The Café Bohemia
*The Café Bohemia is celebrated on this date in 1955. This jazz club was a site of many classic recordings of America's original traditional music.
It was at 15 Barrow Street in Greenwich Village, New York City. Its initial run lasted until 1960 and was revived in October 2019. The club was opened in 1955 by Jimmy Garofolo, who owned the room since 1949. It operated it as a restaurant, bar, and stage at various times, each endeavor unsuccessfully.
In 1955, saxophonist Charlie Parker lived across the street from the club. Parker offered to play the club for Garofolo to get his drinks for free, which unofficially began the room's short-lived life as a jazz club. Parker died before starting his engagement at the Bohemia, but the hype around his name being promoted was enough to garner further support for the new club.
The bands played at the club were the first Miles Davis Quintet, Art Blakey's original Jazz Messengers, and Kenny Dorham's Jazz Prophets. At one point, Herbie Nichols was the intermission pianist. In October 2019, Café Bohemia was revived in its original location, in the basement of the Barrow Street Ale House (established in 1990). In May 2023, Café Bohemia announced that they were shutting down again.
