Former Location –
The Topanga Corral will be forever remembered as the place where Canned Heat, Spirit, Linda Ronstadt, Little Feat and Spanky and Our Gang honed their skills. It is rumored that Jim Morrison wrote “Roadhouse Blues
” about this place.
Notable Concerts Held At The Topanga Corral Included:
March 6, 1982 – The Dickies
March 31, 1981 – Canned Heat
March 28, 1981– The Blasters
March 25, 1981 – Blues Image
June 16, 1976 – The Runaways
August 12, 1973 – Joni Mitchell & The Eagles
August 11, 1973 – Neil Young
June 6, 1971 – Gene Vincent
March 16, 1967 – Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
Topanga Corral Empty Lot
The Corral burned down in the late 70’s then it was rebuilt but burned down a second time in 1986. The property still lays vacant and is nothing more than a dirt lot surrounded by a chain link fence.
Topanga Corral
2034 N Topanga Canyon Blvd
Malibu California 90265
Actually, the Topanga Corral first burned down in 1968. A friend’s family owned the Corral and I went with them to inspect the charred building.
It was originally built on the lot to the west. When it was rebuilt, it was more east on the lot. Then it burned down again.
Hi Armand! I am looking to get photos of the Old Topanga Corral! Would you be able to contact me?
Milissa,
Dave here, not Armand, but I am good friends with one of the former owners of the Corral. He is a very talented designer/illustrator and we collaborated on some truly special homes up here in Northern Vermont. We have had some spirited conversations about the place, he especially loved Canned Heat.
Anyway, 802 253 9997 or 802 253 7153. Wonderfull guy, Jerry McDermott, I can only imagine he could fill you in
Enjoy, hope you make the connection
A few great memories from 1973. Anybody know Robert Martin? Long wavy black hair, black beard. Drank whiskey and used a slide on his guitar?He knew Dick and introduced me to him, BB King and Bob Hite. Peace, Diann
Norm Krause owned the corral before the first then 2nd fire, however it was a spaghetti joint then. I am his daughter. He also had the Bent Oak pool hall and beer bar for the locals . We are one of the first land owners from the 50’s!! I graduated from Topanga elementary school and original “lady of the canyon”.
Hey there.
Do you recall the night in the late 70s when Nils Lofgren and his band Grin played at Topanga Corral? If so, do you have any photos or poster?
That is a really fabulous ‘rock story’!
Still me again. I was just in Calabassas at a goth-ic wedding for Sara Reid, and telling my cousin about this fab old roadhouse that was in Topanga and just steeped in rock ‘n Roll History, and asked if it was STILL THERE, but couldn’t remember till just a few minutes ago that it was THIS PLACE!! The CORRAL!!! (I thought it was ‘The Wagon Wheel’ or something). He didn’t know, but others there DID remember, but not the Name! Well, this is IT for SURE- and I must’ve been there not long before it burned for the LAST time (so FUR, anyway!) Wish I could buy it- and build a monument to a great old joint. I remember just being in AWE that night…..maybe I’ll remember who I SAW, cuz it Was a GOOD one, and an old band, like the New Riders… maybe it WAS…..I remember it was that kinda spooky, evocative, deserty kind of music, that fit the venue so WELL. It was like being at my old haunt the Palomino, in NH- GOD, how I LOVED that place!! It was like THAT, just history everywhere you Looked- you could just FEEL it seeping from the WALLS…….
Hi, I have just read your post and I’m very interested in knowing as many of the bands that played The Corral, to add to my autobiography. I used to frequent the Corral a lot, and saw a number of reggae and blues artists there. I’m adding an entire section in my book as a tribute to the musical venues LA has lost, and the people that played in them.
My name is John Phillips. I managed the rock band Monolith out of Venice Beach in the mid 70’s. In 1975 we played a few weekends at the Corral. Danny Tucker, road manger for Spirit invited Lou Adler and a couple other executives to hear Monolith at The Corral.
I worked for your dad at the Top of Topanga and in the Topanga Center restaurant. He was a good guy.
Do you think that was intentional?
