to his family after careers in the film and construction industries. In addition to partnering with Ferguson, he’s working on shows at Vina Robles Amphitheatre in Paso Robles and the Fremont Theater in San Luis Obispo.
The duo quickly bonded over their shared passion for music and dedication to revamping Decades into a music destination.
“It was the desire to be in an environment where I can be around music and play music and listen to music and have bands and be around artists,” Ferguson said. “It was just a desire to begin something that will always remain creative.”
New entertainment venue will offer live music, dancing and comedy
Decades HiFi Lounge will feature entertainment of all sorts, including live bands, disc jockeys, comedy groups, themed-music nights and dancing.
“If somebody has an idea that’s music-related, we’re gonna say yes 100% of the time and see how it works out,” Ferguson said.
He said he named the vene “Decades” — as in decades of music — as a nod to the expanse of musical styles and genres that will be embraced at the space.
Is Decades HiFi Lounge a bar, a nightclub, a coffee shop or a live music venue? The term “lounge” is meant to encompass all functions, Ferguson said.
“It’s what it is when you get here,” he explained. “It could be a dance night. It can be a live show.”
What is Decades HiFi Lounge like?
Outside Decades HiFi Lounge, there’s outdoor seating for those who want to sip coffee or beer while soaking in some sunlight. There’s ample parking for visitors in the back of the building.
Inside, the lounge has a “high-tech, high-end” permanent DJ booth with hybrid turntables that can play both digital and vinyl music, Ferguson said. The booth is elevated off the main floor so disc jockeys can view the entire dance floor during their sets.
Golden said several DJs and musicians are already lined up to perform at the venue, along with improvisational comedy groups. Line dancing nights are also in store.
In the back of the lounge, a long bar hand-built using wood refurbished from wine barrels arcs across the room. Behind it, craft beers are on tap and bottles of local wines rest on shelves.
Televisions scattered across the space play music videos and old episodes of the television show “Soul Train,” interspersed with some artistic graphics, Ferguson said.
Artwork hung on the walls is mostly related to music, with framed posters of “Weird Al” Yankovic, Bob Dylan and the Pixies. Hundreds of vinyl records and a few murals by local artists also decorate the space.
What’s being served at new wine, beer and music venue?
HiFi Decades Lounge serves coffee, wine, beer, soft drinks and snacks.
In the morning, the lounge offers visitors brewed, pour-over and cold brew coffee sourced from Cacti Coffee Roasters in Santa Margarita.
It also offers several beers on tap, including local craft options and popular brews such as Guinness, Smithwick’s and Sierra Nevada, as well as local wines that “most people know and are familiar with,” Ferguson said.
As for food, the lounge has snacks including chips and pretzels.
In the future, the venue will occasionally have food truck nights with vendors stationed in the parking lot behind the building, he said.
What are open hours at Decades HiFi Lounge?
Decades HiFi Lounge is open 9 a.m. to midnight Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. The venue is closed on Mondays.
This story was originally published May 30, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
