Cathay de Grande
The Cathay de Grande was a nightclub on 1600 Argyle Avenue on the corner of Argyle Avenue and Selma Avenue in central Hollywood, USA, which featured mostly punk rock bands but also other styles of underground/alternative rock in the 1980s. It was almost as well known for rockabilly, cowpunk, the Paisley Underground bands and the beginning of the garage rock revival. It was owned by Michael Brennan. Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs played every Monday night for three years. Violent Psychosis joined every Thursday.
Red Hot Chili Peppers performed their very first show under that band name at the Cathay after going by the name Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem for their two previous performances at another Hollywood club. They would play the Cathay a few times during their first tour in 1983 and once in 1984.
Other bands who frequently played the Cathay included The Minutemen, Bad Religion, Tex and the Horseheads, Dr. Know, The WILD, Entropy, along with regulars from Orange County Social Distortion, T.S.O.L., The Vandals, Agent Orange and Love Canal. The Knitters played their first gig at the Cathay. The Cathay was dubbed by one newspaper in 1984 as "The most dangerous club in America".
Due to problems with neighbors, violence caused in part by punk gangs such as the LADS gang, Suicidal Tendencies, FFF and HRP, and legal problems related to business conflicts, the Cathay de Grande closed in 1985 with Violent Psychosis, The Mentors with El Duce and Circle Jerks performing the farewell show. Shortly before, Danny "Dobbs" Wilson, the booker at the Cathay de Grande, started Raji's a block to the north on Hollywood Boulevard.
In 1983, The Mentors released an album entitled Live at the Whisky A Go-Go/Cathay De Grande" which consisted of two live shows, one recorded at the Whisky A Go-Go and the other at the Cathay de Grande.
In the song "The Desperation´s Gone" from the NOFX album So Long And Thanks For All The Shoes, Fat Mike sings "Cathay de I miss your smell".
In 2014 a nightclub featuring craft cocktails called The Argyle opened at the location.
