Photo: Some of the flyers and memorabilia posted in more detail below, for size reference.
It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly four decades since my gal pals and I drove from our North Hollywood apartment to the opening night of Riki & Taime’s World Famous Cathouse Hollywood back in 1986, and made it a staple of Tuesday nights for the next few years. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, the Cathouse was THE place to go in the late ’80s L.A. Sunset Strip music scene – even though it wasn’t on the Strip.
Founded by Riki Rachtman, most well-known in the music world as the VJ on MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball from 1989-1995, and singer Taime Downe of Faster Pussycat, the Cathouse Hollywood was the rock and metal version of New York City’s famed decadent discotheque, Studio 54. While the Rainbow, Roxy, and Whiskey were Hollywood staples throughout various musical generations, the Cathouse was a unique standout in a once-in-a-lifetime scene from 1986 to 1993.
Photo: Our relatively new concert wall with the 2015 Cathouse Live at Irvine Meadows poster I somehow got back to Florida in one piece.
I’ve managed to hang on to a few of my old Cathouse flyers and mailers all these years, which I’ve posted below. Some of the flyers I picked up at the club and some came via U.S. Mail after signing up to be a member. Or perhaps one or both were given to me by Taime Downe, who was often seen amicably introducing himself at the Rainbow’s after-party-in-the-parking-lot…something I actually do remember. There are four flyers from mid-to-late 1987, one of which is a very informative history of the club, and one from September 1988. I also have a few fun items from the 2015 Cathouse Live at Irvine Meadows show.
I wish I remembered more from my Cathouse heydays, which now seem like several lifetimes ago in a different reality. One where, like the satyrs and nymphs frolicking around the party god Dionysus in Ancient Greece, we fully intended to dip our fish-netted toes in the gutter if it meant a good time. A lot of us managed to do justice to the lifestyle while mostly keeping the other panty-hosed foot in a day job; we weren’t all strippers. Oat-sowing has been going on for generations and across cultures, and the Cali hippie chill of the 1960s free love had evolved – it had become pierced and tattooed with a punk, glam, hard rock and heavy metal rockstar woohoo party theme, and we lived and loved every minute of it.
Photo: Concert flyer window treatment in our 1986-88 North Hollywood apartment. I wish I could see the flyers better – I need to run it through that new app. Also proof my concert wall styles have evolved over the years.
If your life really does flash before your eyes when you die, my brain will be all WTF absorbing every detail of those years. I was not often present…was anyone else present, or even aware then of what that means now? But I do remember we were having a blast and that I was doing what I had set out to do when I left Florida for Los Angeles at the naive age of 19: immersing myself in what made me happy and living life to the fullest. Long before my pyschological studies into music subcultures, I knew I wanted to experience it all, to go wherever my youthful prefrontal cortex led me in the creating of my own reality .
Photo: A collage of the flyers I saved from back when.
I look back with an immense appreciation for getting to live my young life when and where I did, with no regrets, if anyone should ask, and for coming out of it alive and kicking. Great bands played all over the Los Angeles area and it was an amazing time for a live music fan, and that’s what it was all about. You can check out all of my 1984-1989 Los Angeles Sunset Strip Scene Band Flyers at this link.
My friends and I use each others’ memories to (mostly) put it all together. There are certain things I do recall clearly, and I need to write out our stories at some point to go along with these scraps of paper I’ve saved to commemorate them. I often wonder if my subconscious made me save all this stuff because it knew my brain wasn’t going to remember most of it. I love the resurgence and re-examination of this scene almost four decades later, and given today’s world, our nostalgia for those more carefree party times, even with its party problems, makes sense.
Photo: Screenshot from Riki Rachtman’s Facebook post.
It’s no wonder then that Cathouse co-founder Riki Rachtman is doing so well on his spoken word tour. His VJ/anchor/moderator skills have been honed into the art of lore, and he’s passing down his rock-n-roll stories to fans with a fondness for the good ole days. The talent is not surprising given his experience hosting in a variety of venues. Not only was he the VJ of MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball, he spent other lifetimes in racing and various ventures unknown to us rockers before revitalizing the Cathouse Hollywood brand and story decades later. I look forward to seeing his seemingly brutally-honestly titled One Foot in the Gutter show where he reminisces on those rockstar days gone by in Melbourne, Florida this coming November 2023.
If you are inclined to read such things, check out my post on the benefits of music subcultures and how most of us ‘grown-up’ members of metal scenes around the country have done pretty well for ourselves, and/or my post explaining the neurology behind our nostalgia for the good ole days, crazy though many of them were. Hence people reading this blog, and hence me and my people going to Riki Rachtman’s unique ‘lore concerts.’
Below are photos of my small horde of Cathouse flyers. While I saved my membership card and the small event flyers, I gave the newsletters to Riki in the hopes that they might be more carefully preserved for posterity.
