I’m not sure I intended to go off on an Ash Grove riff. But, since I already claimed it as the main location for my secondary education, here’s a memory received from fellow alum and great musician, Steve F’dor.

I remember sitting in at the Ash Grove in the early 70s, as well as having seen Freddy King, Johnny Otis, T-Bone Walker, etc. Great place. About 10 years ago, Ed Pearl tried to reopen it on the Santa Monica Pier, but it didn’t survive very long. It then became - I think - “Arcadia” and I had a gig there one night. The original Ash Grove became the Improv and Lester Chambers ran a weekly blues jam that was a lot of fun. There was a near brawl one night when a young white James Brown wanabee was making a fool of himself onstage. Bill Bateman of the Blasters couldn’t take anymore of it and went up to the stage and pulled out the guy’s microphone cord. Turns out the guy’s manager was apparently Lester Chambers and one thing led to another and the whole affair emptied out onto the street. I know Ed Pearl’s brother Bernie very well and have played in his band from time to time, backing singers like Barbara Morrison and Harmonica Fats. Bernie used to play behind Ash Grove performers in the 60s.