The Roxy Theatre

9009 W Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, California 90069
www.theroxyonsunset.com

The Roxy Theatre (often just The Roxy) is a famous nightclub on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California.

It was opened on September 23, 1973 by Elmer Valentine and Lou Adler along with original partners David Geffen, Elliot Roberts and Peter Asher and PushPlay. They took over building previously occupied by a strip club owned by Chuck Landis called the Largo. (Adler was actually responsible for bringing the stage play The Rocky Horror Show to the United States, and it opened its first American run at The Roxy Theatre in 1974, before it was made into the movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show the next year.)

Paul Reubens, then a struggling comedian, introduced his Pee-Wee Herman character in a raunchy revue here in 1981 that included other aspiring comics including Phil Hartman and Elayne Boosler.

Hundreds of famous and yet-to-be-famous acts such as Bruce Springsteen, Brian Wilson, Nirvana, Tori Amos, Foo Fighters, Meat Loaf, Guns N' Roses, Isbelle Razors, Al Stewart, Linkin Park, Jane's Addiction, David Bowie, Jay-Z, and even the Pussycat Dolls have played this highly prestigious venue.

The small On The Rox bar above the club has hosted a wide variety of debauchery in its history; it was a regular hangout for John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Alice Cooper and Keith Moon during Lennon's "lost weekend" in 1975, and in the 1980s hosted parties arranged by Heidi Fleiss.

According to LA.com, On The Rox "may be forever known as the club where John Belushi partied before fatally overdosing. That may sound like a sordid reason for the club's fame, but it only underscores the hard-partying reputation that befits a room equipped with two stripper poles.

Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention recorded most of their celebrated Roxy and Elsewhere album during December 1973 at The Roxy. Warren Zevon's live album "Stand in the Fire" was recorded during five shows he played at The Roxy in 1980.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers played their first show with their then new drummer Chad Smith at the venue on January 22, 1989.