Lake Tahoe Rock Concerts 1968-69 (Tahoe II)

The beautiful North Shore of Lake Tahoe

At fifty years and counting, classic rock from San Francisco's Fillmore era remains central to our appreciation of rock music and late 20th century culture. All the Fillmores are rightly celebrated as cornerstones of the evolution of the modern rock concert. Prior to the Fillmores, rock concerts were just entertainment for teenagers, little more than personal appearances by popular performers. After the Fillmores, live rock music became art, community and culture. 

As digital files have increased the scope of our information, rock fans worldwide are far more knowledgeable about the other stops on the Fillmore circuit, like the Boston Tea Party and the Grande Ballroom in Detroit. I have made a great effort myself to uncover some of the history of 60s live rock scenes in places like Portland, Salt Lake City, Miami, Philadelphia and more. Yet the history of one thriving 60s rock scene has lain dormant since then, and it's time to rectify that. 

Lake Tahoe, CA, 200 miles North of San Francisco and 60 miles South of Reno, has been the city's resort area since Southern Pacific Railroad made it a destination in 1899. In the 1960s, floods of Sacramento and Bay Area teenagers spent weekends, weeks or entire Summers in Lake Tahoe. It's no surprise there was a live music scene. What's hardly known is that there were some psychedelic outposts there, too. I have written a little about the Grateful Dead's appearances in the Lake Tahoe era, but in fact numerous famous bands passed through. Many of the San Francisco bands played there, too, as did famous 60s acts including not only Buffalo Springfield and no less than the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

This post completes a two-part series on the Lake Tahoe live rock scene in the 60s, when from Memorial Day to Labor Day, the North and South Shore were stops on the circuit before and after San Francisco. The previous post focused on the roots of the Lake Tahoe scene and the year 1967, including the Winter of 1968. This post will focus on the Summer of 1968, and also look at Lake Tahoe concerts throughout 1969. Anyone with recollections, corrections, insights or unexpected flashbacks is encouraged to add them in the Comments

Lake Tahoe 60s Venues
There were six venues in the Lake Tahoe area that booked rock concerts in the late 60s, mostly lost to rock history save for Tahoe-area nostalgia and me. Over the course of these two posts, I will deal with each of these venues in some detail, but a brief overview will set the stage.

American Legion Hall, 2748 Lake Tahoe Boulevard (US-50), South Lake Tahoe, CA
Guitarist Jim Burgett had been putting on dances at the American Legion Hall in South Lake Tahoe since 1958.  By the mid-60s, Burgett was putting on dances at the Legion Hall seven nights a week, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, with his band playing every night. If that wasn't enough, his band also played a day shift at Harrah's Tahoe six days a week.  The official capacity of the Legion Hall was 1000, but since patrons would come and go, some nights he would sell as many as 1500 tickets. In the Summer, every night was a Friday night night for visiting teenagers. Burgett's band played rock and R&b hits, pretty well, apparently. 

The American Legion Hall was on Lake Tahoe Boulevard, also known as US-50, and was the main road on the Tahoe South Shore. No matter where a family might be staying around the Lake, it would have been easy to get to Tahoe Boulevard and find the Legion Hall. Burgett also occasionally booked other touring acts, and in 1967 and '68, these were usually Fillmore rock acts, since that's what teenagers wanted to see. I looked at the backstory of the American Legion Hall dances in the previous post.

Kings Beach Bowl, 8318 North Lake Blvd (CA-28), Kings Beach, CA
The North Lake Tahoe area was less developed than the area around the town of South Lake Tahoe, and the "North Shore" crowd saw themselves as separate (in a teenage way) from the other side of the lake. Dave Jay and Allan Goodall had been managing an underused bowling alley near Kings Beach. In Summer 1967, they converted it into a sort of teen nightclub, mostly featuring The Creators, a Sacramento band that included Jay's teenage sons. For three years, however, Kings Beach Bowl also booked Fillmore rock bands for some visits, including some true legends. 

In the previous post, I looked at the foundation of Kings Beach Bowl and the Summer 1967 shows in this post, along with the Winter 1968 "Trip Or Ski" shows with the Grateful Dead ( February 22-24, 1968). In the Summer of '67, Kings Beach Bowl booked the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Country Joe and The Fish, Big Brother and The Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Grateful Dead and Moby Grape.  The 1968 and '69 Kings Beach Bowl shows will be discussed in this post.

The Sanctuary, Lake Tahoe Boulevard (US-50), South Lake Tahoe, CA
By 1968, with the success of the Legion Hall and Kings Beach Bowl, another entrepreneur opened The Sanctuary, also on Lake Tahoe Boulevard (US-50), not far from the Legion Hall. It was larger than the Legion Hall, with a capacity of about 1600. It, too, had a house band, Queen Lily Soap, which included the son of the club owner. Weekends were headlined by regular Fillmore bands, and The Sanctuary was soon doing better than either of the other two rock venues. I will look at the Sanctuary in this post.

The Crystal Ship, Roundhill Village, US-50, Zephyr Cove, NV
In 1968 Palo Alto pianist Cory Lerios started a "teen club" called The Crystal Ship, in the Roundhill Village shopping center near Zephyr Cove.  It, too, was on US-50, but on the Nevada side, just north of the town of South Lake Tahoe. The Crystal Ship was only open in the Summer of 1968. Lerios would go on to form the hit group Pablo Cruise. I will discuss the Crystal Ship in this post.

The TNT, Alpine Meadows, CA
The TNT was a venue at the Alpine Meadows Ski Resort that held four rock shows in January, 1969. Almost certainly it was produced by East Bay Promoter Bill Quarry and his TNT group ("Teens N Twenties"). Alpine Meadows is West of Lake Tahoe (nearer to San Francisco), and just south of US80 and near Olympic Valley, where the 1960 Winter Olympics were held (then known as Squaw Valley). I will look at TNT Alpine in this post.

The Fun House, Lake Tahoe Boulevard (US-50), South Lake Tahoe, CA
In late 1968, snow caved in the roof of the American Legion Hall. Burgett's Legion Hall shows were having trouble competing with the name acts at The Sanctuary in any case, but the owner of The Sanctuary chose to sell his business. Burgett took over the club in 1969 and renamed it The Fun House. Burgett promoted shows at The Fun House through 1971. I will look at The Fun House in this post.

Teenagers, Lake Tahoe, 1960s
Lake Tahoe had always been San Francisco and Northern California's playground, and there is a long American history of entertainment in resort areas. The Catskills in New York and the 'Silver Circuit' in Nevada (Las Vegas, Reno, North Tahoe) have lengthy post-WW2 traditions. One peculiar feature of Lake Tahoe, however, was that there was gambling on the Nevada side of the lake, but not in California. Thus the casinos focused on the high-end trade in Nevada. The California side was more of the family side. After Lake Tahoe boomed following the 1960 Winter Olympics, the California side of the lake was left for "the kids," because the adults wanted to go to Nevada and gamble. As a result, for a resort area, the California side of Lake Tahoe in the 1960s had a peculiar focus on rock and roll, and it has been largely undocumented.

Lake Tahoe, straddling California and Nevada, is one of the West’s largest, deepest, clearest and most beautiful lakes. The lake sits six thousand feet above sea level, and the Truckee River feeds the lake, flowing into and then out of the lake. Truckee, CA, about 12 miles North of Lake Tahoe and 30 miles West of Reno, was an original train stop on the Transcontinental Railroad. In 1899 the Duane L. Bliss Family built the Lake Tahoe Railway and Transportation Company. The Southern Pacific Railway actively encouraged tourist attractions along its rail lines, and Lake Tahoe became a popular resort for the San Francisco Bay Area.

