Former Location –
If you were a local San Francisco North Bay band you played here at one time or another, Neil Young and Crazy Horse showed up one day in 1975, you can find bootleg copies of this concert if you look hard enough. In May 1971, Van Morrison played here.
Old-timers recall that the Grateful Dead were regulars, playing every Tuesday to try out new material for a while and Janis Joplin reunited for a quick set with Big Brother and the Holding Company shortly before her death in 1970.
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott introduced a young Arlo Guthrie here who graced listeners with the first-ever stage performance of his classic “Coming into Los Angeles
.”
Other major stars that played here include the Jefferson Airplane, Hank Williams Jr., Etta James, Junior Wells, Kate Wolf, Carlos Santana and Joan Baez.
Notable Concerts Played At The Inn of the Beginning:
3/8/1998 – Fishbone
5/4/1982 – Van Morrison
3/6/1981 – Greg Kihn Band
11/15/1979 – Steppenwolf
2/14/1979 – Huey Lewis and the News
2/9/1978 – John Lee Hooker
12/19/1975 – Neil Young & Crazy Horse
6/1/1975 – Jerry Garcia
12/11/1974 – Buckingham Nicks
11/9/1974 – The Tubes
5/22/1973 – Boz Scaggs
8/21/1971 – New Riders of the Purple Sage
12/19/1969 – Charlie Musselwhite
12/6/1969 – Jackson Browne
11/13/1969 – Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen
Inn of the Beginning
8201 Old Redwood Highway
Cotati CA 94931
Was it Van Morrisson or Van Halen that came and played at my fundraiser for a friend at the Inn of the Beginning. Norman Greenbaum came of Spirit in the Sky and of course Jerry Garcia. My husband Michael Menkee built the burlwood bar . We had 4 ferrel kids and life was good.
I saw the buy Billy that could make a guitar talk in New Orleans not long ago. First met him back in the old days at the Inn of the Begining.
Hi Jill,
I’m writing The Encyclopedia Of Jerry Garcia Music Venues. Please tell me about the Jerry Garcia appearance at the benefit for your friend. What date was it? Who was your friend? slipnut01@gmail.com
Does anyone have any current information about the proprietor Mark Bronson?
ligntning hopkins
i was living in rohnert park and working at aim products inc in
petaluma across from the bowling alley where the world wrist wrestling championchips
were held. i think i remember seeing joy of cooking and some other groups there but i did see lightning and he was cool. as was the handdancing done by the hippy chicks. used to hitch hike over to the coast sometimes on the weekends through the russian river valley. it took a lot of short rides and many hits of reefer to get there. slept in the dunes and just bummed around what then was pretty isolated beautiness. born and raised in ohio. rock on.
Great Concerts at the Inn! I got to see Kate Wolf and Norton Buffalo in the late 70s. Loved those times.
I went to Sonoma State in the Fall of 1969 as a junior to play baseball. I was pretty straight… there was a VW bus parked along the roadside to school with a sign that had something I’d never read before, “have a nice day”. By Spring of 1970 I’d smoked my first dope. The experience was horrible. I realized I wasn’t me, but rather a collective personality of everyone I knew. Not necessarily personally. My mannerisms and laughter were Johnny Carson’s. Then when i started laughing hysterically at something that happened, I was shocked to realize I was actually crying in agony. I had to pitch in a ballgame the next day. It did not go well… both physically and particularly mentally. And there was The Inn of The Beginning just a couple miles away.
I went to The Inn one night to see The Vicki Randall Band play. They played one set. They were great and then another band began setting up and it turned out to be Van Morrison and friends. They played one song after another until closing. What a great night it was, no special effects or choreography, just non-stop good music.
Does anyone know how to contact Mark Bronstein?
Hi Frank, fellow member of the Scardigli Gang of Guernewood Park, CA. I see no replies re: Mark B. current location, but will add an anecdote. I was on the Inn’s list and went to many events in late ’68-’69 and a bit after. Mark needed to move some stuff and asked to borrow my 1957 Ford step van. At the time I had been AWOL for a year and lived in the van part time. I took his car. When I went to get my van back, he had parked it in front of a fire hydrant right across the street from the Cotati Police Dept (100m from the Inn) and also left a good sized roach in plain sight in the window. When I got my key back from Mark and went to the van I was arrested, the van searched (a few grams of hash–they missed the acid, etc) and I was taken to jail in Santa Rosa, Cotati being mostly farmland. A glitch in the system prevented the cops from knowing I was wanted and thanks to Mark contacting another friend I was released on my own recog.
