The Viper Room

The location was originally a grocery store from 1921 into the 1940s. In the 1940s, it was converted into a nightclub called the "Cotton Club", entirely unrelated to the Harlem original. This was soon replaced by "The Greenwich Village Inn", the "Rue Angel" and finally "The Last Call" during the 1940s. From 1951 to 1969, the location was a bar called "The Melody Lounge". In 1969, it became "Filthy McNasty's". and in the 1980s, a jazz club called "The Central". "The Central" was best known for its Tuesday jam nights where various well-known musicians such as Joe Cocker, Brian Setzer and Jeff Baxter performed and hung out along with others in the music industry. It also hosted many local music acts such as Chuck E. Weiss who was frequently accompanied by the Goddamn Liars. In 1993, the club was close to shutting down when Weiss suggested to Depp that he should revitalize the spot and rename it "The Viper Room". Tom Waits also had a hand in redeveloping the spot. 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. Adam Duritz, the lead singer of Counting Crows, worked as a Viper Room bartender in late 1994 and early 1995 to escape his newfound fame. Ownership As part of the settlement of a lawsuit against Johnny Depp and four others, involving allegations of mismanagement of profits, Depp relinquished his ownership of the Viper Room in 2004. The club changed hands multiple times between 2004 and 2016; the club is currently owned by Viper Room Holdings, Ltd. CEO James Cooper. Intellectual property and lawsuits A nightclub formerly called "The Viper Room" exists in Cincinnati. 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. Another "Viper Room" in Portland was also told to stop using the name under threat of a trademark lawsuit, with the Viper Room's former owner claiming that "every dollar they make is the result of using our name". Abroad, there is also a legal brothel in Brisbane called "The Viper Room" and nightclubs boasting the name (or a similar one) in Harrogate, Sheffield, Stockholm, and Vienna. Until February 2009, there was a nightclub with the same name in Melbourne; 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. 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 American club. In 2016, The Viper Room began issuing cease and desist notices to bootleg merchandise sellers on eBay and other online storefronts. The original building where the club is currently located is slated to be demolished in 2026, to make way for a replacement club, retail and a five star hotel tower. ==Performers==

At Depp's request, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed on the club's opening night. Johnny Cash performed at the venue, debuting material that would later appear on American Recordings (1994). Other performers include Avril Lavigne, Neurotic Outsiders (featuring Duff McKagan, Steve Jones and John Taylor), Keanu Reeves (who performed there with his band Dogstar in 1997), The Cult, Slash, X, Julliette and the Licks, Concrete Blonde, Green Day, Courtney Love, Hole, Joey Ramone, The Smashing Pumpkins, Tenacious D, The Strokes, and Cher. == In popular culture ==

• 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 halfway up the same block from the Whisky a Go Go where the Doors had their first regular gigs for four months in early 1966. • 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". • Several scenes in the 2005 John Travolta film Be Cool were set at or in the club, although only the exterior of the site was used in the shoot. • 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. • The Viper Room was once the base of an underground poker ring, reportedly founded by actor Tobey Maguire. The ring often included other actors such as Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Matt Damon. The poker ring inspired the 2017 movie ''Molly's Game'', starring Jessica Chastain, in which the club was renamed "The Cobra Lounge". • The Viper Room is featured in an episode of paranormal series Ghost Adventures as one of their lockdown locations, where they investigated the building for two days. In 2019, BuzzFeed Unsolved Supernatural filmed an episode in the club. • The Viper Room basement is the setting for the initial set of poker games Molly Bloom hosted. • In 2019, the music video for the song "Blow" by Ed Sheeran, Chris Stapleton, and Bruno Mars was filmed at the Viper Room. • In 2021, the Viper Room was the feature of season 1, episode 2 of Vice Media's ''Dark Side of the 90's'' entitled "The Viper Room: Hollywood's Sanctuary." ==See also==