I lived in L.A. in the 70s and 80s as a kid. Moved away to another State and got into a successful band later in life. I was so hyped about going to play out there at the great venues that I had worked all of my life to play. Told my bandmates , " just wait until we get to L.A. " It was the late 90s and early 2000s. How anticlimactic it was. The Glory days were long past for these places and they were surviving mostly on their history alone. Never had to pay to play these venues , nor would I. It was actually sad to see. These places were mostly in disrepair. Not very well maintained like many other historic venues throughout the U.S. And that includes CBGB'S !! Lol. As time went on , we just did shows at the House Of Blues on Sunset until it closed. Don't play too many shows these days. Having kids changes everything. For the better , mind you. But I'll still go to the Rainbow for a jack and coke when I'm in the City. Postscript.... What is happening in Hollywood is awful. The City is erasing everything historic that Hollywood is about. Tourists don't want to come to Hollywood to see where something " used to be ". They are making a HUGE mistake allowing everything to be torn down. This started in the 90s. No Hollywood , No tourists ... No Hollywood.
I agree completely. They are worse than Vegas. No regard to historical buildings Or places. When I visited Sunset and Vine back in 1985 I was surprised how sleazy it. All these street hustlers, bums and druggies hanging around. I said where’s the Brown Derby? Oh, they tore it down years ago. That’s really dumb. So I walked down the Walk of Fame and didn’t see anyone famous walking anywhere. So the club scene was big but the daytime is lacking. Hollywood is really a Sleaze pit!
Boy! That really sucks, cause back in 70's Los Angeles the city was the place to go and it was great so many cool places to go great rock music,it was the home of the stars!
Thanks for sharing your experience. Your points are well made. The changes in the movie industry are also a factor. It's been said that actors like Tom Cruise will be among the last "movie stars" in the traditional Hollywood sense of the definition. Hollywood is no longer the only game in town, as the expression goes. There are other entertainment platforms that have an increasing share of the viewing audience-secondary platforms like Amazon, to name only one-and with the costs of producing a movie dropping with each advancement in cinematic technology, the indie movie industry is growing like never before. And you are correct that most people are not going to want to visit any remnants of Hollywood of yesteryear, especially now that they are removing historic buildings, structures, and institutions. I remember a while ago there were various videos about the outcry over a famous Hollywood/TV set that was being bulldozed and leveled. It was one of those faux neighborhoods the industry built for use as a stage setting-entire streets leveled where once houses served as the shooting locations of famous family TV shows in America. Now gone. In addition to these iconic structures and places become ghosts of the past, the current day horrors of what we see happening nationwide are not helping matters. I have never seen never seen a city more devoid of humanity. LA feels utterly soulless and incredibly materialistic. Everything is about looks, success, vanity and not about how things actually are. There is absolutely no sense of sincerity, everyone and everything feels fake. The lack of comradery, community or compassion is stunning. The place is what peak individualism looks like: every man for himself. Just a bunch of individuals trying to survive in a wasteland full of apathy, trash and misery. It was an absolutely depressing and sobering experience. I had the same feeling in Las Vegas, except with more escapism there. Bunch of people drinking, gambling and ordering escorts in an attempt to convince themselves that they are happy..
@@21stCenturySpaceOdyssey Excellent perception on your part. I am the type of movie fan who would even like to see Sets where famous shows were shot for TV. They actually built fake towns so is it wise to raise them down? I’d run tours through there as Tourist attractions and generate income. I think they will regret getting rid of everything related to films. I found that while there are good, decent people everywhere LA had no sense of community or center. I had no car and took the bus and walked around Long Beach and I went to Santa Anita Park for a day. That was great but down town Long Beach was a very lonely place. A got that feeling from LA too! Although it’s sprawling and spread out so much it also a very lonely place. And I went to Vegas too and it gave me a vagrant kind of vibe. A Transience or just passing through feeling that I didn’t like. Both are places where you can get lost and feel very alone despite the people around probably because everyone is anonymous. And nobody cares. It would be so much better if you knew someone there or had relatives. Some friends would help and it takes time to make some. But I agree with you overall. The cities have no soul. So you get an empty feeling walking around and can hardly wait to leave. Still, two cities everyone should see once at least. For the experience and spectacle. I missed the Hollywood Bowl I should have seen that. It’s historical. Good talk!
Really enjoyed this; it brought me back to hanging here in the early 80’s. In the mid 60s my mom was a go-go dancer at The Whisky. Lots of history for sure!.
I found this video to be sad more than anything else. Kids chasing a dream that is long dead in a place that now just lives off of old stories and myths, and that was in 2002.
