Poster: 1967 Santa Clara Continental Ballroom Grand Opening Poster Janis & Quicksilver

Bands/Bill – Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Quicksilver Messenger Service

This piece is in rough shape, it has a few rips which I have tried to show in the photos, was folded and has tape marks in the corners. All of this said it is an iconic piece from Silicon Valley. A bit of love and care would make it a dynamite piece!

The Continental, at 1600 Martin Avenue in Santa Clara (a suburb of San Jose) was a converted roller skating rink. It used to be called The Continental Roller Bowl.Venue history from the web: "1600 Martin Ave., Santa Clara -- An unlikely spot for psychedelic frolic, this former roller-skating rink was converted into the Continental Ballroom. It was the South Bay's answer to San Francisco's Fillmore and Avalon Ballrooms. The 1967 grand opening show featured Big Brother and the Holding Company along with Quicksilver Messenger Service. The Doors played there later the same year. A bootlegged tape of the performance that night circulates on the Internet. Apparently, it was a wild scene. Dave Aguilar, lead singer for Chocolate Watchband, recalled a memorable pie fight with another band that was set up by the promoter as a publicity gimmick but got out of hand, and the audience rushed the stage to join in. The building later became One Step Beyond, a popular '80s nightclub, and now is occupied by an industrial tools warehouse and export company."

Posters and handbills from these smaller venues are quite scarce as the print runs were much shorter than the ones for the big ballrooms in San Francisco.