Gazzarri's
Encyclopedia
Gazzarri's was a nightclub
on the Sunset Strip
in West Hollywood
, California
, United States
. It is most notable as the location where The Doors
, and Van Halen
were featured house bands for long stretches before being discovered. It was also the LA club featured in Huey Lewis and the News
MTV video for their hit "The Heart of Rock and Roll."
The club reached its peak of popularity in the late 1960s, featuring Jim Morrison's young new group, along with other LA talent such as The Bobby Fuller Four, Buffalo Springfield, and the Walker Brothers. It then achieved major LA relevance again in the late 70's, featuring the David Lee Roth-led Van Halen nightly for months on end, and then into 1980s as one of the top LA glam metal nightclubs. It was owned and operated by the "Godfather of Rock and Roll", Bill Gazzarri. Gazzarri himself was known for dressing up as a Chicago-style gangster
and frequenting the club on performance nights. Located near the corner of Doheny and Sunset Boulevard
in West Hollywood, and just several dozen yards from both the Rainbow Bar and Grill
and The Roxy Theatre
, Gazarri's became famous as a launching pad for future rock and roll stars.
Along with The Roxy Theatre, The Whisky a Go Go
, The Troubadour, The Starwood, and other nearby nightclubs, it was a staple of the Los Angeles music scene in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Some other bands that played at Gazzarri's either prior to or during their mainstream success include Johnny Rivers, The Go-Go's, Tina Turner
, Sonny and Cher, Ratt
, Cinderella
, chicano rock
band Renegade
, punk band X, Quiet Riot
, Stryper
, Mötley Crüe
, Poison
, Guns N' Roses
, Warrant
, Lynx
and Faster Pussycat
. Other notable local, Los Angeles area bands to play there included Redd Kross
, Brunette, Shark Island, Taz, Tuff, Foxx, Reinkus Tide, D'Molls, and Pretty Boy Floyd. Many giant, hand-painted pictures of these bands adorned the side of the club's outside wall for many years.
The 90 yard stretch of sidewalk on Sunset Boulevard that runs from the front steps of Gazarri's (now The Key Club, 9039 West Sunset Blvd), to the parking lot between the Rainbow Bar and Grill
(9015 West Sunset Blvd) and The Roxy Theatre (9009 West Sunset Blvd), was the national center of the 1980s glam metal movement that spawned dozens of MTV bands and radio hits. Aspiring bands and musicians from around the world, coming to Los Angeles to make it big, eventually found themselves on this small stretch of sidewalk passing out their flyers, watching the competition in the clubs, or enjoying the scene packed with thousands of other musicians, famous rock stars, porn stars, groupies, and Los Angeles teenagers.
The nightclub also "moonlighted" variously over the years a stage-dance venue, and Gazzarri's would often combine the strip-club-like dancing of attractive, young girls in between live band performances. The "Miss Gazzarri's Dancers" over the years included future Playboy Playmate and Hugh Hefner girlfriend Barbi Benton, and future television star Catherine "Daisy Duke" Bach. The club became a favorite hangout for teen dancers who loved live music, which was not lost on the neighboring television studios. Gazzarri's was acknowledged by TV executives as the real-life inspiration for music-based TV shows such as Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, The Monkees, and The Partridge Family.
The club was part of the controversial Los Angeles "Pay-to-Play" concept in the 80's, along with the other major Hollywood nightclubs that showcased bands with original songs. The philosophy then among club owners was that, since many acts that played their clubs went onto fame and fortune, and the world's most powerful record companies were literally right across the street, the bands would be willing to pay money to the club just to play there.
For the most part, Pay-to-Play was a successful 80's ruse for the clubs, including Gazzarri's. Up to four bands per night would each "buy" 100-200 tickets from the club at $5 or so, handing over in advance hundreds of dollars to the owner for a single 45 minute slot on the "famous stage". If the band was able to unload the tickets (at any price they could get from fans, girlfriends, parents, etc.) then that was their pay for the evening. However, if the band couldn't get 20 or 30 people to show up after such an investment, they quickly learned "Hollywood Rock and Roll 101" - that the music business was as much (or more) about drawing people and making money as it was about good music. Soon, many bands were spending as much time promoting, handing out flyers, advertising in local magazines, and building mailing lists as they were on songwriting, practicing, and actually gigging live. Young, hungry bands such as Poison, Motley Crue, Van Halen and Guns N' Roses became early masters of self-promotion as a result, developing street-smart business skills that would serve them even as world-renowned superstars. Axl Rose stated several times in interviews that the "L.A. scene was so competitive, if half the bands in the Top 40 right now had tried to get their big break in L.A. instead of somewhere else, they never would have made it."