Yes, sad. The place (and maybe the whole country) has devolved into vulgarity and excess thrill-seeking. Drugs and permissive parenting really killed a lot in our society.
So much fun as a youth 1970/1972 I was really young .🙋 The servants at the mansion took care of everything. 3 times at the Sunset Strip. 🌇 To be older at that time would have been really cool. what a great time as a kid really enjoyed it and I loved this video. Because even as a kid of 14 years old I still remember that .👍
I was born in 1964. Graduated high school at Ulysses S Grant high in 1982. Born and raised in the SFV. The thing we did was spend rock n roll nights on the strip. Sure it was still sleazy, but not like now. The Whiskey, The Rainbow, The Roxy, and Gazzaries! Then we went to other clubs. Madam Wong's, The Comedy store, The Wiltern, universal studios, The Country Club and whatever on Ventura Blvd. Wed eat at Barney's Beanery, Tommy Burger, Tiko taco, Hamburger Hamlet, Casa Vega and Dupars. We even hung out at Sherman Oaks galleria! I MISS those days. Cruising Van Nuys Blvd on Wednesday night.. ❤
Grew up in the 60's in LA, cruzed Hollywood Bl to Sunset Bl all the way out to Malibu. Went to drive in's with any girl that would get in my 55 chevy 265 V8 . Met waiter's and waiter's that were shooting to be Steve McQueen. Stayed around and worked for the city of LA twenty five years near downtown. Got pension and moved to mountains in Northern California. Hanging out waiting for the man to call me home. Good times. The city had a vibe to it, always looking for the next big thing. It will not come back just like San Francisco will not come back.
The hullabaloo near Hollywood and Vine also... Palace Guard, a band from Canada called Mandalla. The Doors had an apartment behind the club. Lots of partying after hours. Canter's on Melrose after the clubs closed for the night... I could write a book. 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
I was born in Hollywood, and in a teenager in the early 1970s. The strip was cool, and had many of the original sports-Cyrano's. The Source was a health food restaurant , a small brick house-like struck with a front patio. It was near the bend that was close to Tower Records. I am surprised this documentary did not mention when Tower Records closed since it was a major symbol of the Strip I saw many famous rock band stars at the Rainbow since people at there after the concerts. Everything was so much more fun back then, and life seemed simpler. Iwen tt the Rolling Stones private party in Malibu Colony !!
@@D-Fens_1632They’re not doing anything except slinging their own shit 💩 at each other and aging. The saddest thing I ever saw was an old wrinkly lonely man at the Ralph’s trying to buy himself groceries late at night wearing hair metal band gear. I felt so sorry for him and it’s where most of these dudes end up.
I was born in Hollywood and hung out around there as a kid, but it never influenced me in any way other than making me want to leave , so I did , thank goodness.
The late 90s was the end of Sunset BLVD Hollywood BLVD and Santa Monica BLVD.. It was so damn cool around the late 80s. I heard in the 70s and the 80s it was Phenomenal
good one....i interviewed Exene back when she was in 8-Eyed Spy....if anyone's an authority about what those early punk days were about in LA...she would be it.
A K-pop group was in L.A. for some concerts. They were doing a vlog while walking around and visiting some places of interest. They were standing on the sidewalk eating ice cream. In the background you could see a woman walking her dog. The big dog took a big dump on the sidewalk. And the woman just left it. THAT'S L.A.
Now is always watching as the future becomes the past, as tears dry in the dust, laughter echoes in the dark, lives disappear into memories and another dawn rises on a new era for those who enter the frame and leave behind their images like frayed old garments dancing in the wind.
I grew up watching the TV show 77 Sunset Strip. I always imagined Sunset Blvd. to be a great place. The first time I saw it 10 years ago, I was disappointed to see what a dump it had become.
In 1982 I had two good friends that I grew up with and went all through twelve years of school with. One was a fabulous drummer, as good as any of the day, the other a guitar player who now has his masters in music. Both left from San Jose and went down to LA 400 miles south to make in music, both on different paths, the both came back in six months, both had the same comment. They got there, and there was thousands and thousands of musicians all with the same plan. They said don't bother, its hopeless....
Same. Except one of my friends who went (it was a 4 person group, ) is now a pretty famous comedian. Been on a good sitcom for a while. Can't give up ur dreams just because of alot competition
Yes I can imagine it was over saturated. It was probably fun times though. trying to make it may have been tough. I was in L.A. a little while ago. Saw some good bands that week like Winger, Slaughter, etc.. so I got a taste of what it once was. But sadly the music scene is not great... the 80s will never come back unfortunately.
