The Viper Room

Coordinates: 34°5′25.7″N 118°23′4.8″W / 34.090472°N 118.384667°W / 34.090472; -118.384667

The Viper Room is a nightclub located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States. 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.^[1] 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".^[2] Tom Waits also had a hand in redeveloping the spot.^[3]

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.^[4] Johnny Cash performed at the venue, debuting material that would later appear in his 1994 album American Recordings.^[5] 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 on the club's opening night.^[6] 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 (then housing a nightclub called The Central) was used for scenes featuring the new-wave band the Plimsouls. In Oliver Stone's film The Doors (1991), 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.^[7]

The 2003 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle "Pink Panther Dance" scene was filmed at the club, though the club's name was changed in the film to "The Treasure Chest".

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.^[8] The club was purchased by Darin Feinstein in 2004. Feinstein maintains majority ownership to this day.^[9] In 2015, Feinstein noted:

When Johnny Depp founded the Viper Room he created an iconic brand that will live on forever. The venue grew from a gritty Rock and Roll lifestyle statement to one of the most prolific nightclubs, not just on the Sunset strip, but in the world. People from all parts of life are drawn to the Viper Room, the eclectic nature of its crowd is intense, and superstar bands from all over the world love to play there.^[10]

Intellectual property and lawsuits

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.^[11] 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."^[12] 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.^[13] 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.^[14] In 2016, The Viper Room began issuing cease and desist notices to bootleg merchandise sellers on eBay and other online storefronts.

Merchandising

In 2016, the Viper Room announced the launch of a new line of officially-licensed high-end apparel. The website Shop Viper Room was established to promote the new vintage-inspired fashion items.^[15]

See also

• Rainbow Bar and Grill
• Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco
• The Roxy Theatre
• Whisky a Go Go
• Sunset Strip

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Viper Room.

• Viper Room official website
• Yelp website for The Viper Room (West Hollywood)