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The Decade


Decade Ramones
The Ramones at The Decade
Image courtesy Larry Rippel

"They looked like they hadn’t eaten for a month, and I asked them if they wanted something to eat, and they said no. But I knew they did, so I just brought some stuff out, and we started to talk." – Dom DiSilvio, owner of The Decade, on meeting The Iron City Houserockers for the first time. The Houserockers would go on to become The Decade’s house band.

It was Dom DiSilvio’s fondness for music from the 1950s that led him to name his restaurant at the corner of Atwood and Sennott streets The Decade. Opening in 1973 as a full-service restaurant featuring oldies music, it wasn’t until 1978, with the help of L.A. promoter Danny Kresky, that The Decade started bringing in national acts as well as up-and-comers.

Decade Map

The first performance Kresky brought in for DiSilvio was Maria Muldaur, whose last-minute cancelation almost discouraged Disilvio from the music business entirely. Then Kresky brought in a band by the name of The Ramones, who restored DiSilvio’s faith in the industry and became the only band to ever play two nights in a row at the venue.

It’s impossible to remember The Decade without remembering the Iron City Houserockers, the blue-collar group that eventually became the venue’s house band. Throughout the 1980s, The Decade saw homegrown groups like The Houserockers, Norm Nardini, and Billy Price and the Keystone Rhythm Band go on to achieve recording success on a national level. Though that national prominence eventually faded and the venue closed on August 21st, 1995, DiSilvio and The Decade’s legend live on in The Houserocker’s song "Old Man’s Bar."