Hollywood · 1964 to 1973
Tap a bird on the wire to name him.
The first five were Jim McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke. McGuinn fronted the Byrds from 1964 until 1973, when he began his solo career.
Monday nights · Early 1964
McGuinn was playing a solo act at the Troubadour when Gene Clark, just out of the New Christy Minstrels, suggested they write songs together. The next day they were trying them out in the club’s front room, and David Crosby joined in on a high harmony.
The Troubadour’s Monday night open-mic audition was known as the Hoot. They called themselves the Jet Set. When Elektra signed them they became the Beefeaters, and the Elektra single was not a hit.
Before 1964 · Chicago
Roger McGuinn was born James Joseph McGuinn III in Chicago in 1942. Before the Byrds, he studied at the Old Town School of Folk Music.
Classes and concerts in Lincoln Square. The school’s first home, on North Avenue, has gone.
Early 1964 · Santa Monica Boulevard
In early 1964 Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark and David Crosby met in the Troubadour’s front bar, at its Monday open-mic nights, and first sang together as a folk harmony trio called the Jet Set.
McGuinn and Crosby hired Michael Clarke on the spot when they saw him walking towards them outside the club. He could not play the drums yet.
A working club on Santa Monica Boulevard: see its listings and go to a show.
1964 · West Third Street
Crosby’s friend Jim Dickson, a producer at World Pacific Studios on Third Street, gave the trio free studio time and became their manager. Chris Hillman, a bluegrass mandolin player, was asked to audition here as the bass player, and learned the bass quickly.
World Pacific, Richard Bock’s jazz label, moved to 8715 West Third Street, at Third and Robertson, in the early 1960s: a building with room for a studio as well as offices and storage.
A private building, not open to visit. See it from West Third Street at Robertson Boulevard.
Thanksgiving 1964. At Thanksgiving dinner at Ed Tickner’s house, Dickson’s partner, they tried names.
Four names were tried round the table. Pick one.
Dickson arranged a loan. The band watched A Hard Day’s Night to study the Beatles’ instruments, traded in McGuinn’s banjo and guitar, and bought a Rickenbacker 12-string electric.
Land them · let them go
Land each Byrd as he arrives. Let him go when he leaves. McGuinn never flies off.
The Troubadour Early 1964
3 to land
Three birds are waiting above the wire. Land them.
Early 1964 · 9081 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood
McGuinn, Clark and Crosby meet in the front bar and sing as a trio.
In early 1964 Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark and David Crosby met in the Troubadour’s front bar, at its Monday open-mic nights, and first sang together as a folk harmony trio called the Jet Set. The club opened in 1957 as a 65-seat coffeehouse on La Cienega and moved to Santa Monica Boulevard in 1961. Its Monday hootenanny grew under its founder, Doug Weston.
McGuinn was playing a solo act at the Troubadour when Gene Clark, just out of the New Christy Minstrels, suggested they write songs together. The next day they were trying them out in the club’s front room, and David Crosby joined in on a high harmony.
A working club on Santa Monica Boulevard: see its listings and go to a show.
Sunset Boulevard · 1965
McGuinn suggested using only one verse of Mr. Tambourine Man, to cut down its length. By 26 June 1965 it had climbed to number one on Billboard’s chart.
Winter 1965 · 6121 Sunset
McGuinn’s FAQ says they recorded Mr. Tambourine Man in the winter of 1965 at Columbia’s Studio A in Hollywood. Terry Melcher, the producer, hired the Wrecking Crew to play the backing track. McGuinn was the only Byrd allowed to play on the session.
Columbia Square was built in 1937 to William Lescaze’s design as the West Coast headquarters of CBS: the Radio Building, Studio A and the Commercial/Television Building.
Offices now, not open to visit. See the restored Radio Building from Sunset Boulevard.
1965 · 8433 Sunset
In 1965 Bob Dylan got up and sang a few songs with the Byrds at Ciro’s. A photograph from that night is on the back of the Mr. Tambourine Man album.
Ciro’s opened at 8433 Sunset in January 1940. In 1965 it reopened as Ciro’s Le Disc, with acts including the Byrds, Little Richard, and Ike and Tina Turner. The Comedy Store opened in the building in 1972.
The Comedy Store: a working comedy club on the Sunset Strip. Go to a show.
29 and 30 November 1965 · 6230 Sunset
The Big T.N.T. Show was filmed at the Moulin Rouge nightclub on 29 and 30 November 1965, in front of about 1,200 people let in free. Twelve acts played, the Byrds among them.
