Bluebird Cafe

The Bluebird Cafe is long gone. To be more specific the Bluebird Cafe in Santa Barbara is gone, there is a Bluebird Cafe in Wakefield, Rhode Island, one at 4104 Hillsboro Road, Nashville, Tennessee, another in Hopland, California, one in Athens, Georgia, another on Prytania Street in New Orleans – which is actually the predessor to the Rhode Island cafe. Owned by Bart Shumaker who originally with partner Sally opened up the location on Prytania Street, New Orleans. So, when you’re in Rhode Island with a craving for Huevos Rancheros, Southwestern, Cajun, or a Creole dish – drive to Wakefield… But Bluebirds abound, the one to focus on here is the one that we”ll never see again. Lasting from 1971-1976, the Bluebird wasn’t just a cafe but a part of music history, located in Santa Barbara, California, the vision of Peter Feldmann.

Peter founded the Bluebird Cafe in 1971 (hamburgers were 80 cents, beer was a quarter), seeing it as a solution to the problem of staying in the music business while not being able to do as much traveling as previously. The Bluebird was a cafe; it served great, home-style food and a variety of beverages. But that, in a way, was its “cover”, for the Bluebird’s real mission was to form a center and school for acoustic music of all types on the central coast.

This was a cafe built around and for the requirements of musicians, with a great built-in sound system, stage and a ready welcome for the wandering minstrel. Peter’s thought was “..make the musicians happy; they’ll play great music, and the audience will come…” There was music of some sort almost every night, from open mics to singer-songwriters, jazz, blues, and bluegrass bands, old time music, Indian classical music, and even a little light opera, drama, and experimental sounds. Musicians not only performed there, they comprised a large part of the staff. It was a place to exchange musical ideas and try out new acts. performers included Hazel Dickens, The Scragg Family, Lamar Grier, Mance Lipscomb, John DuBois, Aunt Dinah’s Quilting Party, Pat Cloud, Amya Das Gupta, Flash In The Pan, Alice Gerrard, Jon Lazelle, Jess and Leonard Sutton, Jerry Higby, Furry Lewis, Johnny Shines, Earl Collins, L.C. “Good Rockin'” Robinson, Byron Berline & The LA Fiddle Band, Mike Seeger, and many, many others. The Soho is probably the closest restaurant-music venue that is open in Santa Barbara. Don’t expect to get a beer for a quarter, and you won’t find a hamburger for 80 cents, the music on the other hand is well worth the prices.