Jazz Clubs Strike a Chord Across California
From Oakland to San Diego, these five venues carry forward a century of California jazz tradition—echoing the legacy of Central Avenue and the World Stage.
One of the earliest jazz recordings was released by the California label Sunshine in 1922—two buzzing tracks by Kid Ory and His Band, recorded on 78s and sold on Central Avenue. Places like the Dunbar Hotel and, decades later, the World Stage made South Central Los Angeles a hub for the genre, and that groove echoed across the state. In addition to the World Stage, here are five clubs that keep California swinging.
This roundup appears in Issue 34 of Alta Journal. SUBSCRIBE
Yoshi’s, Oakland
In 1972, three friends—a journalist, a cook, and an artist—dreamed of serving seasonal Japanese cuisine to their Berkeley community. The venture grew from a tight 27-seat restaurant into a large jazz club in Oakland, capable of seating more than 300 guests. Today, the Jack London Square venue presents around 500 shows annually and is attached to an elegant Japanese restaurant. Visitors enjoy spotting music icons (it’s said that Bonnie Raitt once accompanied performer Bruce Hornsby from her table in the audience) and hearing local legends.
The Lighthouse Cafe, Hermosa Beach
On a Sunday in 1949, bassist Howard Rumsey hosted a jam session at the Lighthouse, a Hermosa Beach bar. That performance became a weekly event, over time establishing the Lighthouse Cafe as a premier jazz club that drew major talent like Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, and Miles Davis. Many performances became noteworthy records, such as the Cannonball Adderley Quintet’s 1960 live album At the Lighthouse. Today, the venue hosts acts ranging from salsa to ’90s alternative rock to jazzy jam sessions, like the one that started it all.
The Jazz Bakery, Los Angeles
Ruth Price was set on creating a listening environment where she—as a veteran jazz vocalist—might want to linger. “I had worked for a long time, at every joint you can imagine. I didn’t want anybody talking,” Price says. “I just wanted to do the music. The best music.” When she opened the Jazz Bakery in 1992, in Culver City’s historic Helms Bakery complex, the spare, loftlike space possessed an ultracasual feel. Luminaries crossed the threshold regularly; music was always the centerpiece. Long gone from that storefront, Price still books a full roster of world-class jazz acts, many programmed under the Jazz Bakery’s Moveable Feast banner and presented at select venues across L.A.
Mr. Tipple’s, San Francisco
This past October, Mr. Tipple’s repainted the mural on its front doors with the image of Richard Howell, a Bay Area saxophonist, composer, and club regular. This fresh coat of paint is part of the venue’s tradition of honoring local musicians. Inside the club, visitors can expect to hear jazz as well as a wide array of musical genres, from Mexican waltz to Brazilian samba-reggae-funk. The club books live performances Wednesday through Sunday, with most acts playing multiple sets each night.
The Jazz Lounge, San Diego
Tucked away along a busy San Diego thoroughfare, the Jazz Lounge is an intimate 40-person venue that draws classic and contemporary jazz musicians. Upon arriving, visitors can expect to be shown to their table by owner (and vocalist) Leonard Patton, who runs the place with his wife and kids. Enjoy dinner or just come to groove at one of the lounge’s tribute nights or songwriter showcases.
Lynell George is an award-winning Los Angeles–based journalist and essayist. She has been a staff writer for both L.A. Weekly and the Los Angeles Times. Her work has appeared in various news outlets including the New York Times; Smithsonian; Vibe; Boom: A Journal of California Preservation; Sierra; Essence; and Ms. She was selected to be a University of Southern California Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism fellow in 2013 and received the Huntington Library’s Alan Jutzi Fellowship for her studies of California writer Octavia E. Butler in 2017. She is the recipient of a 2017 Grammy Award for her liner notes for Otis Redding Live at the Whisky A Go Go. George is the author of three books of nonfiction: No Crystal Stair: African Americans in the City of Angels (Verso/Doubleday); After/Image: Los Angeles Outside the Frame (Angel City Press); and her most recent book, A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler (Angel City Press), published in 2020, which was a Hugo Award finalist in the Best Related Work category in 2021.
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