Unicorn Coffee House
In the 1960s, American folk music experienced a great revival, centered in Greenwich Village, New York and in the Boston area. Accordingly, there were many coffeehouses in eastern Massachusetts presenting live music. In Harvard Square, for example, there was Club 47. And in Boston’s Back Bay, there was the Unicorn.
OWNERSHIP, NOTABLE FOLK APPEARANCES
The venue was owned by George Papadopolous, who also operated the rock club Psychedelic Supermarket. Located at 825 Boylston Street across from what is now Hynes Auditorium, the Unicorn was what could be called intimate, that is, it was small and dark. But the roster of performers who appeared there well into the 1970s lit the place up. The folk performers it showcased included Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, Richard & Mimi Farina, James Taylor, bluegrass greats The Kentucky Colonels, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Phil Ochs, Dave van Ronk, David Blue and Tim Hardin.
Tom Rush recorded his very first album there in 1962 (Tom Rush at the Unicorn, featuring Fritz Richmond on washtub), giving him special cache among Boston folkies as “the guy with the record.” Only 600 copies of the LP were pressed, and today one will fetch up to $500 on eBay. On open-mic nights, unknowns could sing and strum before a live audience, and dream of becoming the next Bob Dylan.
OTHER NOTABLE APPEARANCES, DICK SUMMER, RELOCATION, CLOSING
The Unicorn was much more than just a folk club, however. Among the many blues greats who played the room were Mississippi John Hurt, John Lee Hooker, John Mayall and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. It also featured up-and-coming rock acts including Van Morrison, Jefferson Airplane, The Chambers Brothers, The Doors, Gram Parson’s International Submarine Band, The Velvet Underground and, years before they became TV stars, The Monkees. Local acts included The J. Geils Blues Band (before Peter Wolf joined the group and they dropped “Blues” from the name), Colwell-Winfield Blues Band, The Modern Lovers, Ultimate Spinach and Orpheus, who were discovered there and signed to a record deal. For a while WBZ’s great deejay Dick Summer did a weekly MC gig at the club.
With no liquor license, coffee and music were the only intoxicants and, like many smaller venues at the time, the Unicorn succumbed to the changing economics of the music business. In 1971 it moved to a larger location on Boylston Street but the spirit of the Unicorn seemed to have fled. It closed soon after, but left its mark as one of Boston’s most legendary clubs.
(by Steve Nelson)
Steve Nelson is co-founder and president emeritus of the Music Museum of New England.
