Sam Houston Coliseum Beginning in 1937, the Sam Houston Coliseum became the city's all-purpose arena, playing host to Paul Boesch's Houston Wrestling for years as well as the Houston Huskies, our first pro ice-hockey team. It was also the go-to arena for touring rock bands for decades, and the stage was graced by Mt. Rushmore-type legends including Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and even Billy Gibbons' Moving Sidewalks. It was demolished in 1998 to make way for the Hobby Center. NATHAN SMITH

Tower Theater Now El Real and before that a video rental store, this was once one of the coolest live-music venues in town. I once went to see McCauley-Shenker Group there (don't ask) and I got the treat of seeing this unknown opener called The Black Crowes. Needless to say, there wasn't much point of staying after the opening set. JEFF BALKE

The Vatican Appropriately named given its former incarnation as a fairly sizable church, this performance venue on the west end of Washington Avenue hosted Pearl Jam at the outset of their career and Nine Inch Nails, both as a headliner and an opener for Peter Murphy. JEFF BALKE

Walter's on Washington Walter's became the last bastion of rock and roll on Washington Avenue, a street that was once lined with live music clubs from Rockefeller's to the Fabulous Satellite Lounge. The grimy dive stood in stark contrast to its neighbors once Washington became the epicenter of douche-bro nightclubs, pumping out mean hardcore and death-metal in the midst of blocks and blocks of thumping dance pop. The music is the same, but it's a much different experience at the club's new location on Naylor Street. NATHAN SMITH