Sunny place, shady people. Seen a lot of shows on the strip, I mainly recall how difficult it was to find a parking spot. House of Blues paved over and turned into a condo, that pretty much sums up the strip as of late.
Back in the late 60's during the psychedelic 60's we used to cruise Sunset Blvd. along with Hollywood Blvd and Laurel Canyon. I remember seeing all he clubs like The Whiskey A-Go-Go, The London Fog, The Hullabaloo Club, Hollywood Palladium, Pandora's Box, etc. etc. and see all the rock groups on the marquees like Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Vanilla Fudge, Canned Heat, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Janis Joplin, etc. etc. etc. We also cruised up in Laurel Canyon and saw were the rock stars lived like Jim Morrison, Cass Elliott, Frank Zappa, Arthur Lee, Mickey Dolenz, David Crosby and a host of others. Now, Sunset in nothing more than a lot of high rise high-end condos, office buildings, fast food crap places and a Starbucks on every other corner. Even Tower Records is gone (although now we go to Amoeba Music & Video on Hollywood Blvd. (which was originally on Sunset next to the Cinerama Dome. I remember always seeing Dino's (the nightclub owned by Dean Martin). It was always a part of the old 50's private detective series 77 Sunset Strip. How times have changed!!
In 1987, I wanted to move to California and drove from Boston to L.A., and when I finally got to California my first stop was the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. It was incredibly depressing with lots of teenage runaways hanging out on street corners, bums, and prostitutes. I had to leave that depressing area fast. I was there as a kid in 1977, and it was really nice. Back in 1977, there were lots of tourists and I had a great time visiting all the historic sites and seeing the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. It was very safe and changed a lot in a short time.
So true. I went down from SLC to LA in 87. First time I'd seen bars on convenient stores and pay before you pump. People looked hard and downtrodden. Crime was high and smog filled the air. No one working at McDonalds spoke English. It was past it's prime. It would have been great in the 60's and 70's but it was already over.
Lol I can only imagine lol I'm from that area too and when I went to California in 94 it was definitely culture shock being raised in a redneck area lol California hits different when you are from the south
Excellent documentary. Great interviews. Now I know where dumpster fire originated! Loved that you kept that bit in where the guy cussed you out for filming him. Loved the Brittney Spears wannabe Performoire. And Exene is always a reality checker.
I visited LA from Canada in Apr 1977 and had a good time there being a tourist. It was still cold in Canada but a nice toasty warm at night in LA. At the time I had no idea it was sort of a Golden Era in LA. Even Disneyland still had some of the original features it had on opening day in the 1950’s. Then I hear it changed and much of old Hollywood I saw and passed by are now gone.
Well done, every kid from the east wanted to go to Los Angeles. I felt trapped in the midwest in the late 80's even though for me Chicago was was an hour away in one direction and Milwaukee in the other.
Remember, times always change, which changes music and "scenes". I came in 94, still live in LA. Most of LA, inc the Strip, is the same, some new developments, but LA is still largely the same, but the times and people are different. The 70s & 80s were a rockimg time, but today isnt, many stresses, many worries, vety different times, thats the difference. My buddy just came in from Michigan, we saw Randy Rhoads grave, the Van Halen house, the Bat Cave (Bronson Caves), and hung out on the Strip inc at the Rainbow. Its all still there, and not run down like some allege, its the exact same, but the times are different. When I came in 94, young people all over had scripts, trying to be Actors, going to casting calls, trying to be musicians carrying guitar cases, etc, you were immersed in the creativity and energy of the entertainment industry, much of which has left for other cities. All of the LA "scene" and buildings is still here, but the times are very different. Now the Bay Area Tech money is moving in now making it a different scene. Times will always change. Old Hollywood is still kinda here, but not like when I came in 94, much as the streets, buildings, restaurants, and scenery are largely the same. Times have got too expensive for people to try anything risky now, thats alot of it too. LA & Hollywood is still here phyically, but the times are very, very different. Time marches on.
Yea... teenager in the 80s. Since my Freshman year, we would leave the day school ended in Phoenix and drive to Redondo to stay with "Friends Family". Basically... A Bad News Bears 2 deal. Fake friends and parents...lol. Me and a couple buddies could crash at older brothers friends place just off the strand. Most nights were on the beach, passed out at s party or some new girls. Slinging acid mostly up and down the strand on the piers. We would make it up to the Strip at least once a trip. None of us old enough to get in anywhere or do much but get high, lots of coke, and just get wild. Three summers of that and... Well... It takes a toll even at that age. Things just getting worse and worse with booze and drugs. Whether it would be trips to LA or back home. Amazed most of us made it out and past 21yrs old. A few ... didn't. Was a different world and a very different LA. Now...the thoughts of going to LA makes me just cringe. Well lit sh!thole with no soul.
