The In Room, 1048 Old County Road, Belmont, CA

The In Room was located on Old County Road "a few lots north of the Belmont Iceland" (815 Old County Road) approximately 1 mile north of Ralston Avenue on the east side of the street (same side as Iceland) according to a long time Belmont resident named Jim who worked there as a bouncer after getting out of the service.
The bar was in business from 1964-66, was wild and closed after local neighbors complained to the police. Currently the 1000 block of Old County Road is just south of Ralston Avenue on the west side or train track side. In 2012 there were apartment complexes there.
According to Jim, the club was previously an up scale restaurant and not affiliated with a hotel which is on the internet. Jim does remember seeing the Warlocks and the Beau Brummels there. (5)
 
McNally describes "It was a heavy hitting divorcee's pick-up joint, the sort of swinging bar where real-estate salesmen chased stewardesses and single women got plenty of free drinks. Dark, with red and black as the color scheme, it was the kind of place that sold almost nothing but hard liquor.

The Warlocks were booked at the In Room for six weeks, from mid-September until late October of 1965. They played five 50-minute sets a night, five nights a week. 150 sets later, The Warlocks were a real band. The first week they had backed The Coasters for a set each night, but for the balance of the run they covered the gig themselves. They would start out playing almost straight-up, but as they got higher and the night got looser, their playing got more "barbaric." Oddly enough, they started to build their own audience of nascent freaks, who would show up for the later sets, distinctly different than the hard-drinking pick up crowd. One night, for example, a band of Tacoma transplants called The Frantics ended up hanging out there, which is how Moby Grape guitarist Jerry Miller and Jerry Garcia first met.(1)

The In Room was in Belmont, half way between Palo Alto and San Francisco. The Warlocks had played a little further up the El Camino (The Fireside and Big Al's), but the In Room stood for a mid-point. The Warlocks were a real band making real money (if not a lot), but they were still doing their own thing and finding their own audience, so they were half way there.(1)

Jerry performed here
approximately 30 nights over a six week period from
Mid September-late October 1965  The Warlocks
McNally: "By the end of October, it became clear that the In Room could get along without them...and they brought the run to a close. As they packed their gear into the Pontiac on the last night, the manager [told them] 'You guys will never make it. You're too weird.'" 
McNally: "A couple of Family Dog members had gone to the In Room to check out the Warlocks as a possible band for their first show, but they decided the boys didn't have enough original songs to make the cut."
What's interesting is not so much that the boys didn't make the cut, but that the Family Dog folks had heard of them in the first place, in early October '65!(4)

1.)^Arnold, Corry, Lost Live Dead, 2011-09-16, http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/09/summer-1965-top-of-tangent-117.html
2.)^jgmf, 2010-05-10, comment, Lost Live Dead
3.)^McNally, Dennis, Long Strange Trip, pg. 88.
4.)^Light Into Ashes, comments, 2011-09-30, http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/09/september-1965-dining-hall-menlo.html
5.)^johnny, comments, Lost Live Dead, 2011-06-03

Inn Of The Beginning, 8201 Old Redwood Highway, Cotati, CA

Back at the town’s beginning, there was the Cotati House, built in 1911 with large guest rooms, a dining room and barbershop.
In 1932, the old clapboard hotel gave way to the Mission Revival-style Cotati Inn, famed for its duck dinners.
But in 1968 Cotati hit the big time as a music destination when the defunct Cotati Inn got seriously funky and became The Inn of the Beginning. Big names and small played the legendary venue for local audiences and visitors from San Francisco and beyond.
The Inn of The Beginning was founded in 1968 as a coffee shop and bar that provided both a watering hole and a venue for local groups.
Old-timers recall that the Grateful Dead were regulars and Janis Joplin did a set shortly before her death in 1970. Other major stars include Jefferson Airplane, Hank Williams Jr., Etta James, Junior Wells, Van Morrison, Kate Wolf, Carlos Santana, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez.
Today, nearly 30 years later, the Inn’s legend is alive and well.
“Once or twice a week, someone comes in and says, ‘I was here when…’ ” says Cheryl Nixon, longtime proprietor of Friar Tuck’s, the Inn’s current incarnation.(2)

The opening night band on September 28, 1968 was Bronze Hog, featuring guitarist Frank Hayhurst. Hayhurst, at one point, became co-operator of the Inn, and now owns a music store in Cotati.

