Topics › All Forums › General › Van Halen News › 40 Years Ago Today – Van Halen Hits the Sunset Strip!
| April 4, 2014 at 4:15 pm Quote #34621 | |
 VHND (15) | Hi everyone, today is quite a historic anniversary… Forty years ago today, Van Halen broke out of the backyard party scene—playing their very first concert on the famous Sunset Strip! Their gig at Gazzarri’s on April 4th, 1974 was their first performance in Hollywood. Landing this gig helped catapult the band out of Pasadena’s backyard beer bashes, and thrust them headfirst into Tinseltown! This historic date was a true milestone—their gateway to playing more area clubs on the strip—such as the Starwood and the Whisky—and ultimately being discovered. Here is the story… Check out the MUST-SEE story & early photos: 40 Years Ago Today – Van Halen Hits the Sunset Strip! Jeff – VHND.com VHNDQuote |
| April 4, 2014 at 4:54 pm Quote #34622 | |
 PT5150 (6290) | Nice Jeff thanks I was going to post it.. EDDIE’S fingers aren’t fingers they are muscle-powered pistons that hammer guitar strings to the fretboard with the force of a rivet gun”. PT5150Quote |
| April 4, 2014 at 4:58 pm Quote #34623 | |
 Mink (2663) | |
| April 4, 2014 at 6:28 pm Quote #34625 | |
| VHND (15) |
I agree Peter. This is a GREAT site with a passionate, knowledgeable, and somewhat small group of people. The “small” part might be a key to the quality posts here. Jeff – VHND.com VHNDQuote |
| April 5, 2014 at 8:36 pm Quote #34662 | |
| VHND (15) | This is very cool – straight from Dave today! David Lee Roth enjoyed our article ‘40 Years Ago Today – Van Halen Hits the Sunset Strip!‘ so much so that he sent us an exclusive audio describing how important it was for Van Halen to spend years playing Gazzarris in the mid seventies. He calls it their ”college of musical knowledge.” Listen to Dave’s 5-minute recording HERE. Big thanks to Diamond Dave for sharing this with everyone! Jeff – VHND.com VHNDQuote |
| April 5, 2014 at 11:00 pm Quote #34666 | |
 mrmojohalen (6467) | |
| April 6, 2014 at 12:09 am Quote #34667 | |
 ks34vh (2126) | THANKS for passing this along. The internet is amazing sometimes. WoW Laughing at the Days Garbage Through Loud Volume, This is “Laughing At Reality”.. VHT Member since 2001 ks34vhQuote |
| April 6, 2014 at 12:50 am Quote #34668 | |
| PT5150 (6290) | Thanks for thinking of VHT and putting this up here Jeff.. EDDIE’S fingers aren’t fingers they are muscle-powered pistons that hammer guitar strings to the fretboard with the force of a rivet gun”. PT5150Quote |
| April 6, 2014 at 1:43 am Quote #34669 | |
 Revo11 (985) | All of these anniversaries of VH and other bands I love just continually reinforce how old I am, which makes me want to run out and get a young hooker. Again. Revo11Quote |
| April 6, 2014 at 6:32 am Quote #34670 | |
 mdk7691 (318) | |
| April 6, 2014 at 7:42 am Quote #34671 | |
 Dutchie (1798) | i don’t know if this is interesting to anyone other than me, but I’ll post it anyway, but if you go to around the 11 minute mark of this episode of The Rockford Files (first episode ever), they stop out front of Gazzarris. The interesting thing is that the episode aired 3/27/74, which is right around the time VH started playing there. You see a little more a few minute further too. Just thought it would be interesting for some here to see what the place looked like at the time…. DutchieQuote |
| April 6, 2014 at 12:19 pm Quote #34676 | |
 guitard (7354) | Dutchie ~ nice catch on the Gazzarri’s sighting! Was hoping to see VH’s name on the marquee ~ how cool would that have been! But instead it’s Polly Cutter, Smooth Water, and Stone House Boys. So here’s a fun bit of totally useless trivia with a slight Van Halen connection that I just discovered after googling Polly Cutter’s name … basically, her only claim to fame is singing on the theme song for “One Day At a Time,” the tv show that started Valerie Bertinelli’s show biz career. guitardQuote |
| April 6, 2014 at 7:33 pm Quote #34682 | |
| Mink (2663) | |
| April 6, 2014 at 9:17 pm Quote #34684 | |
 Dave (2308) | |
| April 18, 2014 at 8:14 pm Quote #34936 | |
| VHND (15) | Guys, part 3 of VHND’s tribute to the 40th anniversary of Van Halen hitting the infamous Sunset Strip is now online. And if I do say so, it’s another MUST-READ. *Never-before-published quotes from Eddie, Alex and Mike talking about playing Gazzarri’s. *David Lee Roth, Bill Gazzarri, Rodney Bingenheimer, Terry Kilgore (Red Ball Jet), and Tom Broderick (VH roadie) all discuss their memories of VH playing Gazzarri’s. *]More very early photos (1974-1976). We really hope you all enjoy it!! Here it is… Van Halen’s Early Days at Gazzarri’s—As Told by The Band, Bill Gazzarri, Rodney Bingenheimer, and Childhood Friends Jeff – VHND.com VHNDQuote |
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