Jim Ladd, who narrates this documentary also was on a 1987 Roger Waters solo album album called radio KAOS where he plays DJ and he mentions the sunset strip in some dialogue between tracks on that CD great CD give it a listen Roger would say later he didn't like how shiny it was produced, but I've always loved the sound on that record
Jim Ladd was the best goddamn nightly rock n' roll DJ in the world. Every night was a narrated musical & lifestyle journey. He was like the late-great Art Bell of album-oriented rock radio, alternating between KLOS & KMET in Los Angeles from the late 1970's to the 90's. He also started & hosted the rock personality profile show, "INNER-VIEW". "The Lonesome L.A. Cowboy" unfortunately passed away about 2 months ago from complications with Cancer. RIP Mr. Jim Ladd
Thanks for sharing this, it brought back a ton of wonderful memories! The best year of my life was living in that area, while recording my first album at NRG with 12 Stones.
Sunset Blvd is pretty manufactured now. Things change, and the history of Hollywood in general is pretty lurid. That is the appeal of L.A. I’m a native. I am in L.A. now, and I have a love/hate relationship with the place. This film looks like it was made in the 1990s. Virgin Records is long gone. The Sunset Millenium Project was finished around 30 years ago.
I really appreciate the great detail that went into thiS awesome video/time capsule!👍It was niCe that you included so many differences perspectives!✌🤓🙏😇🌹🌞🌹
Who in the hell would say for the better besides a die hard biden supporter. Even they're hiding under rocks now. Rightfully so. A lot of people are HANGRY at them!!😂😂
I lived in the heart of the Sunset Strip through 22-28 years old when attended medical school. 1980…I still have a large hole in my nasal septum hahahaha. Cedars Sinai.
It would be great if we had another epicenter of culture and music like this again, embodying ideals like danger, decadence, irreverence, sleaze, etc, etc. Everything has become boring and safe. Something. Anything would be nice
I lived in Huntington Beach in the late 80's. Remember seeing a Chuck Norris flick called "Hero and the Terror" at the drive in theater and lived about a mile from the beach. It was fantastic...not the cesspool it is now.
I hear that’s happening with NYC too. Corporate takes over and the lower or middle class gets pushed out and you lose all the artistic creative types, you lose culture….. so what’s left? A bunch of money hungry corporate suits. Just sucks the air right out of the place.
Just like NYC. I lived there when it was cool and fun and filled with artists and writers and creative people. It’s been over for fifteen years or more. Now it’s full of rich Wall Street types and foreigners who can afford it. It’s completely lost it’s soul. And I don’t even want to visit anymore. LA is the same.
80's were awesome on the strip. The women... spectacular. So glad I was born when I was. Today. People are all toothless fentanyl addicts. Oh wait. Hahahaaa
I did do what Michael Douglas said in the movie 🎥 “A Perfect Murder” when he coined the phrase “Stolen Moments” lol 😂… My friend got us a gig at the illustrious Whiskey a go-go We had a makeshift LED Zeppelin tribute band called Black Dog We didn’t have to pay to play I guess cause it was on a Sunday night But I remember they didn’t allow me to bring in my cassette recorder to tape the band cause they said they were going to video tape us which they would sell to us after the show If you could believe such a thing…. 😂 I know they were thieves and conmen or whatever affectionate term you wanna use lol… But at least I can say I graced the same stage as my all time favorites including Led Zeppelin,The Doors,Elton John and Jimmy Hendrix etc… 👍….
Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view !" Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam ." Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!" Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window ? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..." Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!" Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky." Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction." Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?"
@@chrishultgren777Everything in Cali was better before 1990 or there abouts. Now? Almost a given you will encounter some sort of negative incident if you're out after 9PM
Lots of people come to La that were a big fish in their little tiny home pond. They were talented for their town. They get to the big city and find out they were just a little more extroverted than everyone else where they came from. Lived in La for about 10 years 1989 to 1999. Very depressing driving through sunset during the day light hours. Attended two riots in Hollywood sunset area.
Sadly it is all gone. They have made the strip look so corporate now. They ruined a good thing. Things totally died in the early to mid 2000's. It was trying to hang on but the light burned out then. What a shame. :(
@@mandysue882The grass always does seem greener on the other side, but it's just illusion. If there ever was a time to not go there, it's definitely now..