The building opened as the Earl Carroll Theatre in 1938 and became the Moulin Rouge in 1953, then the Hullabaloo, the Kaleidoscope and, for Hair in 1968, the Aquarius.
Not open to visit; see the long theatre front from Sunset Boulevard, a block from Columbia Square.
In 1965 the Byrds played their Mr. Tambourine Man here for the first time.
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Summer 1965 · Queen’s Gate
Derek Taylor, once the Beatles’ press officer and now the Byrds’, arranged for the two bands to meet after a Byrds show at the club. John, George and Ringo came.
Blaises was a club in the basement of the Imperial Hotel at 121 Queen’s Gate. The building has since been demolished. The Byrds played Blaises on their first British tour, in 1965.
Lennon was taken with McGuinn’s small rectangular glasses, and later wore a round pair.
The building has gone. Walk Queen’s Gate in South Kensington; the pin marks the street.
London
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Compare tours1966 to 1968
Gene Clark was the first to leave. He had a panic attack on a plane in Los Angeles bound for New York and got off. McGuinn told him he could not be a Byrd if he could not fly.
The Monterey Pop Festival filled these fairgrounds in mid-June 1967. A revival in 2017 was held on the same site, fifty years to the day. After the Monterey Pop Festival, McGuinn and Hillman asked David Crosby to leave. He was paid off for his share of the partnership. After that, Michael Clarke quit.
Jim McGuinn became Roger in 1967, after a guru in Indonesia said a new name would vibrate better with the universe.
Now the Monterey County Fair & Event Center, a 22-acre state-owned venue; go to an event, or stay in its RV park.
Monterey, California · From $85 a night (2026)
Full-hookup RV pitches inside the fairgrounds where Monterey Pop was held in 1967, with showers, laundry and wifi. 2026: $85 a night, $510 a week; $75 a night for seniors and veterans. Book on RoverPass; some dates are blacked out.
See the RV park
Nashville · 9 to 15 March 1968
Request the planned Merle Haggard song.
On 15 March 1968 the Byrds played the Grand Ole Opry on the Ryman stage, introduced by Tompall Glaser. They had cut their hair shorter for the country audience. Some people heckled them anyway.
15 March 1968
In June 2018 McGuinn and Hillman began a 50th-anniversary Sweetheart of the Rodeo tour here, with Marty Stuart.
Daytime tours every day, 9am to 4pm: self-guided $25 plus tax for adults (through 31 October 2026), guided backstage $42.52 plus tax.
Downtown Nashville · Self-guided $25 + tax · backstage $42.52 + tax
The hall where the Byrds played the Opry in 1968. Daytime tours every day, 9am to 4pm: self-guided about an hour, guided backstage about an hour and a half.
Book a tour
9 to 15 March 1968 · Music Square East
The Byrds started recording the songs for Sweetheart of the Rodeo at Columbia’s studios in Nashville on 9 March 1968. The Nashville sessions ended on 15 March; the rest was recorded in Hollywood in April and May. Gram Parsons sang lead on three of the album’s eleven songs, Hickory Wind among them.
Owen and Harold Bradley turned a house on this lot into a studio in 1954 and added the Quonset hut. Columbia Records bought the studio in 1962. It stopped being a recording studio in 1982. Mike Curb bought it in 2014, and it is now part of Belmont University’s Curb College.
Belmont University teaches here; see the outside on a walk along Music Row.
Gram Parsons quit the Byrds in London, nine months after he was hired. Hillman quit after a tour of South Africa.
1973 and 1991
In 1973 the Byrds began their reunion tour with a show here. The Byrds were inducted in 1991, by Don Henley of the Eagles. All five original members are on the Hall’s signature panel.
The Hall quotes McGuinn’s own short version of the sound: Dylan meets the Beatles.
A museum on the Cleveland lakefront; check its hours before you go.
11 places you can visit. Blaises has gone, so its pin marks Queen’s Gate; World Pacific and Columbia’s Nashville studios are seen from the street.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working club on Santa Monica Boulevard: see its listings and go to a show.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A private building, not open to visit. See it from West Third Street at Robertson Boulevard.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Offices now, not open to visit. See the restored Radio Building from Sunset Boulevard.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The Comedy Store: a working comedy club on the Sunset Strip. Go to a show.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Not open to visit; see the long theatre front from Sunset Boulevard, a block from Columbia Square.
9081 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood
In early 1964 Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark and David Crosby met in the Troubadour’s front bar, at its Monday open-mic nights, and first sang together as a folk harmony trio called the Jet Set.
