Viper Room

Encyclopedia : V : VI : VIP : Viper Room

The Viper Room

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 died of a drug overdose on Halloween morning in 1993.

On the night of Phoenix's death, River was in the bathroom doing drugs with various friends and drug dealers. Eventually, somebody offered him a Valium and some Persian Brown (A powerful form of methamphetamine mixed with opiates, which is then snorted). Meanwhile, Johnny Depp and his good friend Flea, who is the bassist from the Red Hot Chili Peppers were on stage playing music when they noticed Phoenix staggering out of the night club. Both Depp and Flea jumped off of the stage and followed Phoenix outside. Soon after leaving The Viper Room, River then collapsed on the sidewalk and started going into seizures for a couple of minutes. River then stopped breathing and was pronounced dead shortly afterwards; He was 23 years old.

Even following Phoenix's death, the club remained a hang-out for Hollywood hottest young actors. Regulars included Jennifer Aniston and Sean Penn.

In Oliver Stone's film The Doors (1991), the Viper Room was used as a filming location for scenes depicting the London Fog, a lesser-known nightclub next to the Whisky a Go Go where The Doors had their first regular gig for four months in early 1966.[Filming Locations for The Doors]

As part of the settlement of a lawsuit involving the disappearance of co-owner Anthony Fox in 2001, Depp relinquished his ownership of the Viper Room in 2004.["A Christmas Murder In Hollywood, Part Three: Another Tragic Anniversary"] by James Ridgway de Szigethy, published December 2004 on [AmericanMafia.com] The nightclub is now owned by Darin Feinstein, Bevan Cooney, and Blackhawk Capital Partners, Inc.

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.["Viper Room Changing It's Name Jan. 1..."] on CincyMusic.com (December 2005 forum post by club owner/manager) Another "Viper Room" in Portland, Oregon has also been told to stop using the name under threat of a trademark lawsuit, with owner Darin Feinstein claiming "Every dollar they make is the result of using our name".["Nightclub coils to strike in trademark infringement suits"] by Amanda Bronstad, Los Angeles Business Journal November 21, 2005

Footnotes