Election Section

Jazz is more than a passing fancy for Anna De Leon, a singer/composer who is currently wrapping up the mixing of her latest CD. The restaurateur/perfomer also holds two UCLA degrees in painting, and she was president of the Berkeley arts commission for three years. She also holds a law degree and once headed the Berkeley school board. 

She’d been a Patrick Kennedy tenant at her old location at 1801 University Ave., and she said the Gaia move came at his invitation. 

“My lease came up for renewal and I mentioned to him that customers were telling me I’d do better business downtown. That’s when he invited me to come to the Gaia Building,” she said. 

Anna’s, renamed the Blackbird, would occupy a street-front location a half-block up from Shattuck Avenue. 

De Leon closed her restaurant in February, 2003, vacating early so Youth Radio—a much admired nonprofit then desperately in need of a new home—could set up shop in a spot with zoning tailor-made for their needs. 

Then she made plans, bought a grand piano and some furniture. And waited. 

“I expected to move in about nine months ago. I don’t know what’s happened, although Patrick tells me he’s applied to the city for a building permit,” she said. “I can’t do anything till he puts in the walls, the wiring, the bathroom and the ventilation system. I could be done in a month once he puts in the shell.” 

And that, says Kennedy, could happen in a few weeks. 

De Leon said she’s made good use of her time. “I’ve been writing a lot,” she said, “and working on my new CD,” which features her singing and backed by jazz legends singer/composer/guitarist Taj Mahal, Harold Jones (the last drummer to back up the great Sarah Vaughn), and pianist Kenny Baron. 

And if everything goes the way she hopes, the Blackbird will soon be offering free vintage jazz movies on a large-screen TV during the afternoons and live music at night, “with an emphasis on local musicians”—which is why she disagrees with Spring on the suitability of her club under the cultural density bonus. “It will be a wonderful cultural use for the city,” said De Leon. 

Richard Kalman, a patron and jazz musician, agrees. “I played there, and it was a great place to hang out, too. I loved it. It was a great place for local bands to develop their craft. It was also a wonderful place for the after-theater crowd to go.” The San Francisco dubbed Anna’s “a quintessentially Berkeley cafe,” and the San Francisco Bay Guardian described it as “a rare place that recharges the soul.” 

City Councilmember Dona Spring, whose district includes the Gaia Building, say she’s also not convinced that De Leon’s relocated for-profit café justifies giving Kennedy more profit-making apartments. “When the cultural bonus was implemented, it was to help civic arts organizations that couldn’t afford downtown rents,” she said. “The idea was to create subsidized venues for non-profits, which Anna’s Jazz Cafe is not,” Spring said. “But the Zoning Adjustment Board did approve it.” 

Patrick Kennedy says Anna’s is a perfect fit. “My view is that the city should be grateful to have any cultural activity that’s willing to locate downtown,” Kennedy said. “‘Nonprofit’ is a distinction that doesn’t matter to me. Anna’s is a labor of love, and whether she makes a profit remains to be seen. 

“Besides, I’m really excited about having a venture that will appeal to the aging hipster,” he said. “I think there’s a dearth of those right now.” 

Fans of De Leon’s contralto riffs can catch her and other musicians Sunday at the International Women’s Day Concert at Freight & Salvage, 1100 Addison Way, starting at 8 p.m. Fellow performers include Barbara Dane, Ronnie Gilbert, India Cooke and others. For tickets or more information, call 548-1761 or go to www.thefreight.org.