Linda’s Doll Hut

award winner of the 6th annual la music awards

Owner Linda Jemison

Linda’s Doll Hut Built Rock-Solid Legacy in O.C.
This week’s news that Anaheim club will close soon is mourned by colleagues and competitors alike.
June 01, 2001|RANDY LEWIS | TIMES STAFF WRITER

Aspiring musicians found a home-away-from-home at Linda’s Doll Hut and a nurturing big sister figure in owner Linda Jemison, who announced this week that by summer’s end, she will close the Anaheim club, long regarded as the epicenter of Orange County’s grass-roots music scene.

“No music scene can survive without a club that is there to support the bands,” said singer-songwriter Bryan “Dexter” Holland of the Offspring, which returned to the Doll Hut more than once after the group’s 1994 album “Smash” propelled it into pop music’s platinum stratosphere. “That’s what the Doll Hut did for Orange County.”

Many in the music community credit Jemison for establishing a new business model in Orange County for rock clubs after she bought the Doll Hut in 1989 for $32,500. In that model, respect for musicians and patrons ranked ahead of profits, which Jemison said have dwindled with attendance in the last three years, in large part because of construction on the nearby Santa Ana Freeway related to Disneyland’s expansion.

“When I went into this,” Jemison said, nibbling on a muffin and nursing a cup of coffee, “my intention was to help change the reputation of promoters, because I had enough bad experiences when I was playing in bands. I think maybe I did that. Now there are promoters like Mike [Concepcion] at the Gypsy Lounge and Craig McGahey at Club Mesa, and they’re doing a great job and getting a lot of loyalty from the bands, which can make or break a club.”