Blue Cafe

I miss the old location. Didn’t care at all for the new downstairs venue. It’s completely lost its charm and character. Rumor has it that the place was about to take a dive so the owners flooded it on purpose to collect the insurance money. I’m not sure what happened, but eh I don’t care to return.

They have an eviction notice posted on the front window.
This horrible place has finally been laid to rest.
No longer will I have to step carefully down into it’s dark depths where rude bartenders await me.

Anything featuring Goodjob Gian, YoBill, or the Skurpty Circus is a MUST SEE at this venue!!! Great sound, good drinks, and always cheap to attend!

Fuck this place.

Tonight We Put It Down Baby!
BOOGIE AT THE BLUE II
Doors Open @ 9, $ 5!!!
Come Thru! I Know You Got $ 5, If Not, You Don’t Need To Be Out Tonight!
We’re Going To Make It AMAZING For You All!!!
WHAT THAT BOOGIE LORDS LIKE!!!

I’ve gone to the Blue Café numerous times to watch hip-​hop artists perform on stage. The place is small, dark, and has a cozy feel. The drinks are fairly cheap. The establishment is nothing fancy, in fact, it has a basement feel to it. There are a few tables scattered around, a couple of arm chairs, the bar is small, the stage is small, and it can get hot but overall the atmosphere is chill. Mariposa’s is above and Taco Beach is next door and basically it’s in the middle of restaurants, bars, and clubs. I like it.

Very chill vibe in this place, but it’s not a lounge. More like an underground bar… literally underground. It’s in the basement of Mariposa’s. Beers are $ 5 and they only took cash when I was there. Something about the CC machine being broken. I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens frequently here. I wouldn’t mind coming back. Something about this place just feels incomplete to me though. I can’t put my finger on it though.

If you have Normies as family members, they belong upstairs with people proudly showing off what they got at Forever 21 or Charlotte Russe that day… Mariposa is upstairs. They play pop music. Like every other normie club with cops waiting outside.
Blue Café was pretty cool, more about bands and music. the bathroom is only upstairs. Ladies restroom, the stall on the right sucks, it flushes, you just have to jiggle the handle a lot, PLEASE FLUSH. or raise the thing on the cover of the tank, and pull that top up, to release the water in order for it to flush.
Blue Café is the basement, more cozy, and more inviting environment than upstairs, and basically if you like live bands and dont’ dress like it’s the 90’s.
So check it if you like a band that is playing. I probably wouldn’t go unless someone I wanted to see was playing.

I went to see a live band here not too long ago and it was my first time at this place. The security guards don’t act like jerks like at many other venues which is a huge plus for me. The space is just the right size with plenty of room for the band, the crowd, the merchendise tables, and the bar. The beer was suprisingly cheap, they sold $ 3 domestic beers and I believe it was $ 5 for imported. The bartender kinda ignores you if you don’t tip her I noticed.
The only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars is because of two reasons. The first reason is that the place plays very loud music inbetween bands. I’ve been to many venues and hundreds of concerts. Venues like to play music inbetween bands, I know. But the volume they had their music at was just ridiculous. They shouldn’t even play music inbetween bands to begin with. I like to walk around meeting people and talking to friends but I couldn’t do that with the music inbetween bands.
The second reason is because they only have one bathroom/​toilet (no urinals). The line goes on forever and after a few beers you usually really have to go. They should add a second bathroom, a mens & womens bathroom to speed things up.

The Blue Café depicts the true spirit and eclectic nature of Long Beach night life. The bartenders here are real, and by that I mean that they will share a story that will captivate and leave you with good memories. The management and ownership are top notch and know how to run the multi-​genre, multi-​story venue with grace and respect. The security that works Mariposa and The Blue Café are superb! Yes, they are big, strong and will not hesitate to throw a person out if he or she is acting in a way that makes the environment unenjoyable to the rest of the guests. The security has a bad rap, but unjustly so. They do their job and do their job exceedingly well. If you approach them and just say «Hi» they will not hesitate to converse with you and ensure you have a great night.
The bottom line is this venue is stellar! Visit The Blue Café and Mariposa and enjoy the music, drinks, and ambiance of a true night club. I promise that you will not be disappointed in the least.

