Birmingham Palladium Abuptly Closes

[CassTechGrad]

Is there anyone that still remembers the old Birmingham Palladium teen nightclub from the 1960's?

In 1965, the Teen Center was a nonprofit enterprise established at 136 Brownell — now Peabody Street — in the hopes of offering teens a place to go to enjoy music and to be together. The building formerly housed Potter Moving and Storage Co.; now, it is a parking garage.

“Punch” Andrews, young Bob Seger’s manager, and Russ Gibb, of Detroit’s Grande Ballroom, saw an opportunity and reopened it as the Palladium, featuring the Bob Seger System as its first act in 1969.

In the next two years, the Palladium featured many big-name performers, including Big Brother and The Holding Company, Bo Diddley, Edgar Winter, Humble Pie, The James Gang Johnny Winter, Little Richard, Poco, Rod Stewart and The Faces, Savoy Brown, and Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground. Despite all the effort and talent, the Palladium lost money and closed in 1971.