In this episode, Casey and Anton sit down and talk about the early days of OC Punk, and the scene at the Legendary Cukoo's Nest. Anton unfortunately scheduled Jerry on the same day Javier the gardener did the grounds, and it took the boys a bit of time to shut the window. It gets a little rough at around 9:00 and continues for a spell. Once they close the window, things go back to normal. We apologize for the audio issue and hope you can muscle through it, or at least forward to where the coast is clear at around 22:00.
For the Video Version full of old school eye candy.
Cuckoo's Nest (1976–1981) was a nightclub that was located at 1714 Placentia Avenue in Costa Mesa, California. The club was founded in 1976 by Jerry Roach,[1] a former bar owner who had turned to selling real estate, after receiving the property from a client as a commission payment. A local Costa Mesa bar that was already in operation was named Jaws, after the film, and Roach took inspiration from this and named his new venture after One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the big box-office draw of that year, to make the club's name easily memorable. The club became known for punk rock.
There were no venues in southern California at that time that would book punk bands due to the extremely negative reputation the fledgling scene had earned itself, as well as the costly damage done to some venues by punk fans, which had resulted in more than a few having to close their doors due to legal problems and finances. Several of these early Huntington Beach area punk bands, such as Vicious Circle and The Slashers had extremely violent and hardcore fans who made it a point to be as destructive and criminally-minded as possible, being fully pledged in allegiance to the anarchistic ethos of punk rock, wreaking havoc at a lot of shows that had taken place at other clubs. This trend relegated punk bands to play almost exclusively for free at house-parties, and keeping the majority of the southern westcoast scene underground.
The first punk show to take place at The Nest was a benefit for the legendary Los Angeles punk club, The Masque, and took place on February 16, 1978. The owner of The Masque, Brendan Mullen, brought along the bands that performed that night, which included; The Skulls, The Bags, The Controllers, and Steamin' Freeman. In the early 80's, the club claimed to be the biggest punk club in Orange County.
Bands who performed there include the Adolescents, FEAR,[3] Social Distortion, T.S.O.L., the Vandals,[4] Iggy Pop, Ramones, Dead Kennedys, 999,[5] the Misfits, Circle Jerks,[6] Wasted Youth,[7] Agent Orange,[8] the Go-Go's, Red Kross, the Minutemen, the Blasters, the New York Dolls.[1] Henry Rollins' first show with Black Flag was at the Nest on August 21, 1981.[9]