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Cathay de Grande

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The Cathay de Grande was a nightclub on 1600 Argyle Avenue on the corner of Argyle Avenue and Selma Avenue in central Hollywood, USA, which featured mostly punk rock bands but also other styles of underground/alternative rock in the 1980s. It was almost as well known for rockabilly, cowpunk, the Paisley Underground bands and the beginning of the garage rock revival. It was owned by Michael Brennan. Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs played every Monday night for three years. Violent Psychosis joined every Thursday. Red Hot Chili Peppers performed their very first show under that band name at the Cathay after going by the name Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem for their two previous performances at another Hollywood club. They would play the Cathay a few times during their first tour in 1983 and once in 1984. Other bands who frequently played the Cathay included The Minutemen, Bad Religion, Tex and the Horseheads, Geza X and the Mommymen, Dr. Know, The WILD, Entropy, along with regulars from Orange County Social Distortion, T.S.O.L., The Vandals, Agent Orange and Love Canal. The Knitters played their first gig at the Cathay. The Cathay was dubbed by one newspaper in 1984 as "The most dangerous club in America".Due to problems with neighbors, violence caused in part by punk gangs such as the LADS gang, Suicidal Tendencies, FFF and HRP, and legal problems related to business conflicts, the Cathay de Grande closed in 1985 with Violent Psychosis, The Mentors with El Duce and Circle Jerks performing the farewell show. Shortly before, Danny "Dobbs" Wilson, the booker at the Cathay de Grande, started Raji's a block to the north on Hollywood Boulevard. In 1983, The Mentors released an album entitled Live at the Whisky A Go-Go/Cathay De Grande" which consisted of two live shows, one recorded at the Whisky a Go Go and the other at the Cathay de Grande. In the song "The Desperation´s Gone" from the NOFX album So Long And Thanks For All The Shoes, Fat Mike sings "Cathay de I miss your smell". In 2014 a nightclub featuring craft cocktails called The Argyle opened at the location.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Cathay de Grande (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Cathay de Grande
Argyle Avenue, Los Angeles Hollywood

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Wikipedia: Cathay de GrandeContinue reading on Wikipedia

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N 34.1 ° E -118.325 °
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Argyle Avenue 1608;1600
90028 Los Angeles, Hollywood
California, United States
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Raji's

Raji's was a rock and roll nightclub in central Hollywood, open in the 1980s and early 1990s. It was located in the Hastings Hotel building, 6160 Hollywood Blvd. The space had previously been occupied by a Greek restaurant called The King's Palace. It was one of the great sweaty, smoke-filled 'dives' of rock. It featured performances by iconic bands such as Green Day, Guns N' Roses, The Flaming Lips, Heatmiser (which featured the late Elliott Smith), Redd Kross, Hole, Jane's Addiction, Thin White Rope, Arab and The Suburban Turbans, The Untold Fables, The Dream Syndicate, The Lonesome Strangers, Snake Farm, The Billy Bremner Band, The Little Kings, The Shades, Tex & the Horseheads, Lock-Up, Mary's Danish, The Miracle Workers, Social Distortion, The Electric Ferrets, the Mentors, GG Allin, The Nymphs, Blackbird, Clay Idols and Los Lobos, as well as out-of-town acts like Nirvana (as seen on the cover of Nirvana's 7" single, "Sliver"), Pink Fairies, Pussy Galore, Mod Fun and Kyuss. Top-draw local acts like Thelonious Monster, The Muffs, the Red Aunts, The Lazy Cowgirls, Claw Hammer, Beck, Trash Can School, Pigmy Love Circus, Oiler, Kryptonite Nixon, Butt Trumpet, Kill Buddha, the Sacred Hearts, the Creamers, The Humpers, and many other underground music bands found enthusiastic crowds as well. The club was also a hot spot for musicians, who would often come to watch bands and have drinks. Notable customers included Jonathan Richman, members of R.E.M., Top Jimmy, Gil T, and Carlos Guitarlos (of Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs), Billy Bremner of Rockpile, Nino Del Pesco (The Lonesome Strangers), Viki Peterson (of The Bangles), Texacala Jones or Mike Martt (of Tex & the Horseheads), Bernie Bernstein (The Little Kings), Flea (of Red Hot Chili Peppers), Pope, Beck, Mike Savage (of Pigmy Love Circus), Texas Terri, and more with an inside few often invited to stay after hours to party with the infamous Danny "Dobbs" Wilson, founder and booker of the club, and his regular cast of characters which included Bernie the doorman, Autumn the bartender, floor security Clint, Tony T, Dirty Ed, The Pope and sound man Brian "Up-stein" Green. One could see the likes of Dwarves, Spoon, Fishbone, My Other Side, Meat Puppets, Backbiter, Impatient Youth, Red River, Suplex Slam, The Red Devils/Blue Shadows, DC-3, Rage Against the Machine, Dumpster, Dead, White, and Blue, White Zombie, Haunted Garage, Pennywise, Green Day, The Reverend Horton Heat, Top Jimmy, X, The Muffs, Wetherbell, Texorcist, Circle One, The Gears, The D.I.'s, Adolescents, Dogstar, The Uninvited, The Superkools, Claw Hammer, Two Free Stooges, The Flesh Eaters, Continental Drifters, Kyuss, Buglamp, Cake, The Scraps, Two Bass Hit, The Marigolds, The Jack Brewer Band, The Melodiacs, and The Skulls, among countless others. The venue sustained a lightning bolt gash near the bar due to the Northridge earthquake. The club continued to operate for three months after it was red tagged. A fire marshall shut the venue down for good and Larry Mann moved his operations to Hell's Gate in the then, dangerous Yucca corridor. The building was demolished and is now a parking lot for the MTA. The Ski Room, a bar located at 5851 Sunset Blvd., a few blocks away from the club's former location, was renamed Raji's and run by the same family that ran the club in its last two years, until 2004, when it closed due to the gentrification of central Hollywood. It's now called The Bar. Danny "Dobbs" Wilson died in 2010. Some scenes from Chris Cornell's 1999 music video "Can't Change Me" were shot at the club.