| Yoshi’s Oakland | |
| Fullname: | Yoshi’s Japanese Restaurant and Music Venue |
| Address: | 510 Embarcadero West Oakland, CA 94607-3506 |
| Location: | Jack London Square |
| Owner: | Kaz Kajimura, Yoshie Akiba, and Hal Campos |
| Cost: | $3 million |
| Capacity: | 310 |
| Publictransit: | Oakland – Jack London Square |
Yoshi's (also known as Yoshi's Jazz Club and Yoshi's Oakland) is a nightclub located in Jack London Square in Oakland, California, United States. The venue originally opened in 1972 as a restaurant in Berkeley, later moving to Claremont Avenue in Oakland. In 1979, the restaurant expanded into a lounge/nightclub hosting local and national jazz musicians.
In 1985, the venue was rebranded as Yoshi's Nitespot until 1997, when it moved yet again within the Port of Oakland. The current location began operations May 18, 1997 with a performance by Tito Puente.
The venue began as a Japanese restaurant in Berkeley established by Yoshie Akiba, Kaz Kajimura and Hiroyuki Hori, the club soon moved to a larger space on Claremont Avenue and began to feature live jazz music. It eventually gained a reputation as one of the most significant jazz venues on the West Coast.
In May 1997, the club moved to Jack London Square during the revitalization of the Port of Oakland, as a 330-seat, 17000square feet jazz concert hall with an attached 220 seat Japanese restaurant, assisted by funding from the Oakland Development Agency.[2] [3]
On November 28, 2007, it opened a second 28000square feet location in San Francisco's Fillmore District, as a flagship of the city's attempt to restore the formerly African American neighborhood (which was uprooted in the 1970s by urban renewal) as a center of black culture and jazz.[4] On July 1, 2014, Yoshi's San Francisco was purchased by Fillmore Live Entertainment Group. On November 1, 2014, the name changed to The Addition,[5] and three months later it closed entirely.[6] [7] [8]
Roy Haynes was the featured performer on the opening night of the new San Francisco location.[9]