Venue Withstood Burnings, Hurricanes, and 9/11

Boca Raton’s Back Room blues club, now at 7200 North Dixie Highway, has been back in motion in its fourth incarnation since owner John Yurt reopened it in February. The first Back Room was literally an added-on back room at West Side Liquors on Atlantic Avenue. It quickly outgrew the small space, and Yurt moved the operation to larger quarters on East Atlantic Avenue. The upscaling and rising rent in the area led Yurt to take a chance on the historic Paradise nightclub in Delray Beach on West Atlantic Avenue. He shuttered the club not long after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and became a stay-at-home dad for his two children. On the new Back Room’s opening night, the old Paradise burned down and has since been demolished. The facility it’s in now, a plain concrete-block structure originally built in 1946, features a small stage carved out in a nook right by the front door and hundreds of tasteful vintage nude prints and posters collected throughout the years, and contains comfortable couches and cushiony chairs rather than concert seating. The facility, whose existence in itself proves a true testament to the 43-year-old owner’s love of the blues, features a house band, in which Yurt doubles as the guitarist.