KISS Locations
For decades KISS has made rock history, and the places where they performed, lived, rehearsed have added to their legacy, read about them here!
STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION!
10 E. 23rd Street, New York City
KISS became officially KISS on the 2nd-floor loft of 10 East 23rd Street on January 3, 1973 where the initial formation of Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley occurred. Their rehearsal loft, owned by "Jams Studios" was located on the 4th floor but later they moved to the 2nd floor. The reason for the move was that the 4th floor's rent was hourly based while the 2nd floor monthly and only Gene had a job at a magazine company.
The building has seen many businesses come and go and is now a prime business location almost right next door of the famous Flatiron Building in the fancy Flatiron district. From there they certainly could see the Empire State Building, where in 1976 they would make the famous photo of KISS on top of it's roof!
In 2014 a recording of a May 1973 rehearsal for their performance at The Daisy was released into the bootleg scene, below my upgraded version.
The stairwell where the band had one of their first promo pictures taken
10 E 23rd St, New York, the building as of today
The Coventry, Queens, New York
Formerly known as the Popcorn Club, a big glitter club in Queens, New York. Located at 47-03 Queens Blvd. Queens, NY 11104. Owner Paul Sub in Ken Sharp’s 'Dressed to Kill'.
- “Everyone from KISS, The New York Dolls, The Ramones, Blondie, Sam & Dave, The Dictators, and Elephant’s Memory played there. I’d put on 10 acts a week, both local and national. The only act we turned down, because we didn’t want to spend $300, was Aerosmith (laughs). The New York Dolls were really the ones that kept Coventry going. They played once a month, and whenever they played, 700 people would show up. They had the main following of all the bands who played there.” -
KISS would have their first official show at the Coventry!They would play there a total of seven times. Eventually the club closedandthe original building was demolished in 1993 to make place for a three story commercial building. On Jan 30, 2023, KISS celebrated their 50th anniversary.
47-03 Queens Blvd, April, 1993, the building under the scaffolding is The Coventry.
Picture by Lydia Criss
47-03 Queens Blvd. Queens, NY 11104, the former location of The Coventry Club (2018) was where now a three story commercial building resides left of the Chase bank
Cobo Hall, Detroit, Michigan
Cobo Arena/Hall/Center, located at 1 Washington Blvd, Detroit, MI 48226. Long before KISS played their first concert here, the arena already had legendary names play there, The Who, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Black Sabbath, etc...
One of the shows recorded for their double live record KISS Alive! from 1975 was at the Arena and the back cover of the record was a shot taken of teenagers Bruce Redoute and Lee Neaves holding up their KISS sign in the main hall.
In 2009 the arena was scheduled to be torn down, KISS played two shows on September 25 and 26, 2009 and recorded them in HD for a DVD that sadly never got made. Eventually the hall was not torn down but the city renovated the entire center for $279 million that was eventually completed in 2015. The arena has been adapted to a 40,000 square foot ballroom, a 30,000 square foot three-story atrium, a broadcast studio, a outdoor flex space, additional meeting rooms, and the facility now has views on the Detroit River with floor to ceiling glass along the new Atwater Street entrance.
The center these days goes by the name of "TCF Center" as it was named after former Detroit Mayor Albert Cobo who was responsible for controversial policies that moved large numbers of African Americans out of their homes, and out of their business with no place to go in the name of "urban renewal" so it was decided to give the center a new name.
Cobo Arena after construction was finished in 1960
The TCF Center today after it's renovation finished in 2015