Robbie Rist is actually a really good singer! I've heard a lot of great covers he's done. My favorite was a Nick Gilder cover band! I used to wish I'd moved to Los Angeles instead of San Diego... but now the homeless and crime is SO bad, and it's outrageously expensive. Overpriced. My son lives there now, but he works so much I only see him once or twice a year, despite it only being a 2-hr drive. He works at a trendy Japanese pizza restaurant & sees celebs there all the time & makes good money, and now also at a trendy new coffeehouse that used to be a bar, and says he makes even better tips there! I miss visiting LA, but I am so broke trying to live in San Diego i can't go anywhere. I'm leaving the state soon...i cannot stand the state of this state anymore. I'll miss my 2 kids and the weather, but i am tired of being poor even though I'm "house rich", so I'm cashing out to get my dream ranch house in Ohio....
Lived one block away from the Whisky for about 3 months in 1983. The Strip was less dicey than Hollywood. There was a feeling then, as perhaps in every era, that it was fun and exciting but not as good as 'back in the day.' Right before the 1984 Olympics they cleaned up Hollywood. Would be interesting to do an updated version of this doc from 2002. These days there is no parking and it feels like the pedestrian strip malls of Vegas.
This is just too old to be relevant in 2024. If they could see Sunset today......oof. And ick. Always nice to hear Jim Ladd's voice, a SoCal FM thing back in the glory days. 🎬
People today probably don't understand the part where police were enforcing laws. It seems so quaint now that public drunkenness and hookers were their biggest concerns.
i grew up in Granada Hills in the SFV. I was in Bands and worked in the Entertainment Industry while living in Hollywood for years, but I got smart and finally moved out of Party Town back in the 2000s! I ended up working on Live Shows and lived in Mexico for years and got in Far Less trouble while enjoying life a lot more Sober! I think the Fun LA sorta Ended by the Mid 2000s..
Feels pretty empty- All that “ look at me! Look at meee! A dog chasing its tail. Haha they changed the Marlboro sign to beer😂🙄 Bloody hell the futility of it!
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I lived in L.A. in the 70s and 80s as a kid. Moved away to another State and got into a successful band later in life. I was so hyped about going to play out there at the great venues that I had worked all of my life to play. Told my bandmates , " just wait until we get to L.A. " It was the late 90s and early 2000s. How anticlimactic it was. The Glory days were long past for these places and they were surviving mostly on their history alone. Never had to pay to play these venues , nor would I. It was actually sad to see. These places were mostly in disrepair. Not very well maintained like many other historic venues throughout the U.S. And that includes CBGB'S !! Lol. As time went on , we just did shows at the House Of Blues on Sunset until it closed. Don't play too many shows these days. Having kids changes everything. For the better , mind you. But I'll still go to the Rainbow for a jack and coke when I'm in the City. Postscript.... What is happening in Hollywood is awful. The City is erasing everything historic that Hollywood is about. Tourists don't want to come to Hollywood to see where something " used to be ". They are making a HUGE mistake allowing everything to be torn down. This started in the 90s. No Hollywood , No tourists ... No Hollywood.
I agree completely. They are worse than Vegas. No regard to historical buildings Or places.
When I visited Sunset and Vine back in 1985 I was surprised how sleazy it. All these street hustlers, bums and druggies hanging around. I said where’s the Brown Derby? Oh, they tore it down years ago. That’s really dumb.
So I walked down the Walk of Fame and didn’t see anyone famous walking anywhere.
So the club scene was big but the daytime is lacking.
Hollywood is really a Sleaze pit!
Boy! That really sucks, cause back in 70's Los Angeles the city was the place to go and it was great so many cool places to go great rock music,it was the home of the stars!
Thanks for sharing your experience. Your points are well made. The changes in the movie industry are also a factor. It's been said that actors like Tom Cruise will be among the last "movie stars" in the traditional Hollywood sense of the definition. Hollywood is no longer the only game in town, as the expression goes. There are other entertainment platforms that have an increasing share of the viewing audience-secondary platforms like Amazon, to name only one-and with the costs of producing a movie dropping with each advancement in cinematic technology, the indie movie industry is growing like never before. And you are correct that most people are not going to want to visit any remnants of Hollywood of yesteryear, especially now that they are removing historic buildings, structures, and institutions. I remember a while ago there were various videos about the outcry over a famous Hollywood/TV set that was being bulldozed and leveled. It was one of those faux neighborhoods the industry built for use as a stage setting-entire streets leveled where once houses served as the shooting locations of famous family TV shows in America. Now gone.
