New Year Organ Concert Celebration!

Hammond Organ Concert

Sunday, January 8, 2023 at 3:00 PM

Presented by the Treasure Island Museum

In the lobby of historic Building One

1 Avenue of the Palms, Treasure Island, San Francisco 94130

Free and open to the public

About the Event:

The Treasure Island Museum is proud to present an afternoon concert of Hammond organ music performed by Jerry Nagano. The lobby of historic Building One will be filled with music that was popular during the 1950’s - 1970’s when the Treasure Island Naval Station was active.

During this time period, the Island’s Officers’ Club featured a family-friendly, Sunday dinner with organ music. This weekly evening meal was accompanied by live music performed by a popular, local performer, “Kay” Catherine Rooney.

The organ which will be played is the very same organ that Kay would bring to the Island on Sundays. This wonderful and unusual artifact was recently donated to the Museum by Kay’s niece, Chris Weicher. As a child Ms. Weicher attended many of those dinners, herself.

Special thanks to Claire Wahrhaftig, the Museum’s Ex Officio President, for supporting this New Year’s event.

About the Performer:

Jerry Nagano was born and raised in the Los Angeles area where he began his musical training at age ten. From the very beginning the movies played a major role in his musical life. It was because of attending a silent movie show accompanied by the Theater Pipe Organ that Jerry took an interest in the organ. After instruction on electronic organ for a period, he had a chance to study with organist Gaylord Carter, the very person who played for that silent film years before.

During his college years, Jerry was also the organist at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium playing their famed Reginald Foort/BBC Moller Pipe organ.  Friendships were made which led to instruction with Carter, Gordon Kibbee, and much later with the late Tom Hazleton.

For ten years he was the featured artist at Ye Olde Pizza Joynt in San Lorenzo, home of the "Wurlitzer in the Pizza Parlor" concept.  Since the Pizza Joynt days, Jerry has played at the Stanford Theater in Palo Alto where Classic Hollywood is screened  nightly with intermissions performed on the Mighty Wurlitzer.  Recent additions include duties at the Oakland Paramount and the California Theatre in San Jose, playing not only the 4 manual auditorium organ but the fabulous 2/10 Style 216 Wurlitzer in the California’s lobby.  Patrons of the San Jose Opera, and Symphony Silicon Valley regularly dance their way to their seats to the rhythmic beat of the Wurlitzer organ.  In 2017 he was named Theater Organist of the Year by the American Theatre Organ Society.

Aside from his busy musical life, during the day Jerry is a Computer Systems Engineer for Stanford University.