The Lighthouse Cafe

On our list of the best live music venues in Los Angeles.

A restaurant called Verpilate's opened on the Hermosa Beach pier in 1934 and became a Polynesian-style bar named The Lighthouse in 1940. Jazz arrived on May 29, 1949, when owner John Levine let bassist Howard Rumsey start a Sunday jam session that grew into the house band, the Lighthouse All-Stars, earning the room a reputation as the 'Jazz Corner of the West.' Miles Davis and Max Roach were among the musicians who sat in, and Lee Morgan and The Jazz Crusaders recorded albums there. Current programming runs a jazz brunch on Sundays, along with tribute bands, salsa nights, and DJ sets through the week.