On May 31, 1980, the 9:30 Club opened.
9:30 Club turns 40: Rats, stench, groundbreaking music
Neal Augenstein |
@AugensteinWTOP
May 29, 2020, 9:35 AM
Hard to believe its been 40 years the
9:30 Club first opened its doors May 31, 1980.
Its doors are currently locked because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but in the four decades since its opening, the current 9:30 Club has received awards from Rolling Stone, Billboard and Pollstar, and is the most attended club of its size in the world.
Not bad for a club that sprung up out of nowhere, at 930 F Street Northwest, in The Atlantic Building, which currently houses a J. Crew store.
At that point in time, all of downtown Washington in this area was completely abandoned, said Roddy Frantz, singer of Urban Verbs, D.C.s most popular band in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as the punk and new wave scenes were fomenting. Frantz shared his recollections in WTOPs 2007 series on former local music venues, called Places That Are Gone.
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