Fact #122835
When:
Short story:
A new club, The Scotch of St James, opens at 13 Mason's Yard, London, UK.Full article:
Located just a few doors from the Indica Gallery where John Lennon first met Yoko Ono in November 1966, The Scotch was the ultimate rock star hang out. This was where Jimi Hendrix chose to make his London debut, and seeing him there, legendary impressario Kit Lambert knocked tables over in his rush to offer him a contract. From the day it opened, 30 March 1965, despite the apallingly tasteless pseudo-Scottish baronial decor (plaid lampshades, waiters in tartan waistcoats and bagpipes on the wall) host Rod Harrod welcomed rock's creme de la creme to the hippest spot in town.
The Beatles had their own table, marked with a brass plaque engraved with their name. McCartney made friends with Stevie Wonder after seeing him at The Scotch on 3 Feb 1966, and ultimately the pair recorded Ebony And Ivory together. Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart were regulars, but the most notorious duo was The Animals vocalist Eric Burdon and The Kinks' guitarist Dave Davies, who were often seen cavorting drunkenly around the tables.
"I used to hang out at The Scotch Of St. James, which was in Piccadilly," Davies told Vic Templar of Shindig magazine in 2013, "And The Piccadilly Club and The Scene. Another of my favourite haunts was The Cromwellian Club, and there were many pubs - De Hems in Soho. The Flamingo, Studio 51, where I first saw The Stones, Raymond's Revue Bar where I first saw a striptease, and I got in through the back door because i was too young to go in the front. The George Pub off Denmark Street, where all of the studio musicians used to hang out."
In one memorable binge during November 196?, The Who's Keith Moon ran up a drinks bill in excess of £300. It is said that the idea for The Who's song Boris The Spider came to John Entwhistle in The Scotch after he and Rolling Stone Bill Wyman held a competition to see who could devise the daftest name for a pet spider.
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The Beatles had their own table, marked with a brass plaque engraved with their name. McCartney made friends with Stevie Wonder after seeing him at The Scotch on 3 Feb 1966, and ultimately the pair recorded Ebony And Ivory together. Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart were regulars, but the most notorious duo was The Animals vocalist Eric Burdon and The Kinks' guitarist Dave Davies, who were often seen cavorting drunkenly around the tables.
"I used to hang out at The Scotch Of St. James, which was in Piccadilly," Davies told Vic Templar of Shindig magazine in 2013, "And The Piccadilly Club and The Scene. Another of my favourite haunts was The Cromwellian Club, and there were many pubs - De Hems in Soho. The Flamingo, Studio 51, where I first saw The Stones, Raymond's Revue Bar where I first saw a striptease, and I got in through the back door because i was too young to go in the front. The George Pub off Denmark Street, where all of the studio musicians used to hang out."
In one memorable binge during November 196?, The Who's Keith Moon ran up a drinks bill in excess of £300. It is said that the idea for The Who's song Boris The Spider came to John Entwhistle in The Scotch after he and Rolling Stone Bill Wyman held a competition to see who could devise the daftest name for a pet spider.