I was a big fan of the old Blue Café and Mariposa. Both great locations with great crowds and great party atmospheres.
This location sucks. The building and layout are ugly. The crowd is ghetto and not ghettofabulous.
Ground level they were playing old run of the mill lame gangster hip hop, you know the played out shit…“slap bitches, pimping hoes, shoot tricks, kick their toes” boring, fail, duck poop…
Down stairs they had a goth metal band. It was extremely hot and smelly like vomit and piss. Nasty. But i preferred it to the gangsta hop upstairs which made me want to vomit and piss myself.
Later I ended up upstairs on the third floor which is the only thing i like about this place. Several comfy couches to kick back and relax while you contemplate why you came here? ? ?
Blue Café and Mariposa are dead. This place should be called something totally new like «Mc Gangsta» «Big Pimpen» «Club Foot» «Donkey Spot» «Turtle Head» «Poopy Mc Fadden’s» «Jerry Dunfry & McCormicks» «Ghetto Lame» «Butt Cheeks»

I came to see The Blahs play upstairs. Very easy to find and their website gave great advice for parking. The sound was great, the bartender was a pleasure to talk to, and their drink prices are alright.
Suprisingly, the bathroom was very clean. I’m not used to that in a club/​bar scene downtown. They even had a smoking lounge section!
The atmosphere was very cool and welcoming. Parking was totally easy on a weekday.
I would definately come back to check out the bands and grab a drink.

I have to agree with the majority of the new reviews. Maybe it was better at the old location, but the new one sucks in so many ways.
The other night I was booked in a show here, and we all agree we will never make that mistake again. The club was unorganized, had an extremely rude staff, sound system sucked and thumped throughout our songs… forcing us to do acts twice in a row. It was dark, and smelled like vomit.
Once you entered the Mexican restaurant above, and are blown away with horrible loud music, you have to walk down a flight of stairs to get to Blue Café. The entire night our bands, and dancers were fighting the music above and the audience just heard noise, leaving them either looking miserable or they simply left…
The front staff (girl at the door and security) gave our guests such a hard time that a few people decided not to even go in after dealing with them. The bartender gave performers a hard time about drinks when we had drink tickets in hand and clearly were performers (no one else was covered in candy costumes!). The sound guy yelled at the producer claiming we needed music between bands (even though a dance troupe was about to go on stage), and we were trying to save our poor audiences eardrums… which did not work thanks to the club above.
I agree with the reviewer who said «My advice, if your charging guests an entrance fee, use that money to do something with your place, really.» Because our producer worked her booty off to make that place look decent and that was not easy.
But lets get to the best part… my favorite was that the night of our show they told us they did not have the correct license to do a burlesque show… um not our problem blue café! We booked this event 3 months ago, I was basically naked on the flyer and it clearly said «Candy Land Burlesque» in big letters… we told you up front what it was, if you couldent do the show, you never should have booked it! (After ruining our line up and sitting around for hours, we were allowed to go down to our bra and underwear).
It took everything in me not to run up to the people in charge and yell at them and choke them… DO NOT COME HERE… EVER!

Well first off, it’s downstairs and not properly ventilated so it’s smelly and hot.
Second off, there’s a cheezy Spanish club upstairs that is the LOUDEST club I have ever been in. (I’ve been in a lot of loud, cheezy Spanish clubs). The two places are obviously competing to be heard over each other, and standing at certain points in the Blue Café, you can hear the horrible Spanish tunes (this from a girl that likes horrible Spanish tunes, so if I say it’s bad, it’s bad). This sort of makes your head want to explode.
Also, when I wandered upstairs trying to find a restroom, the security guard got all crazy, like I would ever want to walk into Mariposa. (Someday I will tell the story of getting manhandled at its former location. Not today.)

My band played here the other night. In short, we will never play here again. Totally unorganized, horrible/​rude staff, sound system sucked ass, dark dingy and gross.
The front staff, mostly the girl at the door, had a total power trip and a bizarre way of treating not only our band members, but our guests and friends. Once she found out a member of our band was under 21, she tripped & lectured him for about 5 minutes before she let him enter. My second band mate, under 21, walked up and she refused him to enter. So he said, «you just let my other band mate enter that’s under 21?». She eventually let him in and but told him that he would never be allowed back. He said that’s fine and she said, very sarcastically, «Great, Thank you!». Honestly, she should have given the event manager/​promoter crap and not taken it out on us and humiliated us in front of our guests. Her quarrels go on… but let’s proceed.
I’m the singer. From the moment our band started, I couldn’t hear myself. My girlfriend in the audience gave me a signal that she could barely hear me as well. After our first song, I asked the sound guy to turn me up and turn up my monitor. It sounded ok for the first 30 seconds, but again, I couldn’t hear myself — so it was pretty much like someone def trying to talk. This went on through our set. After our set, our audience all said we rocked but agreed that they couldn’t really hear me… shame =(
Once you entered this Mexican restaurant, you have to walk down a flight of stairs to get to Blue Café. A real pain-​in-​the-​ass hauling gear. Once down there, it’s dark, dingy and has nothing going for itself. Just a dark room with bad acoustics and a small stage. My advice, if your charging guests an entrance fee, use that money to do something with your place, really.
All and all, what really killed the whole night was the girl power tripping up front. She was rude, treated everyone like crap. I say everyone cause I mentioned her on stage and the crowd busted up laughing… they all experienced her too. Save your time, do not come here.

