This legendary L.A. music venue is closing after 25 years. But its story isn't over

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When instrumentalist Cary Brothers recovered retired that the Hotel Cafe was shutting down, helium felt similar he’d been told his parents were selling his puerility home.

The beloved euphony venue, which kick-started the careers of then-little-known singer-songwriters Adele, Sara Bareilles and Damien Rice, is closing its doors successful aboriginal 2026, its co-founders Marko Shafer and Max Mamikunian announced successful November. For those similar Brothers, who considered the Hotel Cafe a 2nd home, the quality of the closure was a dense blow.

Luckily for them, Shafer and Mamikunian program to unfastened a caller determination successful the adjacent Lumina Hollywood operation successful aboriginal 2027. Brothers said it provides consolation, but not implicit comfort.

“Yeah, they’re buying a large caller house, but it’s not our house,” helium said.

Elected the “mayor of the Hotel Cafe,” Brothers discovered the Hollywood haunt earlier it adjacent had a liquor license. In those days, the cafe had a BYOB argumentation and sold buckets of crystal for visitors to chill the intoxicant they brought successful with them, and jazz legends pouring retired of section bars aft past telephone capped disconnected their nights with a 3 a.m. jam league successful the Hotel Cafe’s soft country (or smoking room, depending connected whom you ask).

Every penny they made went backmost into the venue, Shafer said.

Brothers has ever likened the Hotel Cafe successful that epoch to “‘Cheers’ with guitars,” wherever helium could amusement up immoderate nighttime and a twelve of his closest friends would beryllium there. Eagles songwriter Jack Tempchin utilized to accidental it was the closest happening to the beforehand barroom astatine the Troubadour successful the ’70s.

“Nobody became the Eagles, sure, but the tone was the same,” Brothers said.

Dave Navarro and Billy Corgan sing and play guitars connected stage.

Beginnings connected Cahuenga Boulevard

The owners property overmuch of Hotel Cafe’s occurrence to bully timing.

At the crook of the century, Mamikunian said, “Word connected the thoroughfare successful Los Angeles was, it’s an manufacture municipality and euphony venues don’t enactment here.”

Mamikunian, connected the different hand, believed the metropolis was teeming with earthy talent, but determination was nary spot for it to develop. Judging by the laundry database of musicians who flocked to the Hotel Cafe successful those aboriginal years, his hunch was spot-on.

“We deed it close erstwhile it needed to happen,” helium said.

For autarkic creator Kevin Garrett, the Hotel Cafe was a “gym” wherever helium could flex his originative muscles and experimentation with his sound, judgment-free. For section people vocalist Lucy Clearwater, it was her motion that moving to L.A. was the close determination for her career.

And for Ingrid Michaelson, the spot was up of its clip successful championing pistillate artists. When the Hotel Cafe asked Michaelson to header its 2008 all-female tour, she thought, “When does that ever happen, but for Lilith Fair?”

In Michaelson’s autochthonal New York, determination were a fistful of venues that cradled early-career musicians: the Living Room, the Bitter End, Kenny’s Castaways.

“But successful L.A., determination truly was conscionable the Hotel Cafe,” Michaelson, down specified 2000s hits arsenic “The Way I Am” and “You and I,” said. “So it was this distilling of each the singer-songwriters successful L.A., benignant of coming done this 1 port.”

Patrons enactment up to participate the Hotel Cafe.

Through the philharmonic generations

In its 25 years of operation, the Hotel Cafe has seen respective generations of musicians shuffle done the space, Shafer said. Production manager Gia Hughes calls them the “graduating classes.”

In Brothers’ days, it was Joshua Radin, Bareilles, Meiko and different precocious 2000s singer-songwriters whose euphony regularly landed connected shows similar “Grey’s Anatomy” — oregon successful Brothers’ case, the indie cult classical “Garden State,” directed by and starring chap Northwestern alum Zach Braff.

Next came residencies from breakouts Johnnyswim and JP Saxe, and later, folksters Clearwater and her adjacent confidant Rett Madison. Clearwater said that during her tenure, she would often articulation her chap performers onstage to sing backing vocals oregon play a violin solo.

“Every 4 years it’s similar a antithetic benignant of assemblage that comes about,” Hughes said. “And it’s different, but it’s besides not.”

It’s wherefore Shafer and Mamikunian aren’t disquieted astir losing the magic they created connected Cahuenga. In their eyes, it was ne'er confined to the abstraction itself.

“I retrieve erstwhile we archetypal talked astir expanding the Hotel Cafe and everybody said, ‘Don’t bash it. You’re going to ruin what you have,’” Shafer said, referencing the venue’s 2004 acquisition of further abstraction adjacent door. (They expanded again successful 2016 with their Second Stage annex, astir fractional the capableness of the main stage.)

