I was a 16-year-old growing up in Los Angeles. I was from San Francisco, but moved south in 1966 and still had a very large extended family in S.F. My first show was at the Forum on 6/4/77 and I did see the GD at Winterland on 10/20 and 10/21 1978. So, as you can imagine […]

Memories of the Winterland closing begin with a great anticipation and planning. Getting tickets, coming to the city the day before and getting a good place in line and the inevitable waiting and waiting in line, overnight – through the next day until finally – the doors opened and we dashed for the prized seats,

The closing of Winterland was the big to-do in my prime years of being a Deadhead. Having attended my first New Year’s run the previous year in 1977, attending the closing with the Blues Brothers and New Riders opening was a no brainer. The holy grail tickets for some reason weren’t too hard for us

The first time I saw the Dead was on March 23, 1975 at Kezar Stadium. Nobody but the Grateful Dead could have made those crazy sounds that day, but technically speaking they were billed as Jerry Garcia & Friends, so that makes the closing of Winterland the first time for me seeing them billed as the