Cuckoo's Nest (nightclub)

The Cuckoo's Nest (1976–1981) was a punk rock nightclub that was located at 1714 Placentia Avenue in Costa Mesa, California. There were often confrontations with the punks from the Cuckoo's Nest and the cowboys from Zubie's, which shared a parking lot. The police were constantly harassing the punks. Club owner Jerry Roach fought a number of court cases in an effort to keep the club alive, and in his 1981 film on the subject Urban Struggle he suggested that perhaps this was the first time that the authorities would stamp out a fad. The club was a hub of the punk rock in California. The club is notable as being home to the first slam pit. Jim trash from the crowd invented the slam dance at the Cuckoo's Nest according to american hardcore. the Bands such as 999 (band), The Ramones, XTC, The Damned, Redd Kross, Black Flag, T.S.O.L., Circle Jerks, the Vandals, Social Distortion, Agent Orange (band), Blondie Chaplin, JFA, David Johansen, uk Squeeze (band), the Adolescents, X (American band), the Go-Go's, The Lords of the New Church, Bad Brains, the Cramps, Iggy Pop, Dead Kennedys, the Dickies, Violent Femmes, Ultravox (with John Foxx), the Motels, the Bangles, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, John Cale, Suicidal Tendencies, Los Lobos, Fear (band), Wall of Voodoo, the Misfits (band), the Knack, the Crowd, The Blasters, 45 Grave, The Weirdos, China White (band), The Minutemen (band), Civil Defense (band), 20/20 (band), Pere Ubu, Suburban Lawns, sub humans, Magazine (band), The Plimsouls, Rubber City Rebels, Berlin (band), Middle Class (band), all played gigs there. The club was memorialized in the Vandals song "Pat Brown", a song about a club goer who actually tried to run the cops into the ground and urban struggle or I want to be a cowboy.....couldn't make it as a punker.

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