Down Home Building Fund


Down Home Music Store in El Cerrito, California. Photo by Emily Duffy ⓒ 2024

Help us save the longtime home of Les Blank Films, (formerly Flower Films) Arhoolie Foundation, and
Down Home Music, a unique hotbed of authentic American music and culture.

Dear Fans and Supporters, 
As of 11/21/24 we are under contract to purchase the Down Home buildings from Chris Strachwitz’s Estate. We are off to a great start but still need to raise $2 million by April 2025! Every penny raised goes to the purchase of the buildings, and to keep all three entities together. We all want this special place, this Cathedral of Culture, (as Harrod Blank calls it) to survive and grow. In a world that’s becoming more artificial and robotic every day, let’s keep original music-making and film-making, alive for future generations!
Please pass the word along and donate what you can. Together we can save our collective history. 

WAYS TO DONATE:

  • GoFundMe

  • PayPal or Credit Card

  • BY CHECK
    Please make checks payable to:
    Les Blank Films  (or Arhoolie Foundation)
    10341 San Pablo Avenue
    El Cerrito, California
    94530 
    Memo: “Building Fund”

  • BY WIRE OR STOCK TRANSFER or other ways to donate please contact Les Blank Films President Harrod Blank or Arhoolie Foundation President Adam Machado
OUR STORY:
 
Since the mid-1970s, in a quiet suburb across the bay from San Francisco, a unique artistic duo has been working to preserve and share multiple genres of American music and culture. El Cerrito, or “Little Hill” is a town of 26,000 residents located north of Berkeley, California.
 
Chris Strachwitz, (founder of Arhoolie Records and Down Home Music ) and Les Blank, (founder of Flower Films-now Les Blank Films) moved their work and creative spaces to the now historic building on San Pablo Avenue in El Cerrito, (where it intersects with the city of Richmond, California) in 1976.
 
Strachwitz bought the initial building, (where Down Home Music Store is still located) and over the years added a back warehouse, (for his record production company) and a parking lot. Blank leased office space where he ran his documentary film company.
 
For almost forty years they were friends and colleagues, sharing a deep appreciation of American music culture and the desire to preserve it for future generations. They each pursued their own projects, and collaborated on several influential films together:
 
 
In 2013 Les Blank passed away and his son Harrod Blank, (also a filmmaker) turned Flower Films into the non-profit, Les Blank Films . Harrod’s goal has been to restore his father’s many films and increase their visibility around the world.
 
In 2016 Chris Strachwitz sold his Arhoolie collection to Smithsonian Folkways which now distributes his hundreds of recordings. Strachwitz formed the non-profit foundation, Arhoolie Foundation with Adam Machado (Director.)
 
In 2023 Chris Strachwitz passed away and his estate is currently unsettled. The complex that still houses Down Home Music, Arhoolie Foundation, and Les Blank Films now belongs to Strachwitz’s estate. As of November 21, 2024 we are under contract to purchase the Down Home buildings. $2.4 million purchase price is due in April 2025. 
 
LINKS FOR YOUR INFORMATION AND ENTERTAINMENT:
 
Les Blank Films:
YouTube (Trailers for all our films)
 
Arhoolie Foundation: 
Website
Instagram 
YouTube (Live performances, etc.)
 
Down Home Music Store:
YouTube (Live Performances)
 
COVERAGE OF OUR EFFORTS:
 

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