Remembering
Ohara’s Jazz Cafe
Las Olas & Hollywood
Ohara’s Jazz Cafe , owned by Kitty Ryan, was a popular jazz and blues club on Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale that closed in 2008 and relocated to Hollywood. It played a pivotal role in revitalizing the downtown Las Olas area in the late 1980s by bringing live nighttime entertainment and outdoor dining to the boulevard.
Ohara’s legacy and Kitty Ryan
- Revitalized Las Olas After Kitty Ryan purchased the original bar in 1989, she recognized the potential for live jazz and outdoor dining at a time when Las Olas was struggling to attract foot traffic. This led to a rebirth of the street as a nightlife destination.
- Musician-focused Ryan earned a reputation for treating musicians well and featuring top local and national talent without charging a cover fee.
- Notable performers Over 250 musicians performed at Ohara’s during its run, including regular appearances by organist Dr. Lonnie Smith and other well-known artists like George Benson and Arturo Sandoval.
- Send-off and relocation In 2008, Ohara’s held a “19th birthday block party” as a send-off for its Las Olas location. The club was required to move due to an expansion project for the neighboring Riverside Hotel.
The end of the Las Olas location
- The expansion of the Riverside Hotel resulted in the closure of the original Ohara’s on Las Olas, along with other storefronts.
- The club later reopened in a new location in Hollywood, which Kitty Ryan also helped revitalize, but has since closed.
O’Hara’s Pub is packed with patrons wearing polos and button-downs. There isn’t an open seat at the bar, nor is there much standing room in the aisles. Every table is occupied.
And outside the cafe, which sits a few feet from trendy Las Olas Boulevard, every seat is full.
This is a Monday night crowd. On a weekend, the throng would be even bigger, drawn by O’Hara’s Jazz All Stars, including renowned keyboardist Dr. Lonnie Smith, late of the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
But this is Monday night. Well-known local singer Ruby Baker and her band are the featured musicians. The crowd still fills the place, so much so that it’s easy to overlook the petite woman with pageboy bangs who’s snaking her way to the bar.
She mingles, shaking hands until she reaches the bar and grabs a printout of the night’s receipts.
If Kitty Ryan has learned one thing as a club owner, it’s that the hands-on approach is the best way to run a successful business.
“If you delegate too much, then you lose control,” said Ryan, who is 49 but looks at least a decade younger. “That’s the only way to do it.”
And that’s the way she’s done it for more than a decade. In 1987, she bought Broward Liquors, a package liquor store located a few blocks east of O’Hara’s.
She was immediately attracted to the bar next door. “I’ve always thought it was so pretty here,” she said.
By 1989, she had bought the place.
Business along Las Olas Boulevard was seeing tough times then. Aside from visitors wandering over from the beach, pedestrian traffic was light at best.
Ryan remembers those first days at O’Hara’s, when Las Olas resembled “a ghost town” rather than the bustling hub of Fort Lauderdale’s arts community.
“The malls were developed,” Ryan said, “and [merchants along Las Olas] lost to the malls because the shops were new. It was air-conditioned. And there was a lot of free parking.
“Las Olas just wasn’t keeping up with the times,” she added. “The trade catered to the seasonal people, and they really didn’t pay much attention to the local people.”
It wasn’t long after Ryan bought O’Hara’s that things began to turn around for the street. It wasn’t entirely a coincidence.
A native of Miami, Ryan had graduated from the University of South Florida in Tampa with a degree in art. Upon graduating, she found herself working as a commercial artist in a variety of advertising jobs, including Eastern Airlines.
After hours, she frequented the Miami jazz clubs. Aside from the music, she found that it was the “sophistication” surrounding jazz that was the most appealing part of the experience.
After moving into O’Hara’s and noticing the lack of business, she recalled that air of sophistication and realized live jazz just might work in a club with a stage the size of a small soapbox.
“Originally O’Hara’s was not expected to be a musical venue,” Ryan said.
Employees of the place met the idea of a live band with a cold shoulder.
“People kept saying ‘The room’s too small’ and it’s too this and it’s not too that. And the manager I had at the time was saying that it’s not going to work out,” Ryan said, a look of “I told you so” still on her face 10 years later.
“But I said, ‘It’s got to be better than this because we’re really not
generating much revenue.’ The liquor store was carrying the whole thing.”
