I received this photo when I joined a Monkees fan club at some point in the mid-1980s. In those days I wondered when and where this picture was taken. Though I'm not sure what city, the photo was actually snapped coming off an airplane during the promotional tour before the debut of the television show in September 1966. Anyone know the city, by chance?

Los Angeles radio station KHJ staged a promotional event for The Monkees before their television series debuted on September 12, 1966.  A contest was held to meet The Monkees.  Contest winners rode on a train to the coastal town of Del Mar, California, which had been renamed 'Clarksville' for the day by the town's mayor.  Landing on the beach in two helicopters and dressed in their signature double-breasted shirts, the band met approximately 400 winners of KHJ's radio contest.  After the event, the group traveled by train with the contest winners back to Los Angeles.  On one of the train cars, The Monkees gave their first true live public performance.

This is a rare radio advertisment for the event!

Thanks to our friends at MonkeeBootlegs, here's another version of the silent 8mm film footage taken during the promotional event in Del Mar, California on September 11, 1966.  The Monkees premiered on NBC on the following day.

The Monkees met winners of a radio station contest on the beach in Del Mar, which was renamed 'Clarksville' by the city's mayor for that day's event. Afterwards, The Monkees traveled by train with the winners back to Los Angeles. They perform in one of the train cars with a set that included "Papa Gene's Blues."  This marked one of the first times The Monkees played as a live act.

For more information, check out the 1966 Promotional Tour page here at the Live Almanac.

There are 8 new photos in the gallery of the 1966 Promotional Tour page.  Most are at the bottom of the gallery, but to keep some of the photos in order, you'll have to look around for a few of them.

1. Two pictures of the Screen Gems promotional event: the band inside the Monkeemobile and Mike, Micky and Peter with KHJ DJ Don Steele
2. The Monkees with Bert Schneider in Chicago
3. An early picture of the Monkeemobile with the trailer attached that was going to open up for The Monkees to perform
4. Two early promo shots
5. Another early photo of The Monkees posing with the Monkeemobile
6. A collage of photos featuring a pre-Monkees Peter Tork

Here are a few pictures for sharing.  The first is of Davy standing in front of his Los Angeles store The Street.  I believe the photo was taken in August 1970.  Next up are Micky and Peter at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967, and then Michael Nesmith, a photo I believe was taken by Henry Diltz.  Finally, anyone else have that poster of The Monkees in the '80s?

Everyone,

Don't forget to check out the new 1966 Promotional Tour page!

I had completely forgotten that footage of the band playing on the train during the event in Del Mar, California was screened during an episode of E! True Hollywood Story on The Monkees back in 1999.  (Thanks, Perry!)  I have added a YouTube video to the 1966 Promotional Tour page that shows the footage and noted the times where you can see it during the episode.

I have also added a few more pictures to the gallery in the 1966 Promotional Tour page.

Finally, there are some new photos in the gallery in the Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart page.

Please check out a brand new page on the website profiling The Monkees' 1966 Promotional Tour!

Also new today: a picture of The Monkees performing their first live concert in Hawaii in the 1966-1967 Tour section as well as a few new photos in the gallery of the 1997 Justus Tour (including a scan of the tour program).

Finally, Peter discussed in a recent interview the idea of appearing with Micky and Mike to honor Davy.  "I'm not tugging anybody's coat, [begging] 'Please, please, please, let's go out as a trio,'" Tork says.  "But we actually had a brief discussion. We met to honor Davy and we … you know, it's not out of the question."