"A Honky-Tonk That Would Reign for More Than 40 Years as L.A.'s Top Country Spot"

"'You never could tell who was going to be onstage. Literally you did not know. When Willie Nelson first performed there, he looked like he worked for IBM. You saw the biggest names in the world. They were playing, like, the Forum, but they’d also be at the Palomino. For God’s sake, we had half the Beatles show up one night and the Rolling Stones on another. One night I saw Leon Russell playing with Jerry Lee Lewis. They don't play the same kind of music. And then who jumped up there with them but Glen Campbell! You’d think he was pretty conservative, but he had a wild streak and he was a great guitar player. His bass player, Billy Graham, would hop up there, and then you’d have some of the rock musicians jump in, and they piled on the stage. Everybody wanted to jam. Nobody knew what they were going to play. And they would just start, and you'd think, Oh, my God. The next day you’d tell people, and they’d say, "Why didn't you call me?" But it's not like anyone knew it was going to happen.'"


Elisabeth Greenbaum Kasson in Los Angeles magazine presents an oral history of the Palomino.