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| The Family Dog on The Great Highway, at 660 Great Highway, ca. 1969 |
The Family Dog on The Great Highway, 660 Great Highway, San Francisco, CA
The
Family Dog was a foundation stone in the rise of San Francisco rock,
and it was in operation in various forms from Fall 1965 through the
Summer of 1970. For sound historical reasons, most of the focus on the
Family Dog has been on the original 4-person collective who organized
the first San Francisco Dance Concerts in late 1965, and on their
successor Chet Helms. Helms took over the Family Dog in early 1966, and
after a brief partnership with Bill Graham at the Fillmore, promoted
memorable concerts at the Avalon Ballroom from Spring 1966 through
December 1968. The posters, music and foggy memories of the Avalon are
what made the Family Dog a legendary 60s rock icon.
In the Summer of 1969, however, with San Francisco as one of the fulcrums of the rock music explosion, Chet Helms opened another venue. The Family Dog on The Great Highway, at 660 Great Highway, on the Western edge of San Francisco, was only open for 14 months and was not a success. Yet numerous interesting bands played there, and remarkable events took place, and they are only documented in a scattered form. This series of posts will undertake a systematic review of every musical event at the Family Dog on The Great Highway. In general, each post will represent a week of musical events at the venue, although that may vary slightly depending on the bookings.
If anyone has memories, reflections, insights, corrections or flashbacks about shows at the Family Dog on the Great Highway, please post them in the Comments.
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| 660 Great Highway in San Francisco in 1967, when it was the ModelCar Raceway, a slot car track |
The Edgewater Ballroom, 660 Great Highway, San Francisco, CA
As early as 1913, there were rides and concessions at Ocean Beach in San Francisco, near the Richmond District. By 1926, they had been consolidated as Playland-At-The-Beach. The Ocean Beach area included attractions such as the Sutro Baths and the Cliff House. The San Francisco Zoo was just south of Playland, having opened in the 1930s. One of the attractions at Playland was a restaurant called Topsy's Roost. The restaurant had closed in 1930, and the room became the Edgewater Ballroom. The Ballroom eventually closed, and Playland went into decline when its owner died in 1958. By the 1960s, the former Edgewater was a slot car raceway. In early 1969, Chet Helms took over the lease of the old Edgewater.
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| One
of the only photos of the interior of the Family Dog on The Great
Highway (from a Stephen Gaskin "Monday Night Class" ca. October 1969) |
The Family Dog On The Great Highway
The
Great Highway was a four-lane road that ran along the Western edge of
San Francisco, right next to Ocean Beach. Downtown San Francisco faced
the Bay, but beyond Golden Gate Park was the Pacific Ocean. The aptly
named Ocean Beach is dramatic and beautiful, but it is mostly windy and
foggy. Much of the West Coast of San Francisco is not even a beach, but
rocky cliffs. There are no roads in San Francisco West of the Great
Highway, so "660 Great Highway" was ample for directions (for reference,
it is near the intersection of Balboa Street and 48th Avenue). The
tag-line "Edge Of The Western World" was not an exaggeration, at least
in American terms.
The Family Dog on The Great Highway was
smaller than the Bill Graham's old Fillmore Auditorium. It could hold up
to 1500, but the official capacity was probably closer to 1000. Unlike
the comparatively centrally located Fillmore West, the FDGH was far from
downtown, far from the Peninsula suburbs, and not particularly easy to
get to from the freeway. For East Bay or Marin residents, the Great
Highway was a formidable trip. The little ballroom was very appealing,
but if you didn't live way out in the Avenues, you had to drive. As a
result, FDGH didn't get a huge number of casual drop-ins, and that
didn't help its fortunes. Most of the locals referred to the venue as
"Playland."
Chet Helms had opened the Family Dog at 660 Great Highway to much fanfare on June 13, 1969, with a packed house seeing the Jefferson Airplane and The Charlatans. One of the goals was that the Dog would feature mostly San Francisco bands and a variety of smaller community events and groups. Since so many San Francisco bands were successful, and had record contracts, this didn't confine the venue to obscurity. A lot of great bands played the Family Dog in 1969, but the distant location and the gravitational pull of major rock events hosted elsewhere in the Bay Area kept the Family Dog isolated. We know only the most fragmentary bits about music played, events and audiences throughout the year. Despite the half-year of struggle, Helms had kept the Family Dog on The Great Highway afloat. He had entered the new year of 1970 with a new plan.
- For a complete list of Family Dog shows (including FDGH), see here
- For the previous entry (July 24-August 2, 1970 various) see here
- For a summary and the link to the most recent entries in this series, see here
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| In the 1920s, 660 Great Highway was Topsy's Roost, a restaurant with dancing |
August 14-August 22, 1970 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: The Edge Of The Western World--Journey's End
August 14-16, 1970 Family Dog on The Great highway, San Francisco, CA: It's A Beautiful Day/Elvin Bishop Group/Sawbuck (Friday-Sunday)
Chet Helms had kept the Family Dog on The Great Highway open throughout the Summer of 1970, although why he did so isn't exactly clear. There were only occasional events. I have to assume that the perpetually optimistic Helms had hopes or plans of finding a backer to revive the Dog, so he would have had a vested interest in not shutting it down altogether. The rock concert business was booming, of course, bigger than ever, but the ballroom was to small and the Great Highway too far from the hordes of suburban teenagers who would have been paying customers. After the Youngbloods weekend on July 31-August 2, the Family Dog on The Great Highway was closed for the following weekend, never a good sign for a venue. There were two final weekends, probably fulfilling contracts that had been agreed to some weeks before, and the Family Dog on The Great Highway would close for good.
