Beginning as a disco in the 1970s, it was a punk rock music venue from 1980 until 2000, and helped establish a place in alternative culture for the city of Pittsburgh.

[1] The venue hosted such acts as Black Flag, Circle Jerks, The Misfits, Hüsker Dü, Sonny Vincent and the Extreme, Dead Milkmen, Meat Puppets, Descendents, Rhythm Pigs, Snakefinger, Wreckless Eric, Ian Dury, Sepultura, Candlemass, Morbid Angel, New Model Army, They Might Be Giants, Minutemen, The Dancing Cigarettes, and others.

[2] Zarra and wife Judy, a former go-go dancer, took up an offer from local punk and other "unique" bands and artists who needed a venue to play.

Within a couple of years, The Banana became the epicenter of Pittsburgh's punk rock scene.

The image of a banana may have been copied from Andy Warhol's icon used for the Velvet Underground.