flickr/ricardodiaz

The Orpheum Theatre has six floors of dressing rooms, a film projector, a world-class sound system and one of the only surviving Wurlitzer theater organs in the country. It's also one of the last independent venues in the city. Ninety years in, it continues to thrive after more than 85 years thanks to its enthusiastic leader, Steve Needleman whose family has owned the building since 1964.

It opened in 1926 as the final theater included in vaudeville master Gustav Walter's chain of revue theaters, each called the Orpheum. It was the number one place to see Hollywood's biggest names, at a time when live variety shows reigned supreme. Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr. and Judy Garland -- who was discovered at the Orpheum performing under her true name Francis Gumm -- all performed there.

More »

Bailey Pennick

The Canyon Country Store has been the makeshift cultural center of Laurel Canyon for a full century. Immortalized in the Doors song "Love Street," this deli-market is not a venue, but it's got historical music importance to spare, and continues to be -- as Jim Morrison put it -- the "store where the creatures meet."

Known for its winding narrow streets and terrifying mudslides, Laurel Canyon became a part of the city of Los Angeles in 1923. Its close proximity to Hollywood and ample unused hillside attracted the film industry's elite "photoplayers" including Clara Bow, Errol Flynn and Harry Houdini.

More »

Photo By Alan Light

The Shrine Auditorium, once home to the Academy Awards, hosted countless landmark concerts in its prime, but now is less in the spotlight than its rival up Figueroa -- LA Live. Still, the Shrine has found a second life as a hub for raves.

See also: *Jack White at The Shrine, 8/10/12
*Steve Aoki Responds to Death of Three at His Show in Spain

Built in 1906 as an Al Malaikah Temple (L.A.'s headquarters for the Shriners), the original Shrine Auditorium stood 14 years before it went up in flames in 1920. The original building -- which boasted the Titantic-esque quality of being "practically fireproof" -- burned to the ground in under a half hour. (The cause is unknown.)

More »

Bailey Pennick

The Reseda Country Club today

The San Fernando Valley doesn't come to mind when you think "iconic clubs," but in the 1980s the West Valley was the place to see acts like Tom Petty, Merle Haggard, Metallica and U2.

See also: What Makes the Hollywood Bowl So Perfect?

The Reseda Country Club, located on Sherman Way near Reseda Boulevard, has a rich history. Now a church, its notoriety lives on in the film Boogie Nights.

More »

flickr/prayitno

Is the Hollywood Bowl southern California's most beloved performance space? Quite possibly. Where else do folks brag not just about seeing an act, but about attending a venue itself? Seating 17,376 patrons, it hosts shows six-out-of-seven nights a week --Tuesdays and Thursdays are classical, Wednesdays jazz and the weekends reserved for pop, rock and fireworks. It's like summer camp for L.A. music lovers, except that bringing your own booze is actually encouraged.

Its 91st season came to a close on September 30th with Wilco and Joanna Newsom. It opened on July 11, 1922 with a classical program called "Symphonies Under the Stars," conducted by Alfred Hertz. With only a simple tarp and wooden structure as a stage -- and crude movable benches for the audience -- the acoustic quality wasn't much back then. But the structure could be removed for dramatic productions like Camelot and the immensely popular Easter services, which first put the spot on the map.

More »