Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > Los Angeles
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 03-09-2010, 11:48 PM
 
Location: SoCal
559 posts, read 1,372,027 times
Reputation: 625

Advertisements

I've often wondered what's happened to the space occupied by some of my favorite, but extinct music haunts. It's a bit shocking that so many cool venues are no longer around.

I'm too lazy to go driving around to each one or I don't remember the exact locations so I'm asking for your help. I'd be appreciative if anyone can let me know the current fate of the following clubs or what is occupying their old footprints. Other dead clubs or relevant memorable anecdotes welcome as well.

Pretty sure the original structure still exists:

Coconut Teaszer [corner of Sunset & Crescent Heights – still a club?]

Waters Club [1331 S. Pacific Ave. in San Pedro. According to the net, it's now called La Zona Rosa, a mariachi nightclub.]

Impala Cafe [in Little Tokyo-- Either Senor Fish or an adjacent business expanded into the space. Practically lived here while it was open.]

Balboa Theatre [8713 S. Vermont Avenue – possibly in use as a church? Punk and speed metal in South Central L.A.!]

A little embarrassing considering the number of times I came here, but I can't remember the name of a gallery/experimental music space next to Rockaway Records in Silver Lake. It was owned by a young, very personable woman.

Pretty sure the structure is gone:

Raji's [on Sunset – what a cool venue, despite the giant column which managed to block every possible sightline to the stage—how punk is that? Now a parking lot?]

Espresso Bar (E-bar) [Almost positive the original, hidden location in Old Town Pasadena is gone; not sure what it is at present—parking garage? Subsequent Green St. incarnation is probably some shop but can't remember the exact location.]

Unknown fate:

Club Lingerie [classic venue on Sunset]

The Shamrock [A nice, divey bar somewhere in L.A.—it was on a corner]

Al's Bar [on Traction or Hewitt, just east of Little Tokyo. Really painful to see this one go. What's become of the space? Victim of gentrification?]

Chuck Landis's Country Club [18415 Sherman Way, Reseda; saw so many great shows here—still around?]

Fender's Ballroom [521 E. 1st., Long Beach—my second home for a while. Please tell me it's still there.]

The Smell [original, tiny NoHo location; I know they've moved to DTLA.]

Lumpy Gravy [A cafe on Melrose?]

Jabberjaw [3711 W Pico Blvd; what's become of this icon? Great arcade with Tempest and one of the few all-ages venues. Progenitor to The Smell]

Alligator Lounge [somewhere in Santa Monica—went a few times for Nels Cline's New Music Mondays]

The Auditorium [a short-lived space in Hollywood, on Hollywood Blvd?]

Olympic Auditorium [yelp gives location as 420 S. Grand vs. 1801 S. Grand on an old flyer I have—did it move or is this a typo? I think wrestling was broadcast from here in the 60's & 70s. Is this a historical landmark?]

The Gaslight [cool bar somewhere in Hollywood]

Glam Slam [333 S. Boylston, Los Angeles—Prince's old club. Nice place but didn't last long.]

Bogart's? [in Marina Pacifica in Long Beach. Saw Helmet here.]

And one for Orange County:

Radio City [945 S. Knott at Ball in Anaheim]

Not positive if I've seen any shows at the following but these were classic venues:

Music Machine [12220 Pico Blvd, West L.A.]
Palomino Club [6907 Lankershim Blvd. NoHo]
Variety Arts Center [I see one in Playa del Rey but I'm thinking of the one at 940 S. Figueroa in DTLA]

Icons to which I've never been:

Cathay De Grande
Starwood
Madame Wong's
The Masque
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-09-2010, 11:57 PM
 
Location: South Bay
7,226 posts, read 22,093,996 times
Reputation: 3626
the olympic auditorium is now a korean church i believe. last time i was in long beach marina pacifica was still there, but i think they closed down the hotel portion. my wife lived nearby and they used to have a night club on the weekends, no concerts that i ever saw. unfortunately, i'm from OC so i haven't even heard of any of the others. by the time i was old enough to go to LA for shows, i was going to the palladium, the glass house in pomona, and of course the clubs on sunset as well as the greek and the bowl.

i wonder if charles will have any more info for you, he had a great thread a while back with copies of flyers from all the punk/hardcore shows he went to back in the day.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-10-2010, 10:18 AM
 
Location: Las Flores, Orange County, CA
26,338 posts, read 93,407,924 times
Reputation: 17827
I used to go to the Starwood, the Whiskey, The Roxy, Gazzaries, The Rainbow, Barnies Beanery, Florentine Gardens and in Pasadena, Perkins Palace, in Reseda, the Country Club (used to be the Reseda Theater where I'd watch movies in the late 1960s early 1970s). I saw the Plasmatics at the Olympic. This is the early 1980s. Mostly punk shows back then. I saw TSOL at Alpine Village, could have been Wasted Youth though, I forgot. There was a place called Godzillas in Sunland I think. Lots of punk shows at Devonshire Downs: Black Flag, Fear, many others early 1980s.

I remember Dick "Whoa Nellie" Lane announcing wrestling and roller derby, the LA T-Birds from the Olympic back in the 1960s and early 1970s.

These are some of my personally owned flyers. Some of those clubs may be on these flyers.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1024x791.


































