SATURDAY, MAY 31st – JULIET MENDOZA + MAMABEAR

On May 31st, we welcomed one of LA’s finest, Juliet Mendoza. A music connoisseur and house culture torchbearer whose roots in the city trace back to the mid-1990s.

Juliet first found her rhythm on the club floor, mastering her steps in the legendary dance circles at Arena and Carnival before evolving into a powerful force in event promotion. Her passion culminated in the creation of her own iconic club night, Jill’s House. As she grew within the scene, Juliet developed an uncanny instinct for selection, delivering deeply soulful and sharply tuned sets that held dancers in perfect unison.

Her sets merged the classic and the contemporary, elevating the room with a kind of radiant cohesion that only comes from someone who has truly lived the culture. In recent years, she added her own productions to the mix, with releases on the legendary Nu Groove Records and a nod from Defected Records as one of their “Unsung Heroes”, an honor that led to performances on international stages. She’s shared decks with the likes of Hot Since 82, Marques Wyatt, Riva Starr, Colette, DJ Heather, and Peggy Gou, all while repping her hometown and heritage with fierce authenticity. Juliet brought us a set that was house in its most essential, living form—embodied, rooted, and utterly transcendent.

Opening the night, we were blessed with an electric set from MAMABEAR, a Dublab mainstay whose selections span hip-hop, funk, boogie, and New Wave nostalgia. With deep roots that stretch from the roller rink to the record store, her time in San Francisco as part of the Sweaterfunk DJ crew saw her sharing stages with luminaries like DāM-FunK, Peanut Butter Wolf, Leroy Burgess, and Steve Arrington.

She warmed the room with a joyful and vinyl-rich set, full of groove, bounce, and unexpected gems—that carried us into Juliet’s sanctified sound and onward toward sunrise.

A night for the body, the mind, and the collective soul, one that added a golden page to The Basement’s story.