The Roxy is turning 50. Explore the iconic L.A. club’s history, from Neil Young to ‘Rocky Horror’

The nightclub is mostly empty as Lou Adler slides into a booth at the Roxy Theatre, the iconic music venue he co-founded half a century ago on the Sunset Strip. Between songs, the rocker noted the room’s previous entertainers: “They say Candy Barr used to dance right here on this stage.” Neil Young performs at the opening of the Roxy Theatre on Sept. 20, 1973. “He can see something that’s new and, more importantly, he knows how to promote it.” In 1978, Todd Rundgren performed a week of concerts, two shows a night, at the Roxy. “Pretty soon, it becomes a numbers game, and it’s run for somebody that doesn’t come in contact with those people every night,” Adler says of the club and its clientele. “Whatever’s going to happen to Sunset Boulevard we’ll sort of go along with it, as long as there’s always a Rainbow, a Whisky and a Roxy.”