Blue House Stage Scotts Valley Music Venue
Secluded Scotts Valley ranch with a house painted blue provides an artistic place for live music in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
By Julie Horner
“You can’t really show up and not smile when you see a bright blue house,” homesteader and music lover Brooke Lipman said. “We are the Blue House. Within the Blue House there is Blue House Stage, Blue House Vineyard, and Blue House Farm Goods, which is all the stuff we make from produce and fruit on the property.”
The old farmhouse was already painted blue when Lipman discovered the sun-drenched acreage in 2011. The original homestead was established in 1895. The main house was built in 1921. “This road has a lot of really incredible history,” she said. To get to Blue House you pass the Cummins Iris Garden, an active flower farm and the location of a former stage stop, which in the mid-1800s transported the few residents who lived in this sparsely inhabited corner of Scotts Valley adjacent to what is now Glenwood Open Space Preserve into town for supplies. The artifacts of earlier times are evident whenever Lipman plants new trees in the orchard and in wet years when the seasonal creek washes old apothecary bottles and other treasures out from their long-ago resting places.
A Love of the Land
The Albuquerque, New Mexico native went to the University of Wisconsin in Madison and earned a degree in Forestry Management with a minor in environmental studies. Farming has been in her family for a long time. A former California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) inspector, Lipman tends the 12-acre property with the help of her two sons, ages 11 and 15, farm dogs Otis, Ozzy, and Oliver, and a network of friends. Besides vegetable gardening, she’s added 80 fruit trees to the existing orchard, revived a 30-year old 16-row vineyard on ¾ acre, raised goats and sheep on occasion, and maintains coops of chickens. The grapes from Lipman’s property are trucked a mile up the road to Alfred Hitcock’s former property where master winemaker Branden Armitage has his winery. Blue House wine has been made there since 2014. Starting with the 2020 vintage, Lipman said, the wine will be bottled under the Aptos Vineyard label (aptosvineyard.com). Lipman’s eggs, jams, dried fruit, sheep’s milk chèvre and yogurt, and wine, are available at roadside popups and at her house concerts.
A Love for Live Music
Lipman held her first concert under the stars at Blue House in the summer of 2019. Friend singer-songwriter Nels Andrews offered to perform at her first show and helped get her connected to other artists. “It just kind of took off organically,” she said. Anil Prajapati, who owns Lille Aeske Arthouse in Boulder Creek is a collaborator. The listening space can accommodate well over 100 patrons. “We’re on a really nice thoroughfare for people who might have bigger shows in the city, are touring the West Coast, or on their way to a festival and they’re trying to do house shows along the way to fill their docket.” Wolf Jett played their first show as a new band at Blue House Stage on a Friday the 13th under a full moon, and they’ve played numerous times since. The band’s Chris Jones and Jon Payne have been big supporters, Lipman said. Other artists who have played Blue House Stage include Ruth Moody, David Sheingold, Alex Dunn, Mount Saint Elias Duo, Caitlin Jemma, Fellow Pynins, Pat Liston, Pat Hull, Aviva Le Fey, Sam Weber, JE Sunde, Laura T Lewis, Winona Wagner, Stelth Ulvang, and Dorota Szuta. Fox and Bones with The Singer and The Songwriter kicked off the 2023 season this March. Lu Rodriguez closes the 2023 season at Blue House Stage on October 21.
“I love bringing people together here,” Lipman said. “I love watching people enjoy this place, enjoy the music, and enjoy each other. It’s just a beautiful, magical place.”
Follow Blue House Stage on Facebook and Instagram: @bluehousestage
Featured image: Brooke Lipman and her Blue House in Scotts Valley