Many families in both the Bay Area and the Sacramento/Central Valley area would buy or rent second homes in Lake Tahoe, and they would spend much of the Summer and many Winter weekends at Tahoe. Part of Lake Tahoe's specialness was that it was a great resort for both Summer and Winter. After 1960, when the Winter Olympics were held at nearby Olympic (Squaw) Valley, Lake Tahoe boomed again, particularly for Winter sports. Since the Lake was on the California/Nevada border, parents would go over to the Nevada side and gamble, often leaving their teenage kids to themselves. If there was an older sibling with a family station wagon, then the whole Lake Tahoe area was available for fun.

The only substantial town on the Lake at the time was South Lake Tahoe. The city had only incorporated in 1965, an assembly of a half-dozen little communities. The 1970 population was only 12,000, but that is misleading. In the Summer (and even the Winter), houses all around the Lake were packed with families and kids, so the potential weekend population was quite high. All the other communities referred to here, such as Kings Beach or Zephyr Cove, were not actually towns (technically they are "Census Designated Places"). Those who generally stayed in the North Lake Tahoe area referred to it as "North Shore," but I gather that the Southern Lake Tahoe visitors did not refer to it as "South Shore." For clarity, however, I am going to generically refer to the South Shore, however, even though I am aware that it wasn't really a local usage.

Jim Burgett
The rock scene in 60s Lake Tahoe can be directly traced to one man, guitarist Jim Burgett (b.1942) from tiny Ceres, CA. Ceres is a small Central Valley town a few miles South of Modesto on US-99. Burgett had a little band, and he he had been putting on dances locally. His father had opened a plumbing supply store in the Lake Tahoe area, and Burgett realized that local teenagers had nothing to do on family vacations. Starting in Summer 1958, Burgett--still a teenager himself-- rented the American Legion Hall on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and his band provided the entertainment.

By the mid-60s, Burgett was putting on dances at the Legion Hall seven nights a week, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, with his band playing every night. The official capacity of the Legion Hall was 1000, but since patrons would come and go, some nights he would sell as many as 1500 tickets. In the Summer, every night was a weekend for visiting teenagers. Burgett's band played rock and R&b hits, pretty well, apparently. The American Legion Hall was on Lake Tahoe Boulevard, also known as US-50, and was the main road on the Tahoe South Shore. No matter where a family might be staying around the Lake, it would have been easy to get to Tahoe Boulevard and find the Legion Hall.

Throughout the early 60s, in suburbs throughout the US, particularly on the West Coast, there were local "teen dances" on the weekends at National Guard Armories, Veterans Halls and High School Gyms. These were like high school dances, except without being tied to high school, and appealed to the 13-18 year old set.  Since "grown-ups" didn't play rock music, the bands playing these dances were often local, and the same age as the people attending. In 1966, however, the Fillmore and the Avalon changed the equation somewhat. Fillmore shows were events, not just dances, with lights and really loud music. The music was original, even if it wasn't always good, so fans felt like they were seeing something special that adults didn't understand. There was weed, too, and parents didn't even realize it, so that made the Fillmore especially cool. Thus Burgett's Legion Hall dances, while the only show in Tahoe, weren't necessarily the height of cool anymore to sophisticated Bay Area teens.

Kings Beach Bowl booked Big Brother and the Holding Company, with Janis Joplin, on the weekend of August 4-5, 1967

King's Beach Bowl, North Lake Tahoe, Summer 1967
In the previous post, I looked at the opening of Kings Beach Bowl in North Lake Tahoe in the Summer of 1967. Just as the Fillmore rose up to provide a hip alternative to somewhat homogenized teen attractions, Kings Beach Bowl presented itself as cooler than the Legion Hall. Also, almost all the teenagers coming to Lake Tahoe were fully aware of the Fillmore and Avalon, and thus fully tuned in to the appeal of the Bowl. Furthermore, many of the Tahoe teenagers may not have been allowed to go to big, bad San Francisco, but their parents were perfectly fine sending them off unaccompanied to Kings Beach Bowl.

A Lake Tahoe site has a good summary of the backstory:

Owned by Dave Jay and Allan Goodall, the Kings Beach Bowl—now the North Tahoe Event Center—was initially constructed as a furniture store but was converted into a bowling alley at some point in the 1950s.

By the time Jay and Goodall operated the building, its use as a bowling alley had diminished. But Jay’s teenage sons, Warren and Gary, were in a Sacramento-based band called The Creators (and were also friends with Goodall’s son), so the owners converted the building into a dancehall and let the young rock group play concerts on the weekends.

In the summer of 1967, The Creators hired a group of Sacramento State college students to perform a light show set to music at the newly christened Kings Beach Bowl. The students, who had a band they called the Simultaneous Avalanche, joined The Creators as the two mainstays at the Kings Beach Bowl [note: Simultaneous Avalanche was actually a Light Show]

Happy to be earning any proceeds at the location, the two owners hired a professional booking agent to fill out the roster of bands, but were careful to lean on the advice of the younger generation, who at the time were plugged into the burgeoning music scene that surrounded the Fillmore West [sic].

It was this growing popularity that led The Creators to urge the agents at Kings Beach Bowl to successfully book acts such as Hendrix, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Buffalo Springfield, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Country Joe and the Fish, and Iron Butterfly, among others. 

According to members of the Sacramento band The Working Class, who visited the Kings Beach Bowl in 1967, and played there in 1968, the venue was open most weekends whether they had a major headliner or not. The building was often open during the day, too, functioning as a kind of coffee shop/hangout for local teens.  Jay and Goodall housed the musicians in a place they owned on the corner of Bear and Rainbow streets in Kings Beach. Performers could effectively have a Lake Tahoe vacation between gigs. New psychedelic venues in 1967 often had problems with the cops, but since Allen Goodall was the Placer County sheriff, that was not a factor. 

Starting in June, Kings Beach Bowl had bands every weekend. These included the Grateful Dead, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Big Brother and The Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Moby Grape. A correspondent whose family had a house on Carnelian Bay, always full of teenagers every weekend, described the scene [personal email]: 

On the weekends we would all pile into the jeep and head into Kings Beach to go to the dance.  Sometimes we’d go both Friday and Saturday night, since it was only, like two bucks, or some ridiculous amount.  For the first year, I didn’t know what pot was (I later rectified that ignorance with a vengeance), but I think the older kids were trying to hide something from me and my younger sister.  No doubt it was that $10 (per ounce!) weed they were trying to light or roll with zigzag papers under someone’s coat.  

Everyone would hang out in the parking lot until it was time to go in.  You’d go through the glass doors onto a dirty carpeted area with the dance floor on the right on the other side of the wall one normally finds in a bowling alley.  Further down along the back wall was the snack bar.  Right smack in the center of the cement dance floor was some kind of platform where they ran the sound system and presumably the light show, as well.  When the music started, I remember it was LOUD, but very, very good.  Because I was so socially awkward, in the later years I would sometimes go up near the speakers on the stage and start groovin’.  I’m surprised I still have my hearing.  When it was over, we’d break out of the sweaty heat and out into the cool lake air, our ears still ringing.  We’d pile back into the Willys and head for home, some card playing, and late night snacks.

The Kings Beach Bowl season ended on Labor Day weekend. The venue booked the Grateful Dead for a weekend in February, with a poster encouraging visitors to "Trip Or Ski." Thanks to a reprinted poster and archival cd re-release, the February 22-24, 1968 event is the only widely known event at Kings Beach Bowl. In fact, only around two hundred attended each night and the event was not a success (if loads of fun). Nonetheless, Kings Beach Bowl was all in for the Summer of 1968.

