Glossary entry for
The Maritime Hotel

The Maritime Hotel, now demolished, was originally located on College Square North, in west Belfast, and is where Them made their debut on April 17th, 1964. Formerly a police station, it had been converted into a mission for seamen, and was hosting a rhythm and blues club on Friday nights designed to appeal to local university and art college students. Even though they only played there a short season, Van has since said that Them "lived and died as a group on the stage at the Maritime hotel".

Paraphrased from Steve Turner's biography Too Late to Stop Now

Van references in:

• "The Story Of Them" (on The Story of Them featuring Van Morrison)
• This 1970 Rolling Stone interview
• This 1991 Now Dig This interview

Part of the van-the-man.info unofficial website