Pete Douglas — ran jazz club for decades in Half Moon Bay
Pete Douglas, a lifelong lover of music who turned an abandoned beer joint into a renowned music and jazz club in Half Moon Bay, died July 12 in Miramar Beach at the age of 85. He was sitting at his desk, wearing his trademark beanie and smoking his pipe as he looked out over the Pacific Ocean.
Mr. Douglas ran the Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society in Half Moon Bay for nearly 50 years, and became known to friends as the “original hipster.”
Serendipitous
Saxophonist David Liebman, a frequent performer at the Bach, said the club Mr. Douglas built had the perfect combination: “a nice meal and drinks; playing jazz for an appreciative audience; a great piano; complete care of the musicians; all with the Pacific Ocean at your doorstep; and of course Pete, who knew it all and would sit front and center listening like a hawk.”
Mr. Douglas was born in Waukegan, Ill., in 1929, and he and his family moved to the Los Angeles area in the 1940s after his father died. As a teenager, Mr. Douglas loved the beaches of Southern California, and soon became involved in the local jazz scene, frequenting clubs such as the Lighthouse Cafe and listening to swing, early bebop and the sounds of West Coast jazz.
He attended UC Santa Barbara and graduated in 1955, after serving in the Army in the Korean War. He met his future wife, Pat Parslow, in 1953, and the two were married and moved to San Mateo County, where Mr. Douglas worked as a probation officer.
But music always called, and when Mr. Douglas took a day trip down the coast with his young daughter, Linda, he happened upon the abandoned beer joint that he would buy. He moved his family into the small building, and soon had musicians coming to play. By 1958, with improvements and expansions to the site, he had beatniks and local artists performing at the club, and he hosted private impromptu music jams.
Jazz luminaries
After becoming the nonprofit Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society in 1964, the club offered regular jazz and classical programs to the public, attracting local and national jazz luminaries, from Betty Carter, Bill Evans and Stan Getz to Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Etta James, Dexter Gordon and Dizzy Gillespie, to name a few. Notables in the classical music world such as the Kronos Quartet and Mariano Cordoba also performed at the club.
“Pete gave me my start in the jazz world in 1973 and has always been a mentor to me,” said Tim Jackson, artistic director of the Monterey Jazz Festival and Kuumbwa Jazz in Santa Cruz, who worked as a ticket taker at the Half Moon Bay club.
“Pete was a pioneer in jazz presenting and presided over one of the longest-tenured jazz venues in the country. His passion for quality music and developing audience engagement— or a ‘scene,’ as Pete always said — was paramount and never diminished.
“I will miss that chiseled face with the pipe and Greek fisherman’s cap (Etta James called him ‘Popeye’) and will always remember the spirit he brought to any conversation.”
Shows continuing
Linda Goetz, who knew Mr. Douglas for 35 years and worked for him for eight years, is the successor to the nonprofit. She said performances will continue as scheduled at least through October.
She recalled Mr. Douglas’ generous spirit, but laughed trying to pinpoint just the right words for his personality. “He was a curmudgeon — with a huge heart,” Goetz said. “He was true to his word and generous, and had a very strong will.”
Mr. Douglas is survived by his daughters Linda Tichenor and Virginia Castillo of Davenport and Barbara Riching of Los Gatos; grandsons Tony, Aaron and Andrew Ackerman and Maxwell Riching; granddaughters Chelsea and Tina Castillo; and several great-grandchildren.
Mr. Douglas, who was divorced from his wife, Pat, is predeceased by his brother John “Jack” Douglas and survived by his brother Roger Dial. A memorial will be announced on the Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society’s website at http://www.bachddsoc.org, where memorial donations may also be made to the nonprofit organization.