Gazzarri's

Gazzarri's

Gazzarri's nightclub, 1986
Address	9039 Sunset Boulevard
Location	West Hollywood, California 90069
Owner	Bill Gazzarri
Type	Nightclub
Genre(s)	Rock and roll
Seating type	downstairs: Standing room only upstairs: balcony seating
Construction
Opened	February 21, 1967
Closed	1993
Demolished	1995

Gazzarri's was a nightclub on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is perhaps 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 L.A. club featured in Huey Lewis and the News' music video for their hit "The Heart of Rock and Roll."

Gazzarri's reached its peak of popularity in the late 1960s, featuring Jim Morrison's young new group, along with other talent such as ? and the Mysterians, The Bobby Fuller Four, Buffalo Springfield and The Walker Brothers. It then achieved major L.A. relevance again in the late '70s, featuring the David Lee Roth-led Van Halen nightly for months on end, and then into the 1980s through the early '90s as one of the top L.A. glam metal nightclubs. It was owned and operated by Bill Gazzarri, who 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, Gazzarri'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, Gazzarri's was a staple of the Los Angeles music scene from the 1960s into the early 1990s. Some other bands that played at Gazzarri's either prior to or during their mainstream success include Johnny Rivers, ? and the Mysterians, The Go-Go's, Tina Turner, Southgang, Sonny and Cher, Ratt, Cinderella, Chicano rock band Renegade, punk band X, Victor Flamingo, Quiet Riot, Stryper, Mötley Crüe, Poison, Guns N' Roses, Warrant, Faster Pussycat, and Canadian rockers Hollywood Trash. Other notable local Los Angeles area bands to play there included Redd Kross, , Shark Island, Hurricane (band), Page 3, Taz, Tuff, Foxx, Storyteller, James Bond, Reinkus Tide, D'Molls, LIGHTS, Cold Shot, LEGACY, TRAMP and Pretty Boy Floyd. Some of the bands to play Gazzarri's were featured in The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, such as Salute, Shocktop and Broken Cherry. Many giant hand-painted pictures of these bands adorned the side of the club's outside wall for many years.