Memorial Day in 1968 was on Thursday, May 30, but I don't know exactly when the season started at Kings Beach Bowl. The Creators probably did not play that Summer. They had been offered a gig in New York, but they didn't want to wear mime-like whiteface makeup and change their name to Charlotte The Harlot (really, this apparently was the deal) so they passed on the trip, but did not return to Kings Beach Bowl. The "house band" at Kings Beach Bowl may have been a Sacramento group called The Working Class. In any case, members of the Working Class have been my best source on Kings Beach Bowl in 1968. Most of the members of the Working Class went on to form the group Sanpaku, who were part of the Bill Graham organization throughout 1969.

June 21-22, 1968 Kings Beach Bowl, North Lake Tahoe, CA; Working Class/Blues Turnover (Friday-Saturday)
The first known concert of the Kings Beach Bowl '68 Summer was in mid-June. Working Class/Sanpaku road manager Hewitt Jackson told me that he rode to Lake Tahoe on the back of saxophonist Stan Bagdizian's 125cc scooter. The band was put up in a house by the venue (probably the one on Deer and Rainbow). Visiting bands would stay in the house with the Working Class. The Working Class had Mark Pearson on guitar and vocals, Bob Powell on organ, Duane "Motor" Timme on drums, with Bagdizian and Gary Larkey on saxophones. Even I am not sure who was playing bass at this time. 

There wasn't a daily paper in the Tahoe area, that I'm aware of, and in any case it wouldn't have advertised local rock shows directed at visiting teenagers. Advertisements for Tahoe rock shows were few. In most cases, visiting teens would just drive by the venue and see who was on marquee. Lake Tahoe has so few roads that this strategy is far more sensible than it sounds. Teens with cars were the only ones coming to the shows, and they would drive by the venue, whether on the North Shore or South Lake Tahoe. The flyers were probably to promote shows outside of the immediate area, possibly even in Sacramento.

From looking at the poster (above), it's clear some other band was booked with the Working Class, but I can't figure out who it was. If anyone has any ideas, please put the suggestions in the Comments (update: apparently Blues Turnover, hitherto unknown to us).  I know there were dance concerts every weekend, but I don't know when they started. I have to assume that the Working Class of some other local band played when there wasn't a touring band worthy of a custom flyer.

July 4-6, 1968 Kings Beach Bowl, North Lake Tahoe, CA: Things To Come/Working Class (Thursday-Saturday)
Things To Come was a sort of psychedelic band from Long Beach. They were regular performers at the Whisky A-Go-Go in West Hollywood. Members included future session veterans Bryan Garafolo (bass) and Russ Kunkel (drums)

July 10, 1968 Kings Beach Bowl, North Lake Tahoe, CA: Iron Butterfly/Working Class (Wednesday)
Iron Butterfly had just released their second album on Atco, the 60s classic In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, in mid-June of 1968.  The album stood out because not only did it have just one song on the entire second side (the title track), but because it sold 8 million copies in its first year of release, more than any other record ever released up until that time. The idea that the best-selling record of all time could come from a record with a 17-minute mostly instrumental track was hitherto unthinkable. The title track, edited, had been a hit single, but it had only reached #30. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida told the record industry that the rock market was different than anything they had seen before. According to legend, Atlantic Records created "Platinum Records" just to reward Iron Butterfly.

Simplistic as it seems today, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was single-handedly responsible for ensuring that record companies signed any band that was popular in underground Fillmore-type ballrooms, and let them record anything they wanted. Since record companies didn't understand why Iron Butterfly were a hit, they were willing to take a chance on Captain Beefheart, the Soft Machine or Mad River.

Thanks to FM radio, California caught on to Iron Butterfly quickly. In the sixties, touring bands were like sharks, and had to keep moving to survive. The Butterfly were at the Avalon on the weekend of July 4-7, then Sacramento (Monday July 8) and were booked at the Cow Palace on Friday (July 12). In between they slipped in a Wednesday booking at Kings Beach Bowl. There was no FM station in Tahoe at this time, to my knowledge, and KZAP in Sacramento wouldn't open until November 1968, but KMPX and KSAN were going in San Francisco. At least some of the visiting Tahoe teens would have known that Iron Butterfly was a happening band.

July 12-13, 1968  Kings Beach Bowl, Kings Beach, CA Grateful Dead/Working Class (Friday-Saturday)   
The Grateful Dead returned for a weekend at Kings. Beach Bowl, having played both the previous summer (August 25-26 '67) and in the Winter (Feb 22-24 '68). Members of The Working Class recall hanging out with the Dead in the North Tahoe vacation house. Road manager Hewitt Jackson already had a "business relationship" with Ramrod dating back to the previous summer (Hewitt would hitchhike to San Francisco to purchase a product from Ramrod, ahem). The Dead admired the musicality of the Working Class, and were very supportive of the band when they changed their name to Sanpaku and moved to San Francisco in 1969. 

The Dead had just released their second album, Anthem Of The Sun. For various reasons, however, some clear and some obscure, the Dead were not doing a good job of promoting the record. The Grateful Dead would not play another show until the weekend of August 2, when they played San Diego and then the Newport Pop Festival in Orange County. Not a very sound strategy for a band with a new album.

The flyer notes that the Simultaneous Avalanche would be doing the light show. The Sacramento-based Avalanche had done the light show at Kings Beach Bowl in the Summer of 1967, but I suspect that the weekend with the Dead was their only show in Tahoe this Summer. Simultaneous Avalanche had started to establish themselves as concert promoters in the Sacramento area, so they may have been fairly busy.

July 19-20, 1968 Kings Beach Bowl, North Lake Tahoe, CA: Quicksilver Messenger Service/Working Class (Friday-Saturday)
Quicksilver Messenger Service also returned to Kings Beach Bowl. The previous year, Quicksilver had been an underground phenomenon, but now they had a new album on Capitol that was getting heavy play on KSAN.  Quicksilver was far less sloppy than either the Dead or Jefferson Airplane, and always put on a great show. In later decades, we were able to determine that those shows were mostly the same night after night, but few would have realized that in the Summer of '68. 

Jim Burgett (b. 1942), the guitarist who had founded the entire Lake Tahoe teenage dance scene since 1958, was from the tiny Central Valley town of Ceres, CA, just South of Modesto. In 1960, Ceres had a population of 4406. The only other rock guitarist to come out of Ceres was Gary Duncan (b. 1946), who also grew up there. Burgett has never mentioned Duncan, to my knowledge, but perhaps no one ever asked him.

Eyewitnesses all recall that Creedence Clearwater Revival played Kings Beach Bowl in the Summer of '68. For a legendary band, Creedence's performance history is poorly undocumented, and we have no flyer from Tahoe, so the date is uncertain. Creedence had just released their debut album in July 1968, and their debut single "Suzie Q" had been released in June. "Suzie Q" was a hit in the Bay Area, and probably Sacramento, and the band definitely got played on KSAN and KMPX. Creedence Clearwater had closed the original Fillmore (July 2-4 '68), so they were playing around. At the same time, Creedence was still local enough to need a gig in North Tahoe--by the Summer of 1969, they would have been too huge for Kings Beach Bowl. 

