The Amphitheater Long Beach Forgot

A funny thing happened on the way to the amphitheater. As Long Beach is celebrating the opening of the new F&M Bank Amphitheater near the Queen Mary, much of the attention has understandably focused on its inaugural concert featuring Snoop Dogg on June 7. Yet amid the excitement surrounding the city's newest outdoor venue, a similar piece of Long Beach music history has largely been forgotten.

Long before today's waterfront amphitheater, Long Beach had another outdoor performance venue in the heart of downtown: the Downtown Amphitheater, also known as the Amphitheater at International Square. Located at First Street and Locust Avenue along the Promenade, it served as a gathering place for around 200 capacity music lovers, 500 standing, throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

The venue emerged during a transformative period in the city's history. In 1975, Long Beach embarked on an ambitious downtown redevelopment effort that included the creation of the Promenade, a pedestrian walkway that replaced a section of Locust Avenue south of Third Street. The same year saw the debut of the Long Beach Grand Prix, while the beloved Pike amusement zone would close just five years later. The amphitheater became one of the cultural centerpieces of this new downtown vision.

Today, references to the Downtown Amphitheater are surprisingly difficult to find. Unlike many former entertainment venues, there is no comprehensive concert history, and recent publicity surrounding the new amphitheater has largely eclipsed memories of its predecessor.

One of the earliest documented major events at the venue took place on November 20, 1982. Billed as a free Blues and R&B Concert, the concert also served as a promotion for KLON-FM 88, Cal State Long Beach's acclaimed jazz and blues radio station.

The lineup represented a remarkable cross-section of American popular music. Pee Wee Crayton was a major blues guitar hero since the 1940s. One of several Coasters, known for "Yakety Yak" and "Charlie Brown," appeared as did Richard Berry, writer and originator of "Louie Louie," one of the most influential rock songs ever recorded. Don Julian, famous for the 1964 dance hit, "The Jerk" with the Larks backed several of these acts. Also featured were the Bernie Pearl Blues Band and the Doug MacLeod Blues Band.

For the next decade, the amphitheater became a regular stop for a wide variety of performers. Friday night concerts frequently drew crowds who filled the concrete terraces with blankets, snacks and a variety of potables, while enjoying free outdoor entertainment. The venue became an important part of Long Beach's Summer Concerts in the Parks series, despite being located in the middle of downtown.

The acts reflected the city's diverse musical tastes. Soul groups such as The Spinners and The 5th Dimension appeared on its stage, as did Oakland funk powerhouse Tower of Power. Jazz legends Jeannie Cheatham and the Sweet Baby Blues Band, Nancy Wilson and Joe Williams performed there, alongside the ever-popular Johnny Otis Show. Even punk pioneer Patti Smith made an appearance as did Glenn Yarbrough of the folk group, the Limeliters, exemplifying the venue's eclectic scheduling.

Among the performers was Motown star Mary Wells, whose career predated many of the label's biggest female acts. After writing "Bye Bye Baby" for R&B singer Jackie Wilson, Wells caught the attention of Berry Gordy Jr., who signed her to the fledgling Motown label. She later scored a number-one hit with "My Guy" in 1964, one of the few American records to interrupt the dominance of the British Invasion.

On August 19, 1990, the amphitheater welcomed the Texas Tornados, the Tex-Mex supergroup featuring Doug Sahm and Freddy Fender. Fender's career had begun years earlier as "El Kid," recording Elvis Presley songs in Spanish. His crossover breakthrough came in 1975 with "Before the Next Teardrop Falls," a bilingual hit that topped the national charts.

Reflecting on the song's unique blend of styles, the versatile Fender once remarked, "My mother used to tell me I aimed at everything and hit nothing. If I'd known Japanese or German, I'd have put it in." The combination of country, rock, and Spanish-language influences became his signature sound. Sahm, meanwhile, was already a Texas music legend thanks to hits such as "She's About a Mover" with the Sir Douglas Quintet.

Perhaps the most poignant chapter in the amphitheater's history came one week earlier. On August 12, 1990, Curtis Mayfield appeared at the venue. Recognized as one of the most important voices in American music, Mayfield was a defining musical voice of the civil rights era through songs such as "Keep On Pushing" and "People Get Ready" by the Impressions. "I believe any song that's good enough to sing in church, broken down in its proper lyric form, is good enough to perform in a tavern, being that there are human beings in both,” said Mayfield in an interview that weekend about “People Get Ready.” 

As a solo artist, for the landmark soundtrack for the 1972 film “Super Fly,” Mayfield produced enduring hits, "Freddie's Dead" and "Superfly." On the same weekend, these acts also appeared at Silverado Park.

What no one in the audience that summer evening could have known was that the Long Beach performance would be among the final healthy appearances of his career. A day later, while onstage in Brooklyn, Mayfield was struck by falling stage lighting equipment and left paralyzed. Although he continued to record music afterward, he would never perform again and passed away in 1999.

“I remember all this incredible stuff was happening, then the city lost interest and suddenly it became a free open-air dormitory,” noted a Facebook contributor. “The music stopped; the general public started avoiding the area, except for market days. But decline became a burden and then it was gone.”

Removed from the area for additional development, the city vaguely promised its return, which took about 35 years to achieve.

Today, little remains to remind visitors that a downtown amphitheater once hosted an extraordinary range of performers, from Motown legends and blues pioneers to punk icons and civil rights-era musical giants. The funny thing? In an act of history-washing, the Mayfield and Fender concert locales were cited by a trusted online site as the Long Beach Arena, replacing and erasing municipal memory of the original Long Beach Amphitheater.