But eventually, they got it together and quickly became a favorite draw in clubs all over Southern California.
March 17, 1979
The Elk's Club in MacArthur's Park, Los Angeles
607 S. Parkview, LA
607 S. Parkview, LA
w/ the Plugz, the Alley Cats, the Zeros, X .
The Elks Club, built in 1925 (Alexander Curlett and Claude Beelman). It once had 165 hotel rooms. It was later named Park Plaza Hotel. It has served as a YMCA, retirement hotel, and other uses.
The show started out peaceful enough.
The Go Go’s were the first on the bill. They were actually the only band to get their full set in. While the Plugz's were in the middle of their set, cops rushed in, busted up the place, and put an end to the show. X and The Alleycats never got a chance to perform.
Several attendees were injured by the police.
Jeff Atta, lead singer of Middle Class, and his girlfriend, Dorothy James (Barbara's little sister) display their L.A.P.D.- inflicted wounds.
photo: Ann Summa
The Go Go’s were the first on the bill. They were actually the only band to get their full set in. While the Plugz's were in the middle of their set, cops rushed in, busted up the place, and put an end to the show. X and The Alleycats never got a chance to perform.
Several attendees were injured by the police.
Jane: There was no riot. The cops just came in slamming. They just started beating everybody up.
Charlotte: After us the Plugz played and that was when the cops came in and tore the place up…and I was holding, too. I had drugs on me. I was so scared.
Margo: We'd already finished our set...we were offstage when the cops arrived. Mayhem broke loose , helicopters were flying really low...the cops came storming up the stairs with their batons.
source: We Got the Neutron Bomb by Marc Spritz and Brendan Mullen.
Jeff Atta, lead singer of Middle Class, and his girlfriend, Dorothy James (Barbara's little sister) display their L.A.P.D.- inflicted wounds.
photo:Ann Summa
As the incident was reported in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
March 20, 1979
Police and Fans disagree on Raid at Rock Show
by Robert Hilburn
Excerpt from article:
According to police, officers were sent to the Elks Building shortly after 11 p.m to combat what was described as a life and death situation in the lobby outside the concert room. There were fights, people falling down the stairs and bottles and cans were being tossed, police lieutenant in charge said.The show was scheduled to be recorded for a live album, but only three groups made it the stage before the concert was halted.But two regular pop contributors to the Times - Kristine McKenna and Don Snowden - insisted they say people hit and kicked without provocation.
Margo and Belinda at the press conference regarding the incident.
Margot and Belinda
photo: Ann Summa
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5 comments:
actually wipers and zeroes played too.
I could not remember whether Go-Gos played, but I do remember seeing Belinda in green hair!
i remember seeing the zeros play that night, the think the show was busted in the middle of the plugz set,
the continued to play as many songs as the could through the kaos, and even speeded up their numbers
beyond the usual...
It was going to be such a great evening. It was LA punk's coming out party. A video crew was there to shoot. Some of the most popular of the LA punk bands were there.
There were even 4 young, very obvious undercover police in flannels and jeans (right look, wrong decade) who were wandering around, seemingly unconcerned.
There was virtually no trouble that I saw as I wandered around the facility, spending time visiting friends on the broad stairs and scattered around the lodge's lobby and inside the back reaches of the hall.
The only trouble I saw was one drunken guy who threw his empty beer bottle down and broke it. His friends made him clean it up, saying, hey, this is a nice place. We want to be able to come back.
I wasn't some teenager. I was a 28 year old person with a responsible job. I can't emphasize it enough -- I saw no trouble the whole time before a phalanx of officers in full riot gear marched in in small cluster and moved up the stairs. They fanned out at the open spot on the mezzanine, forming a circle facing outward with batons up. I think there was a brief yelled order to disburse. My ride was in the hall and I was to the side of the officers. I tried to go around them but an officer clubbed me across the throat, knocking my glasses off and knocking me to the ground. I got up, sputtered something about losing my glasses to an officer who was advancing on me, who said something to me and then, when I didn't move fast enough, used his baton in the two hands forward push to knock me down the stairs.
Outside, I saw young girls chased until they fell down and beaten bloody. Not all the cops were acting crazy but those that were seemed almost totally out of control.
I had been through anti-war demonstrations in the 60s, been tear-gassed and such, but this was the most frightening police behavior I'd ever seen or ever hope to see.
It's good to see that there is finally a leadership at the LAPD in place that isn't tolerant of the kinds of violence and corruption that were common in earlier decades.
Thanks for letting me vent.
PS... years later, I got to know the guy who owned the video truck that was there to shoot and he told me the police told him they'd smash his gear if his crew tried taping the police actions that night.
I drove down from SF with a friend just to see this show (I moved to LA 6 months later). I remember the crowd as being very cooperative and into the bands. I recall that the Zeroes did get to play and they were great, the sound was good. The Go-Go's were great, too and played with a certain 'chip on their shoulder', like they were trying to show they belonged there (they did). It was a sloppy yet fun show, and the girls showed sparks of what was to come later in their career. Then this alleged 'riot' broke out, we were all forced out onto the streets, the LA cops had brought in helicopters...it was just overkill. They had a mindset about what punks were, and came out in full riot gear. We all just stood around and asked "can we go back in and hear the other bands?" But alas, the remainder of the show was cancelled. Too bad, because if you look a the poster for that night, it was gonna be a good show. I can't help but believe this show cemented the ill will between the LA cops and the 'punks' of the day. --Pete Maloney
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