Saturday, December 31, 2011

Analy High School, 6950 Analy Avenue, Sebastapol, CA



Established in 1908. 
In 1909 Analy High School opens. Students attend in temporary classrooms while school is being built. Total enrollment for Analy High School was 37 students.
J.C. Williamson is named the first principal of Analy High School.

In 1920, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Jack Dempsey visits Sebastopol and attends the Analy High School Boxing tournament. Dempsey fights a one-round exhibition with Senior class member Glenn Winkler. Dempsey then serves as a guest referee for the remaining bouts on the card.

In 1925, Analy High School adopted the tiger as its mascot. Years later, Garcia would name his guitar "Tiger". Mickey Hart also went to high school here.


Jerry performed here 
Fall 1959
Analy High School is where Garcia played his first gig. He had a five- piece combo, The Chords, in which he played the guitar, and there was a piano, two saxes, and a bass. They won a prize of being able to record their own song. They chose Bill Doggett's "Raunchy".  Jerry did not graduate.Jerry Garcia enrolls as a junior at Analy High School. Garcia does not finish his senior year at Analy, enlisting in the military.(1)












1.)^HISTORICAL TIMELINE OF AHS, http://www.analy100.com/pages/timeline.html
2.)^http://npaphistory.wikispaces.com/Jerry+Garcia+21+G6

Thursday, December 29, 2011

West Gym, Harpur College (S.U.N.Y.), 1092 Bunn Hill Rd, Vestal Gardens, NY

Photo courtesy of Binghamton University Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives

Binghamton University was established in 1946 as Triple Cities College to serve the needs of local veterans returning from World War II of the Triple Cities area. Established in Endicott, New York; the college was a branch of Syracuse University. Originally, Triple Cities College offered local students the first two years of their education, while the following two were spent at Syracuse. However, starting in the 1946-47 year, students were allowed to earn their degrees entirely in Binghamton.

When the college split from Syracuse and became incorporated into the State University of New York (SUNY) in 1950, it was renamed Harpur College, in honor of Robert Harpur, a Colonial teacher and pioneer who settled in the Binghamton area. He was a teacher of mathematics at Columbia University (known then as King's College). One of his prized pupils was Alexander Hamilton while he studied there in 1774.(1) Harpur served in various capacities in the New York government during the American Revolution.
Somewhere from 1787 to 1795 Robert Harpur secured a "patent", so called, in Warren township, covering some 60,000 acres of land, and began to develop it. Harpur seems to have been a man of more than ordinary ability, having recieved the distinction by some historians of being "the most distinguished pioneer who honored the county of Broome with a residence."

In 1951, the college began a move to its current location in Vestal, New York. The 387-acre (1.57 km2) site was purchased from a local farmer, anticipating future growth for the school. Colonial Hall, the original building of the former campus, stands today as the Village of Endicott Visitor's Center.

The campus broke ground at its current location in Vestal, New York, in 1954.
The first building to be constructed on the new campus in Vestal was the East Gymnasium, completed in 1957. The north end of campus houses two separate gyms -- the East Gym and the West Gym -- for student recreation and varsity athletic purposes.

In 1965, the campus was formally designated the State University of New York at Binghamton.
Binghamton University was adopted as the informal name in 1992.

In 2004 the West Gym was replaced with a Fieldhouse, including an Aquatics Center.



Jerry performed here on
5/2/70 early and late shows with NRPS and The Grateful Dead.



















2.)^Press & Son Bulletin, Binghamton, NY, 2004-01-25

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Calvin Coolidge Cage (lower level of Alumni Gym), Amherst College, Amherst, MA

Built in 1905 and recently renovated, Coolidge Cage, on the lower level of Alumni Gym, is one of the best indoor baseball facilities in New England. The facility fits a regulation size infield and multiple batting cages. Ted Williams, Johnny Sain and many other professional baseball players have used this historic facility.
Players must wear sneakers (no spikes) to protect the indoor playing surface.

After moving a large house on South Pleasant Street to 22 Hitchcock Road and awarding a contract to Charles T. Wills of New York, construction began on the Alumni Gym in 1935. The Alumni gym opened in September of 1936.

Amherst was founded as a non-sectarian institution "for the classical education of indigent young men of piety and talents for the Christian ministry." (Tyler, A History of Amherst College)
Amherst remained a men's college until becoming coeducational in 1975.

At it's opening, Amherst had forty-seven students. Amherst grew quickly, and for two years in the mid-1830s it was the second largest college in the United States, second only to Yale.
Amherst’s historical “firsts” include the world’s first intercollegiate baseball game, against Williams in 1859. After 3 1/2 hours and 26 innings, Amherst defeats Williams, 73-32(2).; the country’s first collegiate physical education and hygiene program, founded in 1860; and the nation’s first undergraduate neuroscience program, established in 1973.
The first (and so far only) Amherst graduate to serve as president of the United States was Calvin Coolidge, Class of 1895.
In 1873, while working as a student library assistant, Melvil Dewey (AC 1874) devised a decimal system for cataloguing books. The Dewey Decimal System, eventually a model for libraries across the country, permitted open stacks.(2)
The poet Robert Frost, arguably the college’s best-known faculty member, arrived at Amherst in 1916 and taught here intermittently for more than 40 years.(1)

Amherst remained a men's college until becoming coeducational in 1975.


Jerry performed here on
12/7/83 Jerry Garcia Band




1.)^https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/history
2.)^https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/history/timeline


Sunday, December 25, 2011

Auditorium Theater, 50 E. Congress Parkway, Chicago, IL

In 1886, Ferdinand Wythe Peck, a Chicago business man, incorporates the Chicago Auditorium Association on December 8th for the purpose of developing the world's largest, grandest, most expensive theater. The building is to include an office block and a first class hotel.

