Bringing Back the Troubadour of Old : Pop music: The West Hollywood club helped launch the careers of Elton John and Linda Ronstadt. Now a plan is under way to recapture its glory.

Can the Troubadour recapture its past glory?

In the ‘60s and early ‘70s the West Hollywood club was arguably the most important pop showcase in the world. It helped launch the careers of dozens of artists, including Elton John, Linda Ronstadt and Bette Midler, and hosted performances by a Who’s Who of pop music, including Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Randy Newman and Neil Diamond (who recorded a live album at the club).

It was the flowering of a scene that had grown steadily after Doug Weston opened its doors as a jazz and folk club in 1957.

But, after an early ‘80s run as a prime stop for rising metal acts (Motley Crue and Van Halen were among the up-and-comers that played there), the Troubadour became something of an afterthought in the L.A. club scene, hosting scores of local rock wanna-bes but few real national stars or likely candidates.

In recent months, though, the club has again become a regular hangout for the music cognoscenti, with the likes of Maria McKee, American Music Club, Shawn Colvin and the Breeders all performing in the cozy, wood-decorated room. There have also been special shows by such arena headliners as Anthrax, KISS and the Black Crowes.

It’s all part of a game plan put in place by club manager Lance Hubp to bring the Troub--as it’s often called--back to prominence.

“I’m in my third month of what I figure has to be six months of high profile (to make the club work again),” says Hubp, who began managing the club in 1990 after tending bar there for several years. “In August, I had 12 national acts play here, in September it’s 13. That’s a lot.”

Some veteran L.A. club-goers are pleased to have the Troubadour back on the circuit.

“To me it’s as enjoyable as any club in L.A. to go see music, and I didn’t think it would be again,” says Bill Bentley, a publicist for Warner Bros. Records, which has had several acts play the club recently. “I’ve really appreciated the club the last few times I’ve been there.”

That’s quite a change from recent perceptions.

“From top to bottom, this was a heavy-metal club,” says Hubp. “The crowd was abusive. We had a reputation for having doormen who were animals, and it was absolutely true. They used to beat up patrons. That’s definitely a snafu in the marketing scheme.”

Hubp’s sense of humor about the club’s past is something that’s come with working there six and seven days a week, 14 hours a day. Hubp, 34, says that he was punched himself a few times when he fired some of the employees. “Lance is on a mission,” says Keith Borow, an advertising account executive at the Long Beach-based hard-rock radio station KNAC-FM (105.5) who has organized a number of promotional events at the club.

“Because of him, the Troubadour has shed its image of being a not-so-great place to go. Bands used to look at it like a place to go and rehearse before taking their shows to the Sunset Strip. Now, it’s turned around.”

The renewed appeal may be linked to an ongoing face lift. The recent renovations include a plush VIP lounge, a headliner’s dressing room and revamped lighting.

The club itself is adaptable to a variety of styles of music. For rock shows the floor is cleared and people crowd up to the stage. For quieter nights, tables are set up and drinks are served by waitresses. Above the floor is a bleachers-like balcony, a favorite hangout for music industry personnel who don’t feel like mixing with the paying fans.

But the real highlight of the renovation is the sound system, which received a $110,000 boost.

Hubp believes that the key to the club’s revival, though, will be making it again the place of discovery that it once was.

In the Troubadour’s heyday, acts would traditionally open on Tuesday nights and play through Sunday--with the best of them creating enough word-of-mouth that on weekends the lines would stretch along Santa Monica Boulevard and go around the corner on Doheny. The Troubadour bar was the hottest meeting place in town for musicians--it’s where the Eagles were formed.

That kind of scene is probably gone forever, but Hubp is encouraged by the level of unknown talent coming through the club on nights not taken by national acts.

“I’ve got a couple of local bands right now who I believe are just so far above the level of everything else that they stunned me,” says Hubp, who in May started booking 85% of the shows himself. “Unfortunately, I am still faced with playing art against revenue in every booking.

“There was a time where I feel that at the Troubadour, music was the only issue,” he says. “Everybody came and auditioned and the ones that were good were the ones that played. But that only lasted till the early ‘70s. I figure if it happened once, it can happen again.”

Weston, who still owns the Troubadour, concurs. “It’s really nice that the venue’s been built up,” he says. “But the important thing is the acts. It’s always the acts.”