Bill Gazzarri died in 1991 and the club closed down in 1993. In 1994, the building suffered irreparable damage from the Northridge earthquake
. It was torn down in 1995 and a new club called Billboard Live was built on the former Gazzarri's site. It opened in 1996. Billboard Live became The Key Club in 1998.
so much that he would tip lead singer David Lee Roth after performances, a rare act for a club owner. However, he thought Roth's name was "Van Halen." Roth was quoted as saying, "He'd come up to me, slip some extra money in my pocket, and say 'Here ya go, Van. It was a great night.'"
According to David Lee Roth in his book "Crazy From The Heat", Gazzarri lured young girls to his club office to have sex while Roth watched.
In 1987, Guns N' Roses
, who had agreed with their new record company, Geffen, to not perform locally, played a sold-out show at Gazzarri's under the secret moniker "Fargyn Bastydges" (a colloquialism from the movie Johnny Dangerously.) Paul Stanley of the band KISS worked the Gazzarri's sound board for the show. The band afterwards demanded, and received, an additional $500 from the club because the promoters had mistakenly put "Guns N' Roses" on the club's primary marquee sign along the Sunset Strip.
In his best-selling 2007 autobiography, "Slash", the author (real name Saul Hudson) states that he and pal Steven Adler stopped into Gazzarri's to see a show in the early 80's prior to Guns N' Roses forming. It was there at Gazzarri's, he writes, that for the first time "I beheld, hands down, the best singer in Los Angeles at the time", along with that singer's rhythm guitarist. It wasn't long before those same four individuals - singer William Bailey (W. Axl Rose), rhythm guitarist Jeff Isabell (Izzy Stradlin
), guitarist Saul Hudson (Slash
), and drummer Steven Adler
(who managed to keep his given name) joined forces with Duff McKagan
(Michael McKagan) to form Guns N' Roses. Slash also notes, however, that the band despised what Gazzarri's was most noted for - "pretty" male performers, who Slash felt focused too much on clothes, make-up and theatrics, and far too little on the actual songs and musicianship.
The club, and Bill Gazzarri himself, are featured prominently in director Penelope Spheeris
's documentary of the late 80s Heavy metal
scene The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years.
The Sunset Strip Diaries
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
on the Sunset Strip
Sunset Strip
The Sunset Strip is the name given to the mile-and-a-half stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with Hollywood at Harper Avenue, to its western border with Beverly Hills at Sierra Drive...
in West Hollywood
West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is most notable as the location where The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
, and Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
were featured house bands for long stretches before being discovered. It was also the LA club featured in Huey Lewis and the News
Huey Lewis and the News
Huey Lewis and the News is an American rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually scoring a total of 19 top-ten singles across the Billboard Hot 100, Adult Contemporary and Mainstream Rock charts...
MTV video for their hit "The Heart of Rock and Roll."
The club reached its peak of popularity in the late 1960s, featuring Jim Morrison's young new group, along with other LA talent such as The Bobby Fuller Four, Buffalo Springfield, and the Walker Brothers. It then achieved major LA relevance again in the late 70's, featuring the David Lee Roth-led Van Halen nightly for months on end, and then into 1980s as one of the top LA glam metal nightclubs. It was owned and operated by the "Godfather of Rock and Roll", Bill Gazzarri. Gazzarri himself was known for dressing up as a Chicago-style gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
and frequenting the club on performance nights. Located near the corner of Doheny and Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
in West Hollywood, and just several dozen yards from both the Rainbow Bar and Grill
Rainbow Bar and Grill
The Rainbow Bar and Grill is a bar and restaurant on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States adjacent to the border of Beverly Hills, California. Its address is 9015 Sunset Boulevard....
and The Roxy Theatre
The Roxy Theatre
The Roxy Theatre is a famous nightclub, on the Sunset Strip, in West Hollywood, California. The Roxy is owned by Lou Adler and Adler's son, Nic, who operates the club.- History :...
, Gazarri's became famous as a launching pad for future rock and roll stars.
Along with The Roxy Theatre, The Whisky a Go Go
Whisky a Go Go
The Whisky a Go Go is a nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard, on the Sunset Strip.-History:...
, The Troubadour, The Starwood, and other nearby nightclubs, it was a staple of the Los Angeles music scene in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Some other bands that played at Gazzarri's either prior to or during their mainstream success include Johnny Rivers, The Go-Go's, Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
, Sonny and Cher, Ratt
Ratt
Ratt is an American heavy metal band that had significant commercial success in the 1980s. The band is best known for songs such as "Round and Round," "Wanted Man," "Lay It Down," "You're in Love", "Slip of the Lip", "Back For More", "Dance", "Body Talk", "I Want a Woman", and "Way Cool Jr." Ratt...
