final credits - alan sytner
Alan Sytner was already operating two jazz clubs in Liverpool (the West Coast Jazz Club and the 21 Jazz Club) when he was inspired by a visit to an underground Paris club called "Le Caveau" -- which was literally built into a cave.
Since there were no caves in the middle of Liverpool, Sytner eventually found a warehouse cellar at 10 Mathew Street (used as an air raid shelter during the war) for a venue that he called The Cavern Club.
The Cavern started as a jazz club (opening with the Merseysippi Jazz Band, the Wall City Jazzmen and the Ralph Watmough Jazz Band on January 16, 1957). Opening night attracted over 2,000 people although only 600 could enter. In addition to hosting jazz, the club soon became a hangout for skiffle groups.
John Lennon, then leading a group called the Quarrymen, met Sytner when the band played at his golf club.
On August 7, 1957 the Quarrymen first played the Cavern, starting with "Come Go With Me," a skiffle standard, but Lennon quickly followed with "Hound Dog" and "Blue Suede Shoes."
Sytner sent a note to the stage reading "Cut out the bloody rock!"
Paul McCartney missed the date as he was at a scout camp at the time.
The Cavern soon became the focal point of what became to be called the Mersey Sound.
Blues bands and Beat groups began to appear on a regular basis, and the first Beat night was held on May 25, 1960 featuring a performance by Rory Storm and the Hurricanes (with Ringo Starr on drums). Cilla Black was the hatcheck girl.
Sytner dismissed the story of Brian Epstein having to discover where the Cavern was so that he could see the Beatles as "absolute crap. I knew Brian well and he had often been at the club to see jazz."
The club did well (it had a membership of 25,000) but Sytner quickly spent the profits.
With costs to upgrade the club to meet minimum safety requirements mounting, he sold the Cavern in 1959 to one of the auditors, a 32-year-old clerk named Ray McFall. McFall realised that jazz was losing its popularity and he switched the club to rock'n'roll.
Sytner moved to London, ran the Marquee Club in Soho for a while and went into a BMW dealership with his brother.
The place where the British invasion was born was hardly a place worthy of the legend.
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The Cavern consisted of three 10 ft-wide 100 ft-long parallel vaults which were joined by 6 foot archways. The walls were painted black, there were a few wooden chairs and often up to 600 people were packed inside.
Gerry Marsden, of Gerry and the Pacemakers, said the place "stank of disinfectant and stale onions and was hot, sweaty and oppressive." Here's the view from the stage.
The original Cavern closed in March, 1973 and was demolished during work to build the Merseyrail underground loop. A replica was built on the site in 1984.
The Cavern's current owner Bill Heckle said, "You could argue that without the Cavern the Beatles would never have gone on to achieve what they did."
Alan Sytner died January 11th, 2006 at the age of 70.