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

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

I see it mentioned a bit here on the Forum and I was wondering, how many here have ever played Bonnie Price's Foothill Club in Signal Hill, California? It was quite a place in it's day and totally gone now as there are apartments or condos where it once stood. I did some fill ins over the years and then a couple of stints as a regular band member. Here's a couple of shots. The first is Dee Ford, me, & Billy Mize. The second is fellow Forumite Jim Bob Sedgwick who in addition to being a fine steeler is a top notch lead guitarist, bassist, and vocalist (Sorry Jim Bob for the fuzzy photo but I don't have a scanner and these are photos of old photos made with my digital camera). The last shot is the late Jerry Cole and myself.

I always loved the bandstand there and that great big old kitchen for break times. You could get some coffee and watch a cockroach crawl up the wall.....JH in Va.

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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

Larry King · From: Watts, Oklahoma, USA

Jerry....approx what year was this? I see Jim Bob has a Moserite so I'm guessing somewhere in the middle to late 60's ? I notice myself getting a little nostalgic from time to time re: the West Coast and that post war time. I doubt if any who didn't experience it can understand what a great place it was. Compton Town Hall Party , Riverside Rancho , The Pal , the Ban-dar , Maddox Bros and Rose , Skeets , Spade , Wakely , Tex , all the great personalities and places. As Americans , we were more patriotic. It was an era , sad to say , that we'll never enjoy again in our lifetime.

We settled (from Oklahoma) in the San Joaquin valley around Stockton and Modesto in 1943 and it was a wonderful place (and time) to grow up. Sadly , those days are gone but the memory is remains and is vivid.

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Jerry. I sat in there with the late Lou Martin a couple of times, mainly because I was in lust with his partner and our mutual friend Barbi Mathews.

I saw Barbi recently. She's a little old lady now, but she's the prettiest and sexiest little old lady I've ever seen. And she still sings and plays as well as she ever did.

She still performs regularly at nursing homes for Sr Citizens. She told me it's more rewarding emotionally than playing in clubs.
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LJ Eiffert · From: California, USA

Hey Jerry,I did a prison sentence of over 25 years in that club,The Foothill.Serious,it's the best times of punishment any Musician would ever want. The schooling of playing with all them pros year after year is what I miss most. Leo J.Eiffert,Jr.

Edward Meisse · From: Santa Rosa, California, USA

In my late 20's and early 30's I hung out there from time to time listening to Billy Mize and Cliff Crawford. The building was already somewhat run down by then. But they were still drawing big crowds on Friday and Saturday nights. Sorry to hear it's gone. But nothing lasts forever. If you don't believe me, go check out the humor section.
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Amor vincit omnia

Brandin · From: Newport Beach CA. USA

I played there with Jerry Cole. We backed up Billy Mize, and Cliff Crawford on the weekends. The place was like a time machine to the 50's. The drummer would sometimes fall asleep during a ballad! Jerry would lean over and say to me, "he does that".

Yes, it's now condos, and looks better than ever!

Jim Bob Sedgwick · From: Clinton, Missouri USA

The year was 1978. Brandin, the drummer was a little fond of wacky tobaccy, hence the falling asleep at the wheel, and dragging the rest of the time. On the good side, it was impossible to make him speed. Smile

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

Mike P. in that photo of Jerry Cole and me, the side view of the girl in the long dress is Barbie. For your info, I love her too, she was (is) a great lady!

Jim Bob, that drummer was ol' Rick Brennan who lived down the alley from the club. Remember those painted wall tiles in the bathroom? I wonder what ever happened to that old double neck ZB steel guitar that Bonnie kept in the office? I found a Leslie speaker there once that I started using on stage. No one knew who it belonged to, I hope it wasn't yours. I've got a shot of you playing my old red Gibson Trini Lopez guitar somewhere that I'll try to post.

In the meantime here's a shot of Jerry Cole and I backing up a little 6 or 7 year old kid named Georgie Janack at one of the Signal Hill PD benefits. The bass player is Marty Nell.........JH in Va.

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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

Jussi Huhtakangas · From: Helsinki, Finland

Never got to play there, but I did visit it nine yrs ago, I think Ramblin James & The Billy Bops were playing and a bunch of other musicians sittin' in. I'm bummed out that the place is gone, just like Henry's Bar & Grill in Austin, a great little honky tonk where all the great acts once played, and real estate business just eats it all up Sad

It won't be long that America no longer has none of this kind of folklore around, just sad!! Some will say "it was just a bar" but I beg to differ!

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

Jussi, the Foothill was a musical education for a lot of the old west coast players. Billy Mize & Cliff Crofford as the "House Stars" were a different breed. They were both just about the nicest guys I've ever worked with in my life. What was hard to get used to was before I went there I'd always been used to someone in the band counting off a song and then we'd kick it off and play it. When the house band did their part we'd do that but when Cliff or Billy came on they'd just strum a chord and start singing. We never knew what song was next or what key it was in. I learned in a hurry to get in key quickly and start doing fills. It was a blast and I'll never forget that place and all the nice people I met there, both on and off stage. If Cliff or Billy needed off we'd have a host of guest "stars" come and fill in such as......Mayf Nutter, Ray Sanders, Garland Frady, Sammy Masters, & a bunch of others.........JH in Va.
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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

Stephen Silver · From: Asheville, NC

I did a handful of gigs there in the mid 70's. Funky ole place, great straight up country music.

Jeez Jerry, how come you get to keep all that hair and mine is almost gone?

As Brandin asked someone recently, "Is Steve still bald?" The answer now and forever is, no, just hairing impaired. Besides, as John Hiatt says, it's not a bald head, it's a solar sex panel, all charged up and ready to roll!