On the board are Marshall Field, Edson Keith, Martin Ryerson, George Pullman, and other Chicago business tycoons. Adler and Sullivan are hired to design the project, based on their work at the Interstate Exposition Building.
On October 5th, 1887, President Grover Cleveland lays the cornerstone for the Auditorium Building.
In 1888 the Republican National Convention is held in the partially finished Auditorium Building. Benjamin Harrison is nominated. Adler and Sullivan hire young draftsman Frank Lloyd Wright.

On December 9th, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison dedicates the Theatre before a standing room only crowd. Operatic idol Adelina Patti sings "Home, Sweet Home".

1891-The Chicago Symphony Orchestra debuts on October 16 and makes its home in the Auditorium Theatre until moving to Orchestra Hall in 1904.

The Auditorium Theatre is the greatest monument imaginable to the classic dictum of one of its architects, Louis Sullivan, that form follows function. Completed in 1889, this elegant hall has a surprisingly low, arched proscenium and a ceiling that gradually heightens as it recedes in several arches, a design unprecedented in the late 19th century. The Auditorium was the first theater shaped like a cone or speaking trumpet. The stage corresponds to the apex of a hollow cone, while the proscenium, arched roof, and diverging walls retreat in a series of constantly widening circles. The main floor and balcony seating also are set in generous, sweeping curves.

The Auditorium Theatre was the first lit entirely by incandescent bulbs, which eliminated the need for a conventional chandelier.
As a result, when I sat six stories up and 180 feet from the stage, in the last row at the back of the highest balcony, listening to a rehearsal of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the sounds of the orchestra, soloists and choir were nuanced and vivid. Conversations among conductor, choirmaster and musicians were also remarkably clear.

These unsurpassed acoustics are the achievement of Sullivan's partner, Dankmar Adler, who also engineered the theater's innovative hydraulic lifts to move scenery, the first ever central air conditioning system, and drop-down ceiling panels to block off the top balconies for more intimate performances. Adler wrote: "The architectural and decorative forms found in the auditorium are unconventional in the extreme and are determined to a great extent by the acoustic effects to be obtained."

Following his partner's functional imperatives for exceptional sound (and superb sightlines as well), Sullivan designed the hall's 4,200-seat interior to complement its revolutionary shape. For example, the Auditorium was the first theater entirely lit by incandescent bulbs, with 3,500 of them running along the ceiling arches and the fronts of the balcony and galleries. They envelop the audience and eliminate the need for a conventional chandelier in the center of a domed ceiling, common in most 19th-century opera houses and almost certain to deaden a hall's acoustics.

Sullivan also eschewed the plush red common in theaters of that era. The Auditorium's surfaces are painted ivory in subtly graded tones overlaid by three-karat gold leaf. He designed scores of foliate motifs in cast plaster relief as settings for the projecting lightbulbs. The boxes along the sides of the house are set off by elegant cast-iron arches and railings whose floral decorations echo the patterns in the ceiling.

Mosaic marble floors flow throughout the theater and its lobbies and foyers. In all, Sullivan used 55 million pieces of mosaic tile. Over the doors at the building's entrance are six arched art glass lunettes inspired by the allegorical figures of Wisdom, Oratory, Drama, Music, Poetry and Dance.

Legend has it that late one night Sullivan caught his apprentice Wright moonlighting on home designs in Sullivan & Adler's offices in the Auditorium tower and fired him. Wright was not a man known to forgive. But shortly before his death in 1959 he told an audience of potential benefactors to "be kind to this theater and it will be kind to you." They were -- and today the theater is both a grand and fully operational masterpiece.

"Inglenooks" at the rear of the theater are used before performances and during intermissions. Originally, they included working fireplaces and long wooden benches warmed by radiators underneath the cushions. (One contains the geometric designs favored by Sullivan & Adler's young apprentice, Frank Lloyd Wright.)

But the theater occupies less than half the huge 400,000 square foot Auditorium Building, which originally included a 400-room hotel and 130 offices. Those who see only Sullivan's exterior design have a very different notion of what this architectural masterpiece is all about.

The monumental Romanesque outer structure is largely built of granite and limestone, massive to behold. The granite was so heavy that the entire building sank more than a foot into the marshy soil, requiring the architects to add stairs leading down from the entrance to the lobby. When new, it was the tallest building in Chicago at 270 feet, and the largest building in the country, capped with what Wright called a "nobly frowning tower."

It had been developed by Ferdinand Peck as one of the world's first multiuse buildings. Peck wanted the theater to serve a broad public. To that end, he ordered Sullivan and Adler to incorporate very few boxes for the upper crust and sponsored workingmen's concerts with subsidized ticket prices.
Auditorium Theater, Chicago, IL box seats (Cornell University Library)
Peck assumed that the theater would be supported by revenues from the hotel and office suites. But the hotel quickly lost favor because it had no private bathrooms, and the office complex lost out to more modern structures.

1900-Booker T. Washington, the founder of the first college for African-American teachers, Alabama's Tuskegee Institute, addresses a capacity crowd at the Auditorium Theatre.

Ironically, the theater itself flourished in its early days as the home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Opera Company. But after the symphony left in 1904 and the opera in 1929, the theater declined, closing in 1941. The Auditorium Building would have been demolished but for its fortress-like architecture. Estimates for demolition during the early 1930s amounted to more than the land was worth.

1910-The Chicago Opera Association, later renamed the Chicago Civic Opera Company, takes up residence in the Auditorium Theatre, with its first performance on November 3rd.

In 1912 Theodore Roosevelt gives his famous "Bull Moose" speech at the Auditorium and is nominated for President of the United States by the independent National Progressive Party.

1919-The funeral of Cleofonte Campanini, conductor of the Chicago Opera Company, is held on the stage of the Auditorium Theatre.

