Novice Cozies Up to the Blues Scene With New Club

A new blues joint has arrived on Ventura Boulevard with the help of some old and well-placed friends.

Cozy’s Bar & Grill is run by Steve Rakoczy, a soft-spoken 29-year-old who has no experience in the nightclub business. Such was his desire to operate a blues club that Rakoczy dared to pick up the telephone and ask advice from local competitors such as B.B. King’s Blues Club and the House of Blues. He also called Clifford Antone, of the famed Antone’s in Austin, Texas.

“The blues community is really supportive. It’s not such a cut-throat business,” said Rakoczy, who previously worked in the film industry. “People gave me some suggestions and introduced me to other people.”

As a result, Cozy’s has lined up an impressive array of blues men from across the country as well as a house band featuring guitarist Denny Freeman, who mentored Jimmie Vaughan, and veteran tenor saxophonist Joe Sublett.

“With those two guys, you can’t get any better than that. And I told him I would send him all the bands he wants,” Antone said from his Texas home. “This fella, he wants to make a nice club.”

Appropriate to its name, Cozy’s is a relatively intimate room that opened its doors to decent-sized audiences last weekend. A jukebox features the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Lee Hooker and Smokey Wilson, who appeared at the club Saturday night.

The veteran Mississippi guitarist worked from a small stage by the entrance, his band framed by the blue neon in the front window. The audience clustered around tall tables in the long, slender main room. With faux-painted walls and indirect lighting, with muted golds and reds and blues, the club presented itself in suitably dusky fashion. There was no skimping on volume from the new sound system.

To one side, silverware clanked against plates in a small dining room where most of the tables offered a view of the stage. In back, beside the bar, a handful of men and women bent over three pool tables.

“I’m just trying to bring some down-home blues to the Valley,” Rakoczy said. “I saw this place and thought it was a great opportunity. I just felt this type of club was needed.”

Cozy’s plans to offer live music Wednesdays through Saturdays, with varying cover charges. The price for Wilson’s show was $7. Upcoming acts include Blue by Nature and a string of Austin performers such as Miss Lavelle White and guitarist-harmonica player Gary Primich.

But Rakoczy seems even more excited about his house band, whose leader boasts convincing credentials.

Freeman made his mark at Antone’s in the mid-1970s, when the Austin club began importing such blues veterans as Buddy Guy and Otis Rush. The room became a breeding ground for a local scene that included the Fabulous Thunderbirds, with Jimmie Vaughan and Lou Ann Barton. On one oft-recalled night, Albert King dueled with a young, unknown Stevie Ray Vaughan.

In those days, the younger Vaughan had a band called the Cobras that included Freeman and Sublett. The two sidemen are now trying to generate some of that old spark some 1,500 miles west.

“We’re trying to have fun and create a little thing here,” Freeman said. “I’m hoping it’s a place for musicians, hipsters and girls.”

And with Freeman’s wide circle of friends, Rakoczy hopes that the house band will draw visits from luminaries such as Jimmie Vaughan and Robert Cray.

“Denny says the hipsters will come out on weeknights,” Rakoczy said. “It would be nice.”

Such impromptu jams could help build a reputation for the latest addition to the smattering of Valley blues clubs. Cozy’s hopes to draw from the same audience as Smokin’ Johnnie’s in Studio City, the Classroom in Northridge and, to some extent, B.B. King’s at CityWalk.

Antone, who for years has brought musicians on barnstorming tours through Los Angeles, thinks there is enough of a fan base.

“L.A.’s a great town for the blues,” Antone said. “You’ve got people who appreciate the art. So many of them would like to go someplace that’s clean and set up right, just for music and not to be hassled.”

That sounds right to Rakoczy. He spent much of Saturday night standing by the bar. The smile on his face came partly from the crowd and partly from the soulful notes emanating from Wilson’s Fender Stratocaster. “This is a dream,” he said.

Fortunately for him, there are a handful of people willing to help make that dream come true.

“What he’s trying to do is a real demanding, frightening thing,” Freeman said. “But I think his heart’s in the right place. Me and some other people have tried to pass on our experience. We’re rooting for him.”

DETAILS

* WHAT: Cozy’s Bar & Grill.

* WHERE: 14058 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks.

* WHEN: 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 11 a.m.-2 a.m. Wednesday-Saturday.

* HOW MUCH: Cover charges vary.

* CALL: (818) 986-6000.