Elephant Room

History

The Elephant Room opened on January 18, 1991, in a basement at 315 Congress Avenue, started by J. P. Vermaelen with backing from lawyer David Chamberlain. The name came from a 1985 construction dig next door that uncovered mastodon fossils, some of which had been stored in the basement. Within days of opening, booker Michael Mordecai put jazz on the bandstand, and the Monday night jazz jam he had run since 1980 settled there. The narrow downstairs club has presented live jazz seven nights a week ever since.