1921-The Chicago Opera Company's performance of Madam Butterfly is broadcast live from the Auditorium Theatre. It is Chicago's first live radio broadcast.

1929-The Chicago Opera Company leaves the Auditorium for its new home on Wacker Drive, leaving the Auditorium Theatre without a major tenant.

1933-In the midst of the Great Depression, Chicago raises $125,000 to refurbish the Auditorium Theatre in time for the Century of Progress World's Fair.

1941-The Auditorium Theatre closes during the Great Depression.

In 1946 Roosevelt University moves its operations into the Auditorium Building, but the Theatre is not restored. During World War II, parts of the building were used as barracks. The stage became a bowling alley. At the end of the war, demolition discussions were revived, but the cost remained prohibitively expensive.

In 1946, a new university, Roosevelt, took over the Auditorium Building from the city for $85,000, with all prior real-estate taxes forgiven. The theater was left empty until a succession of civic benefactors began raising funds for restorations that continue even now.

1952-In order to widen Congress Street, a sidewalk is created through the south end of the building, destroying the hotel cafe, the famous long bar, and other original public areas.

1960-Mrs. Beatrice T. Spachner establishes the Auditorium Theatre Council to raise funds for the restoration of the Theatre. Respected Chicago architect Harry Weese volunteers his services to restore the building to its former elegance.

Though the Auditorium opened to immense critical acclaim, what began as a masterfully-designed opera house that sprang from the minds of geniuses gradually fell into disrepair. For decades the Auditorium Theatre continued its decline before experiencing an astounding resurgence in the 1960's, and ultimately returning to its former status as a jewel in American history.

At the grand reopening in 1967, the New York City Ballet performed "A Midsummer Night's Dream." "Why don't they build like this today?" said the NYCB's director, George Balanchine. "Nothing could be more modern than this."

1968  Anti-Vietnam war protesters clash with police in the streets outside the Auditorium Building and the Congress Hotel during the Democratic National Convention.

1968-'75  The Auditorium serves as Chicago's premier rock house, with performances by Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead and many others.

In 1970, the Auditorium building is placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

2002-The Theatre initiates Phase II of its ongoing restoration project, highlighted by the removal and reconstruction of the theatre's 113-year old stage.
An examination and assessment of Louis Holloway’s original proscenium mural was performed prior to conservation. Restoration of the theater’s ceiling included decorative painting, the application of 16,000 square feet of missing gold-leaf gilding and stenciling, decorative plaster repair, and the restoration of scagliola columns, as well as recommended improvements to the lighting system.

Today, the Auditorium Theatre is the permanent home of The Joffrey Ballet, and it has been the venue for a range of performances -- from dance troupes and Broadway musicals to Bruce Springsteen and Richard Pryor.

The venue is just personal enough that you feel like you are hanging out with the band, and just big enough where your ears aren’t ringing from the acoustics for the next few days. (Mallory Ulaszek-Citysearch)

Though massive in size and scale, the theater has an aura of European elegance. The lobby is dimly lit and spacious, with a concession island in the center. The theater itself also has low lighting (making playbill reading a challenge), but the many tiny lights above and around the seating evoke a beautiful star-filled evening.



The main floor extends back a considerable distance--binoculars are recommended past about the 30th row. For the most popular events the theater will make available all 3,661 seats--although anyone with a fear of heights is advised to avoid the second balcony and gallery. (Citysearch)

Even in the very high seats (don't arrive after it begins, the stairs need light for negotiating), you will be able to hear beautifully. (Christine Z.-judy'sbook)

Jerry performed here on
8/23/71 Grateful Dead
8/24/71 Grateful Dead (Live on WXRT-FM)
10/21/71 Grateful Dead (Live on WGLD-FM)
Keith's second show.

10/22/71 Grateful Dead
5/21/75 Jerry Garcia Band
11/21/75 Jerry Garcia Band
6/26/76 Grateful Dead
6/27/76 Grateful Dead
6/28/76 Grateful Dead
6/29/76 Grateful Dead
5/12/77 Grateful Dead
5/13/77 Grateful Dead(7)
"I was going to school in Champaign at the time and came up to see this show - had what was claimed to be something left over from the Bear (a friend of my roomate had it stored and split it with me) and I will never forget it. The Auditorium was one of the best places to see anyone due to the "Acoustically Perfect" arena of this venue - there's even a placard that attests to this fact. I remember vividly the solo that Jerry went into and the only reason it didn't last longer was the crowd started a few hoots and hollers - I really think that if everyone had kept quiet, he would have continued even longer. It was phenomenal. This was also the first show that made me openly weep. Stella Blue. I, too, have never seen it performed with such majesty and have seen them do it many times later but never like this show. My seats were about 15 rows back and just off to the side, about as perfect as one could get. Absolutely my favorite show."(6)

7/1/82  John Kahn (acoustic)(8)


1.)^http://evergreene.com/projects/auditorium-theatre/
2.)^Pitts, Carolyn (1975-3-10). National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Auditorium Building. National Park Service.
3.)^Henning, Joel (2008-09-06). "Form Follows Function, Elegantly: Louis Sullivan designed the Auditorium Theatre's interior to complement its acoustics-driven shape". The Wall Street Journal.
4.)^Ulaszek, Mallory, 2010-08-02, http://my.citysearch.com/members/public/profile/Mallory+Ulaszek
5.)^http://auditoriumtheatre.org/wb/pages/home/about-us/historical-timeline.php
6.)^TheDoctor, comments, 2011-01-22, http://www.dead.net/show/may-13-1977
7.)^http://www.deadlists.com/default.asp
8.)^http://thejerrysite.com/

Friday, December 23, 2011

Great Woods, 885 South Main Street, Mansfield, MA

Capacity 20,000

Comcast Center (previously Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts a.k.a. Great Woods)
An outdoor amphitheater.

