Harvelle's R&B club sits on the Redondo Beach pier, unassumingly wedged among restaurants, clothing stores and gift shops.

Though Harvelle¹s may be new to the location ‹ the club has hosted special engagements since May, with its official opening set for Wednesday ‹ its music is no stranger to the site.
During the 1960s and ¹70s, a club called Concerts By the Sea played host to blues greats such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and B.B. King.
Inside the walls of Harvelle¹s the rich history of the location is alive and well.
From the red-and-black checkered floor in the bar to the chandelier in the ladies¹ restroom and red candles covering every surface, Harvelle¹s exudes the decadence of the American jazz era.
Owner Cevin Clark designed every inch of the club, from the swanky VIP room to the cherrywood bar. Six months and a million dollars after he leased the location from the city ‹ a site most recently home to the Moxie Nightclub ‹ he has brought his vision to fruition.
Clark began working as a bouncer at the original Harvelle¹s in Santa Monica almost 20 years ago. In 2001 he took over ownership of the club.
The original Harvelle¹s has been open since 1931. In the course of its run, the club has become a necessary stop on the schedule of many blues artists touring the West Coast.
Artists such as Guitar Shorty call the club their second home. Clark said he wanted to bring the same reputation of world-class music to the South Bay.
³The South Bay doesn¹t have any live [big-name blues] music venues, so the need was there,² Clark said.
The number of blues clubs in America has dwindled since the emergence of rock in the 1960s. Clark said today¹s live music venues cater to the tastes of young audiences who haven¹t been exposed to the blues, but he is hoping to change that with the expansion of Harvelle¹s.
Clark is looking to create a circuit of Harvelle¹s clubs along the West Coast, to bring blues music to a wider audience. He said this will provide necessary exposure for artists and audiences.
³We have a venue that can hold bigger names, but we retain the intimate setting of traditional blues clubs,² Clark said.
The expansion begins with the Redondo Beach location, and growth will continue once the South Bay venue has proven successful, Clark said. The club already seems to have created a buzz. For more than a month, Harvelle¹s has drawn crowds with special concerts, such as performances by Grammy-winning Latin jazz artist Poncho Sanchez.
Clark said that despite waning interest in the blues, Harvelle¹s has succeeded because it unites people through music.
³The blues deals with pain and sorrow, love and joy, the full range of the human experience,² he said. ³It¹s like church, really. It¹s a kind of community that brings people together.² The confessional nature of the blues gives Harvelle¹s an atmosphere most music venues don¹t have, Clark said.
³This place has got soul,² he said.
Van Nuys musician Larry ³Fuzzy² Knight, 62, leader of the Blowin¹ Smoke Band, said the human element of blues music makes it timeless. Because blues transcends society¹s obsession with popular culture, it will always find an audience, Knight said.
³It may not be trendy or the music of the moment, but it¹s history,² he said. ³People will hold on to that.² Big-name musicians ranging from Bonnie Raitt and Tom Petty to Etta James and Al Green have played at the Harvelle¹s club in Santa Monica. Legends have been made and stars born on its stage. Naturally, Clark wants to preserve this rich tradition. ³Harvelle¹s wants to create something authentic that reflects the same energy and feeling of those great innovators,² he said.
Burbank¹s Jessie Payo, 24, who performs regularly at Harvelle¹s, said that while the club maintains a traditional blues atmosphere, Clark also invites innovative ideas from his artists. This includes theatrical elements such as lighting, dancing, fire twirling and fog machines to enhance the audience experience during Afro-Cuban numbers and cabaret performances. ³Harvelle¹s is different than any other blues club I¹ve been to,² she said. Payo sees the reemergence of the blues in new artists such as Amy Winehouse, a soulful British chanteuse whose music evokes comparisons to Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington.
³Artists such as Winehouse are blending pop and blues in a way never done before,² Payo said. ³There¹s a way to make blues more mainstream, but you have to do it right.² And the expansion of Harvelle¹s, she said, is an important step in that direction.—Brandon Bridges