August 23-24, 1968: Kings Beach Bowl, North Lake Tahoe, CA: Steppenwolf/Sanpaku (Friday-Saturday)
Steppenwolf's members were mostly from Toronto, where they had been called The Sparrow. They had mostly been an R&B cover band in Toronto, but they had moved to San Francisco in 1967, and they promptly busted free of that, writing their own material and jamming it out. The Sparrow played the Avalon, The Ark and many other local venues, but they weren't really getting anywhere, so they moved to Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, they changed their name to Steppenwolf, and found a good middle ground between the discipline of Toronto and the creativity of San Francisco.

ABC-Dunhill Records had released the first Steppenwolf album back in January 1968. It got some attention, but the band became really big when ABC released the single "Born To Be Wild" in May. The ode to riding a motorcycle would reach #2 on Billboard, and the album would make it all the way up to #6. The weekend at Kings Beach was probably booked before "Born To Be Wild" took off, because by the time the band played the little bowling alley they were huge. A few months later, Steppenwolf would release an equally big hit ("Magic Carpet Ride"), and the next year "Born To Be Wild" would be immortalized in the Easy Rider movie.

There were almost certainly events every weekend at Kings Beach Bowl through Labor Day, but I don't have any more information. Below I list the bands that eyewitnesses recall, but not the locations, and some of those could have been at Kings Beach. Presumably a house band, very likely the Working Class, played the other weekends.

The American Legion Hall, at 2748 Lake Tahoe Blvd (US-50)

South Lake Tahoe: American Legion Hall and The Sanctuary
South Lake Tahoe was far more populated and active than the North Shore. The major casinos on the Nevada side were nearer to South Lake Tahoe, too, so the South had both the "family" side and the gambling side. As noted, the American Legion Hall had been putting on dances up to seven nights a week during the Summer, from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Kings Beach Bowl had arisen as a kind of alternative in the Summer of '67, but there were plenty of teenagers to go around. Jim Burgett had booked a few Fillmore bands at the Legion Hall, too, giving his band the night off. There seemed to be plenty of room for both Kings Beach Bowl and the Legion Hall. 

Jim Burgett's success at the American Legion Hall hadn't gone unnoticed, however. A competitor arose, booking shows throughout the Summer of 1968. The Sanctuary was just a few blocks from the American Legion Hall, also on US-50, and was housed in an old supermarket. Details are scant, since The Sanctuary was only open for a year. Jim Burgett was kind enough to remember some important facts for me, but even he had forgotten the name of the owner. Apparently he had made his money in the Supermarket business, and thus had access to the building. The Sanctuary could hold about 1600, whereas the American Legion Hall could only hold around 1000.

The Sanctuary was open several nights a week, although once again details are fragmentary. The "house band" was called Queen Lily Soap, and similar to Kings Beach Bowl the son of the owner was apparently a member, so they played there regularly. It's possible Queen Lily Soap played on weeknights when there weren't out of bands, but its impossible to confirm. In any case, The Sanctuary was more explicitly framed like the Fillmore or Avalon, with hip rock bands and a light show. The posters for the shows, while not always of high quality, had the clear semiotic references of Fillmore shows, and it was understood that The Sanctuary was "cooler" than the American Legion Hall.

Jim Burgett's band not only played the Legion Hall, but they also played six days a week at Harrah's Tahoe (yes, six days at Harrah's and seven nights in South Lake Tahoe, for ten weeks). Burgett's band was well-rehearsed and professional, which is more than you could say for a lot of Avalon bands, even popular ones. Even so, the fact that Burgett had a cover band made them less "authentic" by Avalon standards. Throughout the Summer of 1968, the Sanctuary was the most popular destination, to the point where Burgett's franchise at the American Legion Hall was under financial duress. Kings Beach Bowl, being farther away, was less directly affected by The Sanctuary, but the competition would not help their business.

May 30-June 19, 1968 The Sanctuary, South Lake Tahoe, CA: Santana Blues Band/Queen Lily Soap (Thursday-Wednesday)
In early Summer '68. the Santana Blues Band were a hard-working local band in the Bay Area, playing clubs, high school dances and anywhere they could get a gig.  They had played the Fillmore a few times, but Bill Graham had gotten angry at them for being late, so he had refused to book them again. The lineup at the time had Carlos on guitar, Gregg Rolie on organ and vocals, David Brown on bass, Doc Livingston on drums and Marcus Malone on congas. 

Santana Blues Band were booked for six weeks at The Sanctuary, staying at a vacation house near the Lake. They apparently played several nights a week, but I have been unable to lock down exactly when they started and which nights they actually played. Back in 1968, Memorial Day was on May 30, which was a Thursday that year, so I have assumed their "residency" began then. Santana did play one Sunday night gig in San Francisco (on June 16), but it was a Sunday night benefit. Either Santana didn't play Tahoe on Sunday nights, or they simply opted out of that night. Bands who had long engagements often skipped a night for more important gigs.

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June 20-22, 1968 The Sanctuary, South Lake Tahoe, CA: Moby Grape/Santana Blues Band/Queen Lily Soap (Thursday-Saturday)
Our first firm trace of The Sanctuary is the poster for Moby Grape, the Santana Blues Band and Queen Lily Soap on the weekend of June 20-22. This poster probably also served as notice that there was a new venue in South Lake Tahoe. Moby Grape had released their second album, Wow, in April of 1968. Columbia had paired it with a "jam" disc called Grape Jam, which featured Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper. If Moby Grape was anything resembling a normal rock group, this would have been a high profile show in an outlying market for a hot group on the rise. But nothing was normal about the Moby Grape story.

Soon after Moby Grape had come together in late 1966, manager Matthew Katz got them signed to Columbia, who believed they had signed the American Rolling Stones. Now, the Grape had five experienced musicians who could sing, play and write, and they were handsome, too. Columbia may not have been wrong. They had assigned producer David Rubinson to the band, and Moby Grape's debut album was one of the great San Francisco rock albums of the 60s. 

Columbia was in a great position, with a hot band coming out of the hip epicenter of 1967 rock music. But they overplayed their hand. In an era when the Fillmore ethic was about authenticity, and not trusting "The Man," Columbia decided to release the entire album as 5 singles. They rented the Avalon for a record release, and invited an audience on a Wednesday night (June 6, 1967), with 700 bottles of specially-labeled Moby Grape Wine. The Grape played, and Janis Joplin sang with them. 

Everything went wrong. There were 700 bottles of wine, but no corkscrews. Inviting several hundred industry people went over all wrong, just like releasing 5 singles. The Dead and the Airplane were known for playing free in the park, and here was Columbia's new band having an expensive private party. Publicity value? Most of the publicity just reported that after the concert, on the morning of June 7, three members of Moby Grape were arrested in West Marin for allegedly contributing to the delinquency of a 17-year old girl (to be fair, the Grape members were indeed probably trying to contribute to her delinquency). 

Throughout 1967, Moby Grape played all over the West and East Coasts, and they were a terrific live band with great songs. But there was the taint of Hype to them, and audiences were suspicious that any band with that kind of record company support could really be that good. None of the five singles hit the charts. Still, everyone who saw the band generally liked them. Moby Grape had played Kings Beach Bowl on the last weekend of the season (September 2-3, 1967). 

Things only got worse in 1968. Their second album wasn't bad, but it was ill-conceived, with a bonus "jam" album, and a single track inexplicably released at 78 rpm (you had to get up and change the album). Moby Grape was headlining a high-profile weekend at Fillmore East (May 31-June 1 '68), but guitarist Peter Lewis had a dispute with band management and returned to California prior to the gig, so Moby Grape had to play as a quartet. Then guitarist Skip Spence had some sort of dangerous episode where he ended up at Bellevue Pschiatric Hospital in New York, and left the band. Spence was never the same. Moby Grape canceled their East Coast tour. 

