It isn't a household name like the now-defunct CBGB in New York City, and it doesn't get the same recognition in the punk rock history books as a spot like 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley. But 242 Main Street is special in its own way: Nearly 30 years after opening its doors, it is now one of the longest running all-ages music venue in the country, beginning as an offbeat government-funded effort to overturn a draconian city ban on live music that resulted in the transformation of an old administrative building into the municipal youth center that exists to this day.

In Burlington, Vermont, 242 Main Street was originally the location of the city's water department. A nondescript building situated near the campus of the University of Vermont and across from a jewelry store, it would look more like an old middle school if not for the graffiti covering the front door and the sign next to it that reads, "Celebrating 25 Years of Art & Music."

The leader of that effort, and the person perhaps most responsible for the founding of 242 Main, was Jane O'Meara Sanders, the director of the Mayor's Youth Office who later became the president of Burlington College and now serves as a commissioner for the Vermont Economic Development Authority. As for the mayor who was partly responsible for this DIY, youth-run venue that played host to bands like Fugazi and opened the same month that Husker Du released Candy Apple Grey: It was her husband, Bernie Sanders, now a Vermont Senator and Democratic candidate for president in 2016 .

Run by a mix of volunteers and public servants, the Mayor's Youth Office set about implementing new programs: launching a Burlington public access TV show run by kids; opening a sliding-fee scale daycare that's still running; helping the elderly with snow shoveling; and starting a newspaper run by teenagers that published stories on issues ranging from teen suicide to the school budget.

"The first thing was that we wanted an office in City Hall," O'Meara Sanders said in an interview with VICE. "One that was empowered when decisions were being made. So we went before the City Council, a local principal and I, and we said we wanted a desk and a phone in City Hall. And they approved it."

When Bernie Sanders was elected mayor of Burlington in 1981, after an upset win over a powerful six-term incumbent, he tasked O'Meara Sanders, his future wife—who at the time went by her maiden name Driscoll—and local youth organizers to find a way to improve communication between the city's politically active youth population and the municipal government.

One of the main goals of the new office was to build a youth center in Burlington—and local teenagers made it clear that they wanted it to be an all-ages place where they could see and perform music. The problem was that a local ordinance passed during the previous administration prohibited live music performances on public property.

"We did a battle of the bands the first year and we got approval to do it that one time, and it was fantastic," O'Meara Sanders said. "We had hundreds and hundreds of kids coming out for six bands, and it's still going onto this day."

After the success of the first show, the Mayor's Youth Office started using a local auditorium for kids to play and watch music, but found that it wasn't an ideal spot. The solution was 242 Main Street, the vacated office of the Burlington Water Division.

Initially, O'Meara Sander said, there was some public opposition to the new center. "There were editorials saying, 'We don't need a center downtown, we should just participate with nonprofits and after-school centers,' but even in City Hall, when [the Mayor's Youth Office] grew we moved to the first floor of City Hall, and instead of walking up the steps, kids would walk in through the window... We had kids all the time in City Hall."