The Inn Of The Beginning may have had a slightly different configuration in 1969 than it does now. There is a bar "Spancky's" at one end, and a small leather repair shop at the opposite end, all at the same address of 8201 Old Redwood Highway. The 60s era club extended throughout the whole building.
The Inn Of The Beginning lasted through the mid-70s in its original incarnation.
It re-opened in the early 80s under the name The Cotati Cabaret At The Inn Of The Beginning, when it merged with an establishment across the street. The Inn remained a venue at least into the 1990s, but I'm not certain when it turned into an Irish Pub. (Lost Live Dead)

Inn of the Beginning turns 30
By Charles McDermid
IN THE BEGINNING, Greg Cochrane simply needed some rest. It was 1968 and Cochrane was holding what his close friend and fellow Sonoma State University student David McNair recalls as "a permanent party going on all summer. He said that if he was ever going to get some sleep he had to move the party."
Simple enough. Cochrane, 22, rented the space of a defunct Italian restaurant in downtown Cotati, and on Sept. 28, 1968, his summertime bash became the original incarnation of the Sonoma County entertainment institution The Inn of the Beginning.
"I gave it the name because it was a new beginning for a lot of people who really had nothing else going for them," says Cochrane, who does say he thought of the club's title while on LSD. "We wanted to keep things friendly and localized and play really soulful music."
Thirty years later, those goals remain intact. Cochrane's core philosophy has been retained and refreshed by a string of owners leading to the current trio of Miranda Fredrick, Scott Wagner, and Scott Goree, former owner of Magnolias in Santa Rosa. "[The Inn] has always been the heart of the Cotati scene for music and art. And for its youthfulness and exploration and optimism. It's also the social gathering place and the heart of the North Bay musical community," remarks Frank Hayhurst, former co-operator of the Inn, member of the Bronze Hog (the first band to grace the stage at the Inn), and owner of Zone Music in Cotati. "Cotati's personality is defined by the club."
Cultural landmark status aside, the Inn's most impressive feature is its past and present commitment to live music--all of which will be celebrated this weekend when the Inn marks its anniversary with a celebration that will feature, among others, the Legendary Bronze Hog.
"We all enjoyed music and we wanted a venue for ourselves," says Cochrane.
Citing "burnout," Cochrane sold the club in 1970 to Ward Maillard (son of a U.S. congressman and Sonoma County artist Elizabeth Quandt). Maillard, who once spent months building a gigantic rock and fiberglass urinal, lost interest after several years and in 1974 sold the Inn to his manager, Mark Braunstein, a former roadie for Janis Joplin. "I had a lot of pride in the club, and what I really liked was presenting new music and exposing the audience to music they would've not normally heard," says Braunstein, whose connections in the music industry and knowledge of production attracted many big-name acts to the local club scene.
"It's remarkable the people that were coming through the doors in those early days," remembers Cotati Mayor Richard Cullinen, who tended bar at the Inn in the mid-70s. "Van Morrison popped in frequently and Neil Young was there. I used to sit down and talk to Jerry Garcia when he played there with Merl Saunders."
Considering the size of the venue, the list of acts that have taken the stage in Cotati is staggering. For instance, the Grateful Dead played every Tuesday for a while, trying out new material on a live audience. Neil Young played unannounced one night for a case of beer and some pizza. A fledgling Jackson Browne was denied an audition after he admitted he was from Orange County. Ramblin' Jack Elliott introduced a young Arlo Guthrie, who then graced listeners with the first-ever stage performance of his classic "Driving into Los Angeles." According to Cochrane, Janis Joplin reunited for a short set with Big Brother and the Holding Company just months before her passing.
Waylon Jennings played the Inn. So did New Age pianist George Winston, the psychobilly Cramps, Jefferson Airplane, country artists Ricky Skaggs and Hank Williams Jr., the legendary New Orleans band the Meters, zydeco king Clifton Chenier, bluegrass giant Doc Watson, R&B diva Etta James, and folk queen Joan Baez. The list of bluesmen who made the scene is remarkable in itself: Lightnin' Hopkins, Bukka White, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal, and John Lee Hooker.
Braunstein ran the Inn until 1982, when he merged with downtown rival the Cotati Cabaret to form the lengthy-titled but short-lived Inn of the Beginning at the Cotati Cabaret. He left the old building at 8201 Redwood Highway amid a leasing dispute, and the Inn lay silent for years.

