La Mere Vipere

La Mere Vipere was the very first punk venue in Chicago. Located on Halsted St, Vipere opened its doors on May 5th, 1977 and was destroyed in a fire on April 27th, 1978. The cirumstances surrounding the fire have always been suspicious and many folks at the time said that there was foul play involved. Some say the police had a hand in the fire, but that was never confirmed. The closing of La Mere Vipere could be seen as the end of the first generation/wave of the Chicago punk movement.

After Vipere closed down, the scene shifted to Oz and O'Banion's, the latter opening a couple months after Vipere's demise.