(Later I turned myself in to the Letterman Psych Ward in the Presidio with the help of a hip lawyer and psychiatrist and got out in 3 weeks with an honorable discharge (paranoid schizophrenic). My trial date in Santa Rosa came up while I was in the mental ward and my PD told the judge the Army had me, so he dropped the charges for the dope. I called the PD from a phone booth in Santa Rosa and told him I was free, he said, “Leave the state today!”. After taking my mother for a tour of the Russian River, my hideout for 2 years, I did.
It was 1979. I was building log homes for Cal-Cedar Homes with my guitar buddies Mike and Rick. Stopped by one evening and saw Van Morrison. It was great! Packed tight like a can of sardines, but was totally worth it. Great times, great memories…lots of ladies, lots of love. Peace.
If this is the old Cotati Inn? I worked there as a pregnant 18 year old. Long story there. I remember the Greatful Dead coming in to jam after hours. And also Sal Valentino and the Buea Brummell. I remember also good old Taj Mahal. I was pretty quiet and shy, worked in the kitchen helping the bakers. I remember also ALLOT of weed and hash being smoked back then. Those were some crazy days and I saw some crazy things no one would ever believe. Yep just another true story in the cray cray crazy life of Sunny.
The Inn Of The Beginning was one of my favorite places ever. I was a janitor there for one night. My pay was free entry to all the concerts, but the first night, the owner wanted me to wax the whole dance floor! It was a bit too much so I quit. I sat and talked with Billy J. Farlow backstage for a long time at a benefit concert for KSUN radio at Sonoma State. I also saw Third World, Tony Williams Lifetime, and The Meters at different times. To see bands of that quality in this small of a venue was something beyond amazing! I should have waxed that floor!
HOLY SHIIIII Tony Williams Lifetime????? at the Inn of the Beginning????? I had no idea. The Meters?????? My god man where was I?
Saw Nick Gravenites at the Inn , ’75 or ’76.
Two semesters at Sonoma State before I gave it up… Living in Forest Hills on the River at the time.
I lived in SF and would come and stay with my best friend in Cotati and we’d go to the Inn for the music scene. She called once and said there’s a band coming here that you’d love and she was right! It was The Tubes. Saw them there twice I think. Plus many more great shows. Lots of dancing, lot of great fun. Had my 21st birthday drink at the bar next door. JD’s? Fell in love with some piano player that worked there at the Inn. But he never knew. Ahhh lost love and rock and roll nights!
Tradewinds was the bar next door.
I lived in Santa Rosa in the early 70’s and saw a lot of great shows there, Jerry a few times but one that stuck in my head for a long time was Boz Skaggs can’t remember the date but it was memorable.
I lived in Sonoma Valley, in the 70’s and spent many and night and a few afternoons at the Inn of the Beginning. I saw It’s a Beautiful Day, Clover with Huey Lewis, Pappa John, Norton Buffalo and many other memorable bands there. Also some budding amateurs there on Sunday afternoons. Great place with great memories.
Yes I went to Sonoma State college from 1968 to 1971 and played guitar in a band until 1972, The Inn was the place to go and play. The Bronze Hog was the big local group and I saw Ramblin Jack Elliot there as well. As I remember it was first started by a young guy with blond hair . . . I heard that he was the son of a state official or something. I do walk by every time I visit in Cotati . . .
You are thinking of Ward Malliard. But he did not start the Inn. Greg Cochran, David McNair and Toni Novak started the Inn in the fall of 1968. Ward came later, before Mark.
Saw Albert King play—he complained about the sound mix for a while, then put on great show. Also saw Leo Kottke, who was great, too. My girl friend caught up to Leo as he was making his way to the dressing after his set and said “This is my boy friend and he plays guitar, too!” Leo gave me a pitying look. Pretty embarrassing!
Hey everyone, well… we 1970’s stoners are sure getting old these days. I want the 70’s back!
WTF is going on in 2020??!!
Anyhow, The Inn of The Beginning is where I turned pro in 1974. If anyone still reads this string, do you remember the band Starfire Express? We were out of Santa Rosa and played mostly for free on Thursday nights. Management in 74 had a format that said if you sold enough beer on Thursday night, you might have a shot at a Friday night with pay. I met some of the guys in Pablo Cruise and Clover while hanging out there periodically. Those were some of the best days of my long life.
Hello out the I was one of the many Dave’s who bartended at the Tradewinds, the hard liquor bar next door. Mark Bronstein ran the INN and got many great acts that came through the Bay Area on week nights and great local bands on week ends. The local scene was fun with a variety of usual suspects showing up and getting along.
Still live in Sonoma County “Where the Palm Tree meets the Pine”
Um… That’s on Hwy 99 in Madera County.