Peter Lewis would return to Moby Grape, albeit now truly a quartet. Did Moby Grape play The Sanctuary? Maybe, but it's not certain. Moby Grape played Manhattan on June 29, as a quartet, but did they play Lake Tahoe? Tahoe teenagers recall seeing Moby Grape, but they may be recalling Kings Beach Bowl from the year before.

June 26-27 1968 The Sanctuary, South Lake Tahoe, CA: Loading Zone/Flaming Groovies (Wednesday-Thursday)
Santana ended their Tahoe sojourn, and returned to San Francisco, on the road to stardom. The Loading Zone were an Oakland band, and pioneered mixing psychedelic guitars with soul music. They kicked open the door that was walked through by the likes of Sly And The Family Stone and Tower Of Power (we have looked at Zone history at great length). The Zone had released their debut album on RCA Records. 

The Flaming Groovies had initially formed in San Francisco in 1965 as The Chosen Few. Unlike all the other Fillmore bands, the Flaming Groovies continued to play in a "British Invasion" style, more modeled on The Who and The Rolling Stones, rather than emphasizing jamming the blues. In the 1960s, at least, it didn't make them more popular. Still, the Groovies generally drew their own posters for any show they played, so they are an excellent source of documentation for the likes of me. The fact that The Sanctuary booked this show on Wednesday and Thursday indicates that the club was open on more than just weekends.

June 28-29 1968 The Sanctuary, South Lake Tahoe, CA: Love/Flamin Groovies/Queen Lily Soap (Friday-Saturday)
Love had been a seminal band when psychedelia flowered in West Hollywood in 1966. Love was fronted by guitarist Arthur Lee, who made influential fashion choices as well as musical ones. Love released three albums on Elektra, and had never performed outside of California. Love ranks with Nick Drake, Gram Parsons and Skip Spence as artist who retain an inexhaustible fascination for their adherents. From 1968 onwards, the history of Love was checkered and confusing.

I have no idea who might have been in Love in 1968 other than Albert Lee. There's a greater than 50% chance that Lee did not make the gig, and Love canceled. 

update 20240321: Bruno Ceriotti reports that Love played the gig with their classic lineup, Arthur Lee, Johnny Echols, Michael Stuart, Ken Forssi and Bryan MacLean.

July 7-10, 1968 Sanctuary, South Lake Tahoe, CA: Chambers Brothers/Frumious Bandersnatch/Queen Lily Soap (Sunday-Wednesday)
The four Chambers brothers, originally from Mississippi, had been an important part of the Los Angeles folk scene going back to the 1950s. They had been critical for infusing genuine gospel sounds into contemporary folk music. They were well-placed to "go electric" when that storm hit. There were four Chambers Brothers, as well as a white drummer (Brian Keenan). The Chambers Brothers had recorded for various labels, but they were signed by Columbia in 1967. In December '67, Columbia released the Chambers Brothers' enduring hit "Time Has Come Today." The tag line "My soul's been psychedelicized" pretty much encompasses the merger of rock and soul music in the 1960s. 

The Chambers Brothers were a pretty good live act, but none of their records or songs ever reached the immortal level of "Time Has Come Today." Frumious Bandersnatch was from Contra Costa County, and featured future members of the Steve Miller Band and Journey, among other players. They played the Fillmore West and other venues many times, but never recorded an album.

July 12-13, 1968 Sanctuary, South Lake Tahoe, CA: Cold Blood/Queen Lily Soap/Maggie's Farm (Friday-Saturday)
Cold Blood were another rock and soul mixture, easy to dance to but with longer solos than a more pure R&B band. Cold Blood is generally seen as affiliated with East Bay funk bands like Loading Zone and Tower Of Power, and not unreasonably, but in fact their roots were on the Peninsula. Singer Lydia Pense, guitarist Larry Field and bassist Rod Ellicott had lead The Generation in the mid-60s, the first Bay Area rock band to fully include a horn section. By 1968, Cold Blood were one of the first acts booked by Bill Graham's Millard Agency. Millard figure out early that the Fillmore West had a lot of cachet out in the suburbs. Teenagers in Lake Tahoe, for example, would recognize Cold Blood's name from posters of concerts that their parents would not have allowed them to attend.

Maggie's Farm was from Berkeley, and at this time the band mostly consisted of high school students.

July 14-17, 1968 Sanctuary, South Lake Tahoe, CA Iron Butterfly (Sunday-Wednesday)
Billboard Magazine (in the July 13 edition) had listed Iron Butterfly at The Sanctuary from July 14 to July 17, which was a Sunday through Wednesday booking. They had also been booked at Kings Beach on Wednesday, July 10. It's a plausible booking, unexpected as it may sound. 

Initially, Iron Butterfly had been booked at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland in the intervening weekend (July 12-13), but the Crystal had been closed by the city. Instead, the Butterfly played the Cow Palace in Daly City on Friday, July 12, and then were booked in Woodland Hills (in the San Fernando Valley) on Saturday July 13. The Woodland Hills show, however, seems to have been canceled and replaced by a gig in Pasadena. 

Unlikely as this may sound today, this is how bands toured in the late 60s. Save for the Grateful Dead and one or two others, bands did not tour with much equipment save their guitars, and traveled light. Thus Iron Butterfly's itinerary would have been

• July 4-7 (Thursday-Sunday) Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco
  
• July 8 (Monday) Sacramento Memorial Auditorium (with The Who)
• July 10 (Wednesday) North Beach Bowl, Lake Tahoe
• July 12 (Friday) Cow Palace, Daly City
• July 13 (Saturday) Rose Palace, Pasadena
• July 14-17 (Sunday-Wednesday) The Sanctuary, South Lake Tahoe

July 18-19, 1968 Sanctuary, South Lake Tahoe, CA: New Charlatans/Country Weather/Maggie's Farm (Thursday-Friday)
The Charlatans had been San Francisco's first true psychedelic band, and their six-week residency at the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City, NV, had spawned the Family Dog, the Trips Festival, the Fillmore and everything that came afterwards. The band had fallen apart by 1967 without recording an album, but they had reconstituted themselves. Original drummer Dan Hicks had moved to guitar and was now the main singer of the group. Although already legendary, however, the reformed Charlatans had long since been passed by the legion of Fillmore bands that had followed in their wake. 

Country Weather was from then-rural Lafayette, in Contra Costa County. Originally called The Virtues, they had "gone psych" and changed their name to Country Weather. Lead guitarist Gregg Douglas would go on to some success in the 1970s, but Country Weather stood as one of those 60s bands that was fondly remembered by fans but with no recorded output.

July 20-21, 1968 The Sanctuary, South Lake Tahoe, CA: Steppenwolf/Country Weather/Maggie's Farm (Saturday-Sunday)
Steppenwolf played two nights at The Sanctuary the month before they had played Kings Beach Bowl (August 23-24, above). Steppenwolf's touring shows how Lake Tahoe made sense for bands. Steppenwolf was based in Los Angeles. They had a weekend at the Avalon (August 9-11) and a mid-week gig at Fillmore West later (August 27-29), so Lake Tahoe gigs kept the wheels turning. 

July 27, 1968 American Legion Hall, South Lake Tahoe, CA: Neighb’rhood Childr’n/Jim Burgett & Wally Cox (Saturday)
Meanwhile, just down the road, Jim Burgett's American Legion Hall wasn't doing as well as they had previous years. Kings Beach Bowl was 40 miles away, but The Sanctuary was nearby, and larger. The Sanctuary was doing well, while Burgett reported that crowds at the American Legion Hall were suffering. So it turned out that the number of teenagers in Lake Tahoe wasn't infinite after all.

