CBGB - Closed

CBGB - Closed

A downtown icon, the birthplace of punk rock, and incubator of the New Wave, this grungy rock club operates now as much as a museum of its former self as a showcase venue for emerging rock acts. The clubs doors opened in 1973, when founder Hilly Kristal promised an eclectic lineup of Country, Blue Grass, and Blues, but the place quickly became known for its edgier acts (the Ramones, the Talking Heads, and Blondie are its most famous alumni). Though the music has gotten less daring in the last decade, with most acts tending towards punk -- and catering to hordes of teenagers, dressed in black, who linger outside the doors -- the club still retains the frenetic pulse of its former, non-conventional ways--a testament to the power the movements it fostered still have over today's listeners.