The Viper Room is a nightclub located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood,
California. It was opened in 1993 and was partly owned by actor Johnny Depp
until 2004. The club became known for being a hangout of Hollywood elite, and
was the site where actor River Phoenix died of a drug overdose on Halloween
morning in 1993. In early 1995, Australian singer Jason Donovan,
suffered a drug-induced seizure at the club and survived. The Viper Room has
undergone several changes in ownership, and continues to host music of multiple
genres, including metal, punk rock, and alternative rock.
The space where the club is located was originally a jazz bar called the Melody
Room, a hangout of mobsters Bugsy Siegel and Mickey Cohen. In the 1970s and 1980s
it operated as a club called The Central, which was close to shutting
down before Chuck E. Weiss, who had performed there for years, suggested to
Depp that they revitalize the spot and rename it "The Viper Room". Tom Waits
also had a hand in redeveloping the spot.
While predominantly known as a music venue, The Viper Room also hosts a lower
level below the stage and audience area, which is home to a large and well
stocked whiskey bar. The whiskey bar boasts a diverse selection, ranging from
Jack Daniel's, Crown Royal, and other commonly available whiskeys, to rarer or
more local whiskeys such as Slow Hand White Whiskey, Hochstadter's Slow & Low
Rock & Rye, and numerous types of small batch whiskey.
History = The venue=
Despite the death of River Phoenix the year the venue opened, the club became
and remained a hangout for Hollywood’s most popular young actors and musicians.
Regulars included Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Marie Presley, Jared Leto, Christina
Applegate, Angelina Jolie, Rosario Dawson, Tobey Maguire, and Leonardo
DiCaprio. Adam Duritz, the lead singer of Counting Crows, worked as a Viper
Room bartender in late 1994 – early 1995 to escape his newfound fame. In 1997 The
Viper Room was also a place of a few early solo live performances by John
Frusciante at the time of his bad physical condition caused by drug abuse.
The Pussycat Dolls performed there from 1995 to 2001.
At Depp's request, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed at the club's
opening night. The Viper Room continues to frequently host metal and punk rock
bands. The first live U.S. performance of doom metal supergroup Shrinebuilder
in 2009 was held at the venue, as part of Club My War, which hosts bands at The
Viper Room on a near monthly basis. = In film=
In the 1983 film Valley Girl, the building was used for scenes featuring
the new-wave band the Plimsouls. In Oliver Stone’s film The Doors, the
building was used as a filming location for scenes depicting the London Fog,
also of West Hollywood. London Fog was a lesser-known nightclub next to the
Whisky a Go Go where the Doors had their first regular gigs for four months in
early 1966. The Viper Room is also featured in the
2004 documentary DiG! when members of the band the Brian Jonestown Massacre
began brawling with each other on stage while performing.
= Ownership= As part of the settlement of a lawsuit
involving the disappearance of co-owner Anthony Fox in 2001, Depp relinquished
his ownership of the Viper Room in 2004. Until early 2008, the club was owned by
Darin Feinstein, Bevan Cooney, and Blackhawk Capital Partners, Inc. The
club is currently partly owned by Harry Morton, President and CEO of Pink Taco,
the son of Hard Rock Cafe co-founder Peter Morton and Darin Feinstein. Morton
plans to turn the gritty Sunset Strip club into a global franchise by opening
several live music venues throughout the world, all of which will bear the name
"The Viper Room". A nightclub located in Cincinnati, Ohio,
was formerly called "The Viper Room". The club changed its name to "The Poison
Room" on January 1, 2006, after they were told by the West Hollywood Viper
Room to stop using the name. Another "Viper Room" in Portland, Oregon, has
also been told to stop using the name under threat of a trademark lawsuit,
with owner Darin Feinstein claiming "Every dollar they make is the result of
using our name." Additionally, there is a legal brothel in Brisbane, Australia
called 'The Viper Room'. There is also a nightclub in Stockholm, Sweden, "as well
as ones in Harrogate, UK, Vienna, Austria, and another in Sheffield UK
similarly named." Until February 2009 there was a nightclub with the same name
in Melbourne, Australia; it was closed down due to a spate of violent incidents
that included two shootings as well as license breaches and the arrest of a
co-owner on drug charges. On April 16, 2011, a nightclub named "The Viper Room"
opened its doors in the city of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. The club is named
after the club in Hollywood and is decorated in the same style as the US
club. See also
Rainbow Bar and Grill Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco
The Roxy Theatre Whisky a Go Go
Sunset Strip References
External links Viper Room official website
Yelp website for The Viper Room