Developed by The Drew Company in 1986, the Tweeter Center (formerly The Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts) is a music amphitheater located south of Boston and seats 19,000, including 7,000 seats under roof. During a typical summer season, Tweeter Center will host 60-70 performances and attract over 600,000 visitors. There is parking for 6,000 vehicles within the 100 acre complex.



Jerry performed here on
9/9/89 Jerry Garcia Band
9/10/89 Jerry Garcia Band

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Freeborn Hall, UC Davis, 104 Freeborn Hall, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA

Capacity 1800
The architect was Confer and Anderson. Construction of the building was completed in 1961.(1)Opening with a performance by the San Francisco Symphony, Freeborn Hall offered the first performance venue to the campus and remained the campus’ main venue for large groups and performances until the Mondavi Center opened its doors in 2002.(4)
Freeborn Hall is the most versatile venue on the UC Davis campus. It provides a variety of service and a pleasant atmosphere for a myriad of events.(1)
It is part of the Memorial Union complex.Freeborn Hall, formerly known as Memorial Union Assembly Hall, was UC Davis' primary large event venue until the construction of the Mondavi Center. It was named for Stanley B. Freeborn.
In 1926, Prof. Stanley B. Freeborn publishes the first guide to the biology and identification of California mosquitoes. (4)
In honor of his research of malarial mosquitoes, Freeborn has a species of the insect named after him (Anopheles freeborni). (3)
The Mosquitoes of California
First edition. Large octavo. Printed gray wrappers. Paginated 334-460. Modest chips to the yapped edges and the spine, else a very good copy. Inscribed by the author, a chip has removed a few letters of one word: "With the kindest rega[rds] of the writer."
Stanley Barron Freeborn served as the first Chancellor of University of California, Davis between 1958 and June 1959. Prior to being the first Chancellor of UC Davis, Freeborn was the Dean of the College of Agriculture at UC Berkeley.[1] Following his death in 1962, UC Davis renamed its assembly hall to Freeborn Hall in his honor.[2]
 


Jerry performed here on:
1/6/67 Grateful Dead(3)
1/21/71 New Riders Of The Purple Sage and Grateful Dead(3)
8/30/74 Merl Saunders
8/7/81 Jerry Garcia Band(2)




1.)^http://www.campusdestinations.com/ucdavis/destination/219/Freeborn-Hall
2.)^http://thejerrysite.com/shows/show/1552
3.)^http://www.deadlists.com/default.asp
4.)^http://campusunions.ucdavis.edu/?page_id=793

Monday, December 19, 2011

Great Southeast Music Hall, 2581 Piedmont Road N.E. (Broadview Plaza), Atlanta, GA


Mo Erlich and Bob DuLong were the owners of the Hall from day 1 till the day we closed. Robin Conant was the Genreal Manager, Stephen Dell was the Assistant Manager, David Kam was the Emporium Manager, & Harold Dodson was the Sound Manager.
Alex Cooley, Jack Tarver, and Glenn Allison all booked bands and performed Management duties for the Hall, as well as Brad Moss, Chip Abernathy and Sharon Powell, and others, after Robin left.
Other notable employees include Doreen Cochran,Farrell Roberts, Mimi Calhoun, Sharon Wiggins, Van Booker, Alun VonTillius, Kay Von Tillius, David Manion, Gail Bast, Claudia Stickler, Butch Baskin and oh so many more wonderful folks who made the Hall what it was![

The opening night act was Jonathon Edwards (only 4 people showed up) but the next night was better.
Billy Joel was an early act but had laryngitus, Waylon Jennings pulled a gun on one of his band members that did some weird drugs...he was very pissed, & Mylon Lefevre was an early act there before he rediscovered God.
There were so many great acts brought into this city thanks to all the people at GSEMH, especially Robin Conant who booked them all and negotiated with them to come to Atlanta. By the way,  Manilow wanted a spotlight and no one could watch him rehearse! 


The Great Southeast Music Hall was an important part of life in Atlanta during the seventies. It was located in the elbow of a shopping center, Broadview Plaza (Lindbergh Plaza). 
A bowling alley was downstairs, a two level K mart next door, and Atlanta’s first hispanic neighborhood across the street. Like almost everything else here, Broadview Plaza was torn down, and replaced by a more uppity set of stores. 
1975
When you went into the lobby of the Music Hall, you noticed the walls. Performers were given a magic marker, and encouraged to leave a message. John Mayall found the ladies room, and said he likes to be near the ladies. The late Phil Ochs said “Impeach Nixon and Agnew”. What happened to those boards is a good question.
The auditorium held about 500 people. The stage was only three feet or so above the floor. There was an empty space in front of the stage, and a few rows of bench backs behind that. When the place opened, there were lots of pillows on this floor, with the Music Hall logo. The carpet in this front area was fresh when the place opened, and got progressively grosser as the years went by. Beer was served in aluminum buckets, and inevitably some wound up on the carpet.

The Music Hall seated around three hundred fifty or so, and the patrons sat on the floor on plastic pads with plywood backings and the bar served beer in buckets.
When the Music Hall was in it’s prime, the land for the Highway was owned by the State of Georgia, which was fighting legal battles over the highway. The land had a network of dirt roads, one of which connected Buford Highway to Lindbergh Drive. When you went from Chamblee to the Music Hall, the most direct route was over this dirt road. This dirt road is where Sidney Marcus Boulevard is today.

Eventually, the business model for the Music Hall did not work, and the facility moved to Cherokee Plaza.
Alex Cooley booked shows at the Cherokee Plaza location. This Music Hall was in a movie theater. The Cherokee Plaza Theater was the scene for the world premiere of Son of Dracula . This move did not work, for a number of reasons. The parking lot was too small, and people who wanted a loaf of bread from the A&P were blocked out during shows. Cherokee Plaza is just outside the city limits, on Peachtree Road. In the late seventies, DeKalb county was aggressively fighting drunk driving, and had roadblocks. Many of these roadblocks were outside the Music Hall, which kept many people from attending. Before long, this Music Hall closed.