, Cinderella
Cinderella (band)
Cinderella is an American heavy metal band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They emerged in the mid-1980s with a series of multi-platinum albums and hit singles whose music videos received heavy MTV rotation. They were famous for being a glam metal band, but then shifted over towards a more hard...
, chicano rock
Chicano rock
Chicano rock is rock music performed by Mexican American groups or music with themes derived from Chicano culture. Chicano Rock, to a great extent, does not refer to any single style or approach. Some of these groups do not sing in Spanish at all, or use many specifically Latin instruments or sounds...
band Renegade
Renegade (band)
Renegade is an American rock n' roll band composed of Luis Cardenas, Kenny Marquez and Tony De La Rosa. Although each member hails from the United States, the band is widely recognized as being the first Hispanic or "Chicano rock" band to gain acceptance in the United States. Throughout Latin...
, punk band X, Quiet Riot
Quiet Riot
Quiet Riot is an American Heavy Metal band. They are best known for their hit singles "Metal Health" and "Cum On Feel the Noize". They were founded in 1973 by guitarist Randy Rhoads and bassist Kelly Garni, under the original name Mach 1, before changing the name to Little Women and finally Quiet...
, Stryper
Stryper
Stryper is a Christian glam metal band from Orange County, California. The group's lineup consists of Michael Sweet , Oz Fox , Tim Gaines , and Robert Sweet...
, Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. The group was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, who were later joined by lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil...
, Poison
Poison (band)
Poison is an American glam metal band that achieved great success in the mid-1980s to mid-1990s. To date, Poison has sold over 30 million records worldwide and have sold 15 million records in the United States alone. The band has also charted ten singles to the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100,...
, Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
, Warrant
Warrant (American band)
Warrant is an American heavy metal band from Hollywood, California, that experienced success from 1989-1996 with five albums reaching international sales of over 10 million. The band first came into the national spotlight with their debut album Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich, and one of its...
, Lynx
Lynx
A lynx is any of the four Lynx genus species of medium-sized wildcats. The name "lynx" originated in Middle English via Latin from Greek word "λύγξ", derived from the Indo-European root "*leuk-", meaning "light, brightness", in reference to the luminescence of its reflective eyes...
and Faster Pussycat
Faster Pussycat
Faster Pussycat is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California formed in 1986. The group was most successful during the late 1980s with their self-titled debut album, their 1989 gold album Wake Me When It's Over and the 80,000 selling Whipped! in 1992.-The roots of Faster Pussycat...
. Other notable local, Los Angeles area bands to play there included Redd Kross
Redd Kross
Redd Kross, a rock band from Hawthorne, California had their roots in 1978 in a band called The Tourists begun by Jeff and Steve McDonald while the brothers were still in middle school...
, Brunette, Shark Island, Taz, Tuff, Foxx, Reinkus Tide, D'Molls, and Pretty Boy Floyd. Many giant, hand-painted pictures of these bands adorned the side of the club's outside wall for many years.
The 90 yard stretch of sidewalk on Sunset Boulevard that runs from the front steps of Gazarri's (now The Key Club, 9039 West Sunset Blvd), to the parking lot between the Rainbow Bar and Grill
Rainbow Bar and Grill
The Rainbow Bar and Grill is a bar and restaurant on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States adjacent to the border of Beverly Hills, California. Its address is 9015 Sunset Boulevard....
(9015 West Sunset Blvd) and The Roxy Theatre (9009 West Sunset Blvd), was the national center of the 1980s glam metal movement that spawned dozens of MTV bands and radio hits. Aspiring bands and musicians from around the world, coming to Los Angeles to make it big, eventually found themselves on this small stretch of sidewalk passing out their flyers, watching the competition in the clubs, or enjoying the scene packed with thousands of other musicians, famous rock stars, porn stars, groupies, and Los Angeles teenagers.
The nightclub also "moonlighted" variously over the years a stage-dance venue, and Gazzarri's would often combine the strip-club-like dancing of attractive, young girls in between live band performances. The "Miss Gazzarri's Dancers" over the years included future Playboy Playmate and Hugh Hefner girlfriend Barbi Benton, and future television star Catherine "Daisy Duke" Bach. The club became a favorite hangout for teen dancers who loved live music, which was not lost on the neighboring television studios. Gazzarri's was acknowledged by TV executives as the real-life inspiration for music-based TV shows such as Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, The Monkees, and The Partridge Family.
The club was part of the controversial Los Angeles "Pay-to-Play" concept in the 80's, along with the other major Hollywood nightclubs that showcased bands with original songs. The philosophy then among club owners was that, since many acts that played their clubs went onto fame and fortune, and the world's most powerful record companies were literally right across the street, the bands would be willing to pay money to the club just to play there.
