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Rainbow Bar and Grill

Coordinates: 34°05′27″N 118°23′18″W / 34.0909°N 118.3882°W / 34.0909; -118.3882
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34°05′27″N 118°23′18″W / 34.0909°N 118.3882°W / 34.0909; -118.3882

Rainbow Bar and Grill
The Rainbow
Map
Address9015 Sunset Boulevard
LocationWest Hollywood, California
Coordinates34°05′26″N 118°23′18″W / 34.090621°N 118.388318°W / 34.090621; -118.388318
TypeNightclub
Genre(s)Rock, heavy metal, glam rock, glam metal
Opened1972
Website
www.rainbowbarandgrill.com

The Rainbow Bar and Grill is a bar and restaurant on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States, adjacent to the border of Beverly Hills, California. Its address is 9015 Sunset Boulevard.

The bottom level of the building is the restaurant, The Rainbow Bar and Grill. Upstairs was an exclusive club called "Over the Rainbow", which still consists of a full bar, a dance floor and a DJ booth. It currently has live entertainment on select days during the week. The restaurant is next to The Roxy Theatre and 1 OAK (formerly Gazzarri's);[1] Billboard Live, and The Key Club.

History

The restaurant was founded in early 1972 by Gary Stromberg and Bob Gibson, heads of the PR firm Gibson & Stromberg. They brought in co-owners Elmer Valentine, Lou Adler, Mario Maglieri and others,[2][3] opening in late March with a Buddah Records party for NRBQ.[4] On April 16, there was a party for Elton John.[5] At the time, the word "rainbow" signified peace and freedom. It quickly became known as a hangout for celebrities of all types.[6] John Belushi ate his last meal[7] (lentil soup) at table No. 16.[citation needed] The pornography actor Ron Jeremy was also known to regularly hang out there in the 2000s and 2010s.[8] For many years, the owner was Mario Maglieri.[6]

Before becoming the Rainbow, the restaurant was the Villa Nova restaurant, which was originally owned by film director Vincente Minnelli, at the time married to Judy Garland. Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe met at the restaurant on a blind date in 1952.[9]

After operating for 28 years, Villa Nova closed in 1968 and the building re-opened as the Windjammer until it closed in 1971.

The Rainbow became known as a hangout for rock musicians and their groupies. Notable regulars at the Rainbow in this period include Keith Moon, Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, Ritchie Blackmore, Micky Dolenz, Harry Nilsson, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and Neil Diamond.[7] Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash were known to have occasionally visited the Rainbow.[citation needed] The group of musicians calling themselves the Hollywood Vampires made the Rainbow their home away from home in the mid-1970s. In the last two decades of his life, Motörhead frontman Lemmy was a daily fixture at the Rainbow whenever the band was not on tour, and often played a video poker machine at the end of the bar table.[10]

Producer Kim Fowley used to hang out at the Rainbow, especially in 1975, when he formed the all-girl group The Runaways. Actress and musician Cheryl Smith was given her pseudonym Rainbeaux Smith early in her career as a result of her frequenting the Rainbow; she briefly replaced Sandy West as drummer of The Runaways at the end of that band's existence.[citation needed]

As musical trends on the Strip changed towards heavy metal in the 1980s, the Rainbow followed suit. Members of Mötley Crüe,[11] Poison, and Guns N' Roses frequented the bar.[12] It was mentioned in a number of songs, such as "Sunset and Babylon" by W.A.S.P., "Vampire" by L.A. Guns and "Peach Kelli Pop" by Redd Kross, and featured in the videos of "November Rain", "Estranged" and "Don't Cry" by Guns N' Roses and also, although briefly, "Rock Out" and "Stone Deaf in the U.S.A" by Motörhead.

Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers noted in his book Scar Tissue that he often sat with his father at the club along with members of bands such as Led Zeppelin and Kiss. Often the waitresses and bartenders were groupies as well as those who frequented the establishment. In Pamela Des Barres' book Let's Spend the Night Together, the author commented that as a barfly in the early 1980s she met a number of celebrities including Billy Idol.[13]

On January 18, 2017, the Rainbow was inducted into the Hall of Heavy Metal History for introducing the world to new heavy metal acts.[14]

On August 21, 2023, a lawsuit was filed by two women against the Rainbow Bar and Grill. The women alleged that employees knew Ron Jeremy sexually assaulted women there, including themselves, and allowed him to do so.[15][16]

On November 5, 2023 Mikael Maglieri, who was the second-generation owner of The Whisky a Go Go nightclub and Rainbow Bar and Grill, died.[17]

  • Los Angeles songwriter Warren Zevon referenced the scene at the Rainbow in the last verse of his 1976 song "Poor Poor Pitiful Me".
  • The musical group Rainbow was named after this club.[18]
  • The bar is featured in the Guns N' Roses videos for "November Rain" and "Estranged".
  • The bar is also featured in an episode of the second season of Californication.
  • Original Yes guitarist Peter Banks recorded a track with his later band Empire called "Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bar and Grill".
  • Fragrance company 19-69 released a perfume named after the Rainbow Bar in 2018.[19]
  • It features in the 2018 Netflix original film The Dirt, the story behind Mötley Crüe.
  • The 2020 single "Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bar and Grill" from David Lee Roth references the club.
  • A documentary entitled "The Rainbow" directed by Zak Knutson, was released in 2019.[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ "1 OAK". Archived from the original on August 26, 2019. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  2. ^ McLellan, Dennis (December 7, 2008). "Elmer Valentine, co-founder of Whisky a Go Go, dies at 85". Los Angeles Times. pp. B11. Archived from the original on March 11, 2014. Retrieved December 12, 2008.
  3. ^ Sandomir, Richard (May 11, 2017). "Mario Maglieri, Who Coddled Rockers at His Clubs, Dies at 93". The New York Times. p. B14. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  4. ^ Billboard (magazine) Vol 84 No. 17, page 6
  5. ^ Erik Quisling, Straight Whisky: A Living History of Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll on the Sunset Strip (Bonus Books 2003), pp 175–176
  6. ^ a b Waserman, Kastle. "Rock 'n' Rollers, Your Tab Is Running at the Rainbow", Los Angeles Times, 2002-12-15, p. I8.
  7. ^ a b "High life", People Weekly, 41 (2):56–62, January 17, 1994.
  8. ^ "Ron Jeremy: Fall of a Porn Icon". BBC. November 12, 2021. Archived from the original on March 3, 2022. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  9. ^ "Legends never die: Joe DiMaggio – 1914 to 1999: Yankee Clipper famous for far more than baseball exploits", Toronto Star, March 9, 1999, p. 1.
  10. ^ Gorkow, Alexander (September 5, 2008). "Gespräch mit Lemmy Kilmister: "Die Welt ist böse"". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on September 8, 2008. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  11. ^ Zimmerman, Linda. "Scratchin' Around for Chicken Soup", Los Angeles Times, January 31, 1988, p. 90.
  12. ^ Haring, Bruce. "Metal bands regain a heavy attitude", USA Today, 1996-04-16, p. 4D.
  13. ^ Des Barres, Pamela (July 9, 2007). "Let's Spend the Night Together". Reading in Soho. McNally Robinson NYC. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved January 19, 2009.
  14. ^ Legaspi, Althea (December 22, 2016). "Scorpions Among Nominees for Hall of Heavy Metal History". Rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on September 5, 2017. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  15. ^ Noah Goldberg (August 29, 2023). "Sunset Strip's Rainbow Bar let Ron Jeremy assault women in its bathroom, lawsuit alleges". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 12, 2023. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  16. ^ Nancy Dillon (November 14, 2023). "Ron Jeremy Accuser Sues Sunset Strip Bar, Says It Let Porn Star Turn Bathroom Into 'Dungeon'". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 16, 2023. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  17. ^ Appleford, Steve (November 7, 2023). "Whisky a Go Go and Rainbow Bar and Grill owner Mikael Maglieri dies at 73". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
  18. ^ Bloom 2007, p. 193.
  19. ^ "RAINBOW BAR – EAU DE PARFUM". nineteen-sixtynine.com. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  20. ^ Knutson, Zak (October 26, 2019), The Rainbow (Documentary, Music), Wendy Dio, Micky Dolenz, Brent Fitz, Bow and Arrow Entertainment, LINK Entertainment, archived from the original on January 26, 2023, retrieved June 13, 2024

Bibliography

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