Odetta blasted the audience for not showing her the proper respect…and Spirit playing on Halloween, and a very young Steve Martin opening for a very young Jimmy Buffett many years ago. After the show, Martin was hanging on to one of those trees that was in the big pots around the front entrance doing a post-show show in the parking lot.
There was a double bill featuring Barry Manilow and Country Joe and the Fish. Damn, I wish I’d been there!
 "I was at the show with Manilow and country Joe. Barry was the opening act and no one knew who he was. He kind of made eyes at me when we passed in the hallway. I didn't know he was gay of course, so now I know why. Anyway, I spent most weekends at the music hall between '72 and '74. Saw so many great acts. I played there myself a bunch of times on showcase nights and opened for Doc and Merle Watson and John Hammond Jr. Robin Conant was a good friend."[5]
Other great shows here: Doug Kershaw, Willie Nelson, BB King, Thermos Greenwood and the Colored People, Dixie Dregs, Ronee Blakely (Before the Nashville movie or the Rolling Thunder tour with Dylan, I think) Jimmy Reed and Biff Rose (!), Buffy St. Marie, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Janis Ian, and lots of performances by David Allan Coe (in both the Broadview Plaza and the Cherokee Plaza locations)
Promoter Alex Cooley also remembers the night a young Steve Martin cracked up an audience of about 20 people. After the show Alex recalls Steve Martin inviting everyone to coffee at the Waffle House. "I've had at least three hundred people tell me they were there" he laughs.

 The room catered to Atlanta's burgeoning punk scene, as well as audiences for cult acts, touring legends and smaller rock outfits.The club gained international notoriety when Brad Moss, the manager, booked the first U.S. appearance of The Sex Pistols. The performance was said to be horrible. There are stories of Sid Vicious wandering through the apartments around Broadview trying to find heroin.

BB King performed here in 1979 and Diana Ross was sitting in the audience, also attending the concert in that tiny little theater were:
Diana Ross
Ryan O'Neal
Tatum O'Neal
Kristy McNichol
Eric Clapton
The Pointer Sisters
KC of KC and the Sunshine Band
They all got up on stage with B.B. for the encore.(2)

"I performed there many times including the night the Sex Pistols played. The Music Hall remains one of my fondest memories and it's today particularly on my mind as I just learned of the passing of Jack Tarver Jr. late yesterday. Tarver was the owner at the time my band, The Hahavishnu Orchestra, performed there so many times from 1976-78."[4]

The club itself moved to 3861 Peachtree Road, N. E. in Cherokee Plaza, then closed.
The building was eventually razed, and the shopping center now houses a movie theater and a Starbucks.

Jerry performed here on
4/15/75 Legion Of Mary
4/16/75 Legion Of Mary
4/17/75 Legion Of Mary



1.)^Henry, Scott, Creative Loafing Atlantam 2008-10-03
2.)^LovinDecatur, comments, 2008-09-18, http://www.city-data.com/forum/atlanta/436584-gone-but-not-forgotten-atlanta-4.html#ixzz1MLsPkdGO
3.)&SharonP, comment, 2012-07-02, Great Southeast Music Hall, Broadview Plaza and then Lindbergh Plaza above the bowling alley, Atlanta, GA, 2011-12-19, http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/12/great-southeast-music-hall-broadview.html
4.)^Rhoades, Darryl, comment, 2015-08-30, Great Southeast Music Hall, Broadview Plaza and then Lindbergh Plaza above the bowling alley, Atlanta, GA, 2011-12-19, http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/12/great-southeast-music-hall-broadview.html
5.)^Walker, Sammy, comment, 2014-10-28,  Great Southeast Music Hall, Broadview Plaza and then Lindbergh Plaza above the bowling alley, Atlanta, GA, 2011-12-19, http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/12/great-southeast-music-hall-broadview.html

Friday, December 16, 2011

Golden Bear, 306 Ocean Avenue, Huntington Beach, CA

Originally built in 1929, the Golden Bear on Pacific Coast Highway began as an elegant Greek restaurant patronized by many Hollywood stars in the 1930’s.
There were two Golden Bears people remember in Huntington Beach. The
first began at 226 Main St. as a cafe in 1922 run by chef Harry Bakre.
He called his little cafe the Golden Lion, after one in San Diego that
he had worked as a chef. But because there was another cafe by that name
in Orange County, he changed the name to the Golden Bear.
Around 1925 Bakre and his wife Elsie moved the restaurant to a small
building at 310 Pacific Coast Highway.
Bakre enlarged the building to include 306 PCH in 1929 to the size most remember. Harry and Elsie contemplated adding a second story for a
hotel and they planned to call it the Golden Bear Hotel. But it never
materialized, although the cafe served to house the homeless just after
the earthquake of 1933.
The second Golden Bear began life as a nightclub in 1974 by Charles
and Rick Babiracki.

1930 Golden Bear
The Golden Bear was on Pacific Coast Highway across the street from the pier and about a half a block south.

1935 Chamber of Commerce luncheon in front of the Golden Bear.
Owners through the years:
Harry Bakre-1922
Del Kauffman (owner 1963 to 1966)
George Nikas (owner 1966 to 1974),
Chuck and Carole Babiracki (owners with Rick 1974 to 1986).


