Between the ages of 21 and 28 I could be found at the Troubadour every weekend. It's nice and small but very loud. There are all these mini secret bars tucked everywhere. You can have the dirtbag bars on the strip. I'll take the Troubadour and the clean environment of gay West Hollywood.
It's always easy to remember where the Wiltern is. It's name is just the cross streets put together, Wilshire and Western. The inside has a neat old Hollywood feeling and you can eat dinner at El Cholo across the street before the show starts.
All signs would point to the House of Blues Anaheim to being lame. It's in Disneyland, tourists from Oklahoma with mulletts and tanktops everywhere and I have horrible guilt to tip the mens room attendant too much so I end up holding it in. There is a nice feeling inside, like a VFW Hall or Elks Lodge from somewhere back east.
The old home to the Lakers, The Fabulous Forum is now a church. They still let rock bands have shows there though. The great thing is there is no advertising anywhere and you get to relive your childhood "Showtime" memories.
The sound at the Hollywood Bowl is weak, the seats are terrible and you need a Sherpa with a pack mule just to get up that hill. The atmosphere is the best in all of Southern California though.
