The Cheetah Club

Former Location –

In 1967, the Aragon Ballroom in Venice was transformed into The Cheetah Club which became one of the hot places to play if you were an up and coming band in the Los Angeles area. Early performers include: The Strawberry Alarm Clock, Ten Years After, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Pacific Gas & Electric and Sweetwater.

The club is probably best known as the place Frank Zappa “discovered” the house band Nazz, which later became the Alice Cooper Band in August of 1967 and signed them to his label. Pink Floyd played one of their first ever U.S. gigs here on November 5th, 1967.

In January of 1968 there was a charity benefit here for the L.A. Free Clinic. The event was called Phantasmagoria and many bands played for free to help raise money for the clinic. The line-up included The Turtles, Buffalo Springfield, Brewer and Shipley and others.

The Cheetah Club only stayed open for about a year and a half, but during that time they had some of the biggest musical acts of the time.

Notable Concerts Held At The Cheetah Club Include: 

August 4/4, 1968 – Creedence Clearwater Revival / Howlin’ Wolf / The Hook 
May 1, 1968 – Alice Cooper
April 6, 1968 – iron butterfly / The Hook / Rubber Hiway
April 5, 1968 – Traffic / iron butterfly / Rubber Hiway
March 29, 1968 – Moby Grape / Spirit / Genesis
March 1,2, 1968 – Blue Cheer / Music Machine
December/20-12/24, 1967 – The Chamber Brothers
December/1-3, 1967 – Big Brother And the Holding Company
September 29-30, 1967 – Strawberry Alarm Clock / The Rich Kids / The Natural Resource
September 1-2, 1967 – Buffalo Springfield / The Watts 103rd St Rythym Band / The Nazz

The Cheetah Club
1 Navy Street
Venice CA 90291