AFTER FAILED STINTS earlier in the decade as an antique store, a bookstore, and a beer-vending coffehouse, the Inn is back as a fixture of downtown Cotati. A year ago, Fredrick and Goree gained managerial control of the Inn and, together with longtime sound technician Randy Teaford, have since infused the club with the same creative energy that once fueled founders Cochrane and Braunstein.
While the Inn may no longer have access to the big names it once did, it has become a vital steppingstone for local acts. Virtually no homegrown band can emerge from Sonoma County without having played the Inn.
"If people are playing in garages, it doesn't help anyone. The main thing is providing a place for people to play [in public]," says co-owner Goree, who began coming to the Inn in 1968 as an SSU student.
Co-owner Fredrick, formerly known as DJ Lili Pond on KFGY (92.9FM), adds, "We have great nights here with local talent. The Inn is a great launching pad and it's home to a lot of bands."
Goree and Fredrick's booking philosophy presents a different musical style nearly every night of the week. "Around here you simply can't concentrate on one type of music or demographic," adds Goree. "You have to mix it up with different shows. Places that exist as solely blues clubs or punk clubs are very short-lived."
Indeed, the Inn is a smaller act's dream.
"The vibe is what really makes this place work. It's in rooms like ours where music really happens. You realize that you're lucky to be so close you can check out a performer's dental work," says Teaford. "Our history and the casual yet efficient way of producing shows have made our reputation.(1)


Neil Young performed here on 12/20/75.



Jerry performed here(4) on
9/18/69 New Riders Of The Purple Sage
10/9/69 New Riders Of The Purple Sage
11/6/69 New Riders Of The Purple Sage
11/28/69 New Riders Of The Purple Sage
11/29/69 New Riders Of The Purple Sage
3/12/70 New Riders Of The Purple Sage
8/20/71 New Riders Of The Purple Sage
8/21/71 New Riders Of The Purple Sage
9/15/71 New Riders Of The Purple Sage?

9/20/71 Merl Saunders
11/22/71 Merl Saunders
1/31/72 Merl Saunders 
1/14/73 Merl Saunders, John Fogerty, Bill Vitt, John Kahn
1/15/73 Merl Saunders
3/5/73 Old And In The Way

4/24/73 Old And In The Way
7/18/73 Old And In The Way
5/31/74 Merl Saunders
6/1/74 Merl Saunders
5/1/75 ?

9/9/75 Merl Saunders w/Aunt Monk ?







1.)^McDermid, Charles, Inn of the Beginning turns 30, 98-11-19,  http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/11.19.98/inn-beginning-9846.html
2.)^McNaughton, Marie Thomas, Ch-ch-changes on Cotati’s main drag, 2011-10-11,
http://cotati.towns.pressdemocrat.com/2011/10/photos/ch-ch-changes-on-cotati%E2%80%99s-main-drag/
3.)^Jerry Garcia's Middle Finger, http://jgmf.blogspot.com/#uds-search-results
4.)^Hannan, Ross and Arnold, Corry, Chicken on a Unicycle, INN OF THE BEGINNING, 8201 OLD REDWOOD HIGHWAY, COTATI, CA, http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Inn%20of%20The%20Beginning.htm

Irvine Meadows, 8808 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine, CA

Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, previously known as Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, is an outdoor concert amphitheatre.
Despite its official full name, the amphitheater is actually located in Orange County rather than Los Angeles. The Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre is currently Orange County's largest amphitheater.

Jerry performed here on
5/18/84

5/19/89 JGB
8/1/92 JGB
5/15/94 JGB

 


...and with The Grateful Dead
3/27/83

4/7/84
4/13/85
4/14/85
4/12/86
4/13/86
4/17/87
4/18/87
4/19/87
4/22/88
4/23/88
4/24/88
4/28/89
4/29/89
4/30/89