Brendan Mullen
DOB Unknown – October 12, 2009

Photo by Adam Wallacavage
Photo by Adam Wallacavage

Brendan Mullen is best remembered for The Masque, the legendary Los Angeles punk club that he opened in 1977.  After moving to Los Angeles from London in 1973, Mullen took over a filthy room that sat right behind the notorious Pussycat Theater in Hollywood and transformed it into a rehearsal space for  local bands.  In a matter of matter of months, the room became a venue that some consider the flashpoint of the local punk scene of the late ’70s.  Bands like the Germs, X, the Weirdos, the Go-Gos, and the Plugz all played some of their earliest gigs there.  As could be expected, Mullen clashed on numerous occasions with area merchants, the fire department and the L.A.P.D. before the club was temporarily shut down in 1978.  It briefly re-opened in another location in 1979 before closing permanently.  Mullen later went on to book shows at The Other Masque and Club Lingerie, both also in Hollywood.  In later years, Mullen wrote such books about the L.A. punk scene as We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk, Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs, and Live at the Masque: Nightmare in Punk Alley.  Brendan Mullen died in a Los Angeles hospital on October 12, 2009.  He had suffered a massive stroke.

Thanks to Craig Rosen at Number1Albums for the assist.

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3 thoughts on “Died On This Date (October12, 2009) Brendan Mullen / Founder of L.A. Punk Club, The Masque”
  1. Hi don’t know if you remember me but i did you back in LA. just found out about the wake from Keith, born a rocker die a rocker with bliss. we started something and the world will remember us

  2. I WORKED AT CLUB LINGERIE WITH BRENDAN AS SOUND MAN. I REMEMBER ONE DAY DAY BREDAN WAS WORRIED CAUSE HE HAD THE BAND FEAR TO PLAY BUT NO OPENNING ACT. I SUUGESTED TO HIM, MY BROTHER PLAYS IN A CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, WOULD U LIKE ME TO ASK HIM IF HE IS WILLING TO PLAY ALONG A PUNK BAND? ALAIN, THAT WOULD BE FANTASTIC. SO MY BROTHER, ALONG WITH 3 OTHER STRING MUSICIANS PLAYED. LEE OF FEAR APPRECIATED THE QUARTET SO MUCH, HE BROUGHT EACH PLAYER A DRINK FROM THE BAR.

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