The Viper Room

Coordinates: 34°5′25.7″N 118°23′4.8″W / 34.090472°N 118.384667°W / 34.090472; -118.384667

The Viper Room is a nightclub located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California. It was opened in 1993 and was partly owned by actor Johnny Depp until 2004. The club became known for being a hangout of Hollywood elite, and was the site where actor River Phoenix died of a drug overdose on Halloween morning in 1993. In early 1995, Australian singer Jason Donovan, suffered a drug-induced seizure at the club and survived. The Viper Room has undergone several changes in ownership, and continues to host music of multiple genres, including metal, punk rock, and alternative rock.

The space where the club is located was originally a jazz bar called the Melody Room, a hangout of mobsters Bugsy Siegel and Mickey Cohen. In the 1970s and 1980s it operated as a club called The Central, which was close to shutting down before Chuck E. Weiss, who had performed there for years, suggested to Depp that they revitalize the spot and rename it "The Viper Room".Tom Waits also had a hand in redeveloping the spot.

Viper (disambiguation)

A Viper mostly refers to the Viperidae family of snakes. This may also refer to:

Snakes

Military

Ships

Aviation

Rockets and missiles

Other

Places

West Hollywood, California

West Hollywood, colloquially referred to as WeHo (/ˈwiːhoʊ/), is a city in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2010 census, its population was 34,399. As of 2013, 39% of its residents were gay men.

Geography

West Hollywood is bounded on the north by the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, on the east by the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, on the southeast by the Fairfax district of Los Angeles, on the southwest by the district of Beverly Grove, and on the west by the city of Beverly Hills.

The irregular boundary of the town is featured in the city logo, and was largely formed from the unincorporated Los Angeles County area that had not become part of the surrounding cities.

West Hollywood benefits from a very dense, compact urban form with small lots, mixed land use, and a walkable street grid. According to Walkscore, a website that ranks cities based on walkability, West Hollywood is the most walkable city in California with a Walkscore of 89. Commercial corridors include the nightlife and dining focused on the Sunset Strip, along Santa Monica Boulevard, and the Avenues of Art & Design along Robertson, Melrose, and Beverly Boulevard.

River Phoenix

River Jude Phoenix (born River Jude Bottom; August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993) was an American actor, musician, and activist. He was the older brother of Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Liberty Phoenix and Summer Phoenix.

Phoenix's work encompassed 24 films and television appearances, and his rise to fame led to his status as a "teen idol". He began his acting career at age 10, in television commercials. He starred in the science fiction adventure film Explorers (1985), and had his first notable role in 1986's Stand By Me, a coming-of-age film based on a novella by Stephen King. Phoenix made a transition into more adult-oriented roles with Running on Empty (1988), playing the son of fugitive parents in a well-received performance that earned him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and My Own Private Idaho (1991), playing a gay hustler in search of his estranged mother. For his performance in the latter, Phoenix garnered enormous praise and won a Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival, along with Best Actor from the National Society of Film Critics.

Viperidae

The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of venomous snakes found all over the world, except in Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar, Hawaii, various other isolated islands, and north of the Arctic Circle. All have relatively long, hinged fangs that permit deep penetration and injection of venom. Four subfamilies are currently recognised. They are also known as viperids.

Description

All viperids have a pair of relatively long solenoglyphous (hollow) fangs that are used to inject venom from glands located towards the rear of the upper jaws, just behind the eyes. Each of the two fangs is at the front of the mouth on a short maxillary bone that can rotate back and forth. When not in use, the fangs fold back against the roof of the mouth and are enclosed in a membranous sheath. The left and right fangs can be rotated together or independently. During a strike, the mouth can open nearly 180° and the maxilla rotates forward, erecting the fangs as late as possible so that the fangs do not become damaged, as they are brittle. The jaws close upon impact and the muscular sheaths encapsulating the venom glands contract, injecting the venom as the fangs penetrate the target. This action is very fast; in defensive strikes, it will be more a stab than a bite. Viperids use this mechanism primarily for immobilization and digestion of prey. Secondarily, it is used for self-defence, though in cases with nonprey, such as humans, they may give a dry bite (not inject any venom). A "dry bite" allows the snake to conserve their precious reserve of venom, because once it has been depleted, it takes time to replenish, leaving the snake vulnerable.