Crenshaw Music Scene

Crenshaw Music Scene. . , Where It’s At , While the history of the Central Avenue jazz scene of the 1930s and 1940s has been well documented, less attention has been paid to the soul and R&B club scene that developed a generation later, as rock replaced jazz as America's popular music. But this scene was just as critical to Los Angeles' music history. Post-segregation, the R&B spots were more dispersed than the jazz haunts along Central Avenue; clubs dotted the map from 38th and ang on the town at Barry's, 1950 Western Avenue all the way north to Washington Boulevard. But a nucleus developed on Crenshaw Boulevard in the 1960s and 1970s with three clubs located in the two blocks between Vernon Avenue and 43rd Street: The Total Experience, Freddie Jet's Pied Piper, and Maverick's Flat (honorable mention goes to Jerry's Flying Fox, a long-running live music venue and watering hole on King Boulevard just west of Crenshaw that closed in 2015). Opened in 1966 at 4225 Crenshaw, Maverick's was the flagship of the three, a place that showcased top soul acts and quickly earned the nickname "Apollo of the West." It opened with The Temptations headlining, and offered a hip, boundary-breaking, funky atmosphere that made it the place to be and be seen. , Boogie Wonderland , First and foremost was the music. Maverick's regularly hosted R&B stalwarts and then-up-and-comers like Earth Wind and Fire, The Temptations, Ike and Tina Turner Revue, The Commodores, Parliament Funkadelic, and The Four Tops. The cover of The Temptations' seminal album. Psychedelic Shack, is said to be inspired by the groovy scene at Maverick's. Living up to its tagline, "Where It's At," the two-story club garnered a reputation as the Studio 54 of the West Coast, and attracted people from all over the city, many of whom were just as famous as the performers on the bill. On any given Saturday night and into the wee hours of Sunday morning (the club stayed open until 4 a.m.), you could spot celebrities like Steve McQueen, Muhammad Ali, or members of the Mamas and Papas. Maverick's Flat owner John Daniels was something of a maverick himself: an ex-sheriff's deputy, actor, songwriter, singer, producer. and magazine publisher who turned a former Arthur Murray's Dance Studio into a premier music club and gathering spot. Maverick's didn't even serve liquor in the early days, and became known across the United States as the only club serving just ice-cold Coca-Cola. Maverick's and the other two recording new talent, local and otherwise. Daniels and his wife, Gristo clubs were also instrumental in showcasing and managed a disco soul band, The Love Machine, which debuted at Maverick's in 1971. Daniels also gave the famous comic duo, Cheech and Chong, some of their first big breaks on his club stage. Demonstrating that art and politics are inextricably connected in black communities, Maverick's was the site of a local NAACP meeting in 1966 that called for an official end to segregation along the strip. , Stars Are Born , Several years later, a struggling but ambitious brother act called The Gap Band left its native Tulsa to see what it could do in Los Angeles. The band got by on small gigs, but didn't really break through until they met entertainment businessman Lonnie Simmons, who owned The Total Experience nightclub. Simmons signed the group to his production company, Total Experience Records, who later signed the chart-topping R&B duo, Yarbrough and Peoples. , The music scene in Crenshaw has since shifted back to jazz and blues, with hip-hop and rap updating the mix. The only club on Crenshaw that physically remains is Maverick's Flat, which closed as a full-time operation in the 1980s. It was declared a historic cultural monument by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission in 2000.