In addition to these iconic structures and places become ghosts of the past, the current day horrors of what we see happening nationwide are not helping matters. I have never seen never seen a city more devoid of humanity. LA feels utterly soulless and incredibly materialistic. Everything is about looks, success, vanity and not about how things actually are. There is absolutely no sense of sincerity, everyone and everything feels fake. The lack of comradery, community or compassion is stunning. The place is what peak individualism looks like: every man for himself. Just a bunch of individuals trying to survive in a wasteland full of apathy, trash and misery. It was an absolutely depressing and sobering experience. I had the same feeling in Las Vegas, except with more escapism there. Bunch of people drinking, gambling and ordering escorts in an attempt to convince themselves that they are happy..
@@21stCenturySpaceOdyssey Excellent perception on your part. I am the type of movie fan who would even like to see Sets where famous shows were shot for TV. They actually built fake towns so is it wise to raise them down? I’d run tours through there as Tourist attractions and generate income.
I think they will regret getting rid of everything related to films.
I found that while there are good, decent people everywhere LA had no sense of community or center. I had no car and took the bus and walked around Long Beach and I went to Santa Anita Park for a day. That was great but down town Long Beach was a very lonely place. A got that feeling from LA too! Although it’s sprawling and spread out so much it also a very lonely place. And I went to Vegas too and it gave me a vagrant kind of vibe. A Transience or just passing through feeling that I didn’t like. Both are places where you can get lost and feel very alone despite the people around probably because everyone is anonymous. And nobody cares. It would be so much better if you knew someone there or had relatives. Some friends would help and it takes time to make some.
But I agree with you overall. The cities have no soul. So you get an empty feeling walking around and can hardly wait to leave. Still, two cities everyone should see once at least. For the experience and spectacle.
I missed the Hollywood Bowl I should have seen that. It’s historical.
Good talk!
Would it be possible to know the name of the band you were in? Was it Local H? Curious to see if I had your cd back in those days...
Really enjoyed this; it brought me back to hanging here in the early 80’s. In the mid 60s my mom was a go-go dancer at The Whisky. Lots of history for sure!.
I found this video to be sad more than anything else. Kids chasing a dream that is long dead in a place that now just lives off of old stories and myths, and that was in 2002.
Beautifully said. I felt that way too. I always wanted to live in California. But just as segregated as Chicago. Beautiful on outside evil on inside.
Yes, sad. The place (and maybe the whole country) has devolved into vulgarity and excess thrill-seeking. Drugs and permissive parenting really killed a lot in our society.
Twas ever thus.
So much fun as a youth 1970/1972 I was really young .🙋 The servants at the mansion took care of everything. 3 times at the Sunset Strip. 🌇 To be older at that time would have been really cool. what a great time as a kid really enjoyed it and I loved this video. Because even as a kid of 14 years old I still remember that .👍
@@timlabell What servants? What mansion?
That was one of, if not the best documentaries about Sunset and West Hollywood that I've ever seen.
The background music was perfect too.
I was born in 1964. Graduated high school at Ulysses S Grant high in 1982. Born and raised in the SFV. The thing we did was spend rock n roll nights on the strip. Sure it was still sleazy, but not like now.
The Whiskey, The Rainbow, The Roxy, and Gazzaries! Then we went to other clubs. Madam Wong's, The Comedy store, The Wiltern, universal studios, The Country Club and whatever on Ventura Blvd. Wed eat at Barney's Beanery, Tommy Burger, Tiko taco, Hamburger Hamlet, Casa Vega and Dupars. We even hung out at Sherman Oaks galleria! I MISS those days. Cruising Van Nuys Blvd on Wednesday night.. ❤
Oh, and Henry's Tacos!!
You forgot The Starwood.
Grew up in the 60's in LA, cruzed Hollywood Bl to Sunset Bl all the way out to Malibu. Went to drive in's with any girl that would get in my 55 chevy 265 V8 . Met waiter's and waiter's that were shooting to be Steve McQueen. Stayed around and worked for the city of LA twenty five years near downtown. Got pension and moved to mountains in Northern California. Hanging out waiting for the man to call me home. Good times. The city had a vibe to it, always looking for the next big thing. It will not come back just like San Francisco will not come back.
That was my adolescence too. Great times. Saw the writing on the wall and left in the 80s. Loved Tommy's, chili on everything....
The hullabaloo near Hollywood and Vine also... Palace Guard, a band from Canada called Mandalla. The Doors had an apartment behind the club. Lots of partying after hours. Canter's on Melrose after the clubs closed for the night... I could write a book. 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
OMG! My old boss, Mario, from the Rainbow Bar & Grill! I was a dj there in the 80's. Fun and wild!
