October 15, 2024 by Annie Marsh (‘26)
Cafe Lena, located in downtown Saratoga is not just an ordinary music venue. It is also the oldest folk music venue in America, as well as the home of a newly opened school of music. The building’s historic past includes Bob Dylan’s first show outside of New York City and the first performance of the music from the musical Hadestown. The venue is still running shows as well as it remains a historical landmark of folk history in America.
The Cafe opened in 1960 by Lena Spencer who was an actress and had a dream of creating a folk coffee house for artist expression. The venue has now also shifted into being used as an educational space. The idea came into fruition in October 2019 but was quickly interrupted by COVID, where all classes were moved to zoom. The cafe began to add more classes and expand thanks to Vivian Nesbitt, the schools director, who is also an actress who was featured in many films including Breaking Bad. These classes have continued to make Cafe Lena a valuable part of our town and culture.
Visit their website at www.caffelena.org
