Disco Inferno: 10/18/2007

Notable moments in L.A.'s electronic dance

By Dennis Romero

1972 "Mayor of Sunset Strip" Rodney Bingenheimer opens the E Club as a night for glam rock. He later moves and renames it Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco, which becomes an outlet for electronic-flavored new wave bands, as well as Brit-rock staples.

1974 Gene La Pietra and partner Ermilio "Ed" Lemos start holding parties at a new warehouse-like building they'll soon name Circus Disco. La Pietra wanted to open his own club after his gay friends, including an African-American and a Latino, had a hard time getting into a nearby venue. Circus becomes a gay, Latino mecca, with mixed, superstar-DJ nights hosted there as well.

1986 British DJ Mark Lewis moves to Los Angeles and brings his "acid"-flavored house music with him to parties at Westside hotspots. Santa Monica spinner Marques Wyatt is already hosting house-music parties he calls "BBC."

1988 Marques Wyatt and friends start a house music night called "Mac's Garage" at the Musician's Union building on Vine Street.

1989 Pepperdine University student Steve Levy visits his British homeland only to discover rave culture. He brings it back that summer in the form of massive, roving "Moonshine" parties where DJs are the stars of the show.

1990 La Pietra opens Arena next door to Circus near Santa Monica Boulevard and North Las Palmas Avenue. A former ice factory, it's the most modern, austere venue the city will see for nearly a decade. Doc Martin moves from San Francisco back to his native L.A. and starts DJing at full-on, underground events called "Flammable Liquid." URB magazine launches.

1991 Radio DJ Swedish Egil launches MARS-FM on the 103.1 frequency. It airs far-out sounds from the likes of Moby, the Prodigy, and 808 State. It barely lasts a year.

1992 Rave culture explodes in L.A., with club nights happening at spots ranging from the Palladium to Prince's former Glam Slam. Ecstasy and raving appear on the front page of the Los Angeles Times. Promoter Gary Richards rings in 1993 with a near 20,000-capacity "Raveamerica" event at Knott's Berry Farm.

1994 In post-riot L.A., raving goes deep underground to inner-city dives where methamphetamine becomes the drug of choice and gang members join the party.

1996 "Organic 96" brings electronic dance music culture into the mainstream with an open-air concert in the Angeles National Forest featuring the Chemical Brothers, Underworld, the Orb, Meat Beat Manifesto, Leftfield, and Orbital. There's buzz about major-label interest in dance culture, and Swedish Egil returns e-music to the airwaves with Groove Radio at 103.1 FM.

2000 San Francisco club owner Dave Dean starts promoting his "Giant" nights on Saturdays at Circus Disco, bringing the European, super-club vibe to L.A.

2003 Circus Disco is raided by the D.E.A. and local police who are looking for evidence of ecstasy dealing. They claim to have found it, but the club was never prosecuted. Meanwhile, the owners of Avalon Boston and New York take on celebrity partners such as Bruce Willis and Dan Aykroyd to purchase and renovate L.A.'s old Palace Theatre. They call it Avalon Hollywood. The $1 million sound system, residencies from the likes of Sasha, and early a.m. hours make the venue a sensation.

2005 The owners of a Hollywood Boulevard warehouse once used for rave parties give it a major renovation and a serious Funktion One sound system. They rename it Vanguard and invite Dave Dean to bring his Giant nights there.

2007 Gene La Pietra says he's likely to sell his four-acre club compound that includes Circus Disco and Arena for about $62 million. He says the new owners will probably raze the venues and use the land for a mixed-use, housing-and-retail project.