My Cathouse membership card, as required at one point and explained in a flyer below. This card has the address of the second Cathouse location on Highland Avenue. I notice from the mailers below that my original membership has my real last name and the second one has a fake last name (Sandie Beach lol), so it was renewed/lost at some point.
This small yellow Cathouse flyer is from the original Cathouse location on La Cienega Boulevard and promoted the general hangout/rock chick dancing/overall good time good music meetup that it was. It’s made of heavy card stock measuring roughly 5.5″H x 4.25″W.
So this was cool and I really wish I remembered more details. Alas, my poor memory banks. Thanks to this flyer, my concert ticket stub below, Tami, and my ex, I know I was at The Cult show at The Fabulous Forum and at this Cathouse after-party. I have a few vague memories. I don’t know why I think of mint green walls. Sigh. The flyer is made of heavy card stock measuring roughly 5.5″H x 4.25″W.
This is the concert ticket stub that goes with the “After Concert Party” mentioned in the flyer above. Billy Idol with The Cult on 5-8-1987 at The Fabulous Forum in Los Angeles, California.
The first four pages below appear to have been something I picked up at the first Cathouse before it changed locations. It’s a great narrative about the club’s inception and opening on Tuesday, September 22, 1986, the music they played, who hung out there, and its eventual move to a new location on August 4, 1987. The others talk about what’s going on with L.A. bands at the time – who’s on tour and who’s in the studio, as well as notices about Cathouse events.
The photo above appears to show where I ripped off the bottom of the page to fill out the form to get my Cathouse membership card (shown above at top of post).
The front and back two page flyer below says it “is the first in a series of monthly newsletters…” and the envelope is postdated September, 1987. It gives updates on Faster Pussycat, Guns n’ Roses, Jetboy, L.A. Guns, and Motley Crue. Read and be amused…a place “where even Slash can’t get kicked out of,” but where I did see Slash being carried out, twice, both times as I was arriving, with two guys each holding one arm and one leg, down the stairs.
The pink mailer below is postmarked October 26, 1987 and I really hope I was at that Black ‘n Blue show, and gotta love the apologies that GnR didn’t play ‘cuz “Slash was dancing with Mr. Daniels.” There is mention of the filming of “The Metal Years” and I remember being there for that. It was actually for Penelope Spheeris‘ documentary The Decline of the Western Civilization: The Metal Years (which I need to watch again from today’s perspective). Also, a mention of Rock City News, where Thrust Music Magazine co-founders Chris Phillips and yours truly got their feet wet before moving to Florida to start the Tampa Bay area music scene magazine.
The flyer below is almost a full year after the last one above. Does anyone know if there were any in between? If so I would love to see them posted in the comments. My bf and I had moved in with Jon E. Love of Love/Hate at this point and that’s a whole ‘nother story. This flyer mentions Faster Pussycat and L.A. Guns, both playing at the Cathouse under the assumed names No Respect and Hollywood Vampires. It also mentions Riki’s band Virgin. And I sure hope I was at that Cathouse Two Year Anniversary Bash, wow, what a line-up.
I really don’t have much in the memory banks about the flyer below, and/or what year it was from (1987 or 1988?). A Cathouse and “AA” (as in Alcoholic Anonymous?) Rocktober Halloween event show directions.
I never went to the Cathouse again after 1989, when I moved back to Florida. I know it continued the party until 1993. I don’t think I heard much about the Cathouse again after its final closure until 2015, when Riki and Faster Pussycat were set to host the Cathouse Takeover on the Monsters of Rock Cruise in April of that year (see photo).
I recall seeing Riki on the ship, and even saying hello in the cafe area, but I don’t remember it being much of a Cathouse celebration for some reason – I’m not even sure it happened. Not sure what I missed there.
Photo: My 2015 Monsters of Rock Cruise schedules.
However, a few months later in August 2015, I was able to head out to Los Angeles to see the Cathouse Live at Irvine Meadows All-Star Jam. Below are some of my things from the VIP experience, which thank the rock gods we did because it was one of the Hottest Days of All Time (and I’m a Floridian!). And while I love a sweaty upfront fanatic concert crush just like any live music fan, this newfangled VIP experience is great once-in-a-comfortable-grownup-while-world. You can check out my review of the show at the link. I somehow I managed to carry that poster around all day and get it back to Florida in one piece, along with new shirts.
Here’s a few other Cathouse Hollywood thingies, including a really soft and comfy winter hat (not real useful in Florida but I can bring it out occasionally) and some luggage sticker decor…and a new Headbanger’s Baby onesie for my granddaughter.
You can check out all of my 1984-1989 Los Angeles Sunset Strip Scene Band Flyers at this link.
rocksandy.rocks 