Starwood Club
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The Starwood Club was a popular club in West Hollywood, California during the 1970s and 1980s. Many punk bands and heavy metal bands started their careers playing at "The Starwood".
The Starwood was located on the Northeast corner of Santa Monica Blvd. & Crescent Heights Ave. It had been a fashionable nightclub called PJ's in the 1960s, which attracted a large number of film and TV personalities. During its incarnation as PJ's, The Standells and Trini Lopez recorded live albums there.
In the early 1970s, PJ's was bought by organized crime figure Eddie Nash, and became The Starwood. It closed in 1982 after a mysterious fire. (Similar unexplained fires befell other Nash-owned properties at the time.) Subsequently, it was torn down. A mini-mall was built on the site of The Starwood.
The Starwood was highly instrumental in the careers of Van Halen, Quiet Riot, DEVO, The Runaways, The Go-Gos, and X, and hosted live performances by a wide variety of local and out of town acts. Some of the acts from outside of California who played the Starwood included The Damned, AC/DC, The Fleshtones, and Ozzy Osbourne (who premiered his Blizzard of Ozz band at the Starwood).