In June 1989, Ryan hired trumpeter Bob Vandivort and his band ‘Just Jazz’ as O’Hara’s first house band. For the first two years, the band played on the soapbox stage located right at the front door.
After going through a tedious City Hall permitting process, the outdoor cafe followed immediately after the live music.
The combination drew people to Las Olas, and pedestrians came in from the street in droves. Three years later, O’Hara’s expanded into a larger stage area to showcase the music.
“She treats her people right, especially the musicians,” said Danny Burger, perhaps the area’s top jazz drummer. He plays with Dr. Lonnie Smith in the jazz band.
“She gives the people great music without charging a cover at the door,” Burger continued. “I’ve played other places that charge a cover, and they’re empty. Even bartenders at those places have told me that they’re worried. It’s packed every night at O’Hara’s.”
It’s no different at Ryan’s new O’Hara’s on Hollywood’s Young Circle. Since expanding her operation to a larger room in Hollywood a little over a year ago, Ryan has helped bolster what in recent years was a stagnating area with the same sophisticated mix of live jazz and an outdoor cafe setting.
“Kitty definitely carved her niche here on this street,” said singer Toni Bishop, who also has her own self-styled jazz club east of O’Hara’s on Las Olas. “Everybody along Las Olas has followed her lead since she’s been here.”
For a while, Ryan served on the board of the Las Olas Merchants Association. But keeping O’Hara’s up and bustling has kept her busy enough.
“Not only do I pay attention to what happens inside the club, but I also have to represent my business outside of the club,” said Ryan, who uses her club to get involved with charities and various local Chamber of Commerce events as well as lending support to Joe Dimaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood.
“It’s not only about being in the club, it’s also being out there in the public, being seen and letting me promote O’Hara’s.”
Las Olas Back In Town
by Bernard McCormick Tuesday, March 13, 2012
One of South Florida’s noticeable entertainment losses of the last few years was the closing of O’Hara’s on Las Olas Boulevard. That was part of the Riverside Hotel’s expansion disaster, where half of what had been the boulevard’s liveliest block was knocked down to make room for new construction that never happened.
O’Hara’s, owned by Kitty Ryan, had become a popular weekend and nighttime venue. It featured top local entertainment, usually jazz groups, but with an occasional mix of music – such as mini big-bands playing the stuff that made legends of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and other bands from the ’40s and ’50s. O’Hara’s was not a big place, and those horns blew the doors off.
It also altered some careers. Troy Anderson first did his Louis Armstrong imitation, complete with trumpet, as a way to draw customers when he was working the day shift as a bartender. One weekend Kitty Ryan gave him a Sunday afternoon gig, and that was the beginning of something big for Troy. He and his Wonderful World Band have since worked New Orleans and more recently Europe.
When O’Hara’s closed, a lot of Las Olas fun closed with it. Now, however, some of that may be coming back. Sunday at Mangos, just a block east of the former O’Hara’s site, owner John Day teamed with Frank Loconto for an afternoon session which promises to be the start of a beautiful friendship. John Day has long been known as a singer, musician and joke teller. In fact, that’s how he got into the restaurant business some decades back. He was working on a boat and doing a little spot entertaining at a nearby inn. He began to draw crowds and decided he should strike out on his own.
Most people forget, or never knew, that Frank Loconto was part of the Lane Brothers, a group which originated in Boston and came to Florida. Frank, managed by his wife Phyllis, is more recently known for his “County Line” interview show on BECON-TV, sponsored by the Broward School Board. That show specializes in public affairs. But Sunday people at Mangos were reminded of how good he is at his original calling. A gifted singer who can do the classic songs made famous by Sinatra, etc., he is also a smooth and relaxed stage presence. He banters with the audience, recognizes people in the crowd (he knows everybody) and in general puts on a fine show. His inaugural audience included people such as Bea Morley, known locally as the former owner of popular entertainment venues, such as the Mousetrap and Le Club International. Someone at Sunday’s show described it as “a night club in the afternoon.”
John Day and Frank Loconto plan to do this Sunday afternoons, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The legendary OHara’s Jazz & Blues Cafe also known earlier on as OHara’s Pub will be moving from their present location on Las Olas Boulevard due to the renovation and expansion of the Riverside Hotel.
OHara’s, a local favorite known worldwide for its quality live entertainment, after almost 20 years will have its last hurrah on Las Olas Boulevard this weekend Friday September 26, through Sunday September 28, 2008.
