INCOMING: Bang Bang

El Camino's Mauricio Couturier and Voyeur's Johnny Shockey partner for 'Japanese Social House'

Interior designs by the always-funky Mauricio Couturier.

Design junkies have been wondering what the vibrantly odd brain of designer Mauricio Couturier would come up with next. After all, his spot El Camino is like a Dia de Los Muertos character discovered hallucinagenics, street art and the volume knob for the color palette. Now he's teaming up once again with nightlife instigator Johnny Shockey (of LED presents) for Bang Bang—"an over-the-top Japaneses social house" slated for the former Airr Supper Club spot on 6th & Market (526 Market St.). Shockey and Couturier first worked together on Gaslamp's Voyeur, a big success catering to a more creative, musically progressive nightlife set.

The second-story space had been The Witherby (from Stingaree's James Brennan) before taken over by Amy Finley, designer and ex-wife of San Diego Padre Steve Finley, who turned it into the red-and-white duochromatic Airr. It's a tough, off the beaten-path spot—but Couturier and Shockey are among the best of SD's avant-garde. If anyone can do it...

With Jon Mangini's Asian restaurant Gang Kitchen opening down the block, a night spent at both places will no doubt take on a colorful phrase.

Bang Bang is shooting for a spring 2013 open.

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