Club Kavakos

While tiptoeing around shelves of Ball jars, discarded rocking horses, and various knick-knacks at an antique shop in Cocoa, Florida last week, I came across a shoe-box of vintage postcards. Postcards are my thing: affordable, quirky, personal, a way to send a bit of nostalgia and love through the mail. Vintage postcards? Even better.

I couldn't help it. Much to the frustration of my poor father, I spent a good 45 minutes digging through those postcards, and came away with a few real gems. The best? A circa 1940s linen card from, get this, Kavakos Night Club at 727 H St NE, Washington, DC. Right in the heart of my 'hood.

I'm having issues figuring out how import photos, so see full-size here and here.

The caption on the reverse of the card is fantastically detailed: Your visit to Washington is not complete unless you stop at the famous Kavakos Night Club... The liveliest and most reasonable place in the nation's capital... Seating capacity of over 500... Just wonderful food at sensible prices... Dancing and Entertainment nightly. (The Home of the Largest Glass of Beer) [presumably in the city?]

The card is in great condition. It's an airbrushed, hand-painted photograph print depicting a wide open space with low ceilings. Wooden booths line the wall, and 4-seat formica and aluminum cocktail tables are crammed onto the floor, alternating between vibrant red tables with blue chairs, and blue tables with red chairs. At the far end of the room, centered on the wall, a short bandstand, and in front, a dance floor defined with white-painted iron railings.

I want this place still to exist (minus all the, you know, segregation). Unfortunately all we have now is a Foot Locker.

From information gained here, here, and here it seems this place was a neighborhood legend. The location of the Beuchert Tavern from the 1860s or so, Greek immigrant Louis (or maybe William?) Kavakos opened a confectionery in the space during prohibition. After, Kavakos opened a tavern, later on opening up the back for a nightclub. It operated from ~1936 until its closing in 1956. The club had a house band, self-named The Orchestra, playing jazz and attracting guest appearances by jazz greats. The Kavakos Club was whites-only, which apparently caused tensions when big-name jazz musicians like Nat King Cole would play, with crowds of blacks outside wanting to get in.

Charlie Parker played Kavakos for a one-night appearance late in his career. Parker's performance on February 22, 1953 was recorded and originally released under the title, "Charlie Parker, One Night in Washington" (Elecktra). It is said to be one of Bird's best live recordings. I'm not sure the original is still available, but it's been re-released as the first 8 tracks, with other live material, on "Charlie Parker with Quartet & the Orchestra: Washington Concerts" (Blue Note Records). I took a listen. I'm not a musician, but even I can tell it's pretty epic.

After the nightclub closed, the building was used for other businesses, eventually ending up abandoned and in disrepair. It was demolished in 1999, and the lovely commercial structure linked to above was constructed.

So, my antique store find in Cocoa, Florida ended up being a small window into H Street's rich history, and makes the place feel a little more like home. All for only $4.