The Blue Law - Hour Glass - Duane & Gregg Allman

This is a rare and exceptionally psychedelic poster from an unknown artist for the opening of The Blue Law near Los Angeles in late 1967. Few Southern California posters survived from this period because they didn't have the passionate collector base that was born and concentrated in San Francisco. Most of these posters were just used for advertising and then thrown away. The Hour Glass featured Duane and Gregg Allman when they were living in LAin the “Dirt House” with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Steve Martin. The Hour Glass had to cancel their appearance and were replaced by The Hook but if you want a rare psychedelic Allman’s poster, this is it. Blues-driven Canned Heat and psychedelic balladeers Love were local LA bands with large followings and were headlining this show.

Torrance is an industrial suburb about 20 miles south of Los Angeles. The Blue Law - later renamed The Bank - was close to the intersection of the Harbor (I-110) and San Diego (I-405) freeways and could be seen from both of them. The Blue Law was only open on weekends, like the Fillmore and the Avalon. Many clubs in Los Angeles, like The Cheetah and The Whisky, were open six or seven days a week, even if they didn't always present bands. Blue Laws, or, “Sunday laws” were ordinances to prohibit different activities (typically alcohol purchasing) on the Sundays for religious reasons.

According to Love drummer Michael Stuart-Ware, the building was like a rec center, located in the heart of a typical suburban Los Angeles community. The stage had no private rear entrance or dressing rooms, and the performers simply walked through the front door, past the people that had come to see them play, and right up the stage steps. He says of the show, “the place was jam-packed, but room capacity was only seven or eight hundred, tops.”

Condition details: "Medium-thick glossy stock poster is in good/decent (B/B-) condition; there is a 2&1/2" horizontal tear (sealed on the reverse with clear tape) in the upper right margin, along with tack holes in all four corners and in the top/bottom center margins, a slight curl to the paper, a thin horizontal bend just above the tear in the upper right margin, a 1/2" tear in the top center margin, a pair of 1/2" diagonal bends in the top right/bottom left corner tips and a series of nearly-invisible tiny stress bends hiding within the image area, otherwise fine."