How many ever played the old Foothill Club (West Coast)?

[chas smith R.I.P.]

Played there once with the Radio Ranch Straight Shooters.

[Tracy Sheehan]

This sure brings back some memories.I played fiddle in many places in the L.A.area altho i was under age.Don't recall how i was able to work in these places not being 21 yet.This was in the early and later early 60s.The early 50s was before i took up steel.
I remember going into Georges round up in Long Beach and meeting Ralph Mooney and Wynn Stewart with whom *Wynn) i played some on the road in later years.I lived in Torrance.Played a sit down for a while in Compton but do not remember the name of the club.
Got to jam with Jimmy Bryant some where in North Hollywood as i recall and played some with Speedy West.Any one remember the Bacon Bros? Shorty and Bill who played in Gardenia (sp?.
Also Played 5 afternoons a week doing live TV at KTLA in Hollywood.Think Doy Odell was M C.Boy could i tell some boo boos i did there.lol.Remember these shows were done live back then.Once i let the bow slip out of my hand doing the OBS(which i later came to hate after having to play it so many times.It was hot under those lights and my hands were sweaty,
I did the same thing on the OBS on live TV in Amarillo Tx,once.Was hot and i had the flu.Bozo Darnell was on the same show and when i let the bow slip out of my hand he came out and made some joke about the train jumping the track.People i saw after the show thought it was part of the act.
Aw those were the days.So much talent and no pitch correctors.What you saw is what you got.LOL.
Any hoo,It was fun times back then and a jillion places to play.Miss those days altho i woulden't want to do it again.
Moved to Nashville around 64 as i recall.Worked the road (one nighters) playing steel and fiddle on some opry shows statee side and over seas.Hated those one nighters.Nashvile wasn't my cup of tea so quit and went back on the night club circuit.
Sorry i got so carried away reliving the past.Tracy
One moe comment.As Reece Anderson and i agree on what made it all worth while was the wonderful friends we made over the years.

[Tracy Sheehan]

Met Bobbe Seymore mant times in west Texas altho i really don't remember him.Found this out by P.M.ing him.Bet he is happy he also doesn't remember me.
Wish gas wasn't so expensive.I would love to visit Nashville one more time.I still have many personal friends there who are retired from the music biz.
Would love to go into Bobbies steel shop and of course he woulden't reconize me,and ask him if people really bought the junk he sold.Would have to quickly tell him who i was before he killed me,LOL.Tracy
Sorry i am so gabby.A slow boring Sat here.

[John McClung]

I played there one night, either a fill in or just a sit in, can't even remember now. But it was a cool, funky, red naugahyde kind of joint. There's hardly any of those left around SoCal anymore. Hardly any joint at all, naugahyde or not!

Anyone remember the Lariat in Carson? It was my first full time when I moved to LA in 1978; played with Bobby Eubanks.

[Billy Tonnesen]

Hey J.Mcl.
Played at Henry's Lariat in Carson, Ca. first with Sonny Thomas and then with (West Coast) Johnny Joe Bush. At times it was a pretty rough place especially if a bunch of Somoan's showed up. There was even a shooting one night in the men's restroom.

[Billy Tonnesen]

Judging by the Foothill's architecture and decor I felt the club must have started out in the 30's, or possible 20's, when Signal Hill in Long Beach, Ca. was a booming Oil town. The hill was covered with the tall timber oil derricks. I bet there was a lot of history to that club before it ever went Country Western. Anybody care to research it ?

[Chuck Cusimano]

Boy, Oh Boy! I used to love to sit in at the Foothill! The first time I did, I asked Billy Mize (as soon as the band took a break) if I could get up and sing a song with the band. He asked me what I was going to sing, and I told him it was one I had just written. Hard to believe now, but he grabbed his guitar off the bandstand, and took me into the kitchen, and said "Let's hear it." I sang the first verse and the bridge, and he said, "We'll call you up".
When he called me up, I sang my song, and started to get down, and he said "Sing another one".
I had just come back from Viet Nam, and had learned a bunch of songs off a couple Merle Haggard 8 track tapes, so I asked the Band if they knew "Who'll Buy The Wine", and they laughed at me. I didn't know at the time that Billy Mize was the writer.
I remember Dee Ford as one of the most talented women I had ever met. She played Bass, Fiddle, Guitar, and I believe I even heard her play steel one night. She also sang great as I recall.
The year I first went there was in 1970.
I also used to sit in at Georges Roundup, and Danny Michaels even recorded the song I sang that night for Billy Mize. I remember some of the names of the different pickers, but I get some of the details a little wrong. (Hey, that was a long time ago) I remember the Drummer for Billy M. was an Italian, and we used to call each other "Piazano"
(At that time I was trying to use an alias "Ace Taylor") I also remember the piano player was "Billy Meyers"
In the Band with Danny Michaels, was steel player Bobby Boyd, Drummer Al Brown, and I keep thinking Jim Bob Segwick playing bass?? Can that be right? Danny M. had a double neck guitar that weighed more than was comfortable to stand and play all night. Maybe that's why he'd let me sit in.
It was a comment that Billy Mize made to me that persueded me to get into the music Business, when he told me he thought I had a future in it.
I'll always treasure those times. Great thread!!

