Rapa House Concert Cafe Creole Cuisine

Rapa House Concert Cafe Creole Cuisine

RAPA House, Detroit's legendary after-hours hotspot, is quartered in a Victorian mansion at 96 E. Fisher Freeway, just east of Woodward. Climbing the steep steps to the tall narrow doors, one feels fortunate to be able to enter one of the beautiful old houses still remaining in our city. A knock on the leaded glass window in the musty old door goes unnoticed, but wait a minute! The door is unlocked! Incredible, in this neighborhood, and at 2:30 in the morning!

Standing in the vestibule of the House, the sounds of New Orleans jazz shouting from another room, one is lured into an adjoining chamber as sleep lures the tired body. Because the entrance is in the back of the next room, one finds oneself standing at the end of an aisle leading to a little stage which resembles an ancient proscenium. The aisle divides the long narrow room with its very high ceiling in half. On one side are small wrought-iron tables and chairs; on the other side, about eight rows of well-worn theatre seats.

The room dividers, behind us, seem to be there to be peeked around, so we peek around them to spy a large, cluttered desk, a fireplace, and an old piano. Children of the Rodgers family, which established RAPA House some years back, circulate among the people collecting the $1.00 cover charge.

Musicians drift in. They walk directly to the front of the room and sit near the stage. They take out their instruments and rub them gently as they anticipate their turn on the stage. They listen to the other musicians, discriminatingly and then appreciatively.

Ernest Rodgers is on the stage, instructing the young players who, with him, make up the band. "Who else will be playing tonight?" we want to know. "We never know who is going to drop by to play," comes the reply. "This is a really true jam session where artists can come to play. On stage regularly is our rhythm section – Charlie Hill on piano, Darrell Osborn, drums, Mike West plays bass and I play tenor and alto saxophone." Three of the drop-ins form a saxophone trio and begin playing with the blues in a style reminiscent of early New Orleans.

The aroma of Creole cuisine drifts in from the kitchen, which is situated directly behind the stage. Some of the musicians and patrons enter the kitchen to place their orders. The room, with its large butcher-block table sitting in the center of the floor, is often so crowded that people must rub fannies and boobs to get in and out. If it's hard to decide what to eat, the pots are right there for your inspection.

The food is good, and the prices are right. Gumbo, shrimp or crab, $3.00; chicken, $1.30; Chicken Lafitte, $2.75; Bourbon Street ribs, $3.00; Shrimp Patois, $2.75.

A young black woman sits alone at one of the tables. At first she picks at the bone of meat on her plate with her fork. Finally she picks it up and begins eating it for real, sauce dripping from her mouth, unmindful of everything else around her but the food and the music.

A mature white couple sits at another table. They have taken off their coats and seem to feel quite comfortable here. A young white kid ambles in and plops down in one of the theatre seats next to a 30-ish Black dude. The Black dude says to the young blond dude, "They're gettin' on down, ain't they, man?"

"Dig it. And the bass man is doin' it to death."

***

RAPA House is short for the Rodgers Academy of Performing Arts, which has its roots in the Rodgers & Rodgers Theatrical Agency founded by Ernest Rodgers Sr. in 1945. An adagio dancer and acrobat who performed with his wife, LaJune Rodgers, throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe and South America, Ernest and LaJune developed the Agency after their retirement to Detroit's Medbury Street as the city's first Black booking agency.

Ernest Sr. passed away on July 5, 1955, leaving LaJune with three sons – Ernest Jr., Virgil, and Audrien (Rod) Rodgers – and two daughters – Rhonda and LaJune – one of whom was paralyzed. In order to supplement her small income, she continued to operate the booking agency from her house. Then she moved the business into the old Gold Coast Ballroom on 12th Street, where in addition to booking various singing and dancing acts, she began to develop and groom young talent for the entertainment world, including members of the Temptations, the Supremes, Martha & the Vandellas, and many others.

Later, Ms. Rodgers moved the agency back into her home because the neighborhood was getting too rough for her to contend with. She always left her door open to young, undeveloped talent which needed encouragement and a place to perform and be seen.

The concept of RAPA House originated with the Detroit Entertainers' Club, a group of professional performers who were involved in dance, voice, and music. They began giving instruction and encouragement to young people who were beginning to become active in these disciplines. Performers from Motown, Stax, and Invictus Records, plus many of those who had graduated from rock and roll to performing in night clubs, came to RAPA House to be groomed for stardom. Some could pay, some couldn't – but all were accepted.

The Rodgers family worked six to eight hours a day conducting the school, and they would then serve meals to the artists, the students, and later to friends and relatives. The family couldn't afford to continue serving so many people on their slim budget, so they began charging a modest sum for their meals, and soon the RAPA House restaurant was formulated. LaJune Rodgers had fallen in love with the Creole cuisine of New Orleans during her far-ranging travels in earlier years, and, finding that there were no establishments featuring New Orleans cuisine operated by Blacks in the downtown Detroit area, she settled on the tasty concoctions of the Crescent City as perfectly fit for her friends and guests.

Soon the aerobatic artiste started a writers' workshop as a forum through which local poets could read their work, criticize one another, and keep up on the currents of modern poetry. Stella Crews, Sally Wright (now a frequent Kulchur contributor), John Nemmons, Henry Alsup, Carey Beasley, Wardell Montgomery, and Herman Stevenson are RAPA House poets who have participated regularly in the monthly Workshop, and other poets and writers drop in from time to time.

"The Workshop is open to people of all kinds who are interested in poetry," said Montgomery, now a New York City resident, "but there's no money to advertise, and it's hard to get the word around. The general public just doesn't seem to be enthusiastic about poetry – it's the least lucrative of the arts. When some people find out there's no money in it, they leave."

"One thing we try to do here is teach stage presence," Herman Stevenson added. "We give the poet a chance to experience the stage. Shy people are urged to go up on stage to read and are encouraged to do homework as well. Other poets are taught to project, throw their voice out."

In 1972 RAPA House received a federal grant to publish a poetry magazine, Identity, which gave exposure to many RAPA House poets and others who may have otherwise gone unnoticed. The Model Neighborhoods grant was discontinued by then-President Nixon in April, 1973, and the RAPA House poets tried to keep it going by soliciting contributions, selling poetry booklets and various other ventures, but they eventually had to give the magazine up.

RAPA House, and the Rodgers family, continue growing stronger than ever. LaJune Sr. died of cancer on March 29, 1973, but her children remain active in the arts, and in RAPA House itself. Ernest Jr., a fine arts/music instructor at Northwestern High School, heads the session band after-hours on the weekends, and is a featured player with both the New McKinney's Cotton Pickers and the Jimmy Wilkins Orchestra, on baritone saxophone. He is one of the most respected musicians and educators in the city.

Audrien (Rod) Rodgers heads his own dance company in New York City and spends as much time as possible in Detroit, both performing with his company and giving workshops for young dance students in the area. The Rod Rodgers Dance Company were featured guests at the 1975 Detroit Afro-American Festival last summer and have performed in many locations all over town.

Virgil Rodgers teaches music in Los Angeles and plays drums and trumpet on many recording sessions there. LaJune is also in L.A., attending college.

Rhonda cooks those delicious Creole meals at the RAPA House, handles the phone calls, the mail, and whatever else comes up. She lives upstairs over the workshop-theatre-restaurant, and when asked what she's doing now, she replies: "Who, me? Whatever I can do for the House."

Profits from the meals, which are served from 11:00 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. through the week and from 2:30 a.m. until 6:00 a.m. Sunday mornings, are used to help maintain RAPA House.

Check it out- you'll be glad you did.