The arch can be seen, as well as the train depot to the far left and an oil derrick peeking in at the upper right. Today, the Golden Bear is gone, as is the arch, train depot and the oil derrick.
Where the entrance would have been — a hot dog place is today.
In the basement of the Golden Bear there were wooden crates of hand painted tiles from Greece - like the colorful tiles by the outside door. The tiles showed types of foods served in the Golden Bear's early years. I always liked the cow's head tile and the baskets of fruit. The tiles were thoughtlessly destroyed in 1986 - even after the Orange County Historical Commission asked to preserve them.
The Golden Bear didn't have the best acoustics or sight lines, but it had a vibe that only places like the Whisky a Go Go or the Troubador have. The only difference was that, when you left after a show with your ears still ringing, you got a face full of ocean breeze.

The Rolling Stones once secretly crept in to hear Gram Parsons play in 1969.

Artwork by Paul Gavin, 1986
An old multi-story Spanish red brick building with a white stuccoed front, it had very Spanish appearing facades on the upper floors. The ticket window was extremely small, barely big enough to get your head through. There was a large marquee that advertised who was appearing currently and for the next two weeks.
Inside it was wooden floored with about 30-50 tables scattered around a fairly small stage  (the stage side tables were the most choice and you had to get there early to get one). For the biggies, there were usually two shows and the place was cleared after the first show unless you had purchased tickets for the second.
The menu was not very extensive. The upstairs was mostly closed in private rooms with a couple of viewing balconies.
The owner, George Nikos, (Greek George)was in his mid or late thirties (maybe early forties) and was a very nifty guy to get along with. He did an awful lot for younger artists in the area. (Les Blank)

Last show was Robin Trower.
The club was nearly half a century old when the Babiracki brothers took it over from George Nikis, the restaurateur who had made it an important part of Southern California's booming folk and rock music scenes in the 1960s by booking such acts as the Doors, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and dozens of others on their way to pop music stardom.
Richard Babiracki, was a onetime investment counselor who parlayed a fan's love of music into ownership of the fabled Golden Bear nightclub in Huntington Beach. Babiracki, who operated the celebrated rock, folk, blues, country and comedy venue with his younger brother, Charles, from 1974 until it closed in 1986, had been in declining health for the last year, and was hospitalized in January. He died Saturday in Orange.

Under the Babirackis, the club presented hundreds of performances by a wide swath of entertainers, including Jimmy Buffett, Jerry Garcia, B.B. King, Steve Martin, Dave Mason, Linda Ronstadt, Tom Waits, Robin Williams, Neil Young and the band Van Halen.

"I always felt the Bear never got the credit it deserved for keeping people alive, for the role it played in performers' lives and in the music business, and the number of songwriters that went through there," said John McEuen, a member of the country-rock group the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. He became part of the band during a 1966 show at the Huntington Beach club.

The Babirackis, who grew up in Minnesota and came west after college seeking the sun and fun of Southern California, originally wanted to open a patio restaurant when they found that the Golden Bear, which Nikis was then operating as a Greek restaurant without live music, was for sale. "I was just someone who liked music," Richard Babiracki told The Times a few months after he and his brother took over the club. "I didn't know anything about the nightclub business. I had to acquaint myself with the people who were coming up in the entertainment industry because those are the ones we are trying to book."

In the 1970s and '80s, the Golden Bear was a familiar stopping place for many veteran acts on their way down and a new generation hoping to be headed up. As trends in music shifted, the Babirackis tried to shift with them, booking such new wave and alternative music acts as Men at Work, the Motels, Oingo Boingo, the Plimsouls and the Ramones.

The Golden Bear's steady diet of old folkies, rockers and blues greats mixed with those of a younger generation to help establish Orange County's identity in the Los Angeles-based music industry. It contributed to a burgeoning underground scene that exploded in the 1990s with the commercial breakthrough of such Orange County-bred bands as No Doubt, the Offspring and Sugar Ray.

The Babirackis ran into financial problems when they tried to open a second club, called Panache, in Long Beach in 1983. The venture lasted less than two years, at which point the Babirackis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to keep the Golden Bear operating. By that time, the Babirackis' primary focus on veteran acts gave the Golden Bear a reputation as a backward-looking club in a forward-looking time, and such cutting-edge clubs as the punk-centered Cuckoo's Nest in Costa Mesa and the alternative-minded Safari Sam's less than a mile away from the Bear in Huntington Beach took over as the hip places for young music fans.

In January 1986, the Bear lost its lease. The Golden Bear was bulldozed by city officials who said it did not meet earthquake safety standards and would have to make way for new development. Faithful fans, on May 18, 1986,  were on site as the wrecking ball demolished the aged building and grabbed bricks as souvenirs of this rock ‘n’roll historical landmark. One of the owners, Dick Schwartz, had some of the bricks and wood
beams transported to his home in Thousand Oaks for a deck.(1)

In August 1990, the Pierside Pavilion opened on its original site and the Bear was brought back by Peppers. Inc. Numerous classic rock actsthat played the club in the ‘70s and ‘80s returned to play at the new venue. Opening night was headlined by Eric Burdon of The Animals and Robby Krieger of The Doors.

However, the new Bear’s reincarnation was short-lived when the club was forced to go out of business after a theater complex opened above it. Noise issues arose over decibel levels and by spring 1991, the Bear was closed down again.