The headliner for the next-to-last weekend at the Family Dog was It's A Beautiful Day. It's A Beautiful Day had made a stunning success of their debut album, and the song "White Bird" was a hit on not only FM but also AM radio. The band was involved in bitter litigation with their now-former manager, Matthew Katz, so they weren't in a great position to capitalize on their success. Nonetheless, IABD had played the Family Dog regularly, so they must have done alright there. Certainly the somewhat suburban kids who lived out in the Sunset and Ocean Beach would have been the sweet spot for the band's audience (the term "target market" had not yet been invented). It's A Beautiful Day sounded different, with David La Flamme's electric violin and shared vocals, but they still sang songs you could hum and they had a beat.
In June, 1970, It's A Beautiful Day had released their second album on Columbia, Marrying Maiden. It's an enjoyable album, but it didn't have memorable songs like their debut. David La Flamme and singer Patti Santos were still out front, but Fred Webb had replaced David's now ex-wife Linda on organ. Hal Wagenet (guitar), Mitch Holman (bass) and Val Fuentes (drums) remained from the debut lineup. Jerry Garcia added some Fillmore credibility by playing pedal steel guitar on one track and banjo on another.
It's A Beautiful Day was a happening band at this moment in San Francicso rock history. What that meant, however, was that Bill Graham would get first bite of the apple. Just two weeks earlier, It's A Beautiful Day had headlined Fillmore West (July 31-August 2, supported by the Elvin Bishop Group and Boz Scaggs). Pent up desire to see them, and the no doubt full-press support of Columbia for the new album would directly benefit Graham's booking. Chet Helms and the Family Dog would get anything left over--same as it ever was.
The Elvin Bishop Group opened for It's A Beautiful Day, just as they had at the Fillmore West two weeks earlier. I'm not guessing about the hand of Bill Graham here. Bishop was not only managed by Bill Graham and booked by his Millard booking agency, the Elvin Bishop Group's just-released album Feel It! was on Graham's Fillmore label. Since Fillmore was distributed by Columbia, it made sense to share booking (and thus promotional costs) with label-mates It's A Beautiful Day, but once again the Family Dog was getting the second helping. Earlier ads had Osceola instead of Bishop, so more powerful forces had to have intervened.
The Elvin Bishop Group had also played the Family Dog before (most recently in February), and they were an excellent live band. Organist Stephen Miller, ex-Linn County, shared vocals with Bishop and singer Jo Baker, so the band had a strong front line. Bishop is a limited vocalist, but he knew it--unlike some guitarists--and his band was able to present a wider variety of music as a result.
Opening act Sawbuck was another Bill Graham Presents act. Lead guitarist Ronnie Montrose was unknown at the time, but they would go on to release an album on Fillmore in 1971, so the BGP/Columbia link was plain. The Family Dog was available for three bands tied to the same record company, so the hall was booked. Now, to be clear, the music was probably really good this weekend, but it wasn't any sign of health out on the Great Highway.
August 21-22, 1970 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Quicksilver Messenger Service/Robert Savage Group/Backyard Mamas (Friday-Saturday)
Tom Campbell's weekly rock music column On The Scene in the Saturday, August 22, 1970 San Francisco Examiner was headlined "Family Dog Finally Dies."
Family Dog on the Great Highway is finished for good. Chet Helms, who headed the dance-concert operation, says "No more."
Quicksilver Messenger Service plays the final concert there tonight. The phones have been disconnected, and when the crowds leave tonight, the doors will close permanently behind them.
The eternal optimist, Helms managed to hold things together when he was forced to leave the old Avalon. Internal problems scattered the original partners and Family Dog survived, but Chet was unable to overcome financial difficulties.
Back taxes from the last really great year, 1967, put the final bite on the Family Dog. Now in the process of paying them off, Helms says he'll leave the headaches to Bill Graham and his Fillmore West. When the books are closed, Helms add, he may put San Francisco behind him.
Today, it seems very strange to hold an event of any sort in a building with no functioning phone. At the very least, this peculiar detail is a sign that the concert was booked some time earlier, and Helms was merely honoring an agreement, while not personally intending to go any further with the Great Highway location.
Quicksilver Messenger Service had a new album coming out, and manager Ron Polte was an active, entrepreneurial manager. After a mostly dormant 1969, Quicksilver had reconstituted themselves by New Year's Eve. Quicksilver had played the Family Dog when it had effectively re-opened in February 1970 and again in April. Since that time, the band had gone to Hawaii to record, and they had a forthcoming album on Capitol, Just For Love. Release dates are uncertain in that era, but the album may already have been released, or at least KSAN may have been playing an advance copy.