OHara’s has been the mainstay of local musicians and occasionally national acts that have performed since at OHara’s since June of 1989.
Dr. Lonnie Smith the talented Downbeat Artist many years over, was the house piano player for nearly 10 years; along with the likes of other well known artists impromptu performances from George Benson, Red Rodney, Nat Adderley, George Duke, Taj Mahal, to James Moody, Billy Marcus, Turk Mauro, Alice Day, Arturo Sandoval, Betty Carter, Chip White, Grover Washington, the Yellow Jackets, Van Morrison, Dave Hubbard, The Rippingtons, Kaiko Matsui, Jeff Taylor, Kim Waters, David Benoit, Allan Harris, Ira Sullivan, Joey Gilmore, Ronnie Cuber, Jeff Lorber, helped build OHaras reputation for outstanding music through the years.
OHara’s is also known as helping to evolve many local musicians including, Ed Calle, Lindsey Blair, Lee Levin, Jason Carder, Mike Scaglione, Melton Mustafa, Jesse Jones Jr., Eric Allison, Bobby Tynes, Danny Burger, Troy Anderson, Nicole Henry, Wendy Pedersen, Dana Paul, Dan Warner, Jeff Watkins and many more.
A new location has not been determined, but we will be located in the East side of Fort Lauderdale.
For information on the new site, and any updates, please join our mailing list by going to our web site.
The entertainment schedule for this final weekend will be:
Friday night: The Funkabilly Playboys @ 9:30 PM 2AM
Saturday night: Jeff Prine Blues Band with special guests @ 9:30PM 2AM
Sunday matinee: Nicole Henry Jazz Quartet @3PM 7PM
Sunday night: Dave Shelley and Bluestone @ 9PM 1AM
By Sun Sentinel
PUBLISHED: June 20, 2008 at 12:00 AM EDT | UPDATED: September 15, 2018 at 8:37 PM EDT
Most working South Florida musicians skilled in jazz, blues and r&b; have played O’Hara’s, the brick-walled club on Fort Lauderdale’s East Las Olas Boulevard. How many musicians that is, exactly, is tough to say, but a head count might be imaginable on Sunday, when owner Kitty Ryan throws an odd-year 19th birthday block party for her soon-to-relocate venue.
Part of Sunday’s program is a 5 p.m. group photo, with assorted O’Hara’s players, regulars and friends assembling outside for a commemorative snap. The shoot, by Robert Stolpe, even has a working title, “Great Day on Las Olas.” Ryan said it will be patterned after the 1958 “Great Day in Harlem” jazz portrait that featured some of that historic neighborhood’s legendary musicians.
Two versatile singers anchor the day’s live music, Nicole Henry (3-7 p.m.) and Wendy Pedersen (9 p.m.-1 a.m.), and each set could turn into a rolling all-stars revue. Ryan said this week that Lonnie Smith, the famed jazz organist, will be flying in to sit in at the club he’s played so often. And scores of South Florida busiest, best musicians will be on hand.
Sunday’s party is a send-off of sorts for O’Hara’s Jazz & Blues Cafe, which has to move out by July, but Ryan has said it’s no last hurrah. She is scouting locations, and there is always the chance that the current address could become available again. The south side of the 700 block of East Las Olas is scheduled to undergo redevelopment keyed to the expansion of the Riverside Hotel. The plan is to remodel and reopen the storefronts on a wider, more pedestrian-friendly curb.
The celebrating starts at 3 p.m. in and around O’Hara’s, 722 E. Las Olas Blvd. Call 954-524-1764 or visit oharasjazzcafe.com.
Sean Piccoli can be reached at spiccoli@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4832. He blogs about anything that makes a sound at sun-sentinel.com/thebeat.
DR. SMITH, BILLY MARCUS HELP O’HARA’S CELEBRATE 10 JAZZY YEARS
PUBLISHED: June 18, 1999 at 4:00 AM EDT | UPDATED: September 24, 2021 at 3:26 AM EDT
Ten years ago, Las Olas Boulevard was a place that shut down at 6 p.m. Only a couple of restaurants were open along the entire boulevard. Then Kitty Ryan opened O’Hara’s Pub and Jazz Cafe, bringing nighttime entertainment and open-air dining to Las Olas — and setting in motion a remarkable rebirth of downtown Fort Lauderdale.