Fun Memories!

SS

Richard Bass · From: Sabang Beach, Philippines

In the late 60's I did a one nighter there with Dave Dudley. I must of had too much fun cause I don't remember much about it. Very Happy

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

Richard, it was one of the largest and oldest clubs in the LA area owned by one of the nicest ladies you'd ever want to meet..........

Here's another shot at the foothill with Carl McCall on bass in the background, Johnny Blankenship sitting in on guitar & vocals, and a much better shot of Jim Bob on lead guitar (playing my old red Gibson Trini Lopez model)....The piano player in the background is Al Fischetti......

Steve S. Here's a shot of you when you had all your hair! Any resemblance to Ol' Smiley is purely coincidental. Wow, when looking at myself standing beside you, I can't remember my stomach ever being that flat! When I play guitar standing up nowadays, it looks like I'm holding it in Dobro position!...

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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

Great shots and stories here, wish I'd made a few pit stops on my way's to and from the beach as a kid growing up 12 miles inland in Maywood, but taking on 'the hill' (with my bike and wagon carrying my surfboard) had my focus, as well as dodging the cops for being out of school.

Signal Hill's police dept. was infamous for seriously rouge/killer cops that went way beyond the call of duty and some wound up in prison themselves. They had me in their sites I and knew it'd be curtains if they got me after a while.

Edward Meisse · From: Santa Rosa, California, USA

Don't know the current status of Signal Hill P.D. But they were closed down sometime in the '80's after a college athlete from CSULB was found hanged in one of the cells.
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Amor vincit omnia

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

Yeah I played there maybe 10 or 15 times. That place and the Palomino had the most pure throbbing country stink of all the L.A. joints at the time with a few close seconds like maybe the Ban-Dar in Ventura and Johnny White's urine stained "Little Nashville" on Sherman Way in NoHo where gunfire was not unheard of. Only Trout's in Bakersfield comes close these days and that place is now full of inbred Oildale mutants. Maybe it always was - I dunno. Were those really the good old days or were we just drunk?

Skip Edwards · From: LA,CA

Both, Mike.
I did a little time at the Foothill. For the life of me I can't remember who with, though.
I miss those places... there used to be so many places where you could play on a regular basis.
Don't forget about the Nashville West in El Monte, and Cal's Corral in Torrance, and the infamous Corral in Lakeview Terrace..which was right on the corner where Rodney King got walloped.

Edward Meisse · From: Santa Rosa, California, USA

Nobody has mentioned George's Roundup. I never did make it in there. But I used to drive past it often.
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Amor vincit omnia

Dayna Wills · From: Sacramento, CA (deceased)

I had heard that the Hillside Club, the sister club to the Foothill, was gone, but I hadn't heard that the Foothill was gone. I worked at The Hillside from 1984 until early 1988. Bonnie's son Ronnie ran it. Yep, good times.

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

Hey Dana, I think the building that the Hillside was in is still there but it's something other than a bar now. When I went to SoCal in Oct. of '05 I wanted to get so pix of the old clubs I'd worked in and the Foothill was totally gone and they were constructing apts. or condos right on the property. Bonnie's big old house behind it was gone too.

Here's a couple more shots. The first is (I'll let you guess his name) a fine guitarist who played with Wynn Stewart at one time and myself.

The second shot is for Mike Perlowin as he's in love with her, Miss Barbie Mathews on vocals, Carl McCall on Bass, the "sleeping" drummer Rick Brennan, Jim Bob on lead guitar, and myself....JH in Va.

_________________
Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

LJ Eiffert · From: California, USA

Hey Jerry,Them 'em are my old orange Drums I sold to little sleepie Rick. Jeannie May's loveable drummer. Between Rick & Duck the Bartender I think Jerry Cole fit right in the middle.Them were the days of fun & Music. Leo J.Eiffert,Jr.

Ed Kelly · From: Queensbury, New York, USA

Hey Jerry,
I had the pleasure of working for Bonnie at the Foothills for a little over a year in the early 80s. We had Billy Mize up front, Dee Ford on guitar and fiddle, Johhny West on bass Proctor Rodgers on piano and Rick? on drums.
We had a special guest artist every weekend, like Mary K Place Tanya Tucker, Haggard just to name a few.
Wynn Stewart hired me away from there, and I never got back. I have some great pictures but I am not sure how to post them.
Kelly Green

Larry Petree · From: Bakersfield. Ca. USA

I had the pleasure of sitting in one night, while in the LA area, attending a Fire Department meeting.
I can't remember who the steel player was, but he had a Sho-Bud as I remember. He also played lead guitar.
It was a fun night, that I will always remember.
MJ, I am still playing three nights at Trout's in Oildale. The place has really changed through the years.
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Larry Petree, Bakersfield Ca.

Ed Kelly · From: Queensbury, New York, USA

It could have been me, I had a sho bud and a blue marle. If I remember you, you came in one night prior to a big Tanya show and Billy introduced us, and you ame back for the show with his brother Buddy.
Kelly Green

Joe Casey · From: Weeki Wachee .Springs FL (population.9)

I went down to Georges Roundup a couple of times with Lee Ross (not too sober) after we got done at the Shamrock 101.We often would wonder if we could have carved out one or two of those silver dollars off the car?lol.I believe drummer Jimmy Moore and myself wound up at the Foothill a couple of times..Them days, there was a lot of work..Mention of the Palomino, up the street was the infamous Rag doll and on Western ave in beautiful downtown Gardena was cranky ole Leons "Hitching Post"...Thems was the good ole days..Then there was San Pedro those rides up the Harbor freeway were hairy..But I'm still kicking..

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