RIP Madame Wong

[doug osborne]

I played at her clubs (especially Wong's West in Santa Monica) many times in the early '80s, and they probably were the best opportunity for emerging bands that didn't want to Pay for Play on the Sunset Strip.

 

Esther Wong, 88; 'Godmother of Punk' Whose Venues Showcased Pop, Rock Acts in '70s, '80s

 

 

Esther Wong, the unlikely "godmother of punk" who showcased such groups as Oingo Boingo at her Madame Wong's clubs in Chinatown and Santa Monica in the late 1970s and '80s, has died. She was 88.   Wong died Sunday at her home in Los Angeles of natural causes. She had suffered from emphysema.   At first slow to accept punk rock, new wave and other 1970s music, the colorful and sometimes controversial Wong came to be one its most ardent patrons in Los Angeles.   Her Madame Wong's restaurant on Sun Mun Way in Chinatown, which she opened in 1970 with her now-deceased first husband, George Wong, originally featured Polynesian bands. But when that music attracted smaller and smaller crowds, she was persuaded in 1978 to book rock musicians for one month.   The switch immediately increased her nightly crowd from as few as a dozen to about 350, and she declared the restaurant a stage for rock, punk and new wave bands.   "Before, I didn't think I'd ever like rock music," she told The Times in 1979. "Now I can turn it on, and it doesn't bother me."   At Madame Wong's, which closed in 1985, and Madame Wong's West in Santa Monica, which operated from 1978 to 1991, she proved a staunch supporter of new and local groups. Besides Oingo Boingo, her stages presented the Police, X, the Motels, 20/20, the Knack, the Know, the Textones, the Go-Gos, the Plimsouls, the Nu-Kats, the Bus Boys, Plane English, the Naughty Sweeties and others.   She opened the Santa Monica club, she once told The Times, because there were too many worthy groups seeking bookings for her Chinatown club alone to accommodate. And she closed each club as new wave and then other forms of rock lost popularity.   Wong chose the groups by listening to audition tapes

[Lee Flier]

Oh wow. I played her club many times too. She did an awful lot for the music scene, for sure.

 

I guess we should all be so fortunate as to lead as long and full a life as Madame Wong!

[steadyb]

Originally posted by doug osborne I played at her clubs (especially Wong's West in Santa Monica)

 

Me too.

[Guitar Centaur]

I wonder if she ever hosted a band called "The Wangs"?

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

I'm sorry to hear that. She was quite a character, but she did give a lot of good bands an opportunity to play... I did some shows there, and saw many others... good memories.

 

RIP Madame Wong!

[blue2blue]

Well... I lament her passing.

 

And I went to many shows at her places. But she could be, let's be nice, a bit cozenous when it came to money. I stopped going to her first club for a couple years when a $6 Robert Fripp show I had hard-fought reservations for turned into an $18 show [unheard of for that era] when, apparengly emboldened by demand for the cult guitarist, she threw on a mandatory $12 chinese dinner. Fripp at first refused to play, since his contract stipulated that no one charge over $6, but he apparently ended up playing as a courtesy to the fans who'd been duped by Esther. A couple days later, as an aplogy, he did a free lecture and Frippertronics mini-show at Tower Records in Hollywood -- which was, itself, packed. I had to stand on the edge of a 1/4" plywood record bin (and they let me, earning quite a bit of loyalty from me) for the whole time in order to catch a glimpse of Fripp, his guitar, and his twin Revox tape loop rig. Anyhow...

 

Madame Wong, RIP.

[gtrbass]

Esther and George were very cool people. I used to love playing upstairs at Wong's West in SM. I used to play there with Gary Myrick.

 

It was a sad day when they tore down Wong's to build a Home Savings Bank Branch. It's now a Cingular cell phone store.

[Jeff da Weasel]

 

Originally posted by Lee Flier Oh wow. I played her club many times too.

 

 

Me too, in the late '80s. She scared the crap out of me when I was young and dumb.

 

RIP.

 

- Jeff

[Lee Knight]

...and me too.

[Raymar]

Went to the one in China Town back in '78 or so with a friend that was into new wave. I was starting to notice it by listening to KROQ back when it was great. Anyway I had some chowmein that smelled like somebody tossed a sock in it and a couple of beers to wash it down while watching a band called the Bottles play a few tunes. Seemed like every band had 'the' in front of it back then.

 

Steve

[timman6127]

Sorry to hear about Madame Wong... I played at both of her clubs many times. Anyway, does anyone know/remember what Wongs West in Santa Monica was before it was a club??? (5 points to those who answered correctly - a funeral parlor)

[songrytr]

 

Originally posted by gtrbass I used to play there with Gary Myrick.

 

 

She talks in stereo, it sounds so good to me...

 

What memories this thread brings....yikes!

 

I played both places but my biggest Wong memory is going to see a friend's band on a charter bus. The story is too long but the highlights included mushrooms, a keg and a curious conversation with a CHP officer on the shoulder of I-10 somewhere between the Garfield and Rosemead exits...

 

If you can remember 1983 were you really there?

 

RIP Madame Wong. Thanks for the destinations.

[songrytr]

double post - darn!

[insidious meme]

I played the Santa Monica club a few times myself. I am appreciative to Madame Wong's for the opportuinties. My friend said she liked us partly because we didn't trash their dressing rooms.

 

RIP Madame Wong.