The Hot Club of Los Angeles
The Hot Club of Los Angeles
The Cinema BarSepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles 90066
The Hot Club of Los Angeles plays at the Cinema Bar in Culver City. The Los Angeles five-piece brings its long-running connection with the room to a set built around Django Reinhardt’s repertoire, reframed through the group’s own improvising approach. The available lineup names Jim Doyle on drums, Carl Byron on accordion and piano, Paul Eckman on bass, and guitarists Josh Workman and Jake Bluenote.
Founded in Los Angeles in 2011, the ensemble calls itself a “nuevo Django” band: rooted in the Django tradition while “not trying to recreate the past.” Its music blends swing, jazz, rock and roll, and acoustic string music. The Daily News hears an “old-school form of European-born hybrid jazz,” while LA Weekly credited the group with “keep[ing] gypsy jazz alive” and the Argonaut wrote that it “revives the spirit of 1930s Paris.” The band was resident for Jackson Browne’s Artists for Peace and Justice benefits in 2017 and 2018. Doyle’s wider credits include Browne, Brian Setzer and Joan Osborne; Eckman has worked with Jessie Baylin, Peter Case and Rick Vito. Their 2024 album Nova earned strong reviews and reached the Top 50 jazz charts, according to a Culver City News interview.
The Cinema Bar’s defining feature is its long-running place in Culver City’s music life: the family-owned bar has been serving drinks since 1947 and regularly hosts live bands. In the main room, acts play from a small corner stage beneath string lights and dark wood paneling, with barstools close by; the music can spill onto a covered patio. It’s a working bar as well as a show room, so expect drinks and conversation around the performance. The bar does not serve food, but visitors report bringing takeout from nearby spots. Recent listings describe live music with no cover, though check the night’s details before heading over. The venue’s website lists its address as 3967 Sepulveda Boulevard, Culver City, and current information supports that it remains open there.