HARVELLE'S!!

I had the pleasure of entering into the underground nightlife of Long Beach, CA recently.  I have been taking business trips to Long Beach pretty regularly for the last four years.  The group of co-workers usually sticks to the same venues, i.e. the Irish Pub, the Yard House, and the Rock Bottom.   You can bet we will be in one of these places sometime during the trip.   Well, we had some new comers with us and decided we needed to find something different.   We tried a few new places, but everything was pretty dead.   Finally, we found a new place!  Harvelle’s!  We had passed it many times on our treks around down town and never noticed it.  We knew we had left the hustle and bustle of the standard night life of Long Beach, left the younger crowd of patrons in the Congregation above, when we descended down the steep two level staircase to the bowels of the building. 

It was dark, of course.  There was a giant bouncer at the door.  He wanted $5 each.  I talked him into letting all of us in for $20.   It was a throwback from the prohibition jazz lounge decked out in red vinyl and red velvet draperies.   It was smoky and dark and sparsely populated.  The lounge reminded me of the Leisure Suit Larry and the Land of the Lounge Lizards video game. We went in to the dark, found a few empty tables and listened to the band.   We were graced with the sounds of White Boy James and the Blues Express.  It was great music with strange lyrics.  I am not a Jazz/Blues aficionado. In fact, I know pretty much nothing about this genre.  But I know good music when I hear it!  

Later, White Boy introduced special guests, Johnny Nashville and Lisa C.   The talent in this place was absolutely awesome.  Now White Boy James is a phenomenal harmonica player, but when Johnny Nashville took the stage with an introduction of, This Guy SUCKS!’ we all knew we were witnessing true musical artistry.   The listeners of only 30 or so were silent as the tone of his harmonica filled the smoke filled, stale air of that basement lounge.  We were stunned and amazed as we sat and took in this fantastic artist for a good 30 minutes.   Time seemed to stand still.   We were still reeling from this musical treat when White Boy introduced Lisa C.  We had seen her in the lounge most of the night thinking she was a patron like us.  This woman of her 40’s got up on that stage and belted out blues like no one’s business.  She only sang one song solo and another with White Boy, but what a treat!  

While the fellow bar stool rats of this lounge are not your normal, professionals and college students from above ground, they have a unique style all their own.  These are the kinds of moments that cannot be planned or duplicated.   It is these life events that remind me that this is a really cool way to live.   I’m glad to open my mind and my eyes and go to the not so normal place and have a blast.   I highly recommend veering off the beaten path and discovering awesome music and an experience of a lifetime. 

So, the point is?  Don’t let the basement scare you and certainly don’t let the red lounge lizard décor deter you from experiencing true talent seldom witnessed on the streets above.  Harvelle’s.   Unique and a must visit on the Long Beach promenade.  http://longbeach.harvelles.com/