It’s high time San Jose recognize site of historic Grateful Dead show
Does an auctioned poster disprove the long-believed location of the band’s 1965 performance?
April 21, 2025 Sal Pizarro, Mercury News
San Jose is set to officially recognize its small but pivotal part in the history of the Grateful Dead, the legendary 1960s band that’s more often associated with our neighbor to the north.
But as San Jose Rocks founder Dan Orloff and former Mercury News sports columnist Mark Purdy will tell you, the Grateful Dead actually got their start in downtown San Jose. That’s where the band first performed under that name on Dec. 4, 1965.
The house where the Grateful Dead played its first concert (as the Grateful Dead) nearly 50 years ago sits guarded by a dog on St. James Street in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. At the time of the concert on Dec. 4, 1965, the house was located on South Fifth Street until it was moved to make way for the new San Jose City Hall. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Before that, the band — Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Bill Kreutzmann and Phil Lesh — had performed around the Peninsula as the Warlocks. They changed names before playing the San Jose gig at one of Ken Kesey’s “acid tests” where LSD was as much a part of the scene as the music and lights. The rest, as they say, is history.
A San Jose City Council committee signed off on the idea earlier this year, and Orloff and Purdy have started a campaign to raise $35,000 by June 30 for a public celebration to honor the 60th anniversary, along with a plaque that will be placed at the site of that first Grateful Dead concert.
Which happens to be right about where San Jose City Hall stands today.
For years, it’s been widely believed and reported that the historic event took place at a Victorian house at 43 S. Fifth St., which was later moved to make way for City Hall’s construction more than 20 years ago.
However, an interesting wrinkle came to light this month that throws into question the exact location of the show. Heritage Auctions has a poster up for bid that is billed as the very first Grateful Dead concert poster because it’s for the acid test in San Jose on Dec. 4, 1965. But the address on the poster is 38 S. Fifth St. — basically across the street from the house everyone has thought was the sacred site. The high bid for the poster was $25,000 as of Thursday night.
Members of the Grateful Dead pose in a 1985 photo in Marin County, Calif. From left, back row, are Bill Kreutzman, Phil Lesh, Jerry Garcia, and Mickey Hart. In front are Brent Mydland, left, and Bob Weir. (AP Photo) AP File
Nobody doubts the authenticity of the 12-by-18 inch poster, which was saved by two then-teenage sisters who lived on the Peninsula and were fans of the Warlocks. But lore and circumstantial evidence has always pointed to the 43 S. Fifth St. house as the house. It’s possible the acid test and the show took place in different locations or that it was moved after the poster had been made.
Purdy put his reporter’s hat back on and dug up that the 38 S. Fifth St. house — which would have sat in the plaza just south of the city council chambers — was demolished after an arson fire damaged it beyond repair. There may be no way to ever definitively know which house hosted the performance, but Orloff and Purdy contend the plaque will still be in the right place since both locations were so close together.
“For a band that has lyricized about a ‘long strange trip,’ it is probably appropriate that the precise spot of their first performance as the Grateful Dead may forever remain hazy,” Purdy wrote.
If you want to find out more or contribute to the fundraising effort, head to www.sanjoserocks.org.