I USED TO LIVE NEAR and went alot. I met Neil Young there and once Janice Joplin at the pool table…lolol…many more great times there…WILL NEVER FORGET🙏👍❤️🖖🤙☮️
All the previous and above reports warm my ol Topanga Heart… and.. my fave night was when Niel Young and Crazy Horse and Joanie Mitchel and I foget who else joined in that night… and i hope i never forget.
I was at this concert also. Neil and Joni played a couple of duets. Fantastic memory. The Eagles were the opening set.
The Eagles were there too! I was 17 years old and will never forget that night. The only way I could get in was a fake ID. I got to meet Joanie that night and gave her a pair of feather earrings I had made. It was magical!
I was there as well. Amazing day and night. Yes, like others, needed a fake ID to get in.
I hung out there around 1966-67. Great memories and great bands played there. Met Dewey Martin, drummer for Buffalo Springfield there.
Melissa,
I might have some photos from the early 60s. My father was part owner for a short time.
Danny,
I grew up in Topanga, my dad, land owner of the restaurant before it burned down then rebuilt to become the Topanga corral!! We also owned the Bent Oak bar just down the road. Please email me would love to reminisce with you, I have photo’s as well however I would love to see any of the photos you have. Pinky is my nickname (Krause) family name. 808-344-6165
pinkapoo1028@yahoo.com Love to share some pictures with you my brother and I maybe would’ve known him Steve Krause hung out with Danny Tucker and the tapanga all stars and many others he has quite a few pictures himself I’m working on a documentary right now of our journey from when we first moved onto our property which was overlooking the tapanga corral In which my dad norm ruled with with a no nonsense attitude they called him Storman Norman everybody loved him anyway get in touch
Pinky,
I sent the only three photos I could find to your yahoo email address.
Danny Tucker (wagner) was my uncle. He used to have this gold record hung up in my grandmas house that he got when he was the road manager for the band “spirit”. He was good friends with “Neil Young” and many others in the canyon. Im looking for old pics of him if you happened to have any i would love to check them out. Thank you.
I knew your uncle back in the early 70’s. He hung out with Bobby Morris and Kendall Pacious. There was a big group that played baseball and they called themselves the Topanga Allstars. They were a crazy bunch of guys. Most are gone now. Robert (Fleetfoot) Smallwood, Louie Kelly, Bobby Morris. Not sure about Kendall as he moved up north. I worked at Later Lauder Louies restaurant in the Center. Your uncle had a little red Porshe and lived in a pretty nice house. He had a lot of girlfriends and was in the movie Car Wash for a second. Played a cop.
Yes he was in the movie car wash. (Deleted scene) I have a record book of the 1984 “Topanga all stars” it has the whole roster and all of their stats for that year. …I miss my uncle. He was definitely one of a kind.
Hi everyone! I just found your website. My dad, Sid George, and his band used to hang out at Topanga Corral all the time. Their band name was The Basement Wall and they were from south louisiana. My dad talked about Topanga Dick who owned the bar and the bouncer Jim. One of the Basement Wall band members that I spoke to said that Topanga Dick had 2 German Shepard’s. One of the dog name was Acid & you couldn’t have any bad vibes if you were around the dog. One of the Basement Wall band members was bitten by Acid. I guess he had bad vibes on him that day!! Ha!! I read that some of y’all had pictures. I do not know for certain if the basement wall band actually played there. This would have been when Stephen Stills opened for Canned Heat. This would have been 1969 – early to mid 70’s. Thank you very much for your time. Enjoy your day! Julie George
Hi Julie. I partied with “with Topango Dick” nd his dog acid a few times between Jan and April of ‘69. He was a really nice person. We drank warm Saki. His place was a bit outside the Corrl, I fell in live with Acid. I have a GSD now. I wish I had picture to share with you. I have weitten my memoirs not piblished yet I could remember the dog’s name but not the bar owner. I am so happy you sent this and grateful I fou d it. My friends always abandoned me. I lways stayed for the music.
Connie Williams, poet musician
Lamesa Texas
I remember just moving to California in 1970….I probably got to the Valley by 1971….went with my room mate
to see Meat Loaf…what a memorable night!…RIP Meat Loaf
I remember driving past days after the second fire and the sign was still up… it said “it was a hot time in the old corral last night”. At least they still had their sense of humor.
