Club Passim is an American folk music club in the Harvard Square area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was opened by Joyce Kalina (now Chopra) and Paula Kelley in 1958,[1] when it was known as Club 47 (based on its then address, 47 Mount Auburn Street, also in Cambridge; it moved to its present location on Palmer Street in 1963), and changed its name to simply Passim in 1969. It adopted the present name in 1994; a combination of the earlier two names. In 1994 the venue also became a non-profit.[2]
In the 1960s, the club (when known as Club 47) played a role in the rise of folk-rock music, when it began to book folk-rock bands whose music was unrelated to traditional folk, such as the Lovin' Spoonful.[4] The club's importance to the 1960s Cambridge folk scene is documented extensively in Eric Von Schmidt's Baby, Let Me Follow You Down: The Illustrated Story of the Cambridge Folk Years.[5] Scott Alarik described Club 47 as being "the hangout of choice for the new folkies" during that time.[3]
Today there is a Passim School of Music program, which offers workshops and classes to teens and adults.[6]
Joan Baez described to Rolling Stone'sKurt Loder how she began performing at Club 47 in 1958 as a largely unknown Boston University student, playing on Tuesday nights as a means of providing entertainment because the jazz musicians who played there had Tuesday nights off; she would continue to perform regularly there through the early 1960s.[citation needed]
In 1961, Bob Dylan was said to have played at the club between sets for free so that he could say he had played at Club 47.[7]Dylan: A Biography gives a detailed account of Dylan's first visit to Club 47, where he saw Carolyn Hester perform and performed between Hester's sets in the hopes of impressing club manager Paula Kelley.[8]
Bonnie Raitt chose to attend Radcliffe College in Cambridge to be near Club 47, though the club closed temporarily after her first year as a student (1967).[9]
Bill Staines mentions Club 47 in his autobiography, The Tour. He saw his first coffeehouse (event) performance there in 1962, as a sophomore in high school, and described Club 47 during the 1960s as "one of the premier folk venues in the country."[citation needed]
For some years, Club Passim shared space and featured food from the vegetarian and vegan restaurant Veggie Planet[11] until the end of August 2014, when Veggie Planet closed.[12] As of November 2024[update], brunch is served on Sunday mornings, as well as dinner to ticket holders for matinee and evening shows.[13]
According to Vanity Fair, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and his husband Sean Eldridge met each other on a blind date at Veggie Planet inside Club Passim.[14]
References
Loder, Kurt (1983). "Joan Baez: The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling Stone 4/14/83 (issue # 393).
^Cohen, Ronald (2002). Rainbow Quest: The Folk Music Revival and American Society, 1940–1970. University of Massachusetts Press (Amherst)
^ abAlarik, Scott. "From Club 47 to Club Passim", in Deep Community: Adventures in the Modern Folk Underground (2003). Black Wolf (Cambridge, Mass.)
^Unterberger, Richie (2002). Turn! Turn! Turn: The '60s Folk-Rock Revolution. Backbeat (San Francisco).
^Von Schmidt, Eric (1994). Baby, Let Me Follow You Down: The Illustrated Story of the Cambridge Folk Years, second edition. University of Massachusetts Press (Amherst)
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