Photograph by Dilip Vishwanat
Wife and husband Kim and Roo Yawitz, both under 30, are venturing a bet. They believe that the music fans who show up for a free Tuesday night jazz session might be willing to return on Friday, pay five bucks at the door and take in some rock. Or they won’t, and the up-to-350-person congregation will look a little different each night.
“There’ll be no standard customer at The Gramophone,” Roo says. “Our goal is just to bring in people that love live music.”
“And more importantly,” Kim adds, “we want to create a community of music lovers, where people feel welcome.”
“It’s a very utopian idea,” Roo jokes.
With an appetite that crosses musical genres, The Grove’s newest bar and concert club is just as likely to draw the upscale diners at Five as the Sweetie Pie’s and Everest Café faithful. Signature cocktails include “Death in the Afternoon,” an absinthe and champagne mixture concocted by Ernest Hemingway himself, and the “Dignified Jalapeño,” named for the pair of paint colors on The Gramophone’s walls, patrons can at least agree on refreshment. Or they don’t have to.
“We have a whole list of champagne cocktails that I envision people drinking on a jazz night,” Kim says. “Whereas on a jam band night, people might be drinking cans of Stroh’s.”
Beyond the canned varietals, the venue offers 45 beers and 8 more on tap. Wine is served by the glass or bottle and a premium rail guarantees plastic-free quality for the standard drink. Though a neighborhood bar typically doesn’t pour Prohibition-era classics like the Sidecar, Gin Fizz or Rusty Nail, Kim and Roo hope they’ve created a “come as you are” atmosphere.
‘We’re trying to make this a real friendly place,” she says. “We’re not velvet rope people. You don’t have to buy a bottle of booze to sit down at a table, but it is a very nice establishment.”
Nice means dark wood trim, lofted tables with cushy leather seats and back-lit liquor shelves interspersed with vinyl and topped off with an antique (you guessed it) gramophone. Still, excluding special events, the five-dollar cover is waived from 6 to 9 and ladies get in free till 10 on “Sound Clash” Thursdays, an evening of soul, funk, rock, old school and rare grooves hosted by local DJ all-stars Needles and Crucial.
What concertgoers aren’t getting is food, but the owners hope this will inspire patronage at any one of the restaurants along this gastro-friendly stretch of Manchester. (Or, as the couple suggests, you can just order in a pizza.)
While Kim, a restaurant and bar industry veteran, takes the lead on service, Roo has applied his experience running F5 Records, home to artists such as Earthworms and Nato Caliph, to create a space with musicians in mind. The 12- by 19-foot stage will accommodate larger blues bands booked through STLBlues.net for the Wednesday show, and a comfortable, Internet-ready green room that may entice the traveling acts.
“The best possible thing that we could end up with is a musicians’ hangout,” Roo says.
He cites the closing of such intimate venues as Frederick’s Music Lounge and the Hi-Pointe Café as part of the motivation to establish a smaller club.
“There a lot of fantastic places to see music in St. Louis,” Kim says. “We love BB’s, the Beale, Off Broadway, Blueberry Hill, but I also like a place where I can become part of the culture. I like too diverse a music selection to be down at BB’s every night. So that’s where I think we’re filling a need.”
“If you look at the first month,” Roo says, “we have jazz, blues, rock, reggae, bluegrass.”
“We also have ‘moose rock,’” Kim says. “Whatever that means.”
Live music junkies may come to expect something different from The Gramophone every Tuesday through Saturday night; they may dance or sink into a sofa after drinking absinthe, but entertainment with a smile will be the constant.
The Gramophone is located at 4243 Manchester. An interactive concert calendar and full drink menu are available at thegramophonelive.com.
