:: THE STORIES :: THE SHOWS :: CONTRIBUTORS ::

Jon von: It was a tiny, trashy place with wonderful vestiges of the 50s beatnik world.

Michael Lucas: The underlit stairway to the entrance made me think I was heading in to a dungeon, which of course is very cool.

Jay Hinman: I had seen some shows Tom Guido had booked around town under the name of “The Fuzz Club” before he took control of the Purple Onion, primarily at the 6th Street Rendezvous. He was really big into the Mummies scene and their pals from San Mateo (Vanilla Whores, Three Stoned Men, Wig Torture etc.), and would book bills with all of them. When that transferred over to the Purple Onion, I figured it’d be a really ephemeral thing — like 2 or 3 shows — not 7 or 8 years.

Beth Loudmouth: Seeing a show at The Purple Onion was like seeing a band play in someone’s basement at a party. I remember there were times when Tom would be the door guy, the sound guy AND the bartender. Over the years he had different people working for him off and on but there were nights when he was running the show solo. It was kinda crazy. Things always felt on the edge of coming unhinged. The place was really small but had such a groovy vibe. You’d go down these stairs to get to inside and it had these really cool pink tuck and roll booths.

Carolyn Keddy: I loved the Purple Onion right away. It had a relaxed atmosphere at first. The crazy shit would come later. 

Dulcinea Gonzalez: It was like being in some broken-down version of Beyond Valley of the Dolls with Tom cast as Z-Man. I loved it/ hated it.

Jay Loudmouth: I don’t recall the first time I was there. But at the time, there were so many great places to play and see shows in SF that this just added to the fun times. It was pretty loose, even looser than the Chameleon.

Pete Colpitts: The first time i went to the PO I had gone out to The Stone on Broadway to see Dee Dee Ramone only to find that he had canceled. I heard the Trashwomen were playing down the street at this new club. We walked down and found the PO and loved it right away, from the steep ass stairway on. It literally felt underground, and with the little stage and tinsel backdrop, it was perfect. That area of North Beach/Chinatown was still a bit seedy back then, there were no hip restaraunts or bars so the PO fit right in. The Trashwomen were great as always and after them a band from Japan played — it was fucking Guitar Wolf!!!! Blew me away!! On top of it all, Tom was interrupting the bands and MCing the show — so entertaining. Needless to say I spent many weekends there for the next few years.

Tina Lucchesi: It was awesome, very groovy and cool. It was a club for us!

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