Located at 50 Austin Boulevard in Island Park, New York, The Action House was a club-size venue that some have called "Long Island's premier music venue." Prior to becoming The Action House, the location in Island Park was a dinner club known as The Shell House. It is also believed to have had other names. This venue was in existence under various names from the mid-1960s through early 1980s. (Please note that sometimes official materials -- as shown both above and below -- have listed the venue's street address as 50 Broadway and its town as Long Beach, yet these details have been disproven through multiple resources.)
Among the talent believed to have graced the stages of this venue -- credits below include The Action House and Rockpile events -- were Marvin Gaye, Andy Warhol, The Four Seasons, Frank Zappa's Mothers Of Invention (this has been debated as they were shown on a particular flyer but not updated or later version of the same event's flyer), The Velvet Underground (which featured Freeport's Lou Reed), Sly & The Family Stone, Cream (featuring Eric Clapton, then "The Cream"), Billy Joel (as a member of The Hassles), Chuck Berry, Chicago (then the Chicago Transit Authority), The Grateful Dead, Alice Cooper (whose longtime manager is Oceanside native Shep Gordon), Dr. John, Rod Stewart (with The Faces), B.B. King, Little Richard, The MC5, The James Gang (featuring future Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh), The Stooges (including Iggy Pop), The Amboy Dukes (including Ted Nugent), Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page (as part of The Yardbirds), The Ronettes, The Byrds, Fleetwood Mac (including Peter Green), The J. Geils Band, T. Rex, Humble Pie, The Isley Brothers, Mott The Hoople, King Crimson, Sha-Na-Na, Blue Cheer, Johnny Mathis, Terry Knight & The Pack (related to Grand Funk Railroad), Badfinger, The Allman Brothers Band, Black Sabbath (with frontman Ozzy Osbourne), and The Doors.
The Action House's owner, Phil Basile, also opened other Long Island venues, including Speaks (believed to be set in the same location as The Action House and Rockpile), Channel 80, and Industry. Basile also notably managed Vanilla Fudge, and Led Zeppelin's first U.S. show happened because of Vanilla Fudge; more on that can be found within this LibGuide.
Unconfirmed audio of The Vagrants (featuring Mountain's Leslie West) possibly performing at this venue can be heard here and here. However, a 1970 performance by The Grateful Dead at The Action House can be heard here. More information about The Doors performing at The Action House can be found here. Jack Starr has mentioned the first concert he ever saw was Black Sabbath at this venue, as believed to be on Black Sabbath's first U.S. tour. Patti Smith Band guitarist Lenny Kaye wrote about The Action House in an essay, which you can find more about here. Information about The Doors performing at The Action House can be found here.
Per a blog entry about this venue: “…the former Action House building was torn down well over ten years ago. A developer owns the property and had it re-zoned residential for a small condo development. Plans were filed with the Town, but so far nothing has happened. The former parking lot across the street is now a self-storage facility.”
A September 2025 presentation featuring content from this LibGuide entry was presented at the Long Beach Public Library in Long Beach, NY, which you can read more about here and watch here.
Various venue posters and advertisements for concerts:
Researched by Darren Paltrowitz, April 4, 2025. Updated on May 28, 2025, June 23, 2025, July 1, 2025, July 9, 2025, September 18, 2025, September 23, 2025, September 30, 2025, October 11, 2025 and October 17, 2025.
Alternatives
Alternatives was a short-lived but notable underground music venue believed to have been located at 600 Hallock Avenue in Port Jefferson Station, New York. Active during the mid-1980s, it served as a small hub for Long Island’s hardcore and thrash metal scenes. One of the most well-known bands to play there was Crumbsuckers, a crossover thrash act that helped define the era's gritty, high-energy sound, who appears to have shared a billing with Lethal Aggression on June 14, 1986.
Researched by Darren Paltrowitz on October 16, 2025.
Azores
Per a 1961 New York Times article, The Azores was "a five- story luxury apartment building with a private beach fronting for 400 feet on the ocean, in the Lido section of Long Beach." It also had a live music venue inside, per advertisements located from the 1960s, and was the former home of legendary drummer Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Rod Stewart, Pink Floyd, Cactus). Appice confirmed this within a Paltrocast interview.
Advertisements related to the Azores, showing some of the live entertainment that the venue featured, can be found here.
A September 2025 presentation featuring content from this LibGuide entry was presented at the Long Beach Public Library in Long Beach, NY, which you can read more about here and watch here.
Researched by Darren Paltrowitz on October 8, 2025.
