The Viper Room is a nightclub located along the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California. It was opened in 1993 and was partly owned by actor Johnny Depp until 2004. The club is well known for having been the site where actor River Phoenix (of Stand By Me fame; brother of actor Joaquin Phoenix) died of a drug overdose on Halloween morning in 1993.
In the 1960s the property was the location of a bar called the London Fog. The London Fog was the first establishment where The Doors played as the house band, before moving on to the Whisky A Go-Go.
The club is also where the supergroup Neurotic Outsiders was launched in 1995, and the historic indie pop band Artbox broke up in 2001.
As part of the settlement of a lawsuit, Depp relinquished his ownership of the Viper Room in 2004.
For many years the record for the oldest band to play the venue was held by the venerable Rolling Stones until it was broken by the surviving members of Bill Haley and His Comets who performed two well-received shows at the Viper Room in March and July 2005.
A nightclub located in Cincinnati, Ohio was formerly called The Viper Room. The club changed its name to The Poison Room on January 1, 2006, after they were told by the West Hollywood Viper Room to stop using the name. Another "Viper Room" in Oregon has also been told to stop using the name.
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