I hung out at the Corral, I guess it was 1966-67. I remember the band playing Season of the Witch a LOT. Funky old place. Met and dated Dewey Martin, drummer for Buffalo Springfield there. Stephen Stills also hung out there. What fabulous memories.
When I saw the B & W of the Corral, I felt 19 again. 1973 I met Dick through my friend, Robert Martin. Hung with BB King one night. I remember staying at Bob Hite’s house and sleeping in his bed, and the beautiful summer nights walking around outside. A bridge to Bob’s that was made of wood and rotting away. It was sort of scary going across it. I moved and lost touch with my friend Robert. Long had dark hair, and a big black beard, liked Whiskey, and played the slide on his guitar. I’d love to go back in time. Thanks fir the memories! Diann
Hello everybody! I love all your comments. What an amazing site this is. The reason I am here is to research all the bands that played the Topanga Corral that aren’t already listed. I found a good number on the site, “Setlists” but reading through your comments I see many more bands played that are not listed. I saw quite a lot of reggae and blues there but so far none have been mentioned.
The reason I ask is for my autobiography. I’m doing an entire section on the clubs that LA has lost, and the bands that played in them.
Many thanks for your help.
Fiona
Love all the comments here. Decided to Google “Topanga Canyon Corral” as it came up in discussions yesterday with my current band members. We’re a bunch of retired old farts reminiscing about the 60’s and the bands we played in. I’m the only LA guy in the group so the Corral was definitely on the list of venues my band played. In fact, we were the house band at the Corral for most of 1967. We were called “The Berries”. Perhaps we were also called “The Jungle” during that year due to contractual obligations with a local record company (Double Shot Records). I have great memories of the bands we opened for and many of the local artists sitting in with us. Some of whom are mentioned in previous comments here. We played at both the original Corral and the 2nd one after the 1st burned down. Gotta love the 60’s. Greatest music ever.
After reading all the wonderful comments about the Topanga Corral, I thought perhaps I’d join in. The year was 1973. At that time I was the Senior Art Director (West Coast) for CBS/Columbia Records. I was working on a new Album Cover for Jessie “Ed” Davis. I don’t remember the exact date, but it was raining very hard that evening. Jessie was going to be rehearsing some songs live at the Topanga Corral for his up coming album and he asked me to come along and get a feel for the music. Having just moved out to L.A. in 1972, I hadn’t even been to Topanga Canyon as yet and I was living in Hollywood. Jessie did not have a car at the time and asked me if I could drive him and his wife to the Topanga Corral. Since I was going to be designing his album cover, I thought I’d ask my friend and famous rock photographer Jim Marshall, to come along and take some photos. So. here I was driving my green VW Bug up Topanga Canyon on that very rainy evening, never having ever been on the road before, when Jessies wife asked if I wanted a few home made Chocolate Chip cookies. Innocently, I said sure. I ate about four of those cookies not knowing until later that they were laced with Marijuana. Upon arriving at the Corral and parking. I stepped out of the car and felt very heavy. i felt like I weighed about five hundred pounds. So. there I was at the famous Topanga Corral unexpectantly stoned and loving the entire evening. The rehearsal was fantastic. Jessie was outstanding! I have no recollection of leaving the Corral that evening or driving my VW Bug back down the canyon to Woodland Hills and eventually, back to Hollywood, but what a great experience. It’s now 2024 and I live at the base of Topanga Canyon in Woodland Hills and every time I drive West through the canyon I see that empty lot and remember that night all over again……
Also, Taj Mahal regularly played the Corral in the mid 60’s
Long shot.
I am looking for a bar, it also sold food. Had a large cage with a big parrot towards the back. Ginger Dicky (sp?) was the owner or manager, approx late 1950s-early 1960s. Was on the right side of Topanga Canyon Rd if coming from Malibu. I remember it as dark wooden building, also dark inside, I think there was a bar, table booths around the walls. I remember as very fun and kind! She was my god mother.
Anyone remember this building, where it was and does anyone remember Gunger Dicky. Thanks ❤️