Riot on Sunset Strip: Rock 'n' Roll's Last Stand in Hollywood

"On Sunset Strip in 1965 and 1966, a thriving, celbratory scene appeared out of nowhere, exploded in a dazzling array of visceral creativity, and then, just as suddenly, vanished. So much incredible music, art and social revolution came from one place, in one time, that it's difficult to grasp how it all happened so fast. The fruits of L.A.'s teen megalopolis, and the remnants it left behind, transformed the 1960s Sunset Strip into a fascinating artistic Mecca. During this moment, something actually displaced movies as the center of action in Hollywood: Rock 'n' Roll."

So begins my book "Riot on Sunset Strip: Rock 'n' Roll's Last Stand in Hollywood" (Jawbone Press, London, 2007, foreword by Arthur Lee of Love). It's pretty clear that nothing in Los Angeles for the past 40 years can be considered any kind of real "continuation" of what went down in this supremely blessed moment. Rather, it is a moment of history, sealed in time through sounds, pictures and stories, much like Paris in the '20s, New York's 52nd Street during the '30s and '40s or Swinging London/Carnaby Street and Liverpool during the '60s (L.A.'s direct kin during this era). You can not physically go to these places and take part in their unique creative swirl, but the works and concepts still live, can still be enjoyed, and can still inspire.

Los Angeles has been overlooked in terms of this history because the most well-read publishing houses happen to center around New York, London and San Francisco. Locally, movie star glitz and fame supercedes everything, which, during the mid-'60s was not the case. Artists commited to progressive change were the order of the day, and this took precedence over more shallow concerns.

A specific moment can be traced, as to how this all coalesced. The Byrds, on debut of their first single for Columbia Records "Mr. Tambourine Man," opened at one of the Strip's most revered nightclub's, Ciro's (March 26, 1965). Bob Dylan, who had worked with them in the arrangement of his song, appeared with the group for an encore, and a buzz went out throughout the land, according to writer Ellen Sander, "Those nights at Ciro's were the talk of both coasts' underground, and they hadn't even hit the road yet." Dylan himself realized what the impact would be the following day, speaking to The Los Angeles Free Press: "You can make all sorts of protest songs and put them on a Folkways record. But who hears them?"

Events leading up to, and stemming from this moment, show Los Angeles to be, for a short time, far more significant during the '60s than San Francisco's much-hyped "Summer of Love". Christopher Tree was doing liquid light shows at beatnik cafe The Insomniac in Hermosa Beach as early as 1958... by 1965 a kid named Buddy Walters was working with a Beverly Hills combo called The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band on light shows; he was later hired by Jimi Hendrix and Eric Burdon for their appearance at The Monterey Pop Festival. Andy Warhol's first show - anywhere - the one with the Campbell's Soup Cans - debuted at The Ferus Gallery on La Cienega (1962). The Rolling Stones recorded "The Last Time," "Satisfaction," "Paint it Black" and many of their most stunning records at RCA Music Center of the World on Sunset Boulevard during the mid-'60s. The Yardbirds played at a couple of house parties, as well as the clubs. Van Morrison's group Them had their single banned in the rest of America, but hit #1 locally with "Gloria" b/w "Baby Please Don't Go," and saw their biggest success (the Strip's literal peak) with an 18-night stand at Whisky a Go Go. The Ferus group of artists led a series of 1965 political rallies against escalation of the Vietnam War, culminating in the March 1966 debut of The Artists' Tower of Protest at the mountain peak of La Cienega at Sunset. Four hundred artists from all over the planet (including a Roy Lichtenstein) submitted placards to make a billboard shaped with the contour of the hills.

The movement spawned innumerable, incredible bands, the best known being The Byrds, Love, The Doors, Buffalo Springfield, The Mothers of Invention, Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band, The Turtles, The Monkees and then some, most notably the '60s punk groups featured on Nuggets: The Standells, The Seeds, The Electric Prunes, The Leaves, The Music Machine, The Knickerbockers, The Bobby Fuller Four, The Premiers and the San Jose regulars on the L.A. Scene... The Count V and The Chocolate Watchband. Notable garage band hits from across America first broke as R&B records from L.A., including Richard Berry's "Louie, Louie" (The Pacific Northwest's The Kingsmen), The Olympics' "Good Lovin'" (New Y orks' The Young Rascals), The Vibrations' "My Girl Sloopy" (Ohio's The McCoys) and The Rivingtons' "Papa Oom Mow Mow" and "The Bird's the Word" (recorded as "Surfin' Bird" by Minnesota's The Trashmen).

So much was happening here, and there is a lot more to uncover. We'll be opening up those vaults in time as the weeks and years unfold.

- Domenic Priore
February, 2009