The place was empty and the service was slow. The complimentry chips an salsa were so greasy that people at the table were actually dabbing a napkin on them. They only had an entrée menu with no drink menu, and when asked the scary lady with 100 pounds of make up said they have almost everything. The music was okay, I guess it was 70s funk day… She’s a brick… house… ow!
Bathrooms kind of unkept.

Anyone into True Blood? If you are you will know exactly what I am talking about when I describe walking into Blue Café on a Sunday afternoon and feeling like I just walked in on Maryann and one of her vibrating forest orgies.
Got made fun of by the bartender for ordering a diet cherry coke, got hit on twice when Jeff wasn’t around by the same creepy dude, got to see 50 year old barefooted women dry hump each other on the dance floor (brought back work memories), but most of all heard some pretty fun blues. If I am in the DT area again, I will stop by for some entertainment.

I can’t remember how many times I’ve played this place, usually backing blues guys named after body types, body parts, florid colors, parts of the country, their favorite booze and/​or instrument, often with the word «James», «Jones», «Slim» interspersed somewhere in there.
For decades, nothing’s changed with the Blue Café. Why fix a club that has won «Best Blues Club» awards from Blues Review Magazine and others?
However acoustics are kind of doggy, food is unmemorable, parking is typical downtown-​tricky and musicians «run the gauntlet» loading in and out, but I give them four stars since they pioneered the downtown Long Beach renaissance and have stayed in business keepin’ the blues alive and well.

I’m really not sure what to make of this place. I went on such an odd night that I don’t think I can really pinpoint what this place is about. I went to see my friend’s band. It was a rainy Friday night and there were literally 10 people inside. There were still 3 huge guys outside with a guesttlist though, which was kind of humorous. The place looks cool, it’s pretty spacious inside and has 2 full bars, one downstairs and one upstairs. There was some sort of club going on upstairs with about 3 people total. Anyway, drinks were good but oddly priced. $ 10 long islands and $ 5 vodka tonics. I’d stick with the cheaper stuff next time because they were equally strong. My friend’s band rocked and we had the whole place to ourselves. I don’t think I’d randomly come here but if a band I liked played, then definitely. We parked at the garage on 3^rd and Pine and when we left at 1:30am, they didn’t make us pay a cent, always nice :)

Was feeling a little blue till I finally found you at the café, the Blue Café.
That changed instantly after the Mama’s Boys opened up with a loud, raucous, dance-​inducing jam by, I think, John Mayall. These boys jammed and it was only a little after 5p.m. Sunday. We’d had a fairly tame day up to that point but now was a good time for a vodka martini and some loud rock and roll. Their very first song of the set had a half dozen pairs of dancers gyrating across the floor and how I wanted to join them. It’s been too long since my ass was moving to some good honky-​tonk vibe.
It’d also been years since I was here last and when fellow Unilocaler, Steve B, suggested it, I didn’t put two and two together until I saw the café itself. I’d walked past it three times before spotting Steve looking for me (it’s set back some from 3^rd St) But Long Beach is blessed to have such a rock and blues house right downtown… a house that isn’t afraid to play it loud and rowdy and yeah, go ahead and let them smoke, as long as they play well and the bartenders serve a mean drink. And oh did they. If I didn’t have a dozen stitches in my shoulder, I would’ve grabbed fresh meat, Steve, and pulled him onto the dance floor. I don’t know how he would’ve taken it but I think he was interested enough… he certainly had the cat’s grin going for him.
Two minor nits: My martini arrived sans the ordered lemon twist and there was no hand soap in the upstairs ladies-​room. Both were corrected right then.
Two stories of cool sound, pool tables upstairs, food down and good drinks and music. Life couldn’t get much better for a Sunday… or any day… I just have to get these fucking stitches pulled.