A working club on Santa Monica Boulevard: see its listings and go to a show.
8715 West Third Street, Los Angeles
Crosby’s friend Jim Dickson, a producer at World Pacific Studios on Third Street, gave the trio free studio time and became their manager.
A private building, not open to visit. See it from West Third Street at Robertson Boulevard.
6121 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood
McGuinn’s FAQ says they recorded Mr. Tambourine Man in the winter of 1965 at Columbia’s Studio A in Hollywood.
Offices now, not open to visit. See the restored Radio Building from Sunset Boulevard.
8433 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood
Ciro’s opened at 8433 Sunset in January 1940.
The Comedy Store: a working comedy club on the Sunset Strip. Go to a show.
6230 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood
The Big T.N.T. Show was filmed at the Moulin Rouge nightclub on 29 and 30 November 1965, in front of about 1,200 people let in free. Twelve acts played, the Byrds among them.
Not open to visit; see the long theatre front from Sunset Boulevard, a block from Columbia Square.
Stay
The fairground’s own RV park, inside the gates where Monterey Pop was held.
Monterey, California · From $85 a night (2026)
Full-hookup RV pitches inside the fairgrounds where Monterey Pop was held in 1967, with showers, laundry and wifi. 2026: $85 a night, $510 a week; $75 a night for seniors and veterans. Book on RoverPass; some dates are blacked out.
See the RV parkGo there
Tours of the Ryman, and music tours of Hollywood, Music Row and sixties London on the marketplace.
Downtown Nashville · Self-guided $25 + tax · backstage $42.52 + tax
The hall where the Byrds played the Opry in 1968. Daytime tours every day, 9am to 4pm: self-guided about an hour, guided backstage about an hour and a half.
Book a tourLos Angeles
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Compare toursWhat’s on
We found no Byrds-related event on or after today on an official page. The Troubadour, the Comedy Store and the Ryman publish their own listings.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Take it home
An original 1970 Fillmore West poster from our store, books on the band and on Gene Clark, and four records from 1965 to 1969.
An original 1970 Fillmore West poster by David Singer for a bill shared with Fleetwood Mac. 14 × 22 in, rolled, mint.
In stock
View posterJohnny Rogan
Johnny Rogan’s history of the band. Rogan House, 1998.
Find the bookJohnny Rogan
The first volume of Rogan’s later Byrds book. Rogan House, 2011.
Find the bookJohn Einarson
A life of Gene Clark. Backbeat, 2005.
Find the bookThe Byrds · Vinyl LP, Columbia CL 2372, 1965
The first album, with the Ciro’s photograph of Dylan on the back.
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Find a copyThe Byrds · Vinyl LP, Columbia CS 9254, 1965
The second album, December 1965.
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Find a copyThe Byrds · Vinyl LP, Columbia CS 9670, 1968
Begun in Nashville in March 1968, with Gram Parsons.
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Find a copyThe Byrds · Vinyl LP, Together ST-T-1001, 1969
Early recordings from before Columbia, released in 1969.
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Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
11 of 11 places · 15 of 15 Moments
9081 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood
McGuinn, Clark and Crosby meet in the front bar and sing as a trio.
Michael Clarke is hired outside the club before he can play the drums.
The Byrds play their Mr. Tambourine Man at the Troubadour for the first time.
The original Byrds begin a reunion tour at the Troubadour.
8715 West Third Street, Los Angeles
Jim Dickson gives the trio free time at World Pacific and becomes their manager; Chris Hillman auditions on bass.
6121 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood
The single recorded at Columbia’s Studio A in Hollywood, with the Wrecking Crew and McGuinn the only Byrd playing.
8433 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood
Bob Dylan sings a few songs with the Byrds at Ciro’s.
6230 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood
The Byrds among twelve acts filmed at the Moulin Rouge.
34 Music Square East, Nashville
The Nashville sessions for Sweetheart of the Rodeo at Columbia’s studios.
116 Rep. John Lewis Way North, Nashville
The Byrds play the Grand Ole Opry; Gram Parsons swaps in Hickory Wind.
McGuinn and Hillman start the Sweetheart of the Rodeo anniversary tour at the Ryman.
121 Queen’s Gate, South Kensington, London
After a show at Blaises, the Byrds meet John, George and Ringo.
Monterey County Fair & Event Center, Monterey, California
The Byrds at the Monterey Pop Festival; afterwards Crosby is asked to leave.
4544 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago
Jim McGuinn studies at the Old Town School of Folk Music.
1100 East 9th Street, Cleveland
The Byrds are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
