Owned and operated by actor-screenwriter Carl Crew and Robert Ferguson, the venue primarily hosted underground musical groups, performance art, movie screenings and sideshow acts including burlesque and freak shows.

[2][4][5] In the late 1990s, the CIA was raided by police and ultimately shut down for serving liquor without a license; the venue remained out of operation for three years until Crew and Ferguson re-opened it in 2001 with its current sideshow-themed aesthetic.

[2][3][4][6] The CIA's most notable attraction, however, may have been the preserved corpse of Achile Chatouilleu, an American circus performer who died in 1912 and requested his body be put on display in the clown makeup and attire he had worn throughout his life.

The CIA also regularly hosted an event called Shades and Shadows, a live reading series focusing exclusively on dark fantasy, horror and science fiction literature.

[5][9] In 2014 and 2015, the CIA appeared on Halloween-themed episodes of the local interest shows 1st Look (KNBC) and Eye on LA (KABC-TV), respectively, both of which featured interviews with Crew and footage of the comedy punk band The Radioactive Chicken Heads performing on the venue's stage.