The Dark Ages

The story of how 1318 4th Ave. came to be is as complicated a one as any told, and one would think that an initiation into a secret society would be a requirement to tell it.

Put simply, it’s ancient fucking history, and most people would rather not talk about it, or at least that’s the impression I’ve gotten over my years and efforts to tell the tale.

What can be told is the building had long been a downtown Huntington hallmark, and passed through a number of owners and existed under various incarnations from at least the 1950’s to present day.

By the late-1980’s, however, the building lay dormant when two partners of a club in West Virginia’s capital city of Charleston decided to make something of it.

(1318 4th Ave., Huntington, West virginia, May 1995)

Jon Steele and John Kerwood operated the The Levee and The Empty Glass, both staples of Charleston’s nightlife throughout the late-1980’s, early-1990’s, and their vision of an alternative to the banal club scene in downtown Huntington, which would be located merely blocks from Marshall University’s campus, eventually led to the creation of Gumby’s. (In fact, The Empty Glass continues to operate to this very day, albeit under different management.)

By 1990, Huntington had tried its hand at this idea before – just two years earlier The Rock N Roll Café appeared poised to provide that alternative, and also hosted live music (bands such as Soul Asylum and L.A. Guns appeared at the club in 1988 alone).

(Burke Allen, a DJ for Huntington's WKEE 100.5, also operated his own eponymous all-ages club for a short period in the late-1980s, and held "Battle of the Band" competitions that would feature the future members of many of the region's most notable bands.)

The plug was pulled on The Rock N Roll Café just prior to Marshall’s Homecoming Week 1989, effectively canceling previously-booked live acts like Skinny Puppy and Otis Day & The Knights (of National Lampoon’s Animal House fame), both of whom were set to appear, and Burke Allen's closed not long thereafter.

So, in a fleeting moment both clubs were gone, and so was the hope of a small, but growing conglomerate of college students and recent high school graduates who longed for a place to call their own.

(Unfortunately for them, however, their members numbered in the few at the time.)

Much to everyone’s surprise, however, was that soon thereafter a shift began to occur, and while it wasn’t one of seismic proportions, it was evident a sea change was forming.

Davidson’s Music, an independent record store in downtown Huntington, underwent a change in ownership in October 1990, and, as a result, a change in personality.

The store began to cater to college students and took advantage of the then-relatively obscure college rock demographic that would, in a few short years, emerge from the underground and into mainstream consciousness.

Simultaneously, Marshall’s student-operated radio station, WMUL 88.1, a Huntington institution since 1961, also began a shift toward the same demographic championed by Davidson’s, due in no small part to the eventual contributions of two of its own student DJ’s.

Seemingly over night, these two factions would all but converge (as DJ's became record store employees) and play a vital role in the duration of each other’s existence.

It was during this gathering storm that Steele and Kerwood decided that the vacant building at 1318 4th Ave. would provide the ideal spot to realize their vision of an alternative Huntington club.

Although unbeknownst to them at the time, their vision would eventually rival that of West virginia’s other notable alternative club - Morgantown, West Virginia’s Underground Railroad (later known as the Nyabinghi Dance Hall), itself located only a few short blocks from the West Virginia University campus.

(Underground Railroad newspaper ad, The Daily Athenaeum, April 1986)

But, what would perhaps become the biggest inspiration for what 1318 4th Ave. became was The Wrocklage, a Lexington, Kentucky, rock club that opened in October 1988, and featured acts such as Soundgarden, The Flaming Lips and Screaming Trees well before the Gumby's contingent began booking live music.

The Wrocklage was conceived by David Butler, vocalist/guitarist of Lexington’s Stranglmartin, and not only did the club book up-and-coming national acts, but it also provided a venue for bands from the fruitful local scene to ply their trade.

(The Wrocklage's show calendar, October 1991)

Bands calling themselves Skinny Bones (soon to be known as Black Cat Bone), Groovezilla and 10 Foot Pole, just to name a few, all began cutting their teeth and honing their chops at the Wrocklage, and this formula of booking nationally-recognized acts coupled with homegrown talent proved to be a successful one.

The idea would not be lost on those whom would be instrumental in the development of Huntington’s own music scene, and it helped to legitimize 1318 4th Ave. as a viable option for both touring bands and local musicians to perform their music in a live setting.