Lighthouse

Verpilate's restaurant went up on this spot in 1934 and became a bar called The Lighthouse in 1940; the name only grew a 'Cafe' when the place changed hands in 1981. Bassist Howard Rumsey started a Sunday jam session here in 1949 that grew into the house band, the Lighthouse All-Stars, and the room spent the next three decades as one of the best-known West Coast jazz clubs. Jazz slipped away after the 1981 sale and crept back in the 1990s, first on Sunday afternoons. The club still books live music nightly, including a Sunday jazz brunch that admits anyone under 21 until 1 pm.