The number 714 was stamped on pharmaceutical Quaaludes. The top of the top. They've been illegal and impossible to get for decades. Drugs are bad for you, man. Don't ever do them! Anyway, the Catacombs opened in June of 1966. It was fantastic. I went there a lot. Officially, Love Street was called the Love Street Light Circus Feel Good Machine, but no one called it that, of course. It opened in June of 1967. Poster below. You laid back on cushions that were in rows on the floor, the club being on the second floor of an old building at Allen's Landing between Commerce and Buffalo Bayou. You kicked back, with whoever playing being right there on the stage in front of you, groups like The 13th Floor Elevators and The Moving Sidewalks, Billy Gibbons' band before ZZ Top. There was an excellent light show and a girl that danced on a little raised platform you might call a cage, although it really wasn't. Not only was she a great dancer, she was beautiful. Liberty Hall opened in March of 1971, a great venue where, like the Catacombs, a tremendous number of really great bands played, many already famous, some becoming famous later, with tickets outrageously cheap, even for the times. $2 to $3 dollars, maybe $3.50. I saw The Velvet Underground there for $2. Groups loved playing at both clubs. The crowds were really into the music, you could dance, and they were great places to see people you knew and meet girls that you didn't. Love Street also had great bands, but unlike the Catacombs and Liberty Hall, catered more to psychedelic music and you couldn't dance. If you knew what was going on? It was a great time to be alive. Spoiler
