When Jazz Ruled

You might not know it now, but between the late 1940's and the mid 1960's the musical heartland of Santa Cruz was Beach Street. The street had nine clubs playing host to some of the biggest names in music - and the public had almost as much fun as the musicians.

The vigorous music scene was fertile ground for club owners and club-goers alike. Some clubs went through many incarnations; the St. Francis begat the Opus de Jazz, which begat Monk's - all where the Beach Street Cafe is today.

The big band scene was happening; so was R&B, mainstream jazz and swing. You could hear Dixieland at the Dream Inn and the Boardwalk; Wally Trabing performed with the Monterey Bay Class Jass Band for 11 years. Bebop was still a stepchild.

Jazz lives: Basil ("Monk") D'Anna, Frank Leal and Don McCaslin recently gathered at Leal's 2525 Main Street restaurant.

Three local men, Frank Leal, Don McCaslin and Ralston Brown, were part of that era, and each has fond memories of that time - when life was a little slower and people a little gentler.

Frank Leal, saxophonist and owner of the 2525 Main Street Restaurant, invited me to his restaurant when I told him my idea for this article. There, between greeting early dinner customers and-answering the phone at his elegant oasis in Soquel, Leal smiled as he let his memory drift back to the days when he played his part in "the scene."

"The scene was Memorial Day to Labor Day," said Leal, "and the Cocoanut Grove had the 'name' big bands that were touring up and down the coast. Interspersed with the name bands' were what were called 'B' bands. They were given contracts for four weeks with two-week options. I worked with some pf those opening bands. I also played with Stan Ken-ton's group at the Cocoanut Grove, and at the Casbah.

"There was an archway in those days connecting the Cocoanut Grove to the Casa Del Rey Hotel. People migrated over the archway to hear the society bands that played in the main room. Beach Street was the music mecca of Santa Cruz in those days. There was nothing much happening downtown. The Catalyst didn't start till much later. I remember the High Hat, across the street from the roller coaster. (There's a parking lot there now.) Ralston Brown worked there, and Big Mama Thornton was at the Beachcomber.

Vern Whitaker and her all-woman band, the 3 Vees, at the Casbah Club during its heyday on Beach Street

"With nine clubs along the street, it was very much like Broadway or New Orleans. Even on week nights people would park their cars, then check out a place and go up and down the street, catching different types of music at each of the clubs. Charlie Whitfield and an all-woman band called the 3 Vees played at the Casbah. Many of the finest black groups came down from Oakland to play at the clubs on Beach Street"

He mentioned Monk D'Anna, who co-owned the Casbah with his father, John D'Arma. "Get in touch "with Monk," urged Leal. "He was in the middle of the music scene for years."

I met Don McCaslin at the Cooper House, where his group, Warmth, has been an institution for 16 years. McCaslin was a basketball player for San Jose State from 1948 to 1951 — as well as being a musician — and met Frank Leal in 1946 at the Edge-water. He played at the High Hat during the summer and holidays while attending SJS.

"In the mid-'50s many wonderful musicians came in from Fort Ord on weekends," McCaslin said. "People like John Bannister and Lenny Nei-haus. A vocalist by the name of 'Crow' worked with Ralston Brown -Ralston played drums at the time."

McCaslin worked with the Carl Bruhn Big Band at the Cocoanut Grove during the summers of 1957 and 1958. One of his fondest memories is playing piano with that band when Nat "King" Cole appeared there. He also had met Monk D'Anna during the late 1940s at the Trocadero in San Jose, where Frank Leal was performing.

Ralston Brown has probably had two of the longest gigs in the history of show business. He sang at the Dream Inn for five years, then went on to perform at Seascape for 11 years.

Ralston played drums and sang with the Eugene Keil Trio at the Mambu Gardens during the summers of 1953 to 1956. "Kids used to come into the clubs in the afternoon in bathing suits to dance," he reminisced with a smile. 'Then they'd party on the beach, go home, change into dresses and suits and come back in the evening."

Brown's advice for more history on the Beach Street scene sounded familiar: "Get in touch with Monk D'Anna." So I did! Monk graciously invited me to his home to conduct the interview. This young-at-heart, 64-year-old entrepreneur is currently the owner of King's Kourt in Capitola, and we spent three hours reminiscing.