Last edited by Count David; 07-05-2016 at 02:37 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-10-2010, 11:07 AM
 
20 posts, read 118,167 times
Reputation: 38
Those flyers are great.

Coconut Teaszer now looks like a luxury car dealership that was airlifted from Beverly Hills: Michael Mina's XIV Opens | NBC Los Angeles
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-10-2010, 12:01 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles......So. Calif. an Island on the Land
736 posts, read 2,285,253 times
Reputation: 484
Great post Drunk on Kool Aid:

I am old enough to have gone to a few shows at the Cathay De Grande. I remember seeing GBH there but they played host to many great bands: Minutemen, Social D., and Tex and the Horseheads to name a few.

The placed closed down in about 1985 due in part to complanits from neighbors about the "rowdy" customers. I recall in about 1989/1990 it became an upscale club called the upside down club or soemthing like that. Have no idea what is there now.

Here's an interestnig CATHAY de GRANDE fact: apparently a young Lawrence Fishburne was the DOORMAN at the Cathay before he hit the big time in acting.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-10-2010, 12:17 PM
 
1,465 posts, read 5,129,484 times
Reputation: 861
How about the good ol' Topanga Corral
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-10-2010, 12:26 PM
 
Location: Declezville, CA
16,806 posts, read 39,752,846 times
Reputation: 17678
I saw the Burritos and Asleep at the Wheel at the Palomino... some years apart, of course.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-10-2010, 12:43 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles......So. Calif. an Island on the Land
736 posts, read 2,285,253 times
Reputation: 484
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fontucky View Post
I saw the Burritos and Asleep at the Wheel at the Palomino... some years apart, of course.

You mean THOSE Burritos as in the Flying Burrito Brothers with Gram Parsons??? Very cool...what year, more or less?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-10-2010, 01:27 PM
 
Location: SoCal
559 posts, read 1,372,027 times
Reputation: 625
Quote:
Originally Posted by BRinSM View Post
the olympic auditorium is now a korean church i believe. last time i was in long beach marina pacifica was still there, but i think they closed down the hotel portion.

<snip>

i wonder if charles will have any more info for you, he had a great thread a while back with copies of flyers from all the punk/hardcore shows he went to back in the day.
Zounds, the Olympic Auditorium is now a church?! A temple of worship of a different sort, indeed.

I don't even remember a hotel portion of Marina Pacifica--it's been a while.

The recent thread with the flyers was started by BayAreaHillbilly

Nardcore - and other 80s memories from the NW "frontier"

Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles View Post
I used to go to the Starwood, the Whiskey, The Roxy, Gazzaries, The Rainbow, Barnies Beanery, Florentine Gardens and in Pasadena, Perkins Palace, in Reseda, the Country Club (used to be the Reseda Theater where I'd watch movies in the late 1960s early 1970s). I saw the Plasmatics at the Olympic. This is the early 1980s. Mostly punk shows back then. I saw TSOL at Alpine Village, could have been Wasted Youth though, I forgot. There was a place called Godzillas in Sunland I think. Lots of punk shows at Devonshire Downs: Black Flag, Fear, many others early 1980s.

I remember Dick "Whoa Nellie" Lane announcing wrestling and roller derby, the LA T-Birds from the Olympic back in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Didn't know the Country Club was a movie theater. I can't remember where the projection booth would have been placed. So is the Country Club still around?

Quote:
Originally Posted by mayordomo View Post
Coconut Teaszer now looks like a luxury car dealership that was airlifted from Beverly Hills: Michael Mina's XIV Opens | NBC Los Angeles
What a downer. That building was definitely worth saving. Most memorable show at the Teaszer was seeing Harry Dean Stanton's band. He pretty much defined cool, especially in "Repo Man," which incidentally had a great L.A. punk soundtrack.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Island_OnThe_Land View Post
I am old enough to have gone to a few shows at the Cathay De Grande. I remember seeing GBH there but they played host to many great bands: Minutemen, Social D., and Tex and the Horseheads to name a few.

The placed closed down in about 1985 due in part to complanits from neighbors about the "rowdy" customers. I recall in about 1989/1990 it became an upscale club called the upside down club or soemthing like that. Have no idea what is there now.

Here's an interestnig CATHAY de GRANDE fact: apparently a young Lawrence Fishburne was the DOORMAN at the Cathay before he hit the big time in acting.
That's interesting. I wonder if that was before he had a memorable role in "Apocalypse Now" (1979)? Unfortunately, the closest I got to the Cathay de Grande is owning The Mentors' live album which was recorded there and at the Whiskey. By the way, (Charged) GBH was awesome.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DowntownVentura View Post
How about the good ol' Topanga Corral
I'm not familiar with this one. Tell me more--what kind of music? Still around?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fontucky View Post
I saw the Burritos and Asleep at the Wheel at the Palomino... some years apart, of course.
Is the Palomino still with us?

I'm getting the feeling that the general outlook for my old stomping grounds is looking grim.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-10-2010, 01:42 PM
 
Location: Declezville, CA
16,806 posts, read 39,752,846 times
Reputation: 17678
Quote:
Originally Posted by Island_OnThe_Land View Post
You mean THOSE Burritos as in the Flying Burrito Brothers with Gram Parsons??? Very cool...what year, more or less?
It had to be 68, 69 or 70, because Parsons wasn't a Burrito all that long.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > Los Angeles

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top