If the Summer of Love had a soundtrack, it would have been recorded at the Fillmore.
The names alone are magic - Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Cream, Jefferson Airplane, the Butterfield Blues Band.Another chance for magic begins Thursday, when a refurbished Fillmore reopens with a month-long lineup of modern talents - Chris Isaak, Michelle Shocked, Queen Latifah, Counting Crows and They Might Be Giants.
The auditorium at the corner of Fillmore and Geary streets is a place where rock 'n' roll history was made for a time in the late 1960s.
It began Dec. 10, 1965, when San Francisco rock 'n' roll impresario Bill Graham presented Jefferson Airplane and Great Society. The Grateful Dead, who had just changed their name from the Warlocks a week before, opened, said Dennis McNally, a band spokesman.
In its heyday from 1965 to 1968, the Fillmore presented three bands a night, mixing blues, rock 'n' roll and jazz in an eclectic lineup that took audiences on a wild ride night after night.
In August of 1967 you could have seen The Steve Miller Blues Band opening for Chuck Berry on the 11th and then the Butterfield Blues Band and Cream on the 22nd. On one memorable night, Miles Davis opened for the Dead.
Graham's musical production moved on to larger venues after 1968, but he kept a special place in his heart for the first hall he ever booked. In 1988 he returned to the Fillmore and launched a second wave of history, bringing the likes of k.d. lang, the B-52s and Jane's Addiction to play.
A year later the Loma Prieta earthquake closed the space. Although the building wasn't badly damaged, owners Bert and Regina Kortz, with Bill Graham Presents, chose to spend well over $1.5 million to refurbish and make the structure safer, nightclub division president David Mayeri said.
Fulfilling a goal of their founder, who died in a helicopter accident in 1991, the staff at Bill Graham Presents have worked on the project for three years.
"We're here for emotional reasons," Mayeri said.
The Fillmore is a special performance space. Built in 1912, its soaring ceiling goes up two full stories. The walls are hung with huge curtains of red velvet and crystal chandeliers twinkle in the stage lights.
Balconies on the second floor look down onto the stage, and the entire floor is an open dance floor. It holds about 1,100 people.
Imagine Queen Latifah playing in your high school gym.
"People can go right up to the stage. That chemistry is really important to the performers," said Mayeri.
That energy means that everyone wants to perform at the Fillmore.
"Bands come here and they're underplaying the market. They could play this room 10 times over, but they want to be here - at the Fillmore," Mayeri said.
Mayeri, who began working for Graham as a 16-year-old drama club student from Berkeley High School, said he thought Graham would be pleased with what they've done.