For the most part, Pay-to-Play was a successful 80's ruse for the clubs, including Gazzarri's. Up to four bands per night would each "buy" 100-200 tickets from the club at $5 or so, handing over in advance hundreds of dollars to the owner for a single 45 minute slot on the "famous stage". If the band was able to unload the tickets (at any price they could get from fans, girlfriends, parents, etc.) then that was their pay for the evening. However, if the band couldn't get 20 or 30 people to show up after such an investment, they quickly learned "Hollywood Rock and Roll 101" - that the music business was as much (or more) about drawing people and making money as it was about good music. Soon, many bands were spending as much time promoting, handing out flyers, advertising in local magazines, and building mailing lists as they were on songwriting, practicing, and actually gigging live. Young, hungry bands such as Poison, Motley Crue, Van Halen and Guns N' Roses became early masters of self-promotion as a result, developing street-smart business skills that would serve them even as world-renowned superstars. Axl Rose stated several times in interviews that the "L.A. scene was so competitive, if half the bands in the Top 40 right now had tried to get their big break in L.A. instead of somewhere else, they never would have made it."
Bill Gazzarri died in 1991 and the club closed down in 1993. In 1994, the building suffered irreparable damage from the Northridge earthquake
Northridge earthquake
The Northridge earthquake was a massive earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 04:31 Pacific Standard Time in Reseda, a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, lasting for about 10–20 seconds...
. It was torn down in 1995 and a new club called Billboard Live was built on the former Gazzarri's site. It opened in 1996. Billboard Live became The Key Club in 1998.
Trivia
Bill Gazzarri liked Van HalenVan Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
so much that he would tip lead singer David Lee Roth after performances, a rare act for a club owner. However, he thought Roth's name was "Van Halen." Roth was quoted as saying, "He'd come up to me, slip some extra money in my pocket, and say 'Here ya go, Van. It was a great night.'"
According to David Lee Roth in his book "Crazy From The Heat", Gazzarri lured young girls to his club office to have sex while Roth watched.
In 1987, Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
, who had agreed with their new record company, Geffen, to not perform locally, played a sold-out show at Gazzarri's under the secret moniker "Fargyn Bastydges" (a colloquialism from the movie Johnny Dangerously.) Paul Stanley of the band KISS worked the Gazzarri's sound board for the show. The band afterwards demanded, and received, an additional $500 from the club because the promoters had mistakenly put "Guns N' Roses" on the club's primary marquee sign along the Sunset Strip.
In his best-selling 2007 autobiography, "Slash", the author (real name Saul Hudson) states that he and pal Steven Adler stopped into Gazzarri's to see a show in the early 80's prior to Guns N' Roses forming. It was there at Gazzarri's, he writes, that for the first time "I beheld, hands down, the best singer in Los Angeles at the time", along with that singer's rhythm guitarist. It wasn't long before those same four individuals - singer William Bailey (W. Axl Rose), rhythm guitarist Jeff Isabell (Izzy Stradlin
Izzy Stradlin
Jeffrey Dean Isbell , known by his stage name Izzy Stradlin, is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder and former rhythm guitarist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, which he left at the height of its fame in 1991. Following his departure, he led his own band Izzy...
), guitarist Saul Hudson (Slash
Slash (musician)
Saul Hudson , known by his stage name Slash, is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N'...
), and drummer Steven Adler
Steven Adler
Steven Adler is an American musician. He is best known as the former drummer of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s...
(who managed to keep his given name) joined forces with Duff McKagan
Duff McKagan
Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan is an American musician and writer. He is best known for his twelve-year tenure as the bassist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s...
(Michael McKagan) to form Guns N' Roses. Slash also notes, however, that the band despised what Gazzarri's was most noted for - "pretty" male performers, who Slash felt focused too much on clothes, make-up and theatrics, and far too little on the actual songs and musicianship.
The club, and Bill Gazzarri himself, are featured prominently in director Penelope Spheeris
Penelope Spheeris
Penelope Spheeris is an American director, producer and screenwriter. She is best known as a documentary film director whose works include the trilogy titled The Decline of Western Civilization...
's documentary of the late 80s Heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
scene The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years.
External links
- Bill Gazzarri LA Times Obituary http://articles.latimes.com/1991-03-16/local/me-193_1_bill-gazzarri
- http://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-Rocks-Ultimate-California-Rock-N-Roll/dp/0963619349
- Van Halen 1974 Bootleg - Setlist at Gazzarri's http://www.vhboots.com/gazzaris74.html
- The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years
- LA Times Review of Doors Concert at Gazzarri's http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/Venues/gazzarris.html
- http://www.brunetterocks.com/_press_gallery/gazzarris.html
The Sunset Strip Diaries