Memories of Sunset Strip (West Hollywood, Country Club: license, beach, radio)

[canibeyou]

Originally Posted by UB50

Griffith Park or the Greek Theater? We went to the Greek Theater to hear Hank Williams Jr. (Is that sick or what?) LOL!

So... keeping the tradition alive.. when my folks saw him at The Palimino, he was drunk and incoherant; years later, I saw him at Irvine Meadows (now I think they call it Blocbuster somethingorother)... and he was drunk and incoherant.

So... did you see him at The Greek, sober?!?! http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/canibeyou/eh.gif (broken link)

[cazelais]

Sorry, didn't mean to sound like he was a creep for living in a garage and eating at Thrifty. That is where he was at when I met him when I was fourteen years old. I had a negative experience with him one to one. The creep moniker still stands in my book.

[songcry]

is crazy now. i can only imagine what it was like back then.. haha

[lisalinn]

Originally Posted by shannon94

AAAH yes!! The Sunset Strip!! I spent many a night at the Troubadour(not on Sunset but just around the corner) (still have my VIP pass ..to get "upstairs"), The Roxy, Gazzarris, The Whiskey. Too much fun. I remember walking outside after a show and there would be TONS of people just walking up and down the street....like New York City. At 3 am no less. I remember sharing my lipstick with a band member one night because he said he liked the shade and wanted to wear it on stage!! Random people use to jump into your car because they needed a lift and it was no big deal that you didn't know them ... Partied with alot of famous people ....Warrant , Ratt, Bullet Boys, Poison.....(CC Deville let me wear his hat all night at the Rainbow) sigh ...good times.

I use to be a booking agent in San Diego ...totally different atmosphere...but they were really great times. Now I feel old!! I'll have to go get my Rock City News mags out and reminisce!! lol

I bet you have some REALLY good stories! those are some great bands--Warrant being one of my favs. Jani used to be so f'in hot back then! tell us more!

[lisalinn]

Originally Posted by RobE

Boy, those were the days. I got to see bands who later became big either on the strip or at the Country Club in Reseda. I saw Ratt before they had a record contract at the Whisky opening for Saxon and Stephen Pearcy was fat back then. The verdict by the punters at the gig? "They play pretty well, but the singer has to go." Metallica opened for Saxon the night after that, but I didn't see that show.

Yngwie Malmsteen about to bring in neoclassical metal while playing with Steeler at the Troubadour, seeing Poison a bunch of times at various clubs before they became a corporate rock band beginning with their second album, saw Metallica at the Palladium and the Country Club. Just too cool. Feel sorry for the kids today. The L.A. rock scene is dead. I am fortunate to have lived through that and been a part of it.

I wouldn't say it's 'dead'. there are some pretty good bands playing there now. a lot of them are from Sweden for some reason. A couple of the good ones are Vains Of Jenna, Innocent Rosie, and Snake Of Eden. There's still a scene and glam rock is back (sometimes referred to as glam/sleaze rock), but it'll never be as good as the 80s. that was a once in a lifetime thing and oh how i regret not being there.

[Fontucky]

We jam econo.

[shannon94]

Originally Posted by canibeyou

My friends and I used to go dancing at The Florentine Gardens every weekend.... "Through these portals pass the world's most beautiful women"... that was the slogan above the door as you walked in.

When my Grandma passed away, we were going thru her things and I came across a folder that had that exact saying on it. I opened it up to find a picture of my Grandma and her husband sitting in a booth. Just so happened that many years before, The Florentine Gardens was a dinner club... and my Grandma "partied" there.

I always thought that was awesome.

Oh... and Florentine Gardens was on the other side of the freeway, on Sunset. Wonder if it's still there. This was around '84- '90.

The Florentine Gardens was/is on Hollywood Blvd not Sunset!!

[Charles]

Originally Posted by shannon94

The Florentine Gardens was/is on Hollywood Blvd not Sunset!!

I saw the Dead Kennedys there.

Other bands I remember seeing in that area either at the Whiskey or the Roxy or Troubadour:

Wall of Voodoo
Psychedelic Furs
Bill Bruford (the Yes drummer)
Steve Hackett (the Genesis guitarist from the Gabriel era)
Pat Collins the Hip Hypnotist
The Fents

[slowbullet]

I'm really envious of people who were around during the heyday of this kind of stuff.

Or any kind of stuff.

If I had a time machine, I'd go back and experience things like that. Go to woodstock, do coke in the bathroom of studio 54, drag race in the L.A. river in the 50's, see Santana at the Filmore, see the Sex Pistols in Manchester '76. Hang around the Ska scene in London, see Nirvana in Seattle in the 90's. All those watershed cultural moments. Must have been magic..

The worst thing about being my age is the vast empty cultural wasteland we have made for ouselves. Young people back then really stood for something, and really took part in things that mattered. Bummer.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by slowbullet

I'm really envious of people who were around during the heyday of this kind of stuff.

Or any kind of stuff.

If I had a time machine, I'd go back and experience things like that. Go to woodstock, do coke in the bathroom of studio 54, drag race in the L.A. river in the 50's, see Santana at the Filmore, see the Sex Pistols in Manchester '76. Hang around the Ska scene in London, see Nirvana in Seattle in the 90's.

Or see Nirvana in L.A. in the early '90s, for that matter.

For that matter you could've been on the Strip in the '60s and seen the Doors and Love. OR you could've been at the Riverside Rancho in Silver Lake in the '50s and seen Hank Williams, or you could've been at the Palomino in North Hollywood in the late '50s and '60s and seen Johnny Cash or Jerry Lee Lewis (L.A. was always a bastion of support for Jerry Lee even at the depths of his career ; Tommy Thompson stood behind him when nobody else would and the Killer returned the favor by playing stints at the Pal every year from '57 to '89. People involved in the '60s Strip scene I've talked to mentioned venturing out to the Valley to see Jerry Lee do his thing. The clips I've seen from that era of the long-haired Lewis indicate his shows were WILD.)

I personally would've loved to have seen the TAMI Show concerts at the Santa Monica Civic in 1964, alas I was a baby at the time. And I do pity the Rolling Stones for having to follow James Brown. The Godfather of Soul was a grown man at the height of his powers, while the Stones were young kids at the time who in the footage looked scared and intimidated. I also would've loved to have seen Elvis Presley at the Pan Pacific Auditorium in 1957, a show which started a mini-riot - from what I've read about that show, it had a great deal in common with a Doors show a decade later. Seeing the jazz and blues greats on Central Avenue in the '40s and '50s would've also been a great experience.