The house band at Pop & Hiss, Ricketts Folly, makes every song danceable.

Ed Ricketts was a bit of a music snob. He supposedly blasted classical music from the windows of the Pacific Biological Laboratories on Cannery Row. But when there was time for one of the legendary lab parties, this marine scientist and intellectual was able to take his sensibilities down a notch.

His space had a piano available for musicians who happened to be in town, as well as a record player. The lab was frequented by genuine locals, factory workers, prostitutes and celebrities who heard about the lab while staying at Del Monte Hotel and decided to check it out. Part of the attraction was also the legendary drink Ricketts was said to be serving: Ricketts Folly, reportedly a concoction of alcohol, codeine and grenadine.

A self-described “song and dance piano player,” TJ Kuenster learned about Ed Ricketts and Ricketts Folly from his daughter, Michaela Kuenster, the owner of Pop & Hiss, a record store, bar and music venue. It’s the younger Kuenster’s dream-came-true project, rooted in her long interest in John Steinbeck and his social and physical environment.

Upon opening Pop & Hiss, she insisted her musician father join her, supporting the venue not only with his quirky quartet house band called Ricketts Folly, but also with Sweet Thursday, another regular gig (and Steinbeck-inspired name) with TJ in charge of old-timey jazz.

Rickets Folly includes some of the best local musicians, TJ Kuenster says. Mike Shannon is behind the drums, Zach Westfall joins the rhythm section on bass while Ben Herod wails on clarinet and sax. They play pop hits from the first half of the 20th century, many of which Ed Ricketts would recognize, filling the last Thursday of each month with favorites.

“We take a rock song, or any other song, and change it into something to dance to,” he explains. “We jazz it up, use more interesting arrangements.”

Ricketts Folly has a following, with Cannery Row Jump attending the events regularly to dance. The Jump collective also come to Sweet Thursday (every first Thursday of the month), TJ Kuenster’s old-timey jazz band.

The sounds from the previous century represent cultural nostalgia for the times of socially-relaxed lab parties and are a celebration of local history.

RICKETTS FOLLY performs 7pm every last Thursday of the month. Pop & Hiss, 215 Forest Ave., Pacific Grove. $3. popandhiss.net.