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The Banjo Cafe was a bluegrass nightclub located at 2906 Lincoln Blvd. in Santa Monica, California. Bluegrass music was featured, with minor exceptions, six nights a week for over five years from February 1979 until June 1984. The Monday night open-mike was hosted by a bluegrass band. Jazz banjo player Pat Cloud was a regular at The Banjo Cafe and often played at special shows.
History
The Banjo Cafe was originally a hardcore biker bar called The Barge. The interior had been built from the heavy planking of an old boat. The walls were covered with two-inch thick wood planks. There were four large booths with thick wood tables covered with a half-inch of clear resin and wood bench seats. The bar was made of the same thick wood on which people had put many small things before pouring a half-inch thick coat of resin over everything. There was a small kitchen, a large walk-in refrigerator and a pair of bathrooms. The interior space was large enough to seat about seventy people.
When Raoul Mazzoni learned that the bar was for sale, he decided to purchase it and open a bluegrass club modeled after The Bluegrass Inn in Nashville, Tennessee. The Banjo Cafe opened on February 2, 1979. John Hickman played on opening night with his pick-up band Sticky Fingers. He continued to perform on Thursday nights through 1979.
The Banjo Cafe burned down in 1980 and remained closed for six months while the interior was being completely rebuilt. The Banjo Cafe reopened in the spring of 1981 as The New Banjo Cafe.
The Banjo Cafe was the hub of a Southern California Bluegrass Association that was dedicated by Bill Monroe ("The Father of Bluegrass Music") in 1983. An article showing Monroe at a dedication ceremony at The Banjo Cafe featuring Lois Constable and Renzo Mazzoni appeared in The Bluegrass Alternative & National Fiddler (June 1983). In the article, The Banjo Cafe is mentioned as the central location of the new Bluegrass Association.<--How does this relate to the subject of this article, the Cafe?-->
The June 1983 issue of The Bluegrass Alternative & National Fiddler featured a series of articles and scheduled performances by performers who played at The Banjo Cafe, including The Constables, Brantley Kearns (feature article), Bottom Dollar Bluegrass Band, JD Crowe, Blueprint (gospel music), Lois Constable (as an article writer and leader of the new Bluegrass Association of Southern California, along with Renzo Mazzoni of the Banjo Cafe).