The Fillmore

The 1,200-capacity Fillmore was built in 1912, but is better known as the stage from which Bill Graham launched his rock-promotion empire and the 1960s "San Francisco Sound" with bands such as the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Big Brother and the Holding Company. The venue later changed hands several times and became a private neighborhood club and a punk spot in the '70s and '80s before reopening in the '90s and establishing itself as the powerhouse it is today. The performers who play here tend to be on the verge of megastardom or already at its apex and reaching back for the intimacy that only this legendary room can provide.