The Neighb'rhood Childr'n, from Ft. Bragg, CA, released a 1968 album on Acta Record. They were from far Northern California, but the picture on the cover intentionally evokes hilly San Francisco

To my knowledge, this Saturday show was the only 1968 event where Burgett booked an out-of-town act. Although largely forgotten by nostalgic record collectors, the strangely-named Neighb'rhood Childr'n were from Fort Bragg, CA, far up North. They played a sort of psychedelic garage rock, and were very popular in Northern California and Southern Oregon. They were making a good living, but not by playing the Fillmore or Los Angeles, and thus aren't remembered by posters on dorm walls. They did release one album in 1968 on Acta Records (since re-released by Sundazed Records with additional tracks as Long Years In Space).

Wally Cox (not the actor) was a popular soul singer based in Oakland. He is hard to google, but he put out a number of singles that were popular in the Bay Area. I'm pretty confident that Jim Burgett's band backed Cox in concert.

Since Labor Day 1968 was on September 2, I'm sure there were additional concerts at The Sanctuary, particularly in August. We also have no information about visiting bands at the Legion Hall (save the one above). Eyewitnesses have recalled seeing a few other bands in Lake Tahoe in the Summer. My eyewitnesses' memories have usually checked out, as the flyers above testify. I can't find any confirmation for some of these other memories, but see below for a list. If anyone recalls anything--real or imagined, flashbacks welcome--put it in the Comments. 

Pablo Cruise's debut album on A&M Records was released in August 1975

The Crystal Ship at Roundhill Village, Zephyr Cove, NV
Jim Burgett had figured out that there were a lot of teenagers in Lake Tahoe, ready ready ready to rock and roll, and he had made a thriving business out of it in Lake Tahoe every Summer through 1967. By 1968, rock had exploded nationwide, and suddenly he had competitors. Burgett's nearest competitor was of course The Sanctuary, booking Fillmore bands just a few blocks away from the American Legion Hall. Just 20 minutes North, however, over the California border but still on US-50, another competitor had opened.

Palo Alto pianist Cory Lerios was the son of a concert pianist. If his name seems familiar, it's because he would be one of the founding members of the band Pablo Cruise in the early 70s, and the band went on to huge success. In 1968, however, Lerios played piano and organ in a group called Together, and they opened a "teen-only" club in Lake Tahoe. It was open seven nights a week, with Together as the house band, a similar arrangement to Burgett and his band at the American Legion Hall. The twist was that The Crystal Ship was on the Nevada side, rather than the California side, even though it was near the state line.

The October 17, 1968 Palo Alto Times had a feature article on hometown lad Cory Lerios' new venture, The Crystal Ship at Roundhill Village

June 27-September 2, 1968 Crystal Ship At Roundhill Village, Zephyr Cove, NV: Together (Monday-Sunday)
The Crystal Ship was located in Roundhill Village, a tiny unincorporated community near Zephyr Cove. Roundhill Village was right near the biggest casinos on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, and was directed at the teenage children of those adults who wanted to be on the Nevada side in order to gamble. The name "Crystal Ship" came from a Doors song, and young people would have recognized the hip reference. Although The Crystal Ship seems to only have been open for the Summer of '68, it was fondly remembered on nostalgic Palo Alto Facebook pages (which is how I found out about it). 

Together featured Lerios on piano and organ along with Ron Davis on guitar, Brian Godula on bass and Steve Price on drums. Lerios had previously been in the band Hydraulic Banana, with guitarist Phil Scoma (who had left to join The Chocolate Watch Band). An article in the October 17, 1968 Palo Alto Times documented Lerios' successful Summer. The Crystal Ship had opened sometime in June, and from July 4 onwards it was open seven nights a week, apparently with Together as the house band each evening. I have approximated the dates (June 27-September 2) per the article, but I don't have any other documentation. 

The article also promotes Lerios' forthcoming venture, The Crystal Ship at Heavenly Valley, scheduled to open Thanksgiving Weekend and apparently to remain open throughout December. Heavenly Valley was a ski resort in South Lake Tahoe, straddling the California/Nevada border, and near to both the Lake and the Nevada casinos. Heavenly was a popular ski resort on its own terms, and its proximity to other attractions made it a desirable destination. Clearly Lerios' planned to provide some fun for visiting teenagers at the resort. It was another effort to try and capitalize on teenage rock fans who visited in the Winter. I can find no other trace, however, of the Crystal Ship at Heavenly Valley, so I do not know if it ever opened.

Winter Snowfall
Lake Tahoe had an abundance of teenage rock fans in the Summer, but 1968 had suggested that there were too many venues, with The Sanctuary, the Legion Hall, The Crystal Ship at Kings Beach Bowl. Jim Burgett has said that his business at the Legion Hall was threatened by the success of the larger Sanctuary, and the nearby Crystal Ship can't have helped. Kings Beach Bowl wasn't really thriving, but it's location in North Tahoe was still an incentive for locally-based teenagers not to head to South Lake Tahoe.

A heavy winter storm changed the equation. Burgett controlled the master lease on the American Legion Hall, and he rented it out to different parties outside of the summer. His band usually played other resorts around the country, so he wasn't around that much. In the Winter of 68/69, Burgett had rented the Legion Hall out to a local dj for a "record hop" (dancing to records), but heavy snowfall caved in the roof. No one was hurt, but the American Legion Hall was unusable for some time. There would be no chance of Burgett holding dances there in the Summer of 1969.

Rather unexpectedly, however, the owner of The Sanctuary gave up the business. The Summer of '68 had been very successful, but for personal reasons he chose to give up operating the venue. He asked Burgett to run it instead. Much to Burgett's surprise, he was now operating the venue of his biggest competitor, alone in South Lake Tahoe. The only condition was that Burgett had to change the name from The Sanctuary. Apparently, according to Burgett, the owner's wife was a devout Catholic and did not like the name. Burgett would re-open The Sanctuary in the Summer of '69 as The Fun House.

The January 5, 1969 San Francisco Chronicle had a picture of the Santana Blues Band, who were playing The TNT, newly opened at Alpine Meadows Ski Resort

Winter 1969
The Summer of 1968 showed that there was a thriving rock market for visiting teenagers in the Lake Tahoe area. There may have been an over-saturation of venues, but there was no doubt that the market was there. Lake Tahoe, however, was just as important as a Winter Resort as a Summer one. After the 1960 Winter Olympics had been held there, the entire State of California was aware of Lake Tahoe skiing. Alpine Meadows was Northwest of the Lake, about ten miles West of Tahoe City. Alpine Meadows abuts Olympic Valley, where the Olympics had been held. The Alpine Meadows Resort had opened in 1961. Paired with Olympic Valley (then called Squaw Valley), it was a primary Lake Tahoe destination in Winter. 

January 10-11, 1969 The TNT, Alpine Meadows Ski Resort. Tahoe City CA: Santana Blues Band (Friday and Saturday)
A promotional photo in the January 5, 1969 San Francisco Chronicle is my only real trace of a Winter rock venue at Alpine Meadows. Under a photo of the early 1969 lineup of Santana, the Chronicle caption says

SANTANA'S BLUES BAND will perform Friday and Saturday evenings at The TNT, located one mile south of Squaw Valley in the Powder Bowl-Alpine Meadows area. Weekend rock concerts will be presented throughout the winter months at TNT. Among the groups to come, Country Weather and Cold Blood. 

