SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) Ñ On a Friday night 50 years ago this week, folk singer Jackie Washington stepped up to the tiny stage of Bill and Lena Spencer's new coffeehouse.
He was Caffe Lena's first performer, and thousands of singers and countless songs later, the coffeehouse started by the artsy couple from Boston is a folk music icon. On May 22, a half century plus a couple days since it opened, the 85-seat venue Ñ considered the oldest continuously operating coffeehouse in the United States Ñ will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a concert by Arlo Guthrie, who has described Caffe Lena as "a national treasure."

Guthrie, whose hits include "Alice's Restaurant" and "City of New Orleans," played at Lena's early in his career and at a few fundraisers held for the coffeehouse over the years. He's headlining the anniversary concert being staged at a 550-seat theater at Skidmore College, located in this horse racing and resort town 30 miles north of Albany.
Mark Moss, editor of Sing Out!, the 60-year-old folk music magazine, called Caffe Lena "almost indescribably significant" to the folk music scene, then and now.
"The core of this music really is about community," he said. "Caffe Lena has created and sustained a community around it."

The venerable coffeehouse is located on the second floor of an old building set amid a bustling downtown entertainment district lined with bistros, bars and boutiques. The entrance, tucked between a restaurant and a comic book store, leads to a narrow, well-worn wooden staircase. At the top, the L-shaped room is jammed with small tables, with a kitchen in the back where coffee, tea and desserts are prepared.

...(AP)