Whisky a Go-Go

Whisky a Go Go 1966

8901 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood CA 90069, Northwest corner of Sunset and San Vicente Blvd (Clark St). Opened January 1963 by Elmer Valentine. The DJ worked from the suspended cage. One female DJ's dancing gave rise to the term Go-Go dancing. The Whisky was a popular place for the LA police to pick up freaks during the mid 1960's. Throughout the 1960's and 1970's the whisky was host to many of the major bands but by the 1980's it had lost its status and closed in 1982. It opened again in 1986 under a new regime.

."..we were hired as a temporary replacement at the Whisky-a-Go-Go. By chance, Tom Wilson, a staff producer for MGM Records, was in town. He was up the street, at the Trip, watching a 'big group.' Herb Cohen talked him into a quick visit to the Whisky. He walked in while we were playing our 'BIG BOOGIE NUMBER' -- the only one we knew, totally unrepresentative of the rest of our material. He liked it and offered us a record deal (thinking he had acquired the ugliest-looking white blues band in Southern California), and an advance of twenty-five hundred dollars."- The Real Frank Zappa Book

Whisky A Go Go

As "advertised" in the artwork of Freak Out! under the header "Freak Out! Hot Spots"...