Loved Mario.
& you lived to tell the tail, well done!
I was born in Hollywood, and in a teenager in the early 1970s. The strip was cool, and had many of the original sports-Cyrano's. The Source was a health food restaurant , a small brick house-like struck with a front patio. It was near the bend that was close to Tower Records. I am surprised this documentary did not mention when Tower Records closed since it was a major symbol of the Strip I saw many famous rock band stars at the Rainbow since people at there after the concerts. Everything was so much more fun back then, and life seemed simpler. Iwen tt the Rolling Stones private party in Malibu Colony !!
Thanks for a brilliant history lesson… and video. Cheers.
Be interesting to see a 2024 version of this. Watching some of the people in it makes me think they're perpetually in audition mode.
I'm not only a bartender, I also write, sing, play guitar, and am Morpheus' best friend.
@@D-Fens_1632They’re not doing anything except slinging their own shit 💩 at each other and aging. The saddest thing I ever saw was an old wrinkly lonely man at the Ralph’s trying to buy himself groceries late at night wearing hair metal band gear. I felt so sorry for him and it’s where most of these dudes end up.
@@BrooklynBaby100 I resemble that statement😂
I was born in Hollywood and hung out around there as a kid, but it never influenced me in any way other than making me want to leave , so I did , thank goodness.
To where?
Cousin Oliver! That's a blast from the past.
I thought looked familiar! Cousin Oliver, the downfall of the Bradys.🤣
He really loves Trump...A BIG fan!🎉
@@Noscams00I didn't think so. It just highlighted the fact that the kids were outgrowing the show.
He sure changed. He was so adorable!
Proud of their debauchery.
The late 90s was the end of Sunset BLVD Hollywood BLVD and Santa Monica BLVD.. It was so damn cool around the late 80s. I heard in the 70s and the 80s it was Phenomenal
good one....i interviewed Exene back when she was in 8-Eyed Spy....if anyone's an authority about what those early punk days were about in LA...she would be it.
A K-pop group was in L.A. for some concerts. They were doing a vlog while walking around and visiting some places of interest. They were standing on the sidewalk eating ice cream. In the background you could see a woman walking her dog. The big dog took a big dump on the sidewalk. And the woman just left it. THAT'S L.A.
Richard Pryor tape one of his funniest specials "Live on the Sunset Strip" here!!! Awesome
Now is always watching as the future becomes the past, as tears dry in the dust, laughter echoes in the dark, lives disappear into memories and another dawn rises on a new era for those who enter the frame and leave behind their images like frayed old garments dancing in the wind.
I grew up watching the TV show 77 Sunset Strip. I always imagined Sunset Blvd. to be a great place. The first time I saw it 10 years ago, I was disappointed to see what a dump it had become.
Time marches on, things change. Same in NYC.
In 1982 I had two good friends that I grew up with and went all through twelve years of school with. One was a fabulous drummer, as good as any of the day, the other a guitar player who now has his masters in music. Both left from San Jose and went down to LA 400 miles south to make in music, both on different paths, the both came back in six months, both had the same comment. They got there, and there was thousands and thousands of musicians all with the same plan. They said don't bother, its hopeless....
Luck, who you know, publicity..
Same. Except one of my friends who went (it was a 4 person group, ) is now a pretty famous comedian. Been on a good sitcom for a while. Can't give up ur dreams just because of alot competition
@@DrDIY1who is he , and why can't he give me a break , struggling decades can't get into casting , agent , managers office or in any unions ? 🎥🎥🚬🥃👍
It's all who you know, how far are you willing to go for your dream, and then they have to want to promote you heavily.
And a little bit of luck
Yes I can imagine it was over saturated. It was probably fun times though. trying to make it may have been tough.
I was in L.A. a little while ago.
Saw some good bands that week like Winger, Slaughter, etc.. so I got a taste of what it once was. But sadly the music scene is not great... the 80s will never come back unfortunately.
This is just before the fall of the strip. Now it's a shell of what it is. Sad
Entire state is
Sunny place, shady people. Seen a lot of shows on the strip, I mainly recall how difficult it was to find a parking spot. House of Blues paved over and turned into a condo, that pretty much sums up the strip as of late.
