A Little Weird History About The Viper Room.
One of those clubs that lives in infamy, The Viper Room. Back in 1993 Johnny Depp purchased a share of the club and quickly made it the place to be, mostly owing to his A-lister friends that would fill the venue. The place would headline the most popular and interesting bands, and was a frequent for stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Keanu Reeves. Johnny even got Tom Petty to play for The Viper Room opening night. However, for all the fascinating things that happened, there was a balance out of weird going on's as well. From one of the owner's vanishing, to excessive drug use which took the life of one of hollywood's most promising stars, lets talk about all the random activity that happen at The Viper Room.
How it all started.
The Viper Room famously started out as a grocery store, that's right, the future spot that was famous for its strange affairs and great music started with humble roots. The establishment stayed as a grocery store until about the 40's, soon being bought and turned into a cabaret, The Melody Room. From 1951 to 1969 The Melody Room was know for the infamous gangsters that liked to crowd the place and its amazing music line up. It wasn't until sometime in the 80's it was turned into The Central, which was a jazz club. A frequent of this club was John Belushi, whom we all know is a blues and jazz lover. The Central was known as well for the many stars that dawned it's stage, however the club was soon coming up to its expiration date. This had Chuck E. Weiss, who had played at The Central before, urge Johnny Depp to purchase the club and give it a facelift. It seems the club had many different overhauls but stayed consistent in its ability to keep the live music renowned.
Adam Duritz was a bartender there.
I feel like Counting Crows sometimes gets a bad rap, and to those Counting Crow haters I say a plague on your house! Back to the topic at hand, it seems the Counting Crows singer was known for hanging around the place as his home away from home. Soon he had started bartending at The Viper Room at the height of his career. One night at the club the bartender, Adam's close friend, had asked him to tend to the bar as she needed to use the bathroom. In the few minutes she was away Adam got the crowd extremely excited to get served by a rock star and tipped hundreds of dollars, he decided then on to continue to help his buddy and of course, let her keep the tips. It wasn't strange to see stars tending the bar at the club, as Christina Applegate was also known to serve a few drinks as well. I included a video of Adam telling the story for himself, check it out!
Avril Lavigne's photo shoot.
Avril Lavigne's photo shoot in front of the club... perhaps the most disturbing incident to have happened at The Viper Room.
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Covered with stars.
Johnny Depp had a huge group of famous friends ready to support the star by showing their face around the club. Many A-listers played the venue, including, like I mentioned before, Tom Petty on opening night, just because Johnny simply asked. Everyone from Tenacious D to ZZ Top has played the Viper Room while Johnny was still the owner. Some of the frequent guests included Charlize Theron, Keanu Reeves, Nancy Sinatra, Leonardo DiCaprio, Paris Hilton, and of course Johnny himself. Johnny even had a really cool night where he got to interview Hunter S. Thompson, which was quite entertaining. Here's something to add a bit off topic but, the club would have really extensive themed nights as well, turning the place into a Tiki bar or even once into an airplane. I wonder who thought "Oh, an airplane sounds fun! Let us go all in with that idea!" Random.
The overdose of River Phoenix.
River Phoenix was a rising star with many movies already under his belt, including Stand By Me. River was set to play a set at The Viper Room with Flea and John Frusciante (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers), Johnny Depp, Gibby Haynes (of Butthole Surfers), and Al Jourgensen (of Ministry). River had arrived at the club with his siblings, Joaquin and Rain Phoenix, along with his Girlfriend Samatha Mathis. When he arrived on October 30, 1993 everyone could visibly see that he was already extraordinarily high. Samatha is quoted in saying that he was so high she felt uncomfortable. Once they got settled River was handed cocaine along with all of his guest, to which he decided to partake. Bob Forrest, a friend of River, claimed River had disclosed to him that he was not feeling well and thought he had overdosed. However, after Bob had offered to take him home River claimed he was feeling better and there was no need. Minutes after that Samatha found River at the front of The Viper Room going into convulsions. His sister begun CPR as his brother ran to a pay phone to call the police. When help finally arrived River was still alive, they rushed him to the hospital as Flea accompanied him in the ambulance. Although they made it to the hospital while River was still breathing they couldn't seem to help him and ultimately he passed. River was pronounced dead on October 31, 1993. He was only 23.
There was allegedly an illegal poker room in the basement.
If you have heard of the true life story turned book and movie called Molly's Game chances are you know that she helped run an illegal poker game. Well, according to Molly Bloom she claims that their poker game had begun in the basement of The Viper Room with a buy in of a whopping 10,000 dollars. She recalls the poker games being filled with celebrities, including most famously in her story Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio. She has these strange stories which pretty much are just about how awful Tobey Maguire is. For example she has one story about how Toby made her bark like a seal for some money while Leo quietly watched in the background, which she of course refused. She did eventually get caught, paid a fine, and came forward with her story through her novel. Although she changed all the names and places it's clear what she's talking about and people were still able to put two and two together.
One of the owners vanished without a trace.
In 2000 Johnny was sued by his business parter Anthony Fox as Anthony had thought Johnny had not paid him his fair half of the profits, he believed Johnny had been mishandling funds. The strange thing is that just a little bit before they were meant to meet in court for the battle over who deserved what, Anthony had gone missing. He completely vanished without a trace, a body was never found nor was any evidence, besides his abandoned truck. Eventually Johnny did pay up for the funds he owed Anthony by giving up his share of the club to Anthony's daughter. How mysterious, indeed!
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Future of the club.
It seems that in 2018 some new developers have purchased the club and may be planning to tear the landmark down very soon. Some ideas they are throwing around include a hotel and restaurant. However, nothing has been announced as of yet, but it does not look good for the old Viper Room. If you plan on having a beer here and seeing a show I would go sooner rather than later. Go get your selfie in front of the infamous establishment before its too late!