| Rainbow Bar and Grill | |
| Nickname: | The Rainbow |
| Address: | 9015 Sunset Boulevard |
| Location: | West Hollywood, California |
| Type: | Nightclub |
| Genre: | Rock, heavy metal, glam rock, glam metal |
| Opened: | 1972 |
The Rainbow Bar and Grill is a bar and restaurant on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States, adjacent to the border of Beverly Hills, California. Its address is 9015 Sunset Boulevard.
The bottom level of the building is the restaurant, The Rainbow Bar and Grill. Upstairs was an exclusive club called "Over the Rainbow", which still consists of a full bar, a dance floor and a DJ booth. It currently has live entertainment on select days during the week. The restaurant is next to The Roxy Theatre and 1 OAK (formerly Gazzarri's);[1] Billboard Live, and The Key Club.
Before becoming the Rainbow, the restaurant was the Villa Nova restaurant, which was originally owned by film director Vincente Minnelli, at the time married to Judy Garland. Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe met at the restaurant on a blind date in 1952.[2]
After operating for 28 years, Villa Nova closed in 1968 and the building re-opened as the Windjammer until it closed in 1971.
The restaurant was founded in early 1972 by Gary Stromberg and Bob Gibson, heads of the PR firm Gibson & Stromberg. They brought in co-owners Elmer Valentine, Lou Adler, Mario Maglieri and others,[3] [4] opening in late March with a Buddah Records party for NRBQ.[5] On April 16, there was a party for Elton John.[6] At the time, the word "rainbow" signified peace and freedom. It quickly became known as a hangout for celebrities of all types.[7] John Belushi ate his last meal[8] (lentil soup) at table No. 16. The pornography actor Ron Jeremy was also known to regularly hang out there in the 2000s and 2010s.[9] For many years, the owner was Mario Maglieri.
The Rainbow became known as a hangout for rock musicians and their groupies. Notable regulars at the Rainbow in this period include Keith Moon, Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, Ritchie Blackmore, Micky Dolenz, Harry Nilsson, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and Neil Diamond. Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash were known to have occasionally visited the Rainbow. The group of musicians calling themselves the Hollywood Vampires made the Rainbow their home away from home in the mid-1970s. In the last two decades of his life, Motörhead frontman Lemmy was a daily fixture at the Rainbow whenever the band was not on tour, and often played a video poker machine at the end of the bar table.[10]
Producer Kim Fowley used to hang out at the Rainbow, especially in 1975, when he formed the all-girl group The Runaways. Actress and musician Cheryl Smith was given her pseudonym Rainbeaux Smith early in her career as a result of her frequenting the Rainbow; she briefly replaced Sandy West as drummer of The Runaways at the end of that band's existence.
As musical trends on the Strip changed towards heavy metal in the 1980s, the Rainbow followed suit. Members of Mötley Crüe,[11] Poison, and Guns N' Roses frequented the bar.[12] It was mentioned in a number of songs, such as "Sunset and Babylon" by W.A.S.P., "Vampire" by L.A. Guns and "Peach Kelli Pop" by Redd Kross, and featured in the videos of "November Rain", "Estranged" and "Don't Cry" by Guns N' Roses and also, although briefly, "Rock Out" and "Stone Deaf in the U.S.A" by Motörhead.
Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers noted in his book Scar Tissue that he often sat with his father at the club along with members of bands such as Led Zeppelin and Kiss. Often the waitresses and bartenders were groupies as well as those who frequented the establishment. In Pamela Des Barres' book Let's Spend the Night Together, the author commented that as a barfly in the early 1980s she met a number of celebrities including Billy Idol.[13]
On January 18, 2017, the Rainbow was inducted into the Hall of Heavy Metal History for introducing the world to new heavy metal acts.[14]
On August 21, 2023, a lawsuit was filed by two women against the Rainbow Bar and Grill. The women alleged that employees knew Ron Jeremy sexually assaulted women there, including themselves, and allowed him to do so.[15] [16]
On November 5, 2023 Mikael Maglieri, who was the second-generation owner of The Whisky a Go Go nightclub and Rainbow Bar and Grill, died.[17]