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!

Nice Jeff thanks I was going to post it..
Great that you are posting VHND stuff here.
I like many others believe this is the best VH site on the net with a great bunch of people so we really appreciate any topics you post here..

Thanks for posting this!

PT5150: Nice Jeff thanks I was going to post it.. Great that you are posting VHND stuff here. I like many others believe this is the best VH site on the net with a great bunch of people so we really appreciate any topics you post here..

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.

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!

Thanks for sharing !

THANKS for passing this along. The internet is amazing sometimes. WoW

Thanks for thinking of VHT and putting this up here Jeff..

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.

Hausman strikes again!
Thanks, Jeff! …Hope you’re doing very well, bro.

-Mikey

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….

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.

Thanks for posting this!

Isn’t that Lindsay Wagner before she was the Bionic Woman?

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