Back in the late 60's during the psychedelic 60's we used to cruise Sunset Blvd. along with Hollywood Blvd and Laurel Canyon. I remember seeing all he clubs like The Whiskey A-Go-Go, The London Fog, The Hullabaloo Club, Hollywood Palladium, Pandora's Box, etc. etc. and see all the rock groups on the marquees like Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Vanilla Fudge, Canned Heat, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Janis Joplin, etc. etc. etc. We also cruised up in Laurel Canyon and saw were the rock stars lived like Jim Morrison, Cass Elliott, Frank Zappa, Arthur Lee, Mickey Dolenz, David Crosby and a host of others. Now, Sunset in nothing more than a lot of high rise high-end condos, office buildings, fast food crap places and a Starbucks on every other corner. Even Tower Records is gone (although now we go to Amoeba Music & Video on Hollywood Blvd. (which was originally on Sunset next to the Cinerama Dome. I remember always seeing Dino's (the nightclub owned by Dean Martin). It was always a part of the old 50's private detective series 77 Sunset Strip. How times have changed!!
Wow! You were there during the coolest part!
I played at a club in the 80s it was crazy and fun to walk where the doors played and many other's was a great experience.
In 1987, I wanted to move to California and drove from Boston to L.A., and when I finally got to California my first stop was the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. It was incredibly depressing with lots of teenage runaways hanging out on street corners, bums, and prostitutes. I had to leave that depressing area fast. I was there as a kid in 1977, and it was really nice. Back in 1977, there were lots of tourists and I had a great time visiting all the historic sites and seeing the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. It was very safe and changed a lot in a short time.
What do we have now. Skid row 😂❤
Ronald Reagan became president for 8 years. Money became God in America.
So true. I went down from SLC to LA in 87. First time I'd seen bars on convenient stores and pay before you pump. People looked hard and downtrodden. Crime was high and smog filled the air. No one working at McDonalds spoke English. It was past it's prime. It would have been great in the 60's and 70's but it was already over.
Ronald Reagan, for all intents and purposes, obliterated the middle class. All honesty went out the window.
@@normanduke8855 Ronald ray guns
I stayed in a hotel on Sun Set in 1989 for 6 months,it was a culture shock coming from a small Texas town of less than 100 people!!
Lol I can only imagine lol I'm from that area too and when I went to California in 94 it was definitely culture shock being raised in a redneck area lol California hits different when you are from the south
This was sad, I couldn’t watch it, too much nostalgia
Excellent documentary. Great interviews. Now I know where dumpster fire originated! Loved that you kept that bit in where the guy cussed you out for filming him. Loved the Brittney Spears wannabe Performoire. And Exene is always a reality checker.
I visited LA from Canada in Apr 1977 and had a good time there being a tourist. It was still cold in Canada but a nice toasty warm at night in LA. At the time I had no idea it was sort of a Golden Era in LA. Even Disneyland still had some of the original features it had on opening day in the 1950’s. Then I hear it changed and much of old Hollywood I saw and passed by are now gone.
My experience of LA is that it does have a "culture" but the culture is kaleidoscopic. Twist the way you look at it and it always looks different.
This is one of the coolest comments I have ever read, for many reasons. Incredibly articulate.
@@Rightmeon Thank you very much.
Thanks that was done well ,, good coverage 👍
Well done, every kid from the east wanted to go to Los Angeles. I felt trapped in the midwest in the late 80's even though for me Chicago was was an hour away in one direction and Milwaukee in the other.
Remember, times always change, which changes music and "scenes". I came in 94, still live in LA. Most of LA, inc the Strip, is the same, some new developments, but LA is still largely the same, but the times and people are different. The 70s & 80s were a rockimg time, but today isnt, many stresses, many worries, vety different times, thats the difference. My buddy just came in from Michigan, we saw Randy Rhoads grave, the Van Halen house, the Bat Cave (Bronson Caves), and hung out on the Strip inc at the Rainbow. Its all still there, and not run down like some allege, its the exact same, but the times are different. When I came in 94, young people all over had scripts, trying to be Actors, going to casting calls, trying to be musicians carrying guitar cases, etc, you were immersed in the creativity and energy of the entertainment industry, much of which has left for other cities. All of the LA "scene" and buildings is still here, but the times are very different. Now the Bay Area Tech money is moving in now making it a different scene. Times will always change. Old Hollywood is still kinda here, but not like when I came in 94, much as the streets, buildings, restaurants, and scenery are largely the same. Times have got too expensive for people to try anything risky now, thats alot of it too. LA & Hollywood is still here phyically, but the times are very, very different. Time marches on.
Rest in Perpetual High Frequency, Our Jim Ladd #thankyouforbeingmyfriend
Yea... teenager in the 80s. Since my Freshman year, we would leave the day school ended in Phoenix and drive to Redondo to stay with "Friends Family". Basically... A Bad News Bears 2 deal. Fake friends and parents...lol. Me and a couple buddies could crash at older brothers friends place just off the strand. Most