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Virginia City in Storey County, Nevada — The American Mountains (Southwest)
 

Red Dog Saloon

76 North C Street, Virginia City, Nevada 89440

 
 
Red Dog Saloon Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, July 22, 2011
1. Red Dog Saloon Marker
Inscription. The Red Dog Saloon was a bar and live music venue located in the isolated 1860s mining town of Virginia City, Nevada which played an important role in the history of the hippie movement. In April 1963 Chandler A. Laughlin III established a kind of tribal, family identity among approximately fifty people who attended a traditional, all night Native American peyote ceremony in a rural setting. This ceremony combined a psychedelic experience with traditional Native American spiritual values; these people went on to sponsor a unique genre of musical expression and performance at the Red Dog Saloon.

During the summer of 1965, Laughlin recruited much of the original talent that led to a unique amalgam of traditional folk music and the developing psychedelic rock scene. He and his cohorts created what became known as “The Red Dog Experience,” featuring previously unknown musical acts – Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Charlatans, The Grateful Dead and others – who played in the completely refurbished, intimate setting of Virginia City’s Red Dog Saloon. There was no clear delineation between “performers” and “audience” in “The Red Dog Experience.” During which music, psychedelic experimentation, a unique sense of personal
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style and Bill Ham’s first primitive light shows combined to create a new sense of community. Laughlin and George Hunter of the Charlatans were true “proto-hippies,” with their long hair, boots and outrageous clothing of distinctly American (and Native American) heritage.

LSD manufacturer Owsley Stanley lived in Berkeley during 1965 and provided much of the LSD that became a seminal part of the “Red Dog Experience,” the early evolution of psychedelic rock and budding hippie culture. At the Red Dog Saloon, The Charlatans were the first psychedelic rock band to play live (albeit unintentionally) loaded on LSD.
 
Erected 2011 by Loren & Sue Pursel, Red Dog Saloon and OtS Graphics. (Marker Number 20.)
 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: EntertainmentIndustry & Commerce. A significant historical month for this entry is April 1963.
 
Location. 39° 18.71′ N, 119° 38.961′ W. Marker is in Virginia City, Nevada, in Storey County. Marker is on C Street (State Highway 341), on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 76 North C Street, Virginia City NV 89440, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. The Union Brewery (within shouting distance of this marker); Old Miners Union Hall (within shouting distance of this marker);
Red Dog Saloon image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, July 22, 2011
2. Red Dog Saloon
Marker in the window on the left.
E Clampus Vitus Building (within shouting distance of this marker); 601's (within shouting distance of this marker); The Glory of Solidarity and Fraternity (within shouting distance of this marker); Territorial Enterprise (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Chinatown (about 400 feet away); Site of International Hotels (about 400 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Virginia City.
 
Also see . . .  The Charlatans (American band) -- Wikipedia. In June 1965, the Charlatans began an extended residency at the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City, Nevada, just across the border from Northern California. This six-week stint at the Red Dog was important because band members Mike Ferguson and George Hunter produced a rock concert poster in advance of the residency to promote the performances. This poster—known as "The Seed"—is almost certainly the first psychedelic concert poster. By the end of the decade, psychedelic concert-poster artwork by artists such as Wes Wilson, Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, and Victor Moscoso had become a
Red Dog Saloon image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, July 23, 2011
3. Red Dog Saloon
mainstay of San Francisco's music scene. There were, in fact, two "Seed" posters, which look almost identical. They are differentiated by their dates. The first lists the band as playing between June 1 and 15, while the second states "Opening June 21".
(Submitted on August 5, 2017, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.) 
 
Additional keywords. Hippies, Rock & Roll
 
Red Dog Saloon image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, July 23, 2011
4. Red Dog Saloon
The Charlatans in front of the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Wikipedia, 1965
5. The Charlatans in front of the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City
"The Seed," The Amazing Charlatans, 1965 image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, June 7, 2017
6. "The Seed," The Amazing Charlatans, 1965
"The lineage of the San Francisco psychedelic rock poster is popularly traced back to "The Seed," the 1965 poster designed by the Charlatans autoharpist George Hunter and keyboardist Michael Ferguson to announce the San Francisco band's folk-rock residency (at the Red Dog Saloon) in Virginia City." De Young Museum, "The Summer of Love" exhibit
"Kinetic Light Painting" by Bill Ham image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, June 7, 2017
7. "Kinetic Light Painting" by Bill Ham
"...created by the light show artist Bill Ham... Ham began his art of projected imagery in 1964... He is widely heralded as the originator of the psychedelic light show in the United States, first performed at the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City, Nevada, in 1965." -- de Young Museum, "The Summer of Love" exhibit
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on January 20, 2020. It was originally submitted on August 4, 2011, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. This page has been viewed 2,538 times since then and 80 times this year. It was the Marker of the Week August 21, 2011. Photos:   1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on August 4, 2011, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.   5, 6, 7. submitted on August 5, 2017, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. • Syd Whittle was the editor who published this page.

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Mar. 28, 2024