Cove Theater Shirt

***This is a PRE-ORDER from January 2nd - January 9th. Shirts will ship in 2-3 weeks after pre-order ends***

FREE SHIPPING in the USA

Cove Shirts on Comfort Colors (Front print only).
100% ring-spun cotton, heavy weight, relaxed fit.
- Black shirt with white ink.

Originally built in the 1920s as a vaudeville theater and operating under numerous names over the decades, The Cove Theater opened up in the mid 70's by Hermosa eccentric, weirdo, artist Barry Gott. The theater showed everything from "Rock N' Roll High School," "Endless Summer," and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" to Russ Meyers films, surf films, rock documentaries to 50s and 60s B-movie films. In the late 70's The Cove began hosting concerts where punk bands like The Last, The Alley Cats, The Zippers, SPOT, 45 Grave, Christian Death and Twisted Roots all played. This ultimately led to the theater's closure in December of 1982 when a concert featuring Redd Kross, The Alley Cats and Channel 3 ended in a semi-riot. The city closed the theater down afterward, fearing a similar situation was brewing there as had occurred next door in Redondo Beach with the infamous Fleetwood venue that was shut down in 1980. A year later, at the end of 1983, the theater reopened as The Bijou Theater.

The photo was from an April Fool's Day issue of the Easy Reader from 1979 and was later made famous by the band Pennywise on their "Wildcard" 7" released by Theologian Records.

The Cove Theater was one of many businesses in a long lineage in the South Bay that promoted the artsy, intellectual and outcast element, similar to The Insomniac, The Lighthouse, Either/Or Bookstore, The Fleetwood, The Church, Alternative Groove Records, Scooter's Records, SST Records, Greeko's, etc.