MANTECA, Calif. — If Chris Teicheira has his way, people will be flooding the downtown streets of Manteca just for laughs.
Teicheira and the Deaf Puppies of Comedy are opening the city's first comedy club, hoping in part to make downtown Manteca a destination location for the region.
"I think there's a lot of young people in Manteca that constantly say, 'There's nothing to do in this town' - and I was one of those kids when I was younger too... But it's like, if you give them the opportunity to have something in their own town, I think there's a lot of pride that comes with that. So why not do it (open a comedy club) here," said Teicheira.
The Deaf Puppy name comes from Teicheira's deaf Australian Cattle dog, named Banshee. He said Banshee tagged along with the comedy group at enough shows that they eventually got labeled as "those deaf puppy guys." From that point, the name stuck.
For the club itself, Teicheira said it could be the first of its kind in the 209 area.
"There's spots that are bars or there used to be a place called the Fat Cat in Modesto that would periodically put on shows, but we feel like there's enough people in the Central Valley - there's a million people within 20 minutes of each other - that it was time to have a dedicated comedy club," he said.
The club is not just a first for the city, but possibly a sign that times are changing for downtown Manteca. According to City Manager Toni Lundgren, the city has been looking to change the way they do business downtown or, at least, change up the formula from what they've always done.
One of the more eye-catching examples of that are a series of murals adorned on the walls of the comedy club.
"It's the type of art where people want to come and take photos in front of the artwork, or they're part of the artwork in a photo in a place where it draws people to our downtown area," said Lundgren.
While murals aren't exactly new to Manteca, these new murals symbolize some of the changing approaches the city is taking.
Many murals reflect a part of the city's history and are often done by a local talent, but these were done by an artist, Cameron Moberg, out of San Francisco, who is known for his art in the Central Valley.
"It's kind of a change of the times here, and we're also looking at doing a couple other interactive projects downtown as well right now that we're working with some other business owners," said Lundgren.
While the murals are definitely a changeup from what the city has seen before, there's still plenty of local character and elements to them. That includes references to the city's Watermelon Street Faire and a highly specific reference to linguicia that's is hiding in plain sight. The Portuguese sausage is cleverly hidden on the mural of Banshee, on her dog tag to be specific.
"I know the Portuguese people, I'm one of them in this town, we get a kick out of that and just our heritage. And there's a lot of people here that love linguicia and its just a funny little additive to the whole mural," said Teicheira.
Since going up, he said the murals have already generated some foot traffic into the downtown area from recent high school graduates. Ideally, it's a taste of what's to come for downtown Manteca.
"Beyond the comedy club, we have been, over the past few few years, working with some new businesses. We have a brewery that's opened downtown, and it's the only brewery in our city, which is great... We have a little coffee shop that just opened downtown," said Lundgren.
She said the city was also looking into the possibility of a downtown district with property owners.
"We're looking at any way that we can improve our downtown and kind of change it to a place where people want to go and there's more things for them to do," said Lundgren.
It's a slow process, but there's a lot of progress being made.
The changes come as Teicheira said the people in the city - and the people moving to it from the Bay Area - are looking for more to do.
"We can't be mired in the past. We have to move forward as a town and build up. And these people are part of the community now, and we need to offer entertainment forums. I think it's just slow incremental steps we can take downtown to making it a bigger better downtown," he said.
The opening for the Deaf Puppy Comedy Club is expected to be around mid-September. Teicheira already has some comics scheduled for the end of that month. In addition to the club, he said it'll also operate as a café during the daytime hours.
"Let's open the doors and see what it can become," said Teicheria. "Because we have a big showroom, so not only do I want to do comedy but on Saturdays and Sundays if we could possibly have art pop ups or recitals, even small music concerts - the opportunity is endless."
For more information or to follow for updates on the comedy club, click HERE.
Photos: Manteca Murals
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