Make It a Dirge for Blues on Central

Play it sad and slow for Babe’s and Ricky’s Inn. The last blues club on Central Avenue--the historic heart of Los Angeles’ black community--closed over the weekend, ending a rich era when Angelenos came from all over the city to its hotels, theaters, ballrooms and after-hours joints to hear such greats as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and, always, the blues.

Laura Mae Gross, the 75-year-old operator, could not hold out in a time of ever-diminishing customers and rising rents. Facing competition from upscale clubs elsewhere in the city, Babe’s and Ricky’s never saw its audiences return to the levels that existed before the 1992 riots. Gross fell behind on paying music royalties. Songwriters Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber pitched in, but the losses were just too heavy. After more than three decades, the eviction notice came.

Gross, affectionately called “Mama,” admits to being no financial wizard. Her bar still served only beer and sodas. And on Monday nights, even in 1996, she levied a $2 cover charge that included a home-cooked fried chicken dinner.

But when it came to entertainment, she had it all. B.B. King played the room, and so did Bobby (Blue) Bland and John Lee Hooker. It was also a showcase for the not so famous. Michael Corcoran, a 24-year-old USC graduate and guitarist, had performed at the club for the last two years.

The blues is still the sound at a number of Los Angeles clubs, but with Babe’s and Ricky’s shut down, and the heyday of jazz and blues on Central long gone, there’s a silence that hurts.