Pot Problem? What, pot problem?

Happenings during the last four months of 1970 earned Pepperland the moniker Woodstock West in more ways than one. Accusations of open and frequent drug use at the venue caught the attention of city leaders, and promoters Ben Blatt and Nat Shind were under constant pressure to toe the line from local officials. On one occasion, San Rafael City Councilman Harry Barbier falsely claimed he was a fire marshall upon barging into the Pepperland and threatening to put the rock hall and the Bermuda Palms “out of business,” later stating, “it ought to be closed. They’re all smoking pot down there!” The quarrel played out publicly in the local Independent Journal with San Rafael Mayor Paul Bettini stating that the “purple-painted building had drawn more complaints than any other item” in his time as mayor. City council meetings turned contentious with continued accusations towards the promoters of catering to large crowds of underage dope smokers getting high. The San Rafael city building inspector declared the venue’s legal capacity to be “only 1,850,” although shows often drew more than 2,000. Pepperland’s attorney Daniel Weinstein fired back, accusing city leaders of not doing enough to give young people a place to go and keep them “off the streets.” Meanwhile, memorable performances by Joan Baez, Hot Tuna, The Incredible String Band, Leon Russell, and The Grateful Dead with David Crosby filled Pepperland with high-schoolers “jammed together, sitting on the floor smoking marijuana and hashish openly,” giving all the rumors and accusations credibly. 


The Joan Baez shows on Sunday, December 20, 1970, were some of Pepperland’s most successful events. Baez performed two one-hour shows at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., billed as “An Hour with Joan Baez.” Founder and director of the Berkeley Folk Music Festival, Barry Olivier (est. in 1958), served as the show’s producer. Olivier also promoted a pair of Muddy Waters

The next night was advertised on the Pepperland marque as “Acoustic Dead Jam,” but it turned out to be an electrified Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzmann backing up David Crosby.

and Big Momma Thornton shows at Pepperland and Berkeley Theater in April 1972. Records show “Folklore Productions” produced the Baez shows in an agreement documented between Olivier and Shind, with Olivier having rented Pepperland for $500 plus $250 to cover staff and crew, including coat check, security, and program salespeople who earned 20% on every program they sold. 
 


Neither the cold December rain nor a bomb threat could keep people away from the heavily advertised Baez performances; the line for each show reportedly went around the block, and parking was “as bad as Kezar” (Stadium, San Francisco). The shows opened with a popular Sonoma County country-rock group called Frontier. The combined performances drew nearly 7,000 concert-goers, well above the city-stated capacity of 1,850 per show, and markedly better than the Chuck Berry show two nights earlier, which saw less than 1,000 attendees. Police later reported that, around 9:25 p.m., a male caller had phoned Pepperland and stated, “There’s a bomb set to go off in Pepperland at 10 o’clock; we don’t dig Joan Baez around here.” Pepperland security, led by Nathaniel Weathers, had quietly but intensively searched the building, the crowd, and the grounds for over an hour and found nothing. No one at the show even knew. 
 The next night, December 21, was advertised on the Pepperland marque as “Acoustic Dead Jam,” but it turned out to be an electrified Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzmann backing up David Crosby. Numerous other Bay Area artists, including New Riders of the Purple Sage, joined the mostly electric jam. While the Grateful Dead (whose rehearsal space on Front Street was directly behind the Bermuda Palms) played at 721 E. Francisco Blvd. when it was known as Euphoria, this is the only known time the Dead performed at “Pepperland”.