There was a time when New Orleans, Memphis, Saint Louis and Chicago could lay claim to being the blues capital of the world. I have contended that if the city of Houston gave a damn about such things, it could have declared itself the blues capital of the world and make a compelling argument to that effect. In the 80’s and 90’s Austin could have been the blues capital of the world.

Back in post war America, Los Angeles reigned supreme. However, the notion that blues can take place but a few miles from Hollywood, sandy beaches and in a mild climate didn’t comport with some archaic notion of what blues is supposed to look, sound and feel like.

During those heady late forties, early and mid 50’s years, when black musical expression flourished, the bay area and the east bay communities of Oakland and Richmond, in particular, were also thriving blues hot spots that rivaled Los Angeles.

I’ll tell you in no uncertain terms what is and has been for the past 30 plus years the capital of the modern blues world...Long Beach, California.

That’s right Long Beach. For anyone who has lived in California for any length of time, they are now uttering under their breath or hopefully out loud, “DUH.”

For those in other parts of the country like Memphis, Chicago and New Orleans, in particular, who rake in tourist dollars by inducing people to check out some quasi-blues, in a quasi-seedy dive, please stop reading now. You can’t handle the truth. Go to a t-shirt shop on Beale Street immediately. Go to Buddy Guy’s Legends and pick up a t-shirt.  Go throw up on Bourbon Street and then buy a t-shirt.

Long Beach is an industrial port city of almost half a million people. It is to its world famous next door neighbor, Los Angeles what Fort Worth is to Dallas. It is what Oakland is to San Francisco. It would be, and to some degree still is, a world class destination on its own if it weren’t for the big brother up the road.  

While Los Angeles is a place where fashion and cultural trends are born, Long Beach is where they go to die. Even the neighbor to the south, Orange County has, for better or worse, a national identity. It has Disneyland. Long Beach had the Pike. The reality show, “The Real House Wives of Long Beach” was cancelled. They had to go to work.

The city has even survived urban renewal, gentrification and a revitalized downtown area. These are the type of things that can rip the soul and the blues right out of a city. Look what happened to Beale Street in Memphis. They should have a grand archway from sidewalk to sidewalk on Beale saying, “Beale Street Used to be Here”   

The blues in Long Beach and its immediate surrounding communities somehow survived. It even survived the loss of the 30,000 watt radio station being at the center and the hub of the blues in Long Beach. KKJZ 88.1 FM could include a catchy tag line “A Soul Used to Reside Here.” The station is still broadcasting, but is a shell of its former self.

The "non-profit" station used to put on an annual Blues Club Caravan, as well as a wonderful event called Blues Unplugged, at the performing arts center on the campus of Long Beach State. It also presented the big daddio of blues festivals...the long gone Long Beach Blues Festival which lowered the curtain for the last time back in 2009. The station’s new management doesn’t seem to have the time, the inclination or the chutzpah to use its bully pulpit to engage in any of these activities which would connect fans of this music, to the station and the community at large. Yet the blues marches on without their support.

As far as the downtown revitalization is concerned the one big blow to the blues was the closing of the world famous Blue Café.

There are at least three promoters putting on blues and related music on a regular basis in and around the greater Long Beach area. They are Line 9 Blues Review, B&B Musical Thrills and Cadillac Zack. For the moment all three seem to be thriving or at least surviving in and around Long Beach.

I asked Zack why Long Beach seems to have such a resiliency as it relates to blues music. He said, “Since it’s near the ocean and has a great climate, it has always had an outdoor music-on-the-patio culture. Many entrepreneurs have taken advantage of the lazy, margarita and beer, Sunday afternoon vibe and added blues to the mix. It also has a diverse class and racial element which makes it a fun melting pot. Bikers, business people, blue collar, white collar.... they all like to hang out and drink and blues goes with that vibe very nicely.

Zack goes on to say, “I think people associate blues with Long Beach because of the old Blue Café.”  

I asked Vince Jordan, the proprietor of that famed establishment, about Long Beach and the blues. “The thing about Long Beach is that it is like Austin, Texas, with an ocean breeze. Those two cities operate like they are in the same parallel universe. You know Dave that when you’re in Austin it’s like you are not in Texas, but you are...if that makes sense. Long Beach is in Southern California of course, but it kind of operates as if it isn’t.

The thing is that you have to have someone willing to dedicate themselves to the music. In Austin, you had Clifford Antone.”

In Long Beach you have Vince Jordan.  Jordon went on to say, “Along with all of the assets any business has in the blues business, you also have to have good will. I think we had that. We always put up the musicians in nice hotels. That may not seem like a big deal, but it is when you’ve been on the road with four or five guys in a van, it is a very big deal. We would also give them food vouchers, they could come by the club for lunch and by the time they took the stage they would be relaxed and rested. It made for better performances. Word got out pretty fast that the Blue Café was a place that touring bands should include in their itinerary.

It takes the right person at the right place and at the right time with the right purpose to make something like the Blue Café’ work...Long Beach was that place and the time we opened the Blue turned out to be the perfect time.”

Jordan sold the business twelve years ago to people who didn’t have that good will Jordan talked about, and the Blue Café closed its doors for good shortly thereafter. As Jordan points out, “I didn’t want it to end that way, but nothing lasts forever.”

Long Beach native and Long Beach State graduate Charlie Lange of Bluebeat music fame puts it this way. “A scene of any kind is about a shared experience. That is where the jazz and blues radio station and its huge Long Beach Blues Festival came into play. The blues scene in Long Beach or anywhere else for that matter has always been about those shared experiences. What happened to the radio station is the same thing that ruins everything...money. That blue collar ethos runs deep in Long Beach and as a result that community is able to hang on to its soul as a result. Remember Long Beach was also the home of Lamar’s Records an entire retail establishment selling only blues records. You weren’t going to find that in Los Angeles or Orange County, that’s for sure.” 

The blues roots run deep in Long Beach and the city has shown a tremendous resiliency in supporting this music. Night clubs come and go, yet the musicians keep things going as best they can. They hustle gigs all over this sprawling sub-region of the greater Southern California megalopolis. When one venue decides to stop playing blues and decides to go with another form of entertainment, another, it seems, picks up the ball handed to them by a musician who promises to do their best to increase revenue on an off night.

Gone are those heady days of yesteryear where you could pick up one of Dan Jacobson’s Southland Blues magazines, which was also based in Long Beach, and skip to the live music listings to pick and choose from several blues options on any given Friday or Saturday night. Gone too are venues that cater exclusively to blues music and other closely related musical genres. Southland Blues is also long gone, as social media is where we are alerted as to where to hear one’s favorite bands.

From biker bars on Pacific Coast Highway to a tourist destination at Shoreline Village, Long Beach is still having a torrid love affair with the blues. This has been going on for some time and it doesn’t seem to be cooling off anytime soon.  

Long Beach’s closest rival just might be up the road in the bay area some 400 or so miles away. They too can make a case as being the modern blues capital of the world. San Diego to the south has venues and a public that also seems to be receptive to this type of entertainment.

Blues bands from all over the world have booked California “world tours” and not strayed too far from the Pacific Ocean. At the center of everything for a very long time has been what locals call, “The LBC”. Yeah, that’s right Long Beach, California...the Blues Capital of the World.

- David Mac



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