Troubadour

History

Doug Weston opened the Troubadour as a small coffeehouse on La Cienega Boulevard and in 1957 moved it to 9081 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, where it remains. The club, now a standing room of about 500, was a center of 1960s folk and the Monday-night Hootenanny, then of singer-songwriters and rock. Elton John made his U.S. debut there in 1970, introduced by Neil Diamond, and Don Henley and Glenn Frey met at the bar that year before forming the Eagles. Lenny Bruce was arrested after a 1962 set, and Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, James Taylor, and Carole King played the room early in their careers. A 2011 documentary, Troubadours, traced the King and Taylor era at the club.