Closure and legacy
Due to ongoing problems with neighbors, [10] intervention by the local police, and legal problems related to business conflicts, [11] [12] proprietor Michael Brennan closed the Cathay de Grande in 1985. It was one of the last remaining punk venues at the time of its closure. [12] Violent Psychosis, The Mentors with El Duce, and Circle Jerks performed the venue's farewell show. [7] Shortly before, Danny "Dobbs" Wilson, a booker at the Cathay de Grande, started Raji's a block to the north on Hollywood Boulevard. [13] [14]
The nightclub space later became home to the more upscale China Club. [15] [16]
In the song "The Desperation's Gone" from the NOFX album So Long And Thanks For All The Shoes, Fat Mike sings "Cathay de, I miss your smell."
In 2014, a nightclub called The Argyle opened at the location. That venue has since closed.
The Viper Room is a nightclub and live music venue located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States. It was established as The Viper Room in 1993 and was partly owned by actor Johnny Depp. The other part owner was Sal Jenco who starred in 21 Jump Street with Depp. The club became known for being a hangout of the young Hollywood elite, and was the site where actor River Phoenix died of a drug overdose on the night before Halloween in 1993. In early 1995, Australian singer and actor Jason Donovan suffered a drug-induced seizure at the club, but survived; as well as singer Courtney Love, who was given CPR by Depp after an overdose. In November 1997, Australian rock star Michael Hutchence played his last public performance in the Viper Room, a week before his suicide.
The Masque was a small punk rock club in central Hollywood, California which existed from 1977 to 1978. It is remembered as a key part of the early LA punk scene.
Raji's was a rock and roll nightclub in central Hollywood, open in the 1980s and early 1990s. It was located in the Hastings Hotel building, 6160 Hollywood Blvd. The space had previously been occupied by a Greek restaurant called The King's Palace.
Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs were an American rock and R&B band that emerged from the Los Angeles punk/roots music scene of the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s. Music writer Chris Morris dubbed them "L.A. punk's house band." This scene also produced bands such as The Blasters, X, Los Lobos, The Gun Club, The Knitters, The Circle Jerks, and The Plugz.
Flipside, originally known as Los Angeles Flip Side, was a punk zine published in Whittier and Pasadena, California, from 1977 to 2000. The magazine was associated with its own record label, Flipside Records, releasing vinyl records and compact discs beginning in 1978.
The Troubadour is a nightclub located in West Hollywood, California, United States, at 9081 Santa Monica Boulevard just east of Doheny Drive and the border of Beverly Hills. Inspired by a visit to the newly opened Troubadour café in London, it was opened in 1957 by Doug Weston as a coffee house on La Cienega Boulevard, then moved to its current location shortly after opening and has remained open continuously since. It was a major center for folk music in the 1960s, and subsequently for singer-songwriters and rock. In 2011, a documentary about the club, Troubadours: Carole King / James Taylor & The Rise of the Singer-Songwriter, was released.
Pleasant Gehman is an American author, writer, poet, actress, dancer and musician from Los Angeles.
The Cobalt Cafe was an all-ages music venue in Canoga Park, California. Although the venue always hosted touring artists, it was most known for hosting rock concerts featuring bands local to the Los Angeles area, typically punk, heavy metal, and alternative. The Cobalt, a relatively small venue in the suburban San Fernando Valley, hosted an unusually high number of bands that later established successful careers, including AFI, Less Than Jake, Link 80, Avenged Sevenfold, California Redemption, and Valley locals Strung Out, Second Rate, Linkin Park, Hoobastank, and Incubus. With much of the area's music scene centered in other areas, the Cobalt was among the primary musical, artistic, and cultural centers of the San Fernando Valley.
Avalon is a historic nightclub in Hollywood, California, located near the intersection of Hollywood and Vine, at 1735 N. Vine Street. It has previously been known as The Hollywood Playhouse, The WPA Federal Theatre, El Capitan Theatre, The Jerry Lewis Theatre, The Hollywood Palace and The Palace. It has a capacity of 1,500, and is located across the street from the Capitol Records Building.
Rodney Bingenheimer is an American radio disc jockey who is best known as the host of Rodney on the ROQ, a radio program that ran on the Los Angeles rock station KROQ from 1976 to 2017. In the early 1970s, he also managed a Los Angeles nightclub called Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco.
Brendan Mullen was a Scottish nightclub owner, music promoter and writer, best known for founding the Los Angeles punk rock club The Masque. Through Mullen's support at various nightclubs in California, the scene gave birth to such bands as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Go-Go's, X, The Weirdos and the Germs.
Celebrity Skin were a post-punk, glam influenced, hard rock band from Los Angeles, California. They were active from the mid-1980s till the early 1990s.
The Hong Kong Café was a Los Angeles restaurant and music venue that was a part of the Los Angeles punk rock scene during the late 1970s and early 1980s when the club was owned and operated by Barry Seidel, Kim Turner and Suzie Frank,followed by a resurgence from 1992 to 1995.
Reseda Country Club was a nightclub and multi-purpose venue located on Sherman Way in Reseda, California.
Haunted Garage was a horror punk and heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985. Fronted by singer and B-movie actor Dukey Flyswatter, the band were recognized for their campy horror and science fiction-inspired songs and outrageous shock rock live shows featuring macabre props and costumes, go-go dancers and copious amounts of stage blood.
The California Institute of Abnormalarts - also written as the California Institute of Abnormal Arts and abbreviated as CIA - was a nightclub and sideshow museum located in North Hollywood, California. Owned and operated by actor-screenwriter Carl Crew and Robert Ferguson, the venue primarily hosted underground musical groups, performance art, movie screenings and sideshow acts including burlesque and freak shows. The club closed in July 2022.
Carl Albert Crew is an American actor, screenwriter, author, artist and co-proprietor of the North Hollywood nightclub California Institute of Abnormalarts.
Evan Shanks is an American rock bassist for Symbol Six and Entropy.
GoNightclubbing is a collaboration between video artists Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong, who worked together to document the New York punk rock scene beginning in 1977. Ivers had previously worked with Metropolis Video from 1975 until their dissolution in 1977. Originally, Ivers and Armstrong were known as Advanced TV, but they incorporated as GoNightclubbing in 2001.
Club 88 was an all-ages live music venue that was a key part of the early Los Angeles punk scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Many seminal punk and New Wave groups got their start playing shows there.
