THE RED CARPET
"Young Adult Nightclub"
5212 South Tacoma Way
Tacoma, Washington
1963 ~ 1971


The Red Carpet in About 1968

The Red Carpet building as it appeared in April 2000

Click on Photo for Larger Version

The Stingrays in Front of The Red Carpet in the Summer of 1964
 

Proprietors

Rueben
Don Consola
Donna Consola

Security
Gene Henkel

 

Photo -  Gene Henkel and Rochelle "Rocky" at the Red Carpet - June 1966 - Courtesy of Kimberlee Henkel-Moody

The first day I got my drivers license, I went to see my Grandma who lived off 6th Ave in Tacoma. It was dark when I went home, and as I was going the back way to Lakewood, three men in an old caddie drove up next to me. They started following me, and would run up on my bumper, and then along side of me. I remember I was scared to death. My Dad had Pete Lovely, the one time race car driver, teach both my sister and I how to drive fast and control a car at at high speeds, because one of my Dad's friend's son was kidnapped by the Country Club, and Dad worried about his girls.  So, I had my sisters GTO, and I took off.  Next thing I know, I saw red lights in my mirror.  SH#@, BUSTED! The officer came to the window and said, " Miss, I clocked you doing 65 in a 35, and of course`I told him about what happened. He said he didn't see them... and proceeded in giving me a TICKET, on my first day!  I was so pissed, and then there was the problem of facing my Dad. To make a longer story shorter, a few nights after that, WE were at the Red Carpet. I walked in the door, and guess who was checking ID? Yep, Gene Henkel, the nice officer that gave me my ticket. I couldn't believe it!  But after I talked to him and explained my story, he had my ticket fixed, and we did a lot of laughing about it! Sue Isekite McNulty (Regents - Chandelles), April 2003

The Regents - Early 1964

The Regents - Late 1965

Sandy Faye with the Stingrays

Willie Washington with The Stingrays

The Stage - 1965	Entrance and Coat Room That is Sue Isekite on right - 1965
Bob Crutchfield... Waiting for the first set to start and thinking to himself "The chicks dig me". 1965	Sammy Carlson (Regents) chatting before the first set.  Loved the hair styles in '65.
More people filing in before the first song starts.  See any familiar faces?	We were Dance Bands in those days.  If the band didn't rock, the kids didn't dance...  result? The band wasn't invited back...  1965
Rob Lowery (Galaxies - Surprise Package) and Proprietor Donna Consola at the club's bar	Irene (back to camera) & Penny Ronich Click on Photo for Larger Version

List indicates in brackets ( ), the number of appearances in the gig lists submitted by individual bands, individual contributors or advertisements in the Entertainment Pages of the Tacoma News Tribune between October 63 and December 66 or other submissions sent to the Webmaster.  Undoubtedly, more band performed here, and the numbers next to the band names actually understate the numbers of times they may have performed there.

 

The Accents (1) The Artesians (4) The Beachcombers (9) The Bootmen (1) Bosstweed (1) The Chancellors (1) Chandelles (19) The Corvettes (1) The Deacons (8) The Desolutes (3) Duprees The Dynamics (2) The El Caminos (1) The Entertainers (2) The Fourth Day Gerry Roslie & His Funky Little For Peace Five The Galaxies ( 11) Don & the Goodtimes (3)

The Henchmen Ice The Intruders (2) The Kingsmen (1) Legendary Sunshine Liverpool Five Magical Freeway Mandarin Extract The Mergers (1) Mr. Lucky and the Gamblers Muf The Noblemen (11) Pageboys The Pied Pipers The Prophets Pure Sunshine Quebec The Randelas (4)

The Raymarks (18) The Rays (1) The Redcoats The Regents (50) The Searchers (1) The Sensations (10) Smiling Castle The Solitudes (1) The Sonics (20) Surprise Package State Fair The Statesmen (13) Tiny Tony & the Statics (6) The Stingrays (1) Sweet Rolle The Third Generation (1) The Titans

Merrilee & The Turnabouts (3) The Valiants (1) The Viceroys (2) Wild Vibrations

"The Red Carpet!  What a flood of memories.  I remember the great vibe there.  The regulars were very into music and were in the know."

Jim Sola, The Deacons

If you have more information, photos, one liner quotes, or stories to share about this popular 1960's young adult nightclub, please send them to webmaster@PNWBands.com

Info Credits:  Tacoma News Tribune, Sammy Carlson, Donna Consola, Jim Sola, Bobby Summers, Rico Corpuz, Rob Henricksen, Susan Weaver Bishop, Tim Hill, Jeff Morgan, Rosanne Budinick, Jeff Morgan, Tom Walters, Sue Isekite, Carl Wilson, Bruce Partridge, Joel Johnson, Chuck Naubert,  Bob Wikstrom, Charlie Lewis

Photo Credits:  L. Carlson, S. Carlson, Bobby Summers, Susan Weaver Bishop, Donna Consola,  Brad Beck, Kimberlee Henkel-Moody, John Gordon
 

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