A decade later, O’Hara’s has remained the hopping center of nightlife on Las Olas. On Sunday night, beginning at 7:30, two jazz bands — one led by Dr. Lonnie Smith, the other by Billy Marcus — will share the stage to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Broward County’s leading jazz and blues club. More than 250 musicians have performed at O’Hara’s in the past decade, and you can be sure many of them will stop by to join in the festivities. There’s no cover at the club at 722 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale. Call 954-524-1764.
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Shows Creativity
by Bernard McCormick Friday, May 10, 2024 No Comment(s)
If you ignore the God-awful Manhattanizing of downtown Fort Lauderdale, in which he and all other elected officials share discredit, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis is looking pretty good in there lately.
He has stepped up in the debate over whether a bridge or a tunnel should be built to end the bottleneck where the FEC Railway tracks now cross the New River on an ancient lift bridge. It disrupts busy river traffic which will only get worse as the Brightline expands and other passenger trains are introduced – something that is already happening. Trantalis favors a tunnel and has proposed a shorter, much less expensive design.
Broward County has favored the bridge, which would be enormously disruptive, and as Trantalis has pointed out, be far more expensive than published estimates, which don’t include land costs and other construction such as rebuilding the elaborate new Brightline station. Nor does it consider the impact of a high bridge soaring through downtown, impacting new high rises being built near the tracks. The tunnel in contrast will cause little disruption.
More recently Trantalis has taken a position on the very controversial proposal to rebuild La Olas Blvd. in the heart of the business district, which includes removing the median which endows the section with its uniquely welcoming atmosphere.
This painting of Las Olas looking west was done by recent Florida State grad Colin Breslin, no connection to the writer except his grandson.
A little history here for the business community which is pushing for such a dramatic rebuild. Las Olas, of course, is the oldest street in the area. On it sits the first structure, the Stranahan House, now a historic site. The street was also home to the original St. Anthony Church, which likely drew more traffic than any other early structure.
The boulevard evolved slowly. Its modern character began when the elegant Riverside Hotel opened in 1936. A few years later Maus & Hoffman led a movement of fine shops from Northern Michigan to South Florida, most following the men’s store to Las Olas, or near it. These events gave Las Olas its commercial character, but the street closed down after dark.
There was no good restaurant until William Maus backed Louis Flematti in opening Le Cafe de Paris in 1962.
Other restaurants came and went over the years, but it wasn’t until the late 60s that the median was installed. At the same time, Wells Squier redesigned the heart of the street, with charming facades which make ground floor structures appear bigger, but there was little nightlife or entertainment. The Riverside Hotel had a dark room where the new Maus & Hoffman store now sits which featured good talent on weekends, but the nightlife we know today was still years down the road. Until fairly recent years, Commercial Boulevard, far to the north, was the place to frolic after hours.
That gradually changed during the 1980s. A big step toward the Las Olas we know today came in the late 1980s. Kitty Ryan opened O’Hara’s Jazz Club next to the Riverside. It became very popular on weekends and was a hangout for press people, back when there were enough of them to justify a hangout. Its popularity led Ryan to convince the city to allow sidewalk tables. O’Hara’s closed to make room for the Riverside Hotel expansion, but by then, other establishments, including the Riverside, were busy with outdoor dining. The whole movement would likely not have been possible without the shaded median that added greatly to the outdoor ambiance, by slowing traffic on the ever-busier boulevard, and made crossing from one side to the other an easy and safe process on new crosswalks.
In 2024, the nightlife has spread west with some good restaurants snuggled under the new office buildings, and traffic in the primary shopping blocks has steadily increased so that sidewalks, with tables, are often overcrowded and creating a safety problem.
From published comments and word of mouth, most residents think removing the median is a bad idea. They think it has much to do with the popularity of the boulevard. Fortunately, so does Mayor Trantalis.
The proposal to eliminate the median points out that the landscaping trees will not last much longer, and instead of replacing them, calls for widening the sidewalks and landscaping them with oak trees. Sounds nice, but will it retain the charm of the median, and will traffic speed increase without the divider, thereby negating the goal of improving pedestrian safety?
Mayor Trantalis has posed a creative solution. Noting that sidewalks on the north side of Las Olas are smaller than the south, he suggests widening only that side to relieve the more serious pedestrian congestion.
There are legitimate opinions on both sides of this issue. The opinion here is that it is risky to change what obviously works, for something that may not.