JAZZ AT PEARL'S

Pearl's in North Beach closed down in 2008. Both original owner Pearl Wong, and new owners Kim Nalley and her husband, Steve Sheraton, who bought the joint in 2003 could no longer fight against the man. Apparently in it's last few years of existence it got increasingly upscale and hooty tooty, in a desperate bid to survive in an increasingly hip North Beach.
Jazz doesn't pay the rent.


Of course I never went, being musically tin-eared. But years ago it was in the basement of the Great Eastern on Jackson Street (diagonally opposite the Great Star Theater and Ping Yuen Bakery), and I had heard about it. At that time it sounded like a great place to go. Pearl, born in 1930, and her daughter Cookie, who sang there, moved the business into North Beach in 1990.

I had a tin ear then.

When it sold in 2003, I had a tin ear.

I still had a tin ear when it closed in 2008.


But I rather wish I didn't. For nearly two decades it had been a fixture, whose beginnings in a basement seemed so very San Francisco. Some of the greatest names in Jazz played there, and Pearl Wong was, apparently, an exceedingly capable hostess. She took over The Great Eastern when her father retired in 1963, and in subsequent years welcomed late night musicians from all over. Two decades later, the basement was made into a Jazz Club (1984), then closed a few years later when Ms. Wong started looking for a new location (1986). Jazz at Pearl's opened in 1990.

There is no longer live jazz in North Beach.
There are still drunkards and clubs.
And as many hipsters as ever.



I still have that tin ear.




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