“When we did it, it changed the country truthful overmuch for the better, and gave america entree to bigger artists but inactive didn’t suffer the intimacy,” helium said astir the expansion.

Shafer and Mamikunian thought they’d outgrown the Cahuenga abstraction and had agelong been pondering a move. This year, the logistics lined up, Mamikunian said.

“It wasn’t thing dramatic,” helium said. It was conscionable time.

Hughes called the determination “an accidental to prosecute a abstraction that tin cheque a batch much boxes for us, for the agelong term”: much parking, accrued country capacity, greater accessibility.

Maris, with pinkish hair, sings into a microphone.

A caller opening astir the corner

Zoning clearances are inactive pending for the caller determination successful Lumina Hollywood connected Sunset Boulevard, a high-rise flat gathering acceptable to beryllium upgraded by Morguard Corp. And though the caller venue is slated for a 2027 opening, the timeline depends connected an upcoming zoning hearing, expected successful March oregon April, Mamikunian said.

But Shafer and Mamikunian opted to denote the closure portion details were inactive being worked retired alternatively than hold and hazard accusation leaking to the public. Plus, this way, some artists and patrons person clip to accidental their goodbyes.

After Clearwater heard the news, she rushed to a “Monday Monday” play showcase and instantly felt similar she’d been transported backmost to 2017, erstwhile she spent four-plus nights a week astatine the joint.

“So galore of my aged friends from that clip — immoderate of [whom] I had fallen retired of interaction with — I saw each of them there,” the Bay Area-bred people vocalist said. “You could consciousness everybody loving it truthful much.”

The vocalist said she couldn’t assistance but wonderment whether things would person panned retired otherwise had radical shown retired similar that earlier Shafer and Mamikunian made their choice. But sipping reddish vino successful the greenish country that night, she felt fortunate conscionable to beryllium there.

“It’s the wood, it’s the bar, the backstage chairs, the small lanterns,” she said. “I’m conscionable going to miss what it looks and smells like, but the people, that’s ne'er gonna spell away.”

A Christmas histrion stands successful the halfway of a room.

Farewell for now

Earlier this month, the Hotel Cafe hosted its last-ever vacation lawsuit astatine the Cahuenga location. Hughes, with the assistance of her interior decorator sister, Nina Hughes, spent hours that time decking the halls with carnival lights and ribbons galore.

Even earlier the night’s performances began, attendees were clinking glasses and giving lingering hugs — the benignant befitting the past time of summertime camp.

“It’s going to beryllium a emotion fest,” Hughes predicted.

As heartfelt arsenic that night’s musicians were successful their speeches, bartender Dan Shapiro said waxing sentimental onstage has been the norm for weeks.

“People are ever doing eulogies to the place,” Shapiro said with a chuckle. As helium surveyed the lineup posted astatine the bar, helium said he’d enactment his wealth connected performer Lily Kershaw shedding a fewer tears. Fellow bartender Dave Greve concurred.

Against the odds, Kershaw didn’t outcry arsenic she led the assemblage done a rendition of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Our House” a fewer hours later. Subsequent performers stayed connected taxable with songs composed of resonant lyrics similar “So agelong alien / I similar to deliberation I cognize you best” and “Hold connected choky / don’t fto go.”

As Brothers crooned his ain tribute, helium closed his eyes, arsenic though praying.

Lucy Clearwater plays guitar and sings connected stage.

James Babson, a longtime doorman astatine the Hotel Cafe, said its unit and attendees alike person ever been reverent toward performers. For some, helium said, the listening acquisition is “spiritual.”

“Maybe they’re not churchgoers, truthful they person this consciousness of assemblage and transcendence, wherever that opus touches them connected this level, which takes them determination else,” helium said.

Peter Malek felt it the archetypal clip helium stepped wrong the Hotel Cafe 20 years ago. Hooked connected that feeling, helium started visiting the venue respective times a week. Sometimes, helium ne'er adjacent made it inside, contented to chat with Babson for hours astatine the door; different evenings helium spent successful the unit offices, cramming for his aesculapian schoolhouse exams.

According to Malek’s past tally, he’s been to the Hotel Cafe 1,333 times. Although helium was saddened erstwhile helium heard the quality of the relocation — respective months earlier astir everyone other recovered retired — helium said helium isn’t expecting Shafer and Mamikunian to replicate what they built astatine the Cahuenga site.

Instead, Malek said, he’s near “happy that helium witnessed it.”

Patrons bask unrecorded euphony astatine the Hotel Cafe.

All nighttime astatine the Hotel Cafe’s vacation party, attendees wondered whether penultimate performer Dan Wilson, of the pop-rock set Semisonic, would play “the song.” No 1 had to sanction it.

When Wilson yet sang the magic words, “Closing time, unfastened each the doors / And fto you retired into the world,” the country erupted into cheers.

It was the closest Brothers came to crying, but helium held it in. There would beryllium clip for that later.

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