| Hong Kong Café | |
| Nickname: | The Hong Kong |
| Address: | 425 Gin Ling Way |
| Location: | Chinatown, Los Angeles, California |
| Opened: | For Music, June 5, 1979 |
| Closed: | January, 1981 |
The Hong Kong Café was a Los Angeles restaurant and music venue that was a part of the Los Angeles punk rock scene during the late 1970s and early 1980s when the club was owned and operated by Barry Seidel, Kim Turner and Suzie Frank,followed by a resurgence from 1992 to 1995.
Located at 425 Gin Ling Way in the Chinatown district of Downtown Los Angeles, California and across the way from sometimes rival Esther Wong's Madame Wong's,[1] [2] the former Chinese restaurant[3] was open to audiences of all ages.
It can briefly be seen in the 1974 movie, Chinatown.
The Plugz and UXA played at the club's opening night on June 7, 1979,[4] [5] and numerous bands, including X, Catholic Discipline, The Mau-Mau's, Bags, The Smart Pills, Nervous Gender, and The Alley Cats, performed there until its closing in January 1981.[6] [7] Concert footage filmed at Hong Kong Café appears in the Penelope Spheeris documentary film The Decline of Western Civilization.[8]
The Hong Kong Cafe was typically more open to punk and hardcore acts than Madame Wong's.[9] Black Flag played some of its first few shows at the Hong Kong Cafe.[10]
The venue reopened for music in 1992, featuring shows from acts such as D.I., Guttermouth[11] The Offspring, and the Voodoo Glow Skulls.
The space is currently occupied by Realm, a housewares and gifts retailer.[12]
Shows from the Hong Kong's first months:
| Date | Band | Band | Band | Band | Band Also appearing were Phil Seymour, the Textones, and Moon Martin. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 5, 1979 | Daily Planet | |||||
| June 6, 1979 | Uncle | Jammer | ||||
| June 7, 1979[13] | U.X.A. | |||||
| June 8, 1979 | ||||||
| June 9, 1979 | Snapp | Blow-Up | ||||
| June 10, 1979 | Ryno | Curtis Bros. | ||||
| June 18, 1979[14] | The Last | |||||
| June 22, 1979[15] | Black Flag | |||||
| June 29, 1979[16] | Black Flag | |||||
| July 1, 1979 | The Dogs | The Tremors | ||||
| July 2, 1979 | Copter | Big Wow | ||||
| July 3, 1979 | Gorilla | Fingers | ||||
| July 4, 1979 | The Flyboys | Satin Tones | ||||
| July 5, 1979 | The Weasels | The Silencers | ||||
| July 6, 1979 | Pink Section | The Units | The B-People | |||
| July 7, 1979 | The Pink Section | |||||
| July 8, 1979 | The Tellers | |||||
| July 9, 1979 | Roy Loney & the Phantom Movers | The Real Kids | ||||
| July 10, 1979 | The Shieks of Shake | The Blitz Bros. | ||||
| July 11, 1979 | The Eyes | Human Hands | ||||
| July 12, 1979 | Unknown | Unknown | ||||
| July 13, 1979 | Unknown | |||||
| July 14, 1979 | Unknown | |||||
| July 15, 1979 | Controllers | The B-People | ||||
| July 16, 1979 | Yankee Rose | Shandi Cinnamon | ||||
| July 17, 1979 | Adaptors | Extremes | ||||
| July 18, 1979 | The Real Kids | |||||
| July 19, 1979 | Bates Motel | Hero | Johanna Went | |||
| July 20, 1979 | Go-Go's | |||||
| July 21, 1979 | Penetrators | |||||
| July 22, 1979 | Daily Planet | Dianna Harris | The Tufftones | |||
| July 23, 1979 | The Most | Keller and Webb | ||||
| July 24, 1979 | The Eyes | The Brainiacs | ||||
| July 25, 1979 | The Weirz | U.S. Rock | ||||
| July 26, 1979 | U.X.A. | |||||
| July 27, 1979 | Bates Motel | The Meckanics | ||||
| July 28, 1979 | ||||||
| July 29, 1979 | Ivy and the Eaters | Big Wow | ||||
| July 30, 1979 | Ivy and the Eaters | Big Wow | ||||
| July 31, 1979 | Axis | The Real Kids | ||||
| August 1, 1979 | Shandi | Johanna Went | ||||
| August 2, 1979 | Pointed Sticks | |||||
| August 3, 1979 | Pointed Sticks | |||||
| August 4, 1979 | Eddie and the Subtitles | |||||
| August 5, 1979 | Reddi Killawatt | Prankster | ||||
| August 6, 1979 | Rotters | Spy | ||||
| August 7, 1979 | Simpletones | the Crowd | Stepmothers | |||
| August 8, 1979 | U.X.A. | Flyboys | Silencers | |||
| August 9, 1979 | Zero's (S.F.) | Urge | ||||
| August 10, 1979 | Zero's (S.F.) | Urge | ||||
| August 11, 1979 | Human Hands | |||||
| August 12, 1979 | ||||||
| August 13, 1979 | Bates Motel | |||||
| August 15, 1979 | The B-People | VS. |