Len Fagan

72, Los Angeles

Though hardly as famous as fellow Sunset Strip nightspots the Roxy and the Whisky a Go Go, the ramshackle nightclub Coconut Teaszer, at Sunset and Crescent Heights boulevards, tapped into a musical movement in the late 1980s and 1990s by booking early appearances by bands including Guns N’ Roses, Green Day, Rage Against the Machine and the Wallflowers.

At the heart of that success was Len Fagan. A former rock drummer- turnedtalent buyer who spent much of his adult life living in Laurel Canyon and working on the Sunset Strip, the behind- thescenes power broker died May 3 in Los Angeles from complications of COVID- 19. He was 72.

“Every city, every scene needs a Len Fagan,” former Atlantic Records A& R executive Tim Sommer wrote in a Facebook post after learning of his death. “People like him keep live, original music alive.”

As the brainchild behind the Coconut Teaszer’s biweekly live series “L. A.’ s Best Kept Secrets,” Fagan presided over multi- artist showcases that became can’t- miss events for record- label talent scouts in the pre- YouTube era. In a 1990 column about nightlife hot spots, Times staff writer Bud Scoppa called him “the patron saint and godfather of Los Angeles rock music.”

Fagan first broke into the music scene behind a drum kit. After getting his professional start as a member of the “Sgt. Pepper”- inspired band Wichita Fall, he co- founded Los Angeles hard rock band Stepson. For a while in the early 1970s, the quartet was a house band at the Whisky a Go Go and issued an album for ABC- Dunhill Records. Fagan’s drumming served as the propellant.

A longtime friend of the late Arthur Lee of Love, Fagan backed Lee in Love’s various incarnations over the years.

The drummer found his calling, though, at a 200- occupancy spot in the heart of the L. A. record business.

“He was happy at the Teaszer because he had full control,” Stepson singer Jeff Hawks said.

For bands, it was both a coveted slot and a hustle. Writing in the introduction of the book “We’ve Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L. A. Punk,” Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong captured the essence of his band’s first Los Angeles gig, at the Teaszer.

“We were all under 21, so we weren’t allowed inside the club. We waited our turn outside, sandwiched in between a strange lineup of bands that were trying to get signed on a major label. The stage wrangler hauled us in, and we played our 20- minute set on borrowed gear. It was a good set, and people were genuinely into it. But before we got a chance to bask in the glory, we were asked to leave.”

In recent years, Fagan suffered from poor health. A stroke affected his ability to communicate, and he spent his final years in a nursing home.