Yeah…..saw Van the Man Morrison there… got to shake his hand late ’70[s early 80’s….also, Jesse Colin Young band….probably saw other artists there too, used to bounce from there to the Cotati Cabaret and back…..memory ain’t what she used to be……smiles though
We had a music store in the Inn-1970-Stained Glass Music-Greg was the original owner before Ward-
Greg was the man!-Mark was the sound man-& Their was “Mr Fine”
The Inn was Bad Ass!!-Every night-Mose Allison-Sea Train-Garcia-New Riders-Van Morrison-Sal Valentino-Loading Zone-Joy of Cooking-Beautiful Day CAT MOTHER!!!!!-Bronze hog-Mendocino All Stars-Dan Hicks-On & On
Those were killer days back in “rural Sonoma county” Oh well!
Mister Fine! A fine, fine man.
Mr. Fine with his worked as flaggers with laboers union l rember when l was talking to Mr fine and Mrs fine showed mad at him and he had to leave. And l a regular there Kendall smith.
I played pool with Mr. Fine in the in of the beginning a couple of times. Put a quarter in the jute box and hope for the best.
I used to deliver sharp knives there in the early 2000’s and one of the guys there told me the Stones played there once! TRUE? or BS?
The Sonoma County Bugle put out an April Fool’s issue that said the Stones were playing the Inn. I was one of the editors at the time. Didn’t happen. Also, the Grateful Dead never played the Inn. Neither did Janis Joplin. Lots of myths about the place. Lots of great performers. But not them.
Wow! The good times. I was 26 in 1974 and played in a Santa Rosa band called Starfire Express. We played the Inn on lots of Thursdays because we were just local guys and apparently never rated a weekend gig. One Friday night we were just hanging out there having beers and a big truck pulled up and started loading their gear onto the stage. Huge white grand piano so I asked the bartender if he knew who they were. He said they were on their way to La with a new record contract. They were called Pablo Cruise. We had so much fun playing at that place. I had a web page showing a list of all the bands that played there in those days. I need to dig it out. It showed us on many Thursdays from ’74 to ’78 and famous bands on both sides of us. Living in 2021, I am certain that the ’70s are where I would go and where I would stay forever if I only had the SSP time travel tech. My name is Laurence Morgan Chambers. If anyone remembers Starfire Express with Flash Bellini, please respond; Xclomesis777@gmail.com PS… I remember the Mayor of Cotati got busted one day for growing weed in the garden at city hall. LOL!
Two Cotati City Councilors (both friends of mine) got busted for liberating pot plants that had been confiscated from the garden of a Planning Commission member. No weed grew in a garden next to city hall.
Early 1970’s…Went to the Inn one night to see a friend of the family, a female singer – guitar player. I was surpised when after only one set, she packed up. I finished my beer (1st one) and headed out the door. The doorman asked where I was going and I told him my friend was done playing and I was going to leave. He said that maybe I should go have another beer and stick around. Yeah, OK, so I sat back down and another band was setting up. It turned out to be Van Morrison and the place rocked out way past closing time. Amazing. Thanks doorman, and Van Morrison for a Rockin’ nite. Unforgetable!!
I grew-up in Santa Rosa in the 50’s and 60’s (Santa Rosa is about 15 minutes north of Cotati). A pal and I were there at the opening night of The Inn.We were underage,but luckily they didn’t have a liquor license when they first opened,so we got in to the show.Ramblin’ Jack Elliot was the opener and about halfway thru his set he said-‘Now I’d like to introduce You to an old pal of mine-Allan Jablonsky’ and Arlo Guthrie popped up onto the stage.They sang together and Arlo introduced ‘Coming Into Los Angeles’. It was a great way to top-off a drizzly day in the Sonoma County woods soaking up the green splendor on mescaline.I also saw Neil Youg & Crazy Horse,Old & In the Way w/ Jerry & Gristman- The Inn had so many extraordinary artists drop-in,it really was a miraculous musical vortex,and still a relatively unknown counter culture landmark.
It really should have some kind of historical landmark protection just to let the kids know that there was a time when Rohnert Park was a whole lot more than endless shopping malls and burbs.
Cotati cabaret rt I’m the 1980s.. The Tubes, Y and T, Cinderella…. great fun. also places. like Magnolias, Refectory, TK Mining, El Rancho, vets buildings, community centers. Rock and Roll was alive and well in Sonoma County inn the 1980s!! What happened?
Does anyone remember Earth, Wind & Fire playing in Cotati in the early 70’s? We lived in Penngrove then and I remember the sign outside a bar near the little park in the center of town.
Is the Inn still open? I grew up in Santa Rosa and went there a lot. I’m going to be in the area later this year and would like to visit again and maybe run into some old friends.
The Inn of the Beginning was in Cotati, NOT Rohnert Park. RP is still pretty much as it was then, just bigger.