The corner of Sunset Blvd. and Doheny Drive at the western end of the Strip has been a hot spot for nightlife for decades as a variety of clubs occupied the site. 9039 Sunset had a quiet beginning as an art and antiques studio but things got much livelier in 1935 after Marcel Lamaze opened a club that he first named The Roxy before renaming the spot Club Lamaze. In 1938, Lamaze was charged with allowing the club to be used for bookmaking, which probably contributed to his decision to close the hot spot in 1941.
After a few months as Biarritz, the club was sold at a bankruptcy auction and opened as the 9039 Club. Not long after, the King’s Club held down the location and was notorious for numerous raids for selling liquor in violation of wartime curfews. For a short time in 1944, the site was leased by comic Gus Schilling and his wife, burlesque star Betty Rowland. Although their act attracted some famous faces, their tenure was a failure with Rowland being served with an eviction notice after just four months. Dave’s Blue Room was the next tenant, going bankrupt in 1948, making room for one of the corner’s most notorious occupants.
In November 1948, Nathan Sherry and NYPD detective-turned-private-eye Barney Ruditsky opened Sherry’s Restaurant, a popular hangout where movie stars rubbed shoulders with mobsters like West Coast crime boss Mickey Cohen. Some regulars began to reconsider dining at Sherry’s after a failed assassination attempt on Cohen as he and his entourage were exiting the eatery in July of 1949. Sherry’s closed a few months later.
The 1950s brought another string of short-lived enterprises including Deauville French Restaurant (1950-51), the Plymouth House (1953-57), and Jack Dennison’s Golden Slipper (1958-61) In 1962, just when it looked like 9039 Sunset might be jinxed, the site’s most successful occupant moved in. The “Godfather of the Sunset Strip” was in the house and things were heating up.
The glory days of the building came in the 1960s through the 1980s, when Bill Gazzarri held court in his raucous rock club called Gazzarri’s. In the hippie era of the late 60s, new bands like the Doors got their start while go-go-girls shimmied overhead. Those Gazzarri dancers were prominently featured when the club played host to the teen fave show “Hollywood-a-Go-Go ” syndicated by KHJ-TV. The most famous alumni of the Gazzarri Dancers were future “Daisy Duke” actress Catherine Bach and UCLA student Barbara Klein, better known as Hugh Hefner’s longtime girlfriend Barbi Benton.
Legendary L.A. rockers Van Halen owe a part of their eventual success to Bill Gazzarri, who saw the band’s potential and offered them a residency that allowed them to build their fan base by playing one entire week out of four for three years. The band moved up to the larger Starwood, signed a label deal and the rest is rock ‘n’ roll history.
The decade of the 80s saw hair-metal fans strolling up and down the Strip from the Whiskey to Gazzarri’s as aspiring rockers busily promoted their bands by handing out flyers, stapling them to phone poles, and attempting to sell tickets to their next gig. The list of acts that played Gazzarri’s during the 80s reads like a who’s who of rock history: Sonny and Cher, Ike and Tina Turner, the Go-Gos, X, Guns N’ Roses, Motley Crue, Poison, Ratt, Warrant and Quiet Riot. The club’s heyday came to a close after Bill Gazzarri died in 1991, just as Grunge was taking over the music business and leading to the demise of many of the metal rock groups that had kept the club going. The club closed for good in 1993, just months before the building was wrecked by the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
A new club was built on the site and was occupied by a series of less-memorable venues like Billboard Live (1996-98), The Key Club (1998-2013), and 1 Oak (2013-present). I recall going to a music-biz party at Billboard Live and noticing that the club looked new and modern but it just didn’t have the gritty edge that made Gazzarri’s legendary.
While certainly a spot that launched a lot of careers, Gazarri’s was also one of the more notorious “pay to play” venues. Aside from those rare bands fortunate enough to be granted paid residency gigs, most acts were forced to purchase their own tickets in advance for a slot and only made money if they were able to resell them at a slight markup; more often than not bands were lucky to break even, but the exposure was viewed as “worth the cost”. Hardly the only club to utilize this system back then, but I always felt Gazarri’s was a… Read more »
The “pay to play” era was certainly an unfortunate one, with several clubs guilty of the practice. That’s why I mentioned band members walking down Sunset, trying to sell tickets to their upcoming shows.
I remember the radio commercials Bill Gazarri did for his club.He sounded real and was a success from what I heard.Heavy metal really ruled the roast when that music was popular. I didn’t know Gazarri was partly responsible for Van Halen’s success.They were right for each other.
Before starting TMZ,Harvey Levin was a local investigative reporter for KCBS-TV channel 2.He was chasing many hot stories that played well on the station.He continued that drive with TMZ which is serving him well.
I recall in the mid-1990’s, Harvey Levin, of TMZ and the People’s Court fame, showed up at a Council meeting to complain about people exiting the club at 2 a.m., who would wander up to his then home, just north of Sunset Boulevard, but located across the border in the City of Los Angeles. I recall the City Council told Mr. Levin something to the effect, “why don’t you go complain to the City of Los Angeles, we don’t control what happens there”. This sort of reminds me how bar customers get drunk in West Hollywood, then have their DUI… Read more »
Instigators that deflect responsibility. The mantra of Weho
So to sum things up, looking even further beyond the 1990s as the story says it’s been like this for many decades now and everyone knows exactly what they’re signing up for in West Hollywood, whether it’s living there or visiting. And that’s not the quiet low key life, nor will it ever be.
There are pros and cons of living anywhere. Weho is the best overall geographic central location in all of L.A. County. The downside is being controlled by an out of control City Council, who loves pretending to be compassionate when the truth is they make things worse for everyone pushing drugs including alcohol.