Where to find jazz clubs in Los Angeles

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Saturday, Feb. 17. First, some big news. Unlike most Sundays, you’ll be receiving Essential California tomorrow, too. We are finally expanding to be a seven-days-per-week operation, so that you can start every day with the information you need. And now, here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:

• Where to find jazz clubs in Los Angeles
• Half of Republicans say California isn’t really American
• Take our L.A. Times news quiz. This week, it’s all about a hoax, high-rises and the Happiest Place on Earth
• And here’s today’s e-newspaper

Where to find jazz clubs in Los Angeles

Jazz has a long history in L.A.

In the first half of the 20th century, Central Avenue in South Central L.A. was the heart of the city’s jazz scene. Nightclubs such as Club Alabam brought jazz greats like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington to the stage.

In the daytime, Club Alabam was a hub of hardworking hoofers and musicians rehearsing for the nightly show. When they performed at night, integrated crowds danced to the sophisticated rhythms of big bands.

Those days are long gone. The number of clubs in the area that offer jazz more than once a week has dwindled to only about a dozen.

But jazz didn’t completely fizzle from L.A.

The jazz scene is evolving and there’s a new generation of players emerging, my colleagues Kailyn Brown and Christopher Reynolds wrote.

They put together a list of 12 vibrant spots where jazz still reigns in L.A. The clubs typically host at least two performances a week and come in a wide variety of flavors, including the chatty lounge feel of the Dresden or the communal feel at the Lighthouse Cafe, where much of the music in “La La Land” was filmed.

Here are just a few:

Catalina Jazz Club

Vocalist and actor John Lloyd Young at the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Founded in 1986 by Romanian immigrants Bob and Catalina Popescu, Catalina is the only jazz club in Hollywood. Two of the first artists on the stage were Dizzy Gillespie and Buddy Collette, a mainstay of L.A.’s golden era of jazz on Central Avenue.

To this day, the owners have stuck with the club’s long-standing formula: a snazzy setting for dinner and a steady stream of jazz, usually six nights a week.

Lighthouse Cafe

Jazz guitarist Jacques Lesur plays Monday nights at the Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

“La La Land” gave this venue a global and multi-generational reach. But the Lighthouse’s jazziest days were in the ‘50s and ‘60s, when performers included Miles Davis, Max Roach and Shelly Manne.

These days most of the jazz happens two days a week: Sunday (over brunch, all ages invited) and Monday (jam session, 21 and over).

Pip’s on La Brea

(Illustration by Robbin Burnham WACSO, for The Times.)

This popular jazz bar and restaurant hosts live music every night of the week except Monday. It’s the ultimate date-night spot for music lovers and vibe seekers.

While the clientele skews toward a certain age (read: aunties), the combination of live jazz and American comfort food appeals to people of all generations.

See the full list of 12 vibrant spots where jazz still reigns in L.A.

The week’s biggest stories

Mudslides damaging both lanes of Mulholland Drive about 1/8th mile north of Skyline Drive was reported around midday Feb. 7, prompting a closure of Mulholland between Skyline and Bowmont drives on Feb. 8 in Los Angeles.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

California storms

• Back-to-back rainstorms have prompted fresh concerns about luxury homes on the edge of a California cliff. See the dramatic drone footage.
• An L.A. weather mystery: So much rain, but relatively few destructive landslides. So far.
• All this rain could invite mosquitoes into your backyard. Here’s how to prevent that.
• Record rain saturates SoCal landscape, heightening fears of more landslides.
• Flood damage raises alarms about California’s next ‘disaster insurance gap.’

Crime and courts

• Ninety minutes. Four killed. A random ‘senseless rampage’ that terrorized southeast L.A.
• The defense in Rebecca Grossman’s murder trial keeps ex-Dodger Scott Erickson the center of attention.

Politics

• California’s war on plastic bag use seems to have backfired. Lawmakers are trying again.
• Why replacing Biden with Newsom or some ‘mythical perfect Democrat’ is unlikely.
• Half of Republicans say California isn’t really American.
• Mayor Bass faces a choice for next LAPD chief: Hire from within or bring in an outsider.

More big stories

• ‘This is just the biggest fiasco.’ College admissions upended by financial aid form glitches.
• The body of woman is found on Mt. Baldy a week after she went hiking alone during a storm.
• Tom Girardi left dozens of voicemails for The Times and a reporter investigating him. Was it a ploy?
• A major auto insurer returns to California — with a 30% price hike.
• A traveler landed at LAX without a boarding pass, the second time in four months.
• What does a service fee ban mean for diners? Expect higher menu prices — a lot higher.
• San Francisco is set to apologize to Black residents for ‘systemic racism.’

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Column One

Column One is The Times’ home for narrative and longform journalism. Here’s a great piece from this week:

(Photo illustration by Jim Cooke / Los Angeles Times; Photos via Getty Images)

Scammers used AI to tell the world I was dead. Why? I had to find out why. I was the victim of an elaborate AI death hoax, which spread fake news about me online. Here’s what it’s like to read your own obituary.

More great reads

• How Allie Clifton became first woman to call Lakers game: She had 60 hours to prepare.
• Inside the plan to diagnose Alzheimer’s in people with no memory problems — and who stands to benefit.
• Gazans in Rafah watch Israeli bombs move closer with nowhere left to run.
• A movie star, a suicide and a nation’s war on drugs.
• Will Southern California be the ‘Napa Valley of coffee’?

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

For your weekend

Ty Dolla $ign, left, and Ye.

(Jordan Strauss / Invision/AP; Evan Agostini / Invision / AP)

Going out

• 🎤 Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign slated to join Rolling Loud for an added fourth night.
• 🎭 For better or worse, two new plays — on stage at the Noho Senior Arts Colony and the Matrix Theatre — reveal their writers’ TV backgrounds.

Staying in

• 📕💿 Life is ‘Plastic’ in Scott Guild’s novel and companion album.
• 📺 ‘Welcome Home, Franklin’ tells the backstory of the first Black ‘Peanuts’ character.
• 🧑‍🍳 Here’s a recipe for triple chocolate brownies.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

How well did you follow the news this week? Take our quiz.

Editor’s note: Open the newsletter tomorrow to get L.A. Affairs

The statue of Kobe Bryant recently unveiled at Crypto.com Arena depicts the Lakers legend as he appeared after what monumentous occasion? And 9 other questions to check how well you’re following the news.

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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