One of the most successful of these venues was The Crescendo at 6572 Sunset. As rents had gone down, experimental jazz clubs and offbeat coffeehouses had moved in. The Strip’s decline in popularity allowed the seeds of a counter-culture to take root. Many of the larger clubs and restaurants had closed, or lost their luster, as loyal patrons aged out of their party years or flew to Las Vegas to see shows and gamble. “New York City had the Village-but we had Sunset Strip.”ĭuring the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Strip was “pretty dead, really,” singer Johnny Rivers would remember to Vanity Fair. Ironically, there is no doubt that it was these teenagers and their vibrant youth culture that had revived the Sunset Strip after a period of decline. The riot would soon end with few a minor injuries and arrests, but the incident would signal the grand finale of the teenage culture that had flourished on the Strip for a few brief years in the mid-1960s. A Coke bottle and other debris were thrown in the melee, and police attacked protestors with billy clubs, throwing teenagers over the white picket fence. Protestors began to shake a bus stuck on Sunset, breaking windows and throwing matches near the fuel tank. The club served no alcohol but showcased “subversive” musical acts like Sonny and Cher, and the famous duo were among the hippies who clogged Sunset, protesting law enforcement’s crackdown on the baby boomers who streamed down the Strip every evening.Īs the night wore on, tensions between police and protesters heightened. The gathering, which began as a “a kind of carnival, just a bunch of kids letting off steam,” was centered on the gold and purple painted Pandora’s Box at 8118 Sunset, a psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll club surrounded by a white picket fence. The intersection of Sunset and Crescent Heights boulevards teemed with hundreds of young people-fighting for their right to party past 10 p.m. 9, 1877), when the club began doing curtain calls (the 1950s), and why female performers once had to be cautious not to set their Edwardian dresses ablaze (Eliot Hall used gas stage lights during the 1900s).It was November 12, 1966. He can tell you, for instance, what the theater’s first ever performance was (Victorien Sardou’s “A Scrap of Paper,” on Feb. Today, Campbell, who could speak for hours about history if no one interrupted him, packs an arsenal of knowledge on even the most obscure theater facts. He even took a few trips to Houghton Library at Harvard University, where a collection for the Footlight Club was set up after its 100th anniversary. Later, he found books of board meeting minutes dating back to the 1920s. Spurred by a love of history, Campbell began collecting old programs and documents that the club still had scattered around - his home is filled with piles of documents, books, and artifacts, some of which he keeps stuffed in Tupperware containers. This isn’t exactly surprising - until Paul Campbell arrived at the theater in 1982, the history of the space had gone largely unknown, even by the various members that had come through.Ĭostumer designer Molly McGowan organized the costume closet. “The Footlight Club is situated in a neighborhood, so my mom walked by and never knew what it was,” said Gallagher. The McIntyres grew up four blocks away on Orchard Street, and Katherine, a stay-at-home mom, walked past Eliot Hall frequently - though it wasn’t until a friend told her about the Footlight Club, and encouraged her to audition for a show, that Katherine realized the little building was, in fact, a theater. It was their mother, Katherine, however, who introduced them to performing, and more importantly, the Footlight Club. Her family has dedicated their lives to the arts, including her younger brother, Joey, best known as a member of New Kids on the Block. The cast of Footlight Club from left Chris Erath (cq), Renee Singletary, Tim Joseph and Bill Stambaugh rehearsed their seven-show performance of "Clybourne Park," Erin Clark/Globe StaffĬarol Gallagher, 56, might be more identifiable by her maiden name - McIntyre.
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