Monk's real name is Basil D'Anna, which he prefers to be called these days. He got the nickname when he went to Catholic school, where his friends would say, "Here comes the monk."

D'Anna comes from a family of musicians; his seven uncles as well as his father were all in the bar business. His first exposure to live music was during the 1930s, when his mother would take him to the Victory Theater in San Jose, and for 10 cents, he and many other kids stayed all day and listened to the likes of Cab Callaway, Jimmy Lunceford and Chick Webb. The theater was known fondly as "The Babysitter." During the late '40s and early '50s, the Casa Del Rey Hotel's main room, known as the Circus Room, held up to 400 people and had a stage that accommodated a 25-piece band. Louis Armstrong, Hal Mclntyre and Glen Grey were just a few of the big bands that appeared there.

The Cocoanut Grove played host to the bands of Guy Lombardo, Eddie Duchin, Sammy Kaye and Ted Weems, Jimmy Lunceford, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Gene Krupa, Woody Herman, Neil Hefti, Shorty Rogers and Stan Kenton.

"My first club was the High Hat," D'Anna said.- "Joe Turner, the pianist, and a singer named 'Frantic Faye' appeared there. Then, because I wanted a larger club, I bought the Surf Club, which was down the street from the Casa Del Rey. I also owned the Casbah - with my father - for 12 years (it's now the home of El Paisano Tamales), and had 20 people from Woody Herman's band in there jamming one night. L.C. Smith, the lady sax player who had worked with Lionel Hampton's band, appeared at the Casbah, as well as drummer Rabon Tarrant.

"I bought Monk's in 1960, and owned that place for 15 years," D'Anna continued. "Thomas 'Crow' Cahn, who wrote 'Open the Door, Richard,' worked at Monk's, and his friend, Illinois Jacquet, also 'sat in.'

"Oscar Pettiford came into the club a couple of times, once bringing Pony Poindexter down to Santa Cruz from San Francisco to play. Charlie Mingus and Joe Pass sat in, long before they had established names. Vince Gauraldi lived in Sausalito and brought his electric keyboard with him — Monk's was known for its great sound system."

D'Anna recalled that-many big bands played at the Casa Del Rey and the Cocoanut Grove, and after their gigs hung out at the clubs on Beach Street: the High Hat, Casbah, Beachcomber (owned by Tommy Vlasis; Big Mama Thornton appeared there regularly), Mambu Gardens (owned for 11 years by Joe Mandella, who currently owns the Fog Bank in Capitola), the Surf Club, the Surfrider (owned by Frank Leal), St. Francis and the Sunken Hole. During the Korean War years 1951-56, Fort Ord was active, and Lennie Niehaus (who had been the arranger with Stan Kenton's band and lately was Clint

Eastwood's musical director for the new movie, "Bird") became director of the Fort Ord Big Band/Jazz Band that played for officers. On weekends a slew of fine musicians came into Santa Cruz to play.

Bob Cooper (who had also played with Kenton's band, Plaz Johnson, Shorty Rogers, Buddy Childers, Chuck Travis, the Condoli brothers, Bill Dillard (the guitarist who had played with Red Norvo) and Chico Hamilton were all a part of the music scene in Santa Cruz. Kai Winding, June Christy and Tyree Glenn also sat in at the clubs on Beach Street.

"Chico Hamilton lived in Santa Cruz and was my roommate for awhile," said D'Anna. "Another friend, Pat Henry, originally from Watsonville, was the first owner of KJAZ, making die Bay Area a mecca forjazat"

D'Anna has a collection of "about 4,000" records which he hasn't had time to catalog, because "it takes away from my golf!

"People dressed up in those days," Monk said. "Suits and ties, dresses and high heels — I'm not putting down today's T-shirts — it was just a sign of the times."

Chet Baker played at Monk's in the late 1950s. Chet went to San Francisco that winter, and one evening, stepping out of a club where he worked, he was mugged and lost most of his front teeth. The drug rehabilitation program Chet was in paid to have a set of teeth screwed into his jaw so he could still play. Chet came to Santa Cruz afterwards to tell D'Anna what happened.

"The Suntan Special brought many fine musicians (including Jerome Richardson) down from Oakland every weekend between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Quite a few of them went on to become Hollywood's best studio musicians.