The classic Quicksilver quartet of John Cipollina, Gary Duncan, David Freiberg and Greg Elmore had made the band popular on FM radio with their debut and then Happy Trails. Duncan had left, replaced by pianist Nicky Hopkins, and the band had released the unsatisfying Shady Grove. Duncan re-joined at the end of the year, however, along with singer Dino Valente. Valente had written "Get Together," by this time a big hit for the Youngbloods, and had released a 1968 solo album. The revived Quicksilver seemed like an all-star team, with the twin guitars of Cippo and Duncan, Hopkins' brilliant piano and a productive songwriter in Dino Valenti.
Early 1970 performances were well-received, but Valenti came with a lot of baggage. For one thing, no one else really had any new original material, so his songs slowly became prominent. Also, Valenti wasn't the type of singer to lay out when the band was soloing, and those that came for Cippolina didn't really want to hear Valenti's wordless chants. Plus, apparently, Valenti was a dominant, difficult personality and that did not help band dynamics. Quicksilver Messenger Service had headlined at Fillmore West in both June (June 18-21) and July (9-12), but Hopkins had left after that. Quicksilver still had plenty of musical firepower with their twin-guitar lineup, but their new material emphasized Valenti. In fact, Dino would bring the band a kind of hit with "Fresh Air," which got a lot of radio play, but many Quicksilver fans never adjusted to him. Quicksilver had been booked for headlining weekends at the Dog back in February (Feb 6-7 '70) and then again in April (Apr 24-26 '70).
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| The Adventures of Robert Savage, Volume 1, featuring ex-Leaves guitarist Bobby Arlin, was released on Paramount Records in 1971. Future Fleetwood Mac producer Keith Olsen (ex-Music Machine) made the record. |
In August, manager Ron Polte would have been putting on the Quicksilver show at the Family Dog himself, putting up the money and taking the risk and reward. He did this regularly during this period, often renting venues that were rarely used for rock concerts. The opening acts at the Dog were both associated with Polte's booking agency (West-Pole). The Robert Savage Group featured guitarist Bobby Arlin, formerly of The Leaves, and they were based in the Bay Area at the time (Keith Olsen would produce an album for Paramount Records released in 1971). I know nothing about the Backyard Mamas, but they were local and regularly booked with Polte's acts, so I assume there was a connection.
As to the final shows at the Family Dog, we have little to go on. There is a 58-minute tape that circulates that is apparently from the August Family Dog shows, and it gives an idea of the sound of the 5-piece band fronted by Valenti. The only real description of the event comes indirectly, in writer Joel Selvin's 1999 book The Summer Of Love, about the glory days of San Francisco rock. He mentions that Chet Helms was busy and late for the final night. It had apparently ended early, so when he got there, the Family Dog was locked and dark, a fitting metaphor for its ending. The fact that Helms wasn't even there on the last night was a sign that he was just letting the venue out for rent.
A poster for the New Riders, Country Joe, Stoneground, Grootna and Ace Of Cups at Friends And Relations Hall on June 3, 1971. Friends And Relations was the new name for the former Family Dog at 660 Great Highway
Music On The Edge Of The Western World
For the last few months of the Family Dog on The Great Highway, whatever Chet Helms' hopes and dreams might have been, the old Edgewater Ballroom had just been for hire. Once Helms gave up the lease, nothing much changed. In the Fall of 1970, the ballroom was rented for a student production of "Tommy," the rock opera by The Who. At the end of 1970, a few shows were advertised at 660 Great Highway with the venue name Poor Richard's. Throughout 1971, and into 1972, the ballroom was used regularly with the name Friends And Relations Hall. It just seemed to be a hall for rent. The bands who played there were many of the same ones who had played the Family Dog, such as The Youngbloods, Joy of Cooking and the New Riders. I think the only difference was that the bands were putting on their own concerts, without Chet Helms' participation.
Playland itself closed after Labor Day 1972. The old ballroom was torn down around 1973. It didn't seem to serve a useful function, and it was too small. The Fillmore was dormant, too, as was the Fillmore West. Rock music had gone coast to coast, in its way, and had reached the limit at Ocean Beach. Chet Helms and the Family Dog did have a wonderful revival concert at Berkeley's Greek Theatre on October 1, 1978, and then a failed revival the next year at the Monterey Fairgrounds, and went to ground again. Thereafter, Helms was mostly an art dealer.
In the 21st century, there are a chain of concert venues called "The Fillmore," including the original Fillmore, one in Denver, one in Charlotte and all sorts of other places. An intimate ballroom on the beach, and one with a history at that, could have been a prime destination. The children and grandchildren of those hippies that now live in San Francisco could pay a huge amount of money to dance in the old Topsy's Roost, but the edge of the Western World is just a windy outpost now, the Family Dog on The Great Highway largely a mystery, only glimpsed amidst the fog of the past. Sic Transit Gloria Psychedelia.
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