Outlaw Open Mic

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The espresso bar at Harlem Place Cafe

By Gillian Singletary

Harlem Place Café’s open mic forges a Downtown alternative to Hollywood glitz

I didn’t know what to expect when I was asked to attend the Speakeasy open mic night at Harlem Place Cafe. I’ve been to open mics before. That is, I had an idea of what an open mic should be like and, frankly, I was dreading it. Memories of high school students struggling to place their fingers on every chord or comedians who sweat and stammer about airline food. But I needed to go inside. I needed to see this one for myself. And honestly? I needed a sandwich.

I’d done my homework so the venue wasn’t too hard to find. It’s tucked away down an alley across from Bar 107 on Fourth Street. White lights are draped over the alley, but the entrance is nearly hidden nonetheless. There was certainly no bouncer or smoking crowd outside when I first arrived.

The show hadn’t even started yet, but most of the seats were already filled and even though I was alone, the atmosphere was fortunately comfortable. Towards the back of the small cafe were a few couches and two or three people were perched at a long bar with laptops. But the action was up front, near the stage—a protrusion that was only slightly elevated and decorated with an eclectic selection of LPs taped to the wall behind the microphone. In one corner DJ El Ray stood behind his MacBook and MC Gil Jackson flitted around the room, chatting amiably with many of the attendees.

Now about that sandwich: I had hummus. It was tasty, if nothing to write home about. Since I was there right around nine o’clock, it was also only $4.50. Add that to a $5 beer (or sangria if you’re feeling saucy) and that’s a pretty cheap date.

I took a seat at one of the tables and quickly realized that the reason the mic opened up nearly right on time was because there were a lot of acts to fill the slots. Artists that want to participate—poets, musicians, spoken word artists—can email the show on Sunday for a slot on Monday night. There are no experience requirements or fan quotas. The only bar to entry is a desire to perform. The night I attended, performances ran the gamut from John Mayer-esque singer/songwriters to politically charged spoken word to comical poetry readings. There was even a father/daughter ukulele duet. There were bad jokes, to be sure, but there were also funny jokes. There were chords that were out of tune, but there were also voices that soared.

You know that feeling you get when you’re around artists? Not the temperamental kind, the kind who insist all trace of celery be removed from their crudités and placed in a silk-lined jewelry box. I’m talking about the kind that don’t even complain about eating Ramen Noodles because they’re contributing to society in the way in which they prefer. Maybe in L.A. you don’t know that feeling too often. But it’s a good one. It feels raw and welcoming and this is exactly what Speakeasy founders Tara Malia and Nicole Rush were aiming for when they started the event last year as “an organic place for artists to come and develop themselves as artists.”

The pair had noticed that many “artists” in L.A. were pre-packaged before they had even seen a stage. Malia and Rush wanted to change that. They hope that Speakeasy will continue to exist and grow while maintaining its “anti-Hollywood” essence. They intend Speakeasy to be a place where musicians can play songs they wrote just the night before and comedians can test jokes, not sure if they’ll fall flat or soar. In the short four months that Speakeasy has existed, it has continued to grow in popularity. The Harlem Place Cafe was packed shoulder to shoulder on the night that I went and the Café’s staff couldn’t be happier about it.

Harlem Place Café, the second incarnation of what was formerly known as Lost Souls Cafe, is an ideal venue for the Speakeasy Open Mic night, not only because of the cheap beer (let me reiterate, $5) but also because of the location. You’re forced to go down a dark and seemingly empty alley before you walk into a door that transports you to another world, or at least another coast. It makes the experience and the connection to the other audience members feel unique and a little subversive. Since Speakeasy is meant to be a “juxtaposition to Hollywood,” holding it downtown, surrounded by high rises and galleries, is a natural choice.

As Malia put it, attending a Speakeasy night is like hanging out with “a room full of friends you just met.”

Speakeasy Open Mic takes place each Monday at 7 p.m. at Harlem Place Café. Harlem Place Café is located at 124 West Fourth Street in Downtown L.A. It is open from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.


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