Closing The Bakery Doors

The Jazz Bakery, one of only two Los Angeles clubs regularly hosting nationally touring jazz artists, closed its doors May 30 but owner Ruth Price insists the local institution will return, possibly in a new location.

“I’ve been really stressing the word moving, not closing,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “But it’s been really hard to get people’s mind-set away from the most dramatic thing they can think of.”

The Jazz Bakery has been in its Culver City-area location for 16 years, and recently lost its lease in the Helms Bakery District. Price has fielded a number of offers to keep the venue alive and is working on a partnership with the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live that will allow her to present a series that could open as soon as late summer, according to the paper.

There is also a tentative plan to bring shows to Kirk Douglas Theatre on its dark nights.

But Price is also looking for a permanent home for the Jazz Bakery. She’s reportedly looking at two potential sites in West Los Angeles and is said to be working with architects on possible design plans.

If the 214-capacity Jazz Bakery fails to find a home, it will leave Los Angeles with only the Catalina Bar & Grill regularly booking touring jazz musicians.