"Kenneth Patchen, (a well-known poet of the era) read poetry to jazz, and Frank Leaf's sextet backed him. I think they even made an album." (In 1958, the Chamber Jazz Sextet made an album with Patchen, titled "Poetry & Jazz," a copy of which is in the Patchen Collection at UCSC.)

"Frank had quite a career," D'Anna said. "I still remember Lawrence Welk playing at one end of the Wharf and Frank's sextet at the other. Frank also worked at Playland of the Pacific in Long Beach with Alan Ferguson, who eventually became the music director for 'Hill Street Blues.'" Many other great musicians and singers worked at Monk's, including Ornette Coleman and Scatman Crothers. Big Mama Thornton worked there for two seasons in the early 1960s.

"Rocky Allen was a one-handed piano player," D'Anna recalled"His stub played the bass tonic, and he sang. There were wall-to-wall people in the club when he performed. Pinky Guitarez, a local drummer who played with brushes and had a great time, worked with Rocky. Frank Leal, Don McCaslin and others came in to jam with Rocky. He played Mose Allison-type music before Mose Allison.'

Monk D'Anna has always promoted jazz, calling himself the "Pied Piper" and telling people to listen. He's also a great supporter of the music, and has been a box holder at the Monterey Jazz Festival for 23 years.

"My peers have given me a maximum of love," D'Anna observed, "And my life has been very fulfilling."

By the mid '60s the image of the beach started to change. The old Sun-tan Special, which had been bringing tourists straight to Beach Street since 1927, chugged out of town for the last time in 1959. Rock became popular and a rougher element moved in. Many club owners moved elsewhere, and when Monk D'Anna left in 1963 it signaled the end of the old Beach Street music scene.

"I was on the beach for 28 years," D'Anna said. "I was the last to leave, it was the end of an era."

~~ Sheila Solano

Squares Curfewed Capitola's jazz 'Coffee Cabaret'

The joint was Jammin' with live Jazz down Capitola way at the Coffee Cabaret before a curfew put them out of business.

The Coffee Cabaret in Capitlia was the place to go after the clubs closed on Beach Street. It was the only jazz coffeehouse with live entertainment between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and was located where Margaritaville is today.

Co-owned by Roy Davenport and Robert Denning, the cabaret opened in April 1958, featuring coffee, sandwiches and desserts. It was a place where young men could take their dates to dance and spend an enjoyable, alcohol-free evening.

"We had a $1 cover charge and coffee was 50 cents," recalls Roy Davenport. "That was in the days when you could just get a cup of coffee for 10 cents, but it covered our expenses and everyone had a good time.

"We hired a house band to play from 8 p.m. to midnight. After that, the stage was open to any of the musicians who dropped by to jam. There were times when we had two or three full bands waiting to play, but a peculiar protocol existed among the musicians, and as long as they checked in with our house band leader, there were never any scenes about who would play first. We stayed open as long as the musicians wanted to jam - sometimes until 11 a.m."

The house band that first season was drummer Jimmy Bagby, bassist Bob Smith and a young female pianist named Joan. Their feature attraction was a 450 pound singer named Doris James, who was a fine performer and wound up in the Guinness Book of Records for the "fastest weight gain."

In 1959 the house band featured Don McCaslin (on vibes), Dick Cherry, Freddie Cummings and John Cahn.

By the time the Coffee Cabaret had been open for three weeks, Herb Caen had visited and noted in his column, "Is Capitola the new Paris of the West?" "We won the Begonia Festival in 1958 and 1959," Davenport noted, "and by the second year many other businesses on the Esplanade kept later hours, because we brought people into the area.

"Our trouble started when residents of Capitola started complaining about the late hours, the 'noise,' and the fact that their kids were staving out till all hours. They said they were also worried about the safety and security of the place. The city council was all ready to pass an ordinance banning any type of live entertainment after midnight without any of them ever coming into the place to check it out. We went to a city council i meeting, offered to pay for additional police protection, and invited the council members to visit us. They did, and everyone of them, when questioned individually, admitted that they had a great time and they found noth-ing unsavory about it. But it was such a political hot potato that they ail voted for the ordinance. That was the end of the Coffee Cabaret."

(Sound familiar? Turn to page 26 for the latest.)
~~ Sheila Solano