New L.A. blues clubs are going Hollywood

Sunset, Nov, 1994 by Matthew Jaffe

Get rhythm from CityWalk to the Sunset Strip

YOU KNOW BLUES clubs: gritty, smoky places for gritty, smoky music. Torn red vinyl booths and uneven pool tables, warm beer, hot dancing, and big hearts opened up on small stages. Check your attitude at the door and get out on the floor: B.B. King may wear a formal tux, but please, don't dress up the blues.

Unless, of course, you're in Los Angeles, now known as Sweet Home Tinseltown.

Here, the blues have suddenly gone uptown, with club openings at Universal CityWalk, on Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade, and on the Sunset Strip. As Daily Variety might put it: Big-Bucks Blues Bars Bag Boffo Biz.

Take the House of Blues. Sure, you can work up a sweat, either on the dance floor or with some hot Cajun-style appetizers. Or you can browse through a gift shop or scan the massive collection of folk art. Here, outsider art is nothing if not in. The purist within wilts--happily.

The meeting of Hollywood flash and the blues--call it the harmonica convergence--comes as no surprise to Robert D. Resnick. He's opening up Leadbelly's on the Third Street Promenade. "I think there's a blues revival going on around the country," he says. "L.A. has a long history of great local musical venues, and it also has Hollywood. The fact that we have big venues is somewhat a reflection of Hollywood. People on the West Coast enjoy things that are a little bigger than life."

THE THRILL IS HERE

B.B. King's Blues Club. Designers had to work with a tall, narrow space, and the result is a tri-level club, where each tier is right on top of the action. Packed with blues memorabilia, each level has its own theme, including the Three Kings Bar, dedicated to Memphis stars Otis Redding, some guy named Elvis, and B.B. himself. Cuisine is Southern-style, and a retail store next door called Lucille's is named after King's guitar. At CityWalk in Universal City; (818) 622-5464.

Hollywood Athletic Club. Two years before the big-bucks spots opened, Beth Oliver began producing a weekly blues series in the elegantly restored club's upstairs rooms. "It's exactly like sitting in some rich guy's living room and having your favorite blues band play," she says. In classic blues fashion, the Monday night program was born of pain, a diversion for Oliver after her dog died. Cover charge is only $5 (free with dinner reservations before 10), and programs start around 9.6525 Sunset Boulevard; (213) 962-6600.

House of Blues. Although the House of Blues' bookings go way beyond the blues, it does earmark Mojo Monday Blues Jam for traditional blues. The club's restaurant, featuring monthly guest chef specials, serves lunch and dinner. 8430 Sunset. For more information, call (213) 6501451; for advance tickets, call (213) 650-0476.

Leadbelly's. Named after blues legend Huddie Lead-better, this new 400-seat club (scheduled to open in early 1995) is in a building that dates back to 1912, the same year the club's namesake began performing. The decor will feature artifacts that club founder Resnick picked up during trips to the South. A restaurant will serve traditional American home-style cooking. 309 Santa Monica Boulevard at the Third Street Promenade; (310) 393-7310.