‘Glamour and glitz defined the Strip in the 1930’s and 1940’s as the West Hollywood nightclubs became places where screen legends hobnobbed, power brokers dealt and everyone who was anyone danced into stardom.
Trocadero
The jewel of the Strip in the 1930s, Cafè Trocadero became synonymous with starlets, movie producers and rip-roaring times. Owned by Billy Wilkerson (Hollywood Reporter owner), this black tie French-inspired supper club became the scene for many famous movie premiere parties, notably “Gone with the Wind,” recipient of the Best Picture Oscar at the 1939 Academy Awards. Among the celebrities who frequented the Trocadero were Bing Crosby, Mynra Loy, Cary Grant, Fred Astaire and Norma Shearer. It was featured in the film “A Star is Born.” 8610 Sunset, east of where Chin Chin stands Ph.323-656-7161
Ciro’s, (now the Comedy Store) Wilkerson’s next hot spot was Ciro’s opened in 1939. For almost 20 years, Ciro’s was the place to be seen. Declared by Lana Turner as her favorite spot, Ciro’s combined an overdone baroque interior, an unadorned exterior and a place that guaranteed inches in the gossip columns. Celebrities flocked therein as the place to be seen. Regulars included Gary Cooper, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Betty Grable and Dean Martin.
Address: 8433 Sunset
Web: The Comedy Store – The Comedy Store
Sunset Strip, Hollywood: Whisky a Go Go Club
As long as there has been a Los Angeles rock scene, there has been the Whisky A Go-Go.
An anchor on the Sunset Strip since it’s opening in 1964, the Whisky A Go-Go has played host to rock ‘n’ roll’s most important bands, from the Doors, Janis Joplin, and Led Zeppelin to today’s up and coming new artists.
Within a four-block stretch on high-rent Sunset Boulevard, there’s Billboard Live (now the Key Club), the Roxy, the Whisky A-Go-Go, and the Viper Room. If you can visit only one, make it the Whisky A-Go-Go (8901) Sunset Blvd.).
Where else can you touch one stage where the Germs, Jim Morrison, the Cramps and X all rawked out? The Whisky brings out the best in everybody:
This is where Darby Crash started a food fight while screaming the words to an Archies song, and where Jim Morrison jumped off the stage and ran out into traffic on Sunset Boulevard………..What other club has nurtured every band from Love to the Go-Go’s to the Gun Club and is the subject of a tremendously inspired Beverly Hillbillies episode?
Web: Calendar – Whisky a Go Go
The Viper Room
Opened in 1993 the famous Viper Room, was already a hot spot with the young celebrity club crowd months before River Phoenix died here of a drug overdose. That was on Halloween night of 1993.
Less than four months later, another incident at the Viper Room made the gossip columns, when TV star Nicole Eggert got into a nasty fight here with another girl over a mutual boyfriend. The nightclub has hosted Johnny Cash, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Bruce Springsteen, Oasis, Pearl Jam, Sandra Bernhardt, Sheryl Crow, along with a number of internationally established artists.
And in 1996, rocker Tommy Lee was convicted of battery after he pushed over a photographer who tried to videotape his wife Pamela Anderson. The Viper Room only holds 250 patrons, giving fans the opportunity to see national headliners perform in a more personal environment.
Web: The Viper Room
The Roxy
is another one of the most favorite Rock Clubs in L.A.
Well known artists like David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and Prince could be seen here for years. Rod Steward met Rachel Hunter here.
Address: 9009 W Sunset Blvd