TNT was the business name for East Bay promoter Bill Quarry, who had booked shows in the San Leandro Roller Bowl and the now-forgotten (except by me) Concord Coliseum. He also booked shows around the Bay Area in different places. Quarry was an important promoter from 1965-68, before he simply got squeezed out by Bill Graham's dominance. There's every reason to assume that The TNT was a Bill Quarry production. 

Santana had just been signed to Columbia Records, but had not yet begun recording. Their lineup at the time still included conguero Marcus Malone, but he would soon be replaced by Mike Carabello. At this time, Santana were regulars at the Fillmore West, and widely known around the Bay Area, but without a record they were not yet on the highest tier of attractions.

January 18-19, 1969 The TNT, Alpine Meadows Ski Resort, Tahoe City, CA: Cold Blood (Saturday and Sunday)
Ralph Gleason mentioned the TNT bookings in his Friday roundups in the SF Chronicle, the only other trace I could find of the Alpine Meadows adventure.

Cold Blood was booked by Bill Graham's Millard Agency, as was Santana, the Grateful Dead, Elvin Bishop and other Bay Area groups.

January 24-26, 1969 The TNT, Alpine Meadows Ski Resort, Tahoe City, CA: Country Weather (Friday-Sunday)
Country Weather was also booked by the Millard Agency.

Ralph Gleason's Ad Lib column, January 31, 1969 SF Chronicle

January 31-February 1, 1969 The TNT, Alpine Meadows Ski Resort, Tahoe City, CA: Frumious Bandersnatch (Friday-Saturday)
Frumious Bandersnatch, too, was booked by the Millard Agency. The band's road manager was one Walter "Herbie" Herbert, who would become Santana's road manager in the early 1970s and then Journey's manager and the architect of their success in the middle of the decade. Those whose record collections are too large may recall his recordings with Bill Kreutzmann and Neal Schon as Sy Klopps. 

The TNT disappears without a trace after these listings. If anyone recalls anything, please note them in the Comments.

1969: Kings Beach Bowl
Kings Beach Bowl returned to action in 1969, but the rock market had exploded. The bands who would play for the small change and good times in North Lake Tahoe were no longer Fillmore headliners with record contracts. 

February 7-8, 1969 Kings Beach Bowl, North Lake Tahoe, CA: Sanpaku (Friday-Saturday)
After the Alpine Meadows TNT shows, there were two weekends at Kings Beach Bowl. We don't know for a fact that the Alpine Meadows shows didn't continue, but I don't think so. Both weekends at Kings Beach Bowl featured bands booked by Millard, just like Alpine, and I don't think the Agency would book against themselves. Since Kings Beach Bowl was still only a half-hour from Olympic Valley, I think this was an effort to continue to draw Winter teenagers.

The scheduling replayed the unsuccessful Grateful Dead concerts ("Trip Or Ski") of the previous February. This time, however, the bands were much lower on the rock heirarchy, more in line with the scale of Kings Beach Bowl. Sanpaku, in fact, were the revised version of The Working Class, who had been the "house band" during the Summer of 1968. They had changed their name, and after an audition at Fillmore West, they had been signed up to the Bill Graham operation.

February 14-16, 1968 Kings Beach Bowl, North Lake Tahoe, CA: Dancing Food & Entertainment (Friday-Sunday)
Dancing Food & Entertainment was a Berkeley band, who generally rehearsed at The New Orleans House. Naomi Eisenberg, later an original Hot Lick with Dan Hicks, and bassist Tom Glass (aka Ned Lamont, ex-Jazz Mice) led the band. 

June 20-21, 1969 Kings Beach Bowl, North Lake Tahoe, CA: Birth/Orion/Lamb (Friday-Saturday)
Kings Beach Bowl seems to have opened their Summer 1969 season in June. I don't know why Kings Beach Bowl started in June rather than Memorial Day (like the Legion Hall), but the pattern was consistent all three years.

In 1969 Dot Records released the only album by the Bay Area band Womb. Womb apparently changed their name to Birth (insert joke here).

Birth, Orion and Lamb were all Bay Area club bands. Lamb was mainly the songwriting duo of Barbara Mauritz and Bob Swanson, and they too were associated with the ubiquitous Millard Agency. Birth had previously been named Womb (really), and under that name had released an album on Dot Records. Orion is a familiar name to me from various 1960s rock club listings, but I don't know anything else about them.

 

June 27-28, 1969 Kings Beach Bowl, North Lake Tahoe, CA: Bicycle/Mad River (Friday-Saturday)
Bicycle and Mad River were on the fringes of the Bay Area psychedelic scene, both from the East Bay. Bicycle, originally called Hofmann's Bicycle (a clear LSD reference), and then Bycycle, but usually just written as Bicycle in listings, had grown out of an East Bay band called The Cheaters. The lead singer was East Coast transplant Stephen Fiske, but the most interesting member was bassist Dan Healy. Healy was mainly an engineer and producer for Capitol and Mercury Records at this time, but he is best known for having been the Grateful Dead's soundman from 1971 to 1994. He had already recorded Anthem Of The Sun with the band, but after that he was working independently (I mapped out what is known of Healy's Bycycle career elsewhere).

Mad River are true legends of psychedelia, but like many legends they got little respect when they were together. The band were art students from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH, who had relocated to Berkeley in 1967. Their music was not at all typical of the bluesy folk jamming typical of hippie bands at the time, but somewhat closer to what we would now call progressive rock. They were definitely an acquired taste, and most fans of Mad River did not acquire that taste until a decade or two after they had broken up. Their 1968 debut album was infamous, not least because even the band can not tell if the engineer sped up the tape (hint: what does that tell you?). 

By 1969, the members of Mad River had all but given up. Their second and final album was essentially country rock, once again years ahead of its time and disappointing what few fans they had. The band had broken up by July, so Kings Beach Bowl was one of their last shows.

July 4-6, 1969 Kings Beach Bowl, North Lake Tahoe, CA: Charlie Musselwhite/Lightnin Hopkins/Harvey Mandel (Friday-Sunday)
Charlie Musselwhite, from Chicago via Memphis, played harmonica and sang the blues. Harvey Mandel had been the guitarist in Musselwhite's band when Charlie had made the record Southside Sound System for Vanguard in 1967. Mandel and Musselwhite were among the many Chicago blues musicians who had migrated to the Fillmore in 1967. By 1969, Mandel was a solo artist in his own right for Mercury Records, while Musselwhite continued to record for Vanguard. They both played regularly in San Francisco rock clubs.

Mandel was well regarded by other guitarists. Just a month after this show, he would join Canned Heat in time to play Woodstock, and he would later tour with John Mayall and Sugarcane Harris. It's not clear from the flyer whether Mandel would sit in with Charlie or was bringing his own band. 

Lightnin' Hopkins and his country blues wasn't really a teenage attraction, but he was such a cagey veteran that he probably did just fine in any case.

July 11-12, 1969 Kings Beach Bowl, North Lake Tahoe, CA: Mike Bloomfield/Southern Comfort (Friday-Saturday)  
Mike Bloomfield was by far the biggest name to play Kings Beach Bowl in the Summer of '69. Despite his legendary status, however, Bloomfield preferred lower profile gigs. He would play low profile shows around the Bay Area with pickup bands organized by Nick Gravenites or pianist Mark Naftalin. He always played with high class musicians, but he never rehearsed. In 1969, his "first-call" lineup would have John Kahn on bass and Bob Jones on drums, usually with either Naftalin or Ira Kamin on keyboards (or both), and Gravenites singing. Other musicians would take their places if they were not available. Bloomfield would just tell the band what song they were playing and in what key, and count them off. It was surprisingly good for being so casual, but it wasn't like seeing a real band.