Jerry performed here on
12/28/72 Merl Saunders
10/23/74 Merl Saunders
10/24/74 Merl Saunders
10/25/74 Merl Saunders
Jeffrey Comanor opened.[8]

10/26/74 Merl Saunders
Jeffrey Comanor opened.[8]

10/27/74 early and late shows Merl Saunders
Jeffrey Comanor opened.[8]

12/28/74 Merl Saunders
With DS? and Maria Muldaur[7]
"A trumpet player stepped up mid-set and asked Jerry if he could sit in and Jerry said "Sure!" During the punches at the end of Freedom Jazz Dance, he launched into an excruciating off-key squealing solo and wouldn't stop! Jerry was shaking his head in disbelief and dismay but graciously didn't cut him off and let him finish his butchering, but did step forward right away to say "Thanks, man" when the song ended. The guy was sweating like a pig and appeared to be pretty drunk and I imagine that was the end of his collaborations with Jerry and Co."[1]

12/29/74 early and late shows Merl Saunders
With DS? and Maria Muldaur[7]



Golden Bear, Huntington Beach, CA
1.)^RD, comments, 2010-01-28, Garcia's unidentified guests, 2009-12-31,
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/garcias-unidentified-guests.html
2.)^Lewis, Randy, Obituaries, Los Angeles Times, http://www.stockteam.com/hbpix18.html
3.)^Blank, Les, Folk Beat, http://www.hungryi.net/id62.htm
4.)^Pearson, Jerry, A Look Back, 2001-08-02, Huntington Beach Independent.
5.)^http://www.mikebloomfieldamericanmusic.com/1966-1967.htm
6.)^Fritz, comments, 2014-03-23, Golden Bear, 2011-12-16, http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/12/golden-bear-306-ocean-avenue-huntington.html
7.)^MS 332 Ser. 3, Box 1:2, GDR: Show Files: GD Concert Dates-Tour Schedule, Grateful Dead Archives, Special Collections, McHenry Library, UC Santa Cruz, CA.
8.)^Los Angeles Free Press, 1974-10-25, pg. 10, Joseph Jupille Archives.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

California Theater, 1122 Fourth and C St., San Diego, CA

Photo well done by Cynthia Cole

The New California Theatre (California Theater) was one of the last two old movie palaces (Balboa being the other). Built by Architect John Paxton Perrine it was first opened to the public on April 22, 1927. It was heralded as "the cathedral of the motion picture" and "an enduring contribution to the artistic beauty of the entire Southland". Ironically the building sits right across the street from City Hall, Civic Center Theater and CCDC Redevelopment Agency.

Ceilings were gold leaf, murals were scattered throughout the theatre. A huge Wurlitzer organ was installed. The theatre had a seating capacity of 2200.

Let's go back a few steps...
Aztec then

Aztec 2011
The Aztec Theatre on Fifth was built in 1905 as a meat market and entered the show business in 1919 as the California Theatre -- it became the Aztec in 1930, allowing the New California Theatre to drop the "New." Both theaters were Fox Houses. In the early-1970’s Aztec was operated by Pussycat Theatres, keeping the Aztec name. So for it's first three years it was called The New California Theater, then changed to just California Theater.

The New California Theatre was owned by the West Coast Theatres and backed by San Diegan C. S. Judson.
During construction



At its grand opening on April 22, 1927, the theatre presented Constance Talmadge and Antonio Moreno in "The Venus of Venice", Fanchon and Marco's "Book ideas", and Al Lyons and his band.

Bernard's Inc., an apparel store for women, occupied the entire second floor in 1927.

May 7, 1928.
1929

The building was renovated in the 1940’s and mid-1960’s to modernize the structure for safety. In fact, the California was the first public venue to have earthquake resistant frameworks built into the structure to protect the theatre complex (the ribs on the roof in later photos are part of this support frame).

1940
Beatlemania at the California Theater 1964
Movies were discontinued in 1976, but the theatre was available for special performances.
The architecture is Spanish Colonial Revival and combines theatre, shops, and office in a three-level, reinforced concrete structure. The nine-story portion faces Fourth Avenue and incorporates theatre entrance and offices. The proscenium area is six stories and the auditorium almost five stories. The parapets of the flat roofs have red tile trim, decorated cornices and dentils or arched corbeling. Bands of cast ornamentation continue around the building at various levels and are trimmed with urns. Some windows have arches and baroque surrounds.
The side walls of the auditorium imitate a Spanish church. The "C" Street wall of the rear has a sign painted on it. On the office section, the windows are recessed and plain in style from the fifth floor upwards. A small penthouse is on the north side of the roof. The marquee faces Fourth Avenue. Cement quoins marking the corners of the first three floors include niches for statuary.
Statuettes heads covered by renovation!



Ticket Booth



The Old Globe Theatre used the California Theatre downtown while its Balboa Park home was rebuilt after the 1978 arson fire.
In 1979, California Theatre was closed for all but special events. The San Diego Theatre Organ Society's President Connie Reardon who was one of the last people to operate the theatre, she was the one who closed the doors for the last time.
In that time, squatters and looters broke into the building causing significant damage. According to some reports, they stole wiring and pipes for the metal salvage value; removed interior doors and broke some fixtures. This doesn’t vibe with other reports from people who were inside during the time frame which would indicate that the materials were removed to storage or deemed substandard per building codes.

A 1988 renovation of the building restored much of the appearance of the 1920s. The marquee "circus" box office was removed, new carpeting was installed, and the ornate sculptural decorations were restored. There were some changes made in the marquee. The building appears much as it did when built.

Blue Oyster Cult performed there 05 November 1988

Patti Smith also recorded her album "Live at the California" there.
http://www.bigozine2.com/archive/ARrarities06/ARpssandiego.html

According to the San Diego Concert Archive it’s hosted: Motorhead, Devo and Cheap Trick.

According to Bill Silva (concert promoter) The Ramones also played there at the height of their career (http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060521/news_1a21varga.html)

In the 80's a riot erupted here at a Dead Kennedys show.

The building was scheduled for demolition in the summer of 1990 but is still standing in 2000.

Two photos by Mike Paluszek

rear of the California Theater
The faded 40x80 foot yellow sign is on the western side of the California Theater. It reads "Caliente! in Old Mexico" and includes an image of a jockey racing his horse. The sign is a reminder of the days when San Diegans and Hollywood celebrities would cross the border to the Aqua Caliente racetrack in Tijuana, where drinking and gambling were legal during prohibition.
I also like this little tidbit of how the 5-10 wager bled into everyday conversation:
Even in “non racing circles” the 5-10 meant good luck or well being. For example, should someone’s daughter marry a man who was well off, the girl’s parents might say, “She got the 5-10 with this one.”

