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When, as a young man in 1981, Sam Rudin moved from his native Philadelphia to the East Bay, he quickly fell in love with the Freight & Salvage, Berkeley’s quirky little 87-seat concert hall.

Filled with comfortable thrift store furniture and an informal ambience of appreciative attentiveness, the Freight was a perfect fit for performers of modest renown and acoustically-based music.

As a solo (albeit high-energy) pianist, Sam’s music fit the bill, and the Freight became Sam’s home base. In the absence of other Freight-like rooms, Sam turned his solo performer attention to the outdoor fair and festival circuit, and later started the jazz/blues band Hurricane Sam & the Hotshots.

Now, maybe it’s all the energy he put into becoming a master piano teacher,  or maybe the fair and festival circuit just doesn’t have the right ingredients to nurture a high-profile career. Whatever the reason, despite critical acclaim, four CD’s, and a whole bunch of happy audiences, years later Sam was still a performer of modest renown, and he missed that great little room.

As the Freight grew and expanded, ultimately arriving at the gorgeous 420 seat theater that it occupies today, Sam started to feel that maybe it was up to him to recreate that wonderful small space. No longer a young man, it would be his late-life adventure.

Eventually, he found the perfect spot: a beautiful space with brick walls and vaulted wood ceilings right by the Arts District in downtown Berkeley. As of April 2016, it is open for business, complete with the requisite thrift store furniture.

The space is actually the back room of a larger building, so of course it is called The Back Room, and the tag line on its logo says it all – “an intimate place for music.”

The site, at 1984 Bonita Ave., also functions as Sam’s teaching studio, so if you’re looking for “The Piano Lessons You’ve Always Wanted,” now you know where to find them.

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Events

Jennifer Jolly & Friends with "Big B" Ben Buettner
Fri, Aug 15, 8pm - 10pm PDT 
Jennifer Jolly & Friends with "Big B" Ben Buettner
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Mark Hummel, Steve Freund, Karl Sevareid & Gary Silva
Sat, Aug 16, 8pm - 10pm PDT 
Mark Hummel, Steve Freund, Karl Sevareid & Gary Silva
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
MusicOne.org Advisory Band Summer Birthdays Celebration
Sun, Aug 17, 3pm - 5pm PDT 
MusicOne.org Advisory Band Summer Birthdays Celebration
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Aly Rowell Coastal Folk Tour - Bay Area
Mon, Aug 18, 7pm - 9pm PDT 
Aly Rowell Coastal Folk Tour - Bay Area
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Gabriel Schillinger-Hyman Trio featuring Christopher McBride
Thu, Aug 21, 7pm - 9pm PDT 
Gabriel Schillinger-Hyman Trio featuring Christopher McBride
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Dominique Gagné & Verónica Olmos
Fri, Aug 22, 7:30pm - 9:30pm PDT 
Dominique Gagné & Verónica Olmos
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Berkeley Jazz Workshops
Sat, Aug 23, 1pm - 4pm PDT 
Berkeley Jazz Workshops
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Chris James and Patrick Rynn featuring Aki Kumar
Sat, Aug 23, 8pm - 10pm PDT 
Chris James and Patrick Rynn featuring Aki Kumar
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
The Blues Project Evolution Tour 2025
Sat, Aug 30, 8pm - 10pm PDT 
The Blues Project Evolution Tour 2025
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Andrea Prichett and Friends
Sun, Sep 7, 7pm - 9pm PDT 
Andrea Prichett and Friends
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Sheva Elliot - "Wild West Coast Summer Tour"
Wed, Sep 10, 8pm - 10pm PDT 
Sheva Elliot - "Wild West Coast Summer Tour"
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Scott Amendola’s SticklerPhonics
Thu, Sep 11, 8pm - 10pm PDT 
Scott Amendola’s SticklerPhonics
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States

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