Southern Comfort was a band that had been formed by Bob Jones as both a studio rhythm section and a live ensemble, in the manner of Booket T and The MGs. Jones was the singer and drummer, Fred Burton played guitar, Ron Stallings was on sax and vocals and Steve Funk was on keyboards, along with various bass players. Their sole 1970 Columbia album would be co-produced by Gravenites and Kahn. Southern Comfort did not act as Bloomfield's backing band, but Jones would have drummed for Bloomfield.

Bloomfield was famously unreliable, and with only a flyer and no eyewitnesses to these shows, there's no guarantee that Bloomfield showed up for either of both nights.

 

July 18-19, 1969 Kings Beach Bowl, North Lake Tahoe, CA: Strawberry Alarm Clock/Giant Crab/Birmingham Sundae (Friday-Saturday)
The Strawberry Alarm Clock were from Glendale, and they had scored a huge hit in 1967 with their catchy debut single "Incense and Peppermints." By 1969 they had released four albums, but of course all anyone knew about them was their initial hit. As rock music had become more serious and "heavier" by 1969, the Strawberry Alarm Clock seemed cheesier. They probably put on an enjoyable show, but they were essentially an oldies act already.

Giant Crab and Birmingham Sundae are completely unknown to me.

August 1-2, 1969 Kings Beach Bowl, North Lake Tahoe, CA: The Wolfman Jack Show (Friday-Saturday) Produced by Promotion Associates
The "boxing style" flyer is one indication that the Wolfman Jack event was put on by outside promoters, in this case "Promotion Associates." Wolfman Jack was a legendary dj, so this show was basically like a high school dance with a celebrity dj. They addition of the Kings Beach light show gave it a vaguely psychedelic overlay.

The Wolfman had been based in the United States for some time, but his all-night shows were broadcast on a powerful Mexican radio station audible through much of the Southwest.

Ralph Gleason's Ad Libs column, SF Chronicle, August 29, 1969

 

August 29-31, 1969 Kings Beach Bowl, North Lake Tahoe, CA: The Crabs (Friday-Sunday)
There were probably additional Kings Beach Bowl events in August, but I don't really know anything about them. Ralph Gleason noted the event in his Friday column, but after this I have no trace. Summer 69 appeared to be the end of the line for the Kings Beach Bowl as a rock venue, a pioneer sized out by the exploding rock market, a fate shared by many other contemporary places.

The Crabs were a Berkeley band, playing what we would now call "roots-rock." They were popular locally, but never graduated to making a record.

1969: The Fun House
Meanwhile, Jim Burgett had taken control of the re-named Sanctuary. As far as I know, his own band was booked seven nights a week, with occasional performances by touring bands. We only have a few posters to go on, as I'm not aware of any advertisements in any newspapers.  It's impossible to tell from this remove how often visiting bands played instead of Jim Burgett's band. 

June 14, 1969 The Fun House, South Lake Tahoe, CA Sons of Champlin/Santana/AB Skhy (Saturday)
By this time, Santana had recorded their debut album for Columbia but it had not yet been released, and they had dropped the "Blues Band" appendage. Santana was more popular than ever in San Francisco, but they were about even in status to Marin's Sons Of Champlin, amusing as this sounds from our vantage point. The Sons had released their own Capitol debut album in May, Loosen Up Naturally. 

AB Skhy had been formed when a band transplanted from Milwaukee, The New Blues, had joined with organist Howard Wales. Wales had wide experience playing rock in Cincinnati and jazz in El Paso, among other stops. AB Skhy would release their debut album on MGM Records later in 1969.

Sons' road manager Charlie Kelly recalled this show for me in a private email, and remembered a smoking hot set by Santana. The lineup and the material would have been the same one that the world saw at the Woodstock Festival a few months later. The Sons followed them, but the show was shut down by the police. According to Jim Burgett, he did not typically have problems with the police (whom he no doubt knew very well) and when something like this happened, it was because a show was running late. 

The show is recalled by Kelly and other eyewitnesses on message boards, but I have approximated the date. It's reasonable to assume that the lineup played Friday night (June 13) as well.

July 3-5, 1969 The Fun House, South Lake Tahoe, CA: Santana  (Friday-Sunday)
Santana returned to The Fun House for the July 4 weekend. This was the Woodstock lineup, probably warming up for their forthcoming East Coast tour. They would play Fillmore East August 1, and then play up and down the coast, including Woodstock on August 16. Their album would be officially released on August 30, although some stores and radio stations might have had it before then. 

August 29-31, 1969 The Fun House, South Lake Tahoe, CA: Aum/Fritz/Together (Friday-Sunday)
The weekend before Memorial Day had an intriguing triple bill. Aum was a power trio fronted by Oakland guitarist Wayne Ceballos. They had released their second album Resurrection on Bill Graham's Fillmore Records (distributed by Columbia). Aum, too, was booked by Millard. 

Fritz was a rising band from Menlo Park, the town just North of Palo Alto and Stanford. The band members had met as students at Menlo-Atherton High School. Fritz included former MA Swim Team member Lindsay Buckingham on bass and Stephanie "Stevie" Nicks on vocals. They played all over the Bay Area in 1969 and '70.

Together was Cory Lerios' band, who would have been somewhat well known from their Summer of '68 playing every night at The Crystal Ship in Roundhill Village. 

Labor Day '69 was September 1, so Aum closed out The Fun House while The Crabs closed out Kings Beach Bowl (above). 

Eyewitness Reports
My eyewitnesses' memories have usually checked out, as the flyers above testify. Still, some people recall a few shows that I couldn't track down. Although I can't find any confirmation for some of these other memories, I still think these shows likely occurred:

Kings Beach Bowl: an eyewitness recalls the Butterfield Blues Band in either 1967 or '68. Butterfield toured the West coast regularly. A weekday concert in July 1968 seems especially plausible. 

Kings Beach Bowl: an eyewitness recalls the Youngbloods in the Summer of 1968. The Youngbloods were based in Marin, so this is very plausible.

South Shore: An eyewitness recalls seeing Chicago Transit Authority in Tahoe. They were based in Los Angeles after Summer 1968. A Summer 1969 show at The Fun House seems the most plausible. 

South Shore: Some eyewitnesses recall Spirit, the great Los Angeles band with Randy California. Although Summer '68 is just possible, Summer '69 seems far more likely.

South Shore: An eyewitness recalls seeing John Mayall. Mayall's touring schedule doesn't fit any of the Summers, so I suspect that this may be a crossed wire. It's not totally impossible, however.  

The Tahoe Events Center at 8318 N. Lake Blvd, formerly the site of Kings Beach Bowl.

Aftermath
Kings Beach Bowl ceased to be an entertainment venue after the Summer of '69. The building went through various uses. It is currently the North Tahoe Events Center, and it is a popular wedding venue. 

Jim Burgett ran The Fun House until 1971. Eventually, the rock market changed so that big touring rock bands could not play tiny Lake Tahoe. Teenagers wanted to go to larger concerts with bigger names, even if they were in a basketball arena or football stadium. As the rock market got older, there were more rock nightclubs serving beer or liquor, and those clubs always paid better than any teen dance. Burgett himself had a successful career leading his band in Las Vegas, Reno and elsewhere, but his franchise in Lake Tahoe was a unique sixties event, now lost in the mists of time.