A few comments on Tourmaline's Sunset Strip post:
I happened on one of the local news channels in L.A. last night and they were doing a story about
The Sunset Strip and it's history. It seemed as though they were lamenting the fact the glory days
of the Strip's rock 'n' roll notoriety was gone and remnants of it being replaced by high-rise hotels and
condominiums. It occurred to me people probably felt the same when the jazz and swing clubs of the
40's and 50's were turning into these same spots being lamented here.
I also became aware recently of a relatively new documentary about the history of the Sunset Strip
that I haven't seen yet. (There's a few other such documentary or television programs, too.)
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Originally Posted by Tourmaline
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This film was on TV last night and I caught a bit of it. A relic. Except for the fact that the teens issues
were getting some attention I'm sure they didn't like this film. It's very square, written in the tone
of a Dragnet episode! You know, "What're we going to do with these kids nowadays?"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tourmaline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Slauson Slim
The Music Hall record store, under the Fanny billboard, is where I bought Are You Experienced by Jimi Hendrix when it first came out. Also, later on that may have been the first location of Tower Records on The Strip.
Catercorner from the Music Hall is the Whisky A GoGo. Memories........
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This location (8878 W. Sunset Blvd. at San Vicente) is now a novelty/tchotchke/party store called "aah's".
Located behind this building (where the apartment building is in the b&w photo) is the ten story (I think)
London Hotel. Official address: 1020 N. San Vicente Blvd, It runs the length of the area from San Vicente to
Larrabee St. It originally opened in 1984 as the Bel Age Hotel (Le Bel Age) and remained so for fifteen years.
The rooftop of the London has a pool, cabanas, a bar and two restaurants! (And several palm trees!) One
can often see rooftop searchlights scanning the skies from there while a premiere party, wedding, Oscar
bash or some other swanky function takes place high above the shimmering lights of the city below.
http:/citygrid.com/dims-shared/dims3/patch/52aaac5f1c03c172ca959e55c4e13ac4
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tourmaline
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This is the aftermath of a water main break there last September on a Friday afternoon. I happened to
be up near there when it happened. The water, obviously, ran downhill to Santa Monica Blvd. where
it created a river (and mud bank) for a time.
Tourmaline wrote:
In popular culture we know it as "The Strip" and "Sunset Strip" but was the name "Sunset Strip"
ever officially adopted on street signage? In other words, did any municipality or county actually accept
the name and put it on street signs?
I don't recall seeing any
official signs like that, but notice in the above photo, on the advertising banner
to the right of the car billboard, it says "Sunset Strip" something. I believe it was advertising the Sunset Strip
Music Festival where they close off a portion of the strip for two evenings and bands play in the streets.
An event held for the past few years, usually held in August. I believe this is the first year it was in September.
The water main break caused "The Strip" to be closed off in both directions for a day and a half! On a weekend!
No cars. Looking a lot like this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tourmaline
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The above photo was taken between 1983 and 1999. The Marlboro man cowboy was an iconic visual on the
strip for 17 years. It was taken down in March of 1999 as part of a state lawsuit settlement against tobacco
manufacturers to begin removal of cigarette advertising in billboards across Los Angeles.
Here's a Los Angeles Times article about it's removal:
http://articles.latimes.com/1999/mar/10/local/me-15938