[Billy Tonnesen]

Chuck:.
The Italian drummer was Sandy Pagano. He worked for about 12 years at the Foothill. When he laid down a beat it never deviated. In later years I worked a lot with Sandy at the Moose Lodges. He died several years ago and is still missed by a lot of his old buddies.

[Jim Bob Sedgwick]

Back to the unknown picture of Jerry Hayes, (who is the guitar player) That was the great Cecil Bays who worked with Wynn Stewart for several years. And, Yes, I played bass with Danny Michaels at George's Roundup (
George's Rundown as we called it) From 1970 until 1973.... Those were fun days...

[Jerry Hayes R.I.P.]

Jim Bob, you win the grand prize! That is ol' Cecil Bays. Do you know if Cecil is still alive or not? I know he was older than we are/were so he could have passed on. That looks like your Mosrite that he's playing.

Remember those "painted" wall tiles in the men's bathroom? Another fine feature was the "sitting" area outside behind the club. We used to take a lady there on occasion to have "stimulating conversation".......JH in Va.

[Chuck Cusimano]

Thanks Billy. Yep, That's the name Sandy Pagano.
He was always so nice to me, as were all the pickers I met in the Long Beach area. The Navy and Marines supported all the beer joints, Night Clubs, and all liquor establishments pretty well in those days, but we were still looked down upon by a lot of the locals. Not so in the music family.

Hey Jim Bob, Remember Bobby Boyd always kidding me when I'd come up on stage to sit in, he'd ask to see my "UNION" card? Of course he sat on the left side of the stage, and I'd have to walk behind him to get on stage. I would just show him my Military I.D. and he'd laugh and let me pass. Well a few years later he came to Lubbock Texas with Hank Thompson, and I was playing with my own band by then, six nights a week, and went to see Hank after we finished our gig, and I spotted Bobby playing steel with them and walked up and placed my "Musicians Union Card" on his steel. We had a great laugh, and a good visit after they finished their show. Many thanks to you, and all the fine people I have met in the last 38 years of Country Music!!

[Brandin]

Here's what it looks like today.


Cherry and 19th

[Billy Tonnesen]

This is the story that was supposed to be true either in the Late 50's or early 60's. The Long Beach Union pretty much had every club in town tied up and you had to join the Long Beach Union to play in Long Beach.
Well, when Billy Armstrong had his Western Swing Band at the "Western Corral", Wade Ray came by one night to visit and Billy asked him to sit in singing a song and play Billy's fiddle. Wade consented, but unknown to anybody the president of the Long Beach Local was in the audience and when Wade started playing the fiddle he came up and made Wade get off the bandstand and fined Billy $50.00 letting Wade play because Wade only belonged to Local #47 in Los Angeles. The president's name was "Greene" and really ran a tight ship in Long Beach.

[Jim Bob Sedgwick]

Jerry, Cecil Bays is very much alive. He lives outside of Albuquerque, NM and has been there for several years now. Call me and I'll give you his phone number if you're interested..

[Danny Bates]

I think I played there in the early 80's... I thought there was a sign that said "No ASCAP played here"... and most country artists are on BMI... so I thought what the heck!Maybe I'm mistaken? I thought the guy who ran it had a local LA TV show and he would have "You are my Sunshine" as his main theme? I'ts been a long time. I thought I was in Long Beach and not Signal Hill anyway... Might be thinking of a different toilet. If they had a cover charge it would be a pay toilet wouldn't it? I think I played them all at least once.

[LJ Eiffert]

Hey Danny,You are right about that ASCAP sign! Billy Tonnesen, Larry Settle and I was just talking about how 357 was an Association not a Union. And we were wondering if anybody ever got any of their money back from all them dues " Bonnie Price " took out for working their. From your retirement as a Musicians? LJ

[Skeeter Stultz]

The FOOTHILL CLUB, Man what memories! A little history. Originally the building was a bus barn for the city of Long Beach. When and by whom it was turned into a nightclub I don't know but I do know that Bonnie owned it during WorldWar Two and at that time it was a pop club. Jack Teagarden and the likes worked there.Also when she changed to country music I don't know but Stewart Hamblin worked there in the fifties. I first heard of it in 1959 when I first came out here, Gordon Terry was there then and late 59 or real early '60 Billy Byrd, Red Gayle, and Buddie Emmons came out and worked there. Because of those guys working there I always thought it would be a top notch place to work. When I got out of the USAF in '65 I started there. There was a certain amount of prestige connected by working there. Some perks from Fender, ect. Some inovators would bring their products in for feedback. For a serious musician it was a place to work on your chops and if you were a party person the possibities were endless. I worked there from July '65 till summer of '75 and then back a couple years later till Dec.5th '78. I had good times, bad times, promises and disapointments, good music and bad. The place was big, legal capcity of 540 but heads were turned away for News Years Eve when about 750 would be there. Most anything can be said about the place from being a prestige venue to being a toilet.