Ed Pearl, the owner of the Ash Grove, one of the folk clubs that was raided by LAPD mentioned in Set the Night On Fire died yesterday of COVID. Ed was politically and culturally active in Los Angles since childhood. Raised in Boyle Heights, his first organization was Habonim, a Labor Zionist group that he joined at age ten and remained active until 1956. In 1958, Ed linked his passion for music and politics when he opened the Ash Grove in Los Angeles that became a mecca for the emerging folk and rock musicians of the 1960s, and a focal point for the progressive cultural and political forces that shaped the times. The original Ash Grove, located on Melrose Avenue, thrived from 1958 to 1973, and exposed the entire city, including the recording industry, to a vast range of Black and white folk traditions of the U.S. The club was a magnet where cultures, politics and music merged, legitimizing the country’s unique multi-cultural heritage and providing an important platform for the emerging voice of the 60s generation.
The Ash Grove hosted events and was a social meeting place for people involved in a variety of causes -- from the Civil Rights to the Anti-Nuclear and emerging student movements. As the Viet Nam War deepened, he helped found the Peace & Freedom Party in 1967. Ed was unabashed about his politics, and it created enemies. The Ash Grove was first struck by arson in 1969. After a benefit from many of the great performers that had appeared at the club, it reopened. Fire struck again in 1970, when six men affiliated with an Anti-Castro group broke into the club and set it afire. The final fire, on November 11, 1973, totally destroyed the club. When Ed reminisced about the original Ash Grove it was not with sentimentality, but with pride about the club’s accomplishments. “I dignified people’s culture and I brought ethnic musical heritage and culture to the people in Hollywood.” Rest in power Ed. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#6274): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/6274 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/80532906/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
