At 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 21, Ron Carter and his Foursight Quartet take the stage at ArtsPark at Young Circle. Thirty minutes later and a short walk down Hollywood Boulevard, the Downtown Hollywood ArtWalk opens on 20th Avenue. Downtown has hosted both kinds of evening before, at the circle and on the side streets. The festival's schedule links the two into a single evening.
The Hollywood Real Jazz Festival is new this year. It runs two days, admission is free, and The Rhythm Foundation produces it for the City of Hollywood, with SiriusXM as presenting sponsor. The festival calls itself "a new cultural tradition for South Florida," and it doesn't stop when the ArtsPark sets end. According to the festival, the Saturday lineup is "followed by Downtown Jazz After Dark throughout Downtown Hollywood." The festival begins at the circle on Friday and finishes downtown on Saturday night.
Friday Opens With the Tree, Then the Band
Friday, November 20, happens to be the night of the City of Hollywood's annual Tree Lighting, so the festival starts alongside it. The city's listing for the Tree Lighting Ceremony runs 5 to 10 p.m. at ArtsPark. It lists vendor booths, kids' arts and crafts, "real snow flurries," a sledding hill, free photos with Santa, giveaways, popcorn and candy. The tree is lit at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
Friday has one jazz set. The Dillard Center for the Arts Jazz Ensemble plays at 8 p.m., about an hour after the lights come on. A family coming for the snow and Santa can stay for the band. Dillard is a Broward high school arts program, so the festival's first set comes from local students. The headliners play Saturday.
The setting matters for a crowd this size. The city describes ArtsPark as a 10-acre circle at US 1 and Hollywood Boulevard, with an amphitheater lawn that holds 2,500 people. A free tree lighting followed by a free jazz set is the kind of evening that can fill that lawn.
Saturday Belongs to the Circle Until Dusk
Saturday runs longer than Friday and builds toward its headliner. Here is the ArtsPark schedule as the festival lists it:
- 1 p.m. Nicole Yarling
- 2 p.m. Warren Wolf
- 3:15 p.m. Chuck Bergeron
- 3:45 p.m. Kandace Springs
- 5 p.m. Chuck Bergeron
- 5:30 p.m. Ron Carter Foursight Quartet
Chuck Bergeron appears twice, at 3:15 and again at 5, in the short slots between the bigger sets. The festival's own descriptions explain why people will plan around the later acts. It calls Warren Wolf a "modern vibraphone master" and credits Kandace Springs with "smoky, Prince-approved vocals" and "a striking dual talent for piano." It describes Ron Carter, a three-time Grammy winner, as "the most recorded bassist in jazz history."
One detail to check before you leave home. The festival's schedule starts Saturday at 1 p.m., but the City of Hollywood's calendar entry for the same day gives a 5 p.m. start. If you plan to arrive for the early sets, look at the festival site that morning. If you're only coming for Ron Carter, the two listings work out the same for you.
The Half Hour That Joins Young Circle to 20th Avenue
Saturday's timing ties the weekend together. Ron Carter's set starts at 5:30 p.m. ArtWalk starts at 6 p.m. on 20th Avenue between Hollywood Boulevard and Harrison Street and runs until 10. The Hollywood CRA's ArtWalk listing describes galleries and shops, cultural entertainment, live music and murals, and says it's free.
That puts two free events within walking distance of each other along Hollywood Boulevard. The second one opens while the first is still on its final set. ArtWalk runs until 10 p.m., so you can stay for the whole Carter set and still have time on 20th Avenue afterward, or leave early and get to the galleries near the start.
Downtown Jazz After Dark carries on from there. The festival places it "throughout Downtown Hollywood" after the ArtsPark sets. As of late October, the festival's page doesn't list participating rooms, so watch it in the days before November 21. After the circle's last set, the festival continues somewhere downtown on the same night ArtWalk is running.
Harrison Street After Eight
Where ArtWalk's stretch of 20th Avenue meets Harrison Street, there's a newer stop for later in the evening. Common Room, at 2032 Harrison St., held its grand opening on Thursday, September 24. The South Florida Sun Sentinel covered the opening and described the place as approachable comfort food with a curated music program.
Common Room belongs to Bol Hospitality Group, which also runs Social Room a block away at 1916 Harrison St. Co-owner Eric Douglas told the Sun Sentinel that having Social Room downtown led the group "to add a culinary experience," and that "many say we're expanding hospitality in Hollywood one room at a time."
The Brooklyn Room is an invitation-only speakeasy inside Common Room. According to the Sun Sentinel's guide to getting in, the entrance is a bookshelf door in the hallway beside the server station. Getting in has several steps:
- Weekly invitations include a reservation link.
- A manager approves each request based on dress code, party size and availability.
- A reservation doesn't guarantee entry, and guests are asked to arrive on time.
In that same August 28 report, the Sun Sentinel listed The Brooklyn Room's hours as 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., Thursday through Saturday, with more days to come. If those hours still hold, it opens at 8 p.m., two hours into ArtWalk. If you want a seat behind the bookshelf on November 21, ask for the invitation well before the weekend.
The Circle's November Starts Earlier
The festival weekend isn't the first big November night at ArtsPark. On Tuesday, November 10, Hollywood Night Out runs from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at 1 N. Young Circle. The city's event page says the Hollywood Police Department is joining the community for this free, public evening, and it invited local vendors, nonprofits and entrepreneurs to take part. It's a weeknight event on the same lawn, ten days before the tree goes up.
You don't have to wait for a festival to hear free live music in the evening, either. The city's November calendar lists free shows at Hollywood Beach Theatre, 200 Johnson St., from 7 to 9 p.m., including Thursday through Sunday of this week, November 5 to 8. The city calls it a beachside theater "with space for dancing." Two weeks later the festival brings that kind of free music to Young Circle, then takes it out into downtown Hollywood after dark.
If downtown evenings like this one are part of why you love Hollywood, or why you're thinking about a place near Young Circle and Harrison Street, Michael Gomez would be glad to talk about which blocks put you within walking distance of the circle. Schedule a Free Consultation, and we'll help you plan around the weekends you never want to miss.
