For nearly three decades, Catalina Popescu has owned and operated one of the premier jazz clubs in America, right in the heart of Los Angeles. This month she tells us about how she got started and how she keeps it going after all these years.
By Billy Kerr
Running a bar/restaurant, as anyone who has engaged in the task can tell you, is a daunting, thankless, almost impossible chore. What with the fickle attitudes of patrons, changing taste in food, and a feeling of simpatico with the actual space the establishment occupies, many obstacles must be addressed. Adding live jazz to the mix, many would say, verges on insanity. Owning and operating a jazz club is not for the faint of heart, but that is exactly what Catalina Popescu has done for the last twenty-seven years.
In 1986, Popescu and her late husband Bob decided to open a seafood restaurant (the legal name of the club remains Catalina’s Seafood Inc.), but were warned by a friend that a seafood venue would be a risky venture. According to Popescu, the friend pointed out that, “It would be better to have music, jazz in particular, as part of the enterprise, since jazz would attract a more specialized clientele.” (Bartender, I’ll have what he’s having.)
The Popescus took their friend’s advice and opened Catalina’s on Cahuenga Blvd., a block south of Hollywood Blvd. in the heart of Hollywood, in October 1986. Seafood was at the center of the menu, and the couple, not knowing much about the genre, decided to hire local jazz musicians to provide the music; in fact, the very first group to perform was lead by legendary saxophonist/flutist, Buddy Collette. Catalina’s continued to hire local groups, but they were not able to make enough money to sustain the business. “One night, Bob announced he knew what we would do to change everything,” says Popescu. “We’re going to hire Dizzy Gillespie.” Gillespie’s was the only jazz name known by the couple, because he was the only famous jazz musician to have performed in their native Rumania, back when the “Iron Curtain” was very much a reality in Eastern Europe.
