The Viper Room

The Viper Room is one of the most mythologized music venues on the Sunset Strip, an intimate 220-person club at 8852 West Sunset Boulevard that has been part of the Strip's DNA since Johnny Depp co-opened it in August 1993 with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performing on opening night at Depp's request. Johnny Cash debuted material there that would appear on American Recordings. The club became and remained a gathering point for Hollywood's most prominent young actors and musicians through the 1990s and into the 2000s, while simultaneously functioning as a genuine live music venue with a calendar of rock, indie, punk, metal, alternative, and singer-songwriter acts that has run nightly ever since. The room is black-walled, low-lit, and deliberately intimate, with the stage close enough to the audience to make every show feel personal. A lower level houses a large whiskey bar. Most shows are 21+. The venue is currently operational, though the original building has been reported as slated for eventual demolition and redevelopment, so check current listings for the latest on programming and status.