LAND OF PLAY, LAND OF TOYS
Where everyone plays all day and never works and never goes to school...
In 1976-77 there were four clubs that booked original live music in the Hollywood area. They were...
Where everyone plays all day and never works and never goes to school...
In 1976-77 there were four clubs that booked original live music in the Hollywood area. They were...
- The Whisky
- The Roxy
- The Starwood
- The Troubadour
8901 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood
The Whisky a Go-Go opened on the Sunset Strip on January 11th 1964. From the get go it was an immediate success. The Whisky quickly became L.A.'s most important live rock club during the ’60s and ’70s.
Many legendary bands of the '60's and '70's playe- such as the Doors, Buffalo Springfield, Bruce Stringsteen, the Who and Led Zeppelin. The stage was small. The club only had a capacity of about 400. There were two levels with two bars and a dance floor.
The Whisky was designed in the mode of a French Discotheque. Elmer Valentine, the founder of the Whisky, had recently gone to the Cannes Film Festival in France and saw girls dancing in cages spinning records. He brought this idea back to the States and he opened his own disclotheque.
In 1964 Beatlemania had struck the United States big time. The Sunset Strip surrounding the Whisky soon became a center for rock'n'roll nightlife. Every kid and their brother wanted to be in a band a be the next big rock star. Suddenly the Sunset Stip transformed from an old cocktail lounge image to a youthful more rock'n'roll oriented scene.
In the mid 1960's, anything with 'go-go' pasted on the end of it meant it was really hot.
The Whisky a Go Go
Exterior of the Whisky as it looks today
2008 photo: tlc
Interior of the Whisky today
2008 photo: tlc
2008 photo: tlc
The Roxy
9009 Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood
The Roxy
9009 Sunset Boulevard
The Roxy opened on September 23, 1973 by Elmer Valentine and Lou Adler - along with original partners David Geffen, Elliot Roberts and Peter Asher. They took over building previously occupied by a strip club owned by Chuck Landis called the Largo.
This was the club you played in when you've made it on a good record label. Record companies often would bring their acts here. The club only held about 500.
It has a great location on the Sunset Strip, and shares a parking lot with the very popular Rainbow Bar 'n' Grill.
The small On The Rox bar above the club was a regular hangout for John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Alice Cooper and Keith Moon during Lennon's "lost weekend" in 1975.
2008 photo: tlc
2008 photo:tlc
THE STARWOOD
8151 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood
The Starwood Club was located at the northwest corner of Santa Monica and Crescent Heights.
2008 photo:tlc
Young kids loved the Starwood. It was less intimidating than the established clubs on the Strip. The Starwood would let new bands play including punk music and unsigned bands - it was a really cool place for young people to hang out at. Also...it had a great circular driveway.
Members of X lived down the street from the Starwood.
Before it was the Starwood it had been a fashionable nightclub called PJ's. In the '60's, PJ's was a popular twist club in town. It was here that the Standells and Bobby Fuller Four got their break.
In the early 1970s, PJ's was bought by organized crime figure Eddie Nash, and became the Starwood. The Starwood closed in 1982 after a fire. All very mysterious.
The origianl Starwood structure was torn down and a tacky strip mall now stands in it's place.
GoGo's played here regularly, as did The Germs, The Plimsouls and X.
2008 photo: tlc
The Troubadour
9081 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood
The Troubadour was born as a coffeehouse in the fifties and boomed with folk music in the early sixties. Through the late sixties and into the seventies, the "Troub" was where everybody who was anybody played. The Troubadour would also feature New Wave and punk in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
www.rockandrollroadmap.com/the_troubadour.html
The Troubadour was not a major player in the punk rock scene, however, there were some memorable shows there and everyone in the scene had a soft spot for the Trub do to it's legacy and location.
Honorable mention:
GAZZARRI'S
9039 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood
It closed it's doors and was torn down in 1995.
However, today live music club The Key Club stands at it's old location.
It is worth noting that both The Doors and Van Halen were the featured house bands at Gazzarri's for long stretches before being discovered.
The club reached its peak of popularity in the mid-1960s through the late 1980s. It was owned and operated by the "Godfather of Rock and Roll", Bill Gazzarri.
wikipedia info
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9009 Sunset Boulevard
The Roxy opened on September 23, 1973 by Elmer Valentine and Lou Adler - along with original partners David Geffen, Elliot Roberts and Peter Asher. They took over building previously occupied by a strip club owned by Chuck Landis called the Largo.
This was the club you played in when you've made it on a good record label. Record companies often would bring their acts here. The club only held about 500.
It has a great location on the Sunset Strip, and shares a parking lot with the very popular Rainbow Bar 'n' Grill.
2008 photo: tlc
Roxy nightclub
2008 photo:tlc
THE STARWOOD
8151 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood
The Starwood Club was located at the northwest corner of Santa Monica and Crescent Heights.
2008 photo:tlc
Members of X lived down the street from the Starwood.
Before it was the Starwood it had been a fashionable nightclub called PJ's. In the '60's, PJ's was a popular twist club in town. It was here that the Standells and Bobby Fuller Four got their break.
In the early 1970s, PJ's was bought by organized crime figure Eddie Nash, and became the Starwood. The Starwood closed in 1982 after a fire. All very mysterious.
The origianl Starwood structure was torn down and a tacky strip mall now stands in it's place.
GoGo's played here regularly, as did The Germs, The Plimsouls and X.
2008 photo: tlc
The Troubadour
9081 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood
The Troubadour was born as a coffeehouse in the fifties and boomed with folk music in the early sixties. Through the late sixties and into the seventies, the "Troub" was where everybody who was anybody played. The Troubadour would also feature New Wave and punk in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
www.rockandrollroadmap.com/the_troubadour.html
The Troubadour was not a major player in the punk rock scene, however, there were some memorable shows there and everyone in the scene had a soft spot for the Trub do to it's legacy and location.
Honorable mention:
GAZZARRI'S
9039 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood
It closed it's doors and was torn down in 1995.
However, today live music club The Key Club stands at it's old location.
Site of Gazzarri's today
2008 photo: tlc
Gazzarri's was one of the first clubs to showcase the rock'n'roll boom on the Sunset Strip in the 1960's. However, by the end of the 1970's, it seemed to be stuck in the past. It was the place you went to if you were into 1970's glam /glitter rock stuff and/or heavy metal. It was where the hair bands played. It didn't play new punk rock bands.It is worth noting that both The Doors and Van Halen were the featured house bands at Gazzarri's for long stretches before being discovered.
The club reached its peak of popularity in the mid-1960s through the late 1980s. It was owned and operated by the "Godfather of Rock and Roll", Bill Gazzarri.
wikipedia info
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