She was 89 but told most everyone she was 90. Gross, also known as 'Mama,' opened Babe's and Ricky's Inn in 1964 where she was host to legends such as Bobby 'Blue' Bland and John Lee Hooker while serving cold beer and soda and drawing an integrated crowd. On Monday nights, often the most popular, a $2 cover also earned patrons a fried chicken dinner. Babe's and Ricky's moved in 1997 after financial difficulties, but the vibe stayed the same even when Monday's cover increased to $10, and the fried chicken dinner plate expanded to a buffet. The club never made much money but earned a reputation as a nurturing ground for young musicians and as a place for the experienced to display their talents. 'The unique thing about that club, and always has been, is you can go down there on jam session night and it didn't matter if you were a total amateur or a seasoned professional,' musician Ray Bailey said. 'Everybody gave you the same respect.' Blues guitarist Keb' Mo' said Babe's and Ricky's was 'the last club from the Central Avenue heyday.' 'It was just a great vibe. It was a real blues club, a true blues club,' he said. 'If you were in there and you'd start playing anything but the blues, Mama law would come up to the stage and she would stop you. She'd say: `Na, na, na.' She wasn't having no Top 40 club.' (Begin optional trim) Gross was born in Vicksburg, Miss., in 1920 and came to California about 25 years later with her husband, Riley Gross. He was killed about 10 years later during a robbery as he was cashing a paycheck, family members said. Gross took over a club and renamed it Babe's and Ricky's Inn after her son and nephew. When the club opened, the area south of downtown was on the decline from its perch as the backbone of ballrooms, hotels and theaters that helped define black cultural life in Los Angeles. 'Hers is representative, in an authentic way, of the journey of African-Americans in Los Angeles,' county Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said. In the early 1990s the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, which uses copyright laws to monitor and collect royalties for its members, said Gross failed to pay fees on music performances at the club. She apparently had agreed to pay the fees under a contract and faced a default judgment of nearly $9,000. At the time, she told a reporter from the Los Angeles Times, 'They can't get blood from a turnip.' After seeing the story in the Times, the legendary songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller agreed to pay off the debt. Both went to high school in Los Angeles in the early 1950s and were students of the Central Avenue night life. Leiber and Stoller were later responsible for hits like 'Jailhouse Rock,' recorded by Elvis Presley. But despite the help, Gross was evicted in 1996 after her landlords tripled her rent. She reopened in the Crenshaw district with the help of Ridley-Thomas, then a city councilman. (End optional trim) Her son, Ronald Smith, lives in New York but said he wanted the club to stay open and that there were no immediate plans to close. He said his mother was also survived by three granddaughters and two great-granddaughters. 