The mural/billboard is a rare glimpse at San Diego's mid century urban landscape when giant billboards--particularly those made by Caliente, were once a very common sight. Where else in San Diego is there an intact mid century billboard?
The billboard represents Caliente's once very prominent role in San Diego's economic engine. It was owned by one of San Diego's most dynamic individuals, John Alessio. "Mr. A." It was through his innovation that the Fabulous 5-10 became popular. The American Horse Racing Establishment disapproved of it because they considered it a "gimmick bet." But Alessio's vision ended up becoming mainstream, as the 5-10 eventually became the wildly popular and accepted "Pick Six." What other aspect of San Diego's built environment offers that teaching opportunity? Folks, that billboard represents where that all began, and it teaches it better than a forgotten document or photo lost on a dusty bookshelf.
It also speaks to a time when San Diego and Tijuana were real partners, both economically and culturally. The tourists that Caliente brought to San Diego. How both cultures seemed more in tune and concert with each other than today with the giant concrete and steel fences, and drug wars making the two cities seem very far apart.

The Wurlitzer organ was moved to Trinity Presbyterian Church in Spring Valley, but in March of 1996, an arson fire destroyed the organ console and most of the pipework.

The building is listed on the local Register of Historical Resources, although it has been shuttered and decaying for nearly twenty years. Ownership recently transferred to an out-of-town investment firm after the previous owners, another investment company, went bankrupt.

The Rev. Jerry and Yvonne Hanoum, who head the San Diego Christian Center in National City, purchased the theatre for $300,000 in 1997 and plan to produce musical shows and family dramas there.
The Hanoums appear week nights on a show called Vision, which is broadcast on Cox Cable at 10 PM. A recent show was broadcast from the theatre where they sat on stage and talked about their plans, which include computerized imagery, dancing waters, light shows and video screens to enhance viewing of "good wholesome entertainment."(1)


Oakley Pastor Jerry Hanoum found dead
by Rick Lemyre and Ruth Roberts
May 05, 2011
A Sheriff’s deputy speaks with a group at the Balfour Road residence where Oakley Pastor Jerry Hanoum committed suicide Wednesday.
Photo by Rick Lemyre
UPDATED 5-11-11 2:50 p.m.
Officials have confirmed a suicide note was found at the scene where Oakley Pastor Jerry Hanoum killed himself, but the contents of the letter have not been revealed, said Jimmy Lee director of public affairs with the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff. Hanoum, 61, was found dead inside a white vehicle on the Balfour Road property where he lived with a single self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
His wife died several years ago.

In early-2011, plans are progressing to renovate the building and eventually reopen as Davenports Supper Club on April 22, 2013.
This is how it looks in 2011
The current (December, 2011) owner of the theater is Sloan Capital, LLC.


Jerry performed here on 5/23/86.





















1.)^manus,willard, Good and Bad News for San Diego's Historic Theatres, 98-05-07.playbill
2.)^hemmingson,michael, A Stabbing Occurred at the California Theatre,05-03-10, sandiego reader

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Gold Coast Concert Bowl, Squaw Valley, CA


The Squaw Valley Ski Resort in Olympic Valley, California, is one of the largest and most high-concept ski areas in the United States, and was the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics. It was the first Winter Olympics to be televised live and attracted millions of viewers.

By 1942 Wayne Poulsen, a former star skier from the University of Nevada, had acquired 2,000 acres (810 ha) in present-day Olympic Valley, California, from the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1946, Poulsen met Alex Cushing, a Harvard University-trained lawyer, with the political connections and access to capital that would make the resort a success. Shortly before opening in 1949, Poulsen and Cushing had a disagreement over the future of the resort. Cushing ended up controlling the Squaw Valley Ski Corporation that brought the 1960 Winter Olympics to Squaw Valley and transformed Lake Tahoe with his vision for the mountain and innovations in the ski industry. Until his death, Cushing was the founder and chairman of Ski Corporation, the parent company of the Squaw Valley resort.
Cushing modeled Squaw Valley after European resorts by putting pools and lodging on the mountain instead of at the base, and by bringing the latest lift technology to the United States.
Though the 1960 Olympics had practically been promised to Innsbruck, Austria, Cushing went to Paris in 1955 with a scale model of his proposed Olympic site and persuaded the International Olympic Committee to choose Squaw Valley.

The Gold Coast Concert Bowl played host to a world-class lineup of music, for the first time since Jerry Garcia Band headlined Bill Graham’s 1991 Summer Music Festival on the magical mountain stage, on July 24-26, 2009.

If you were wondering where on the mountain the Gold Coast Concert Bowl is located, Gold Coast Village is at the top of the gondola. There was no gondola in 1991 that I recall, it was a chairlift that I rode up...and I walked down after the show in the dark!

Jerry performed here on
8/24/91 Jerry Garcia Band
8/25/91 Jerry Garcia Band and David Grisman (acoustic)

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Gift Center, 888 Brannan, San Francisco, CA

A retractable glass dome that opens to the San Francisco sky over four levels of terraced seating
Built in 1912 in the heart of SOMA, the Giftcenter first appeared as National Carbon Company plant. Since that time, the building has functioned in a variety of capacities, including a training site for police dogs, and a paper warehouse for the Blake-Moffit-Towne printing and paper company.

Since it's renovation and re-opening in 1983, the Giftcenter's five-story atrium has offered multiple levels for seating. Each level is serviced by both a grand staircase and two glass elevators, which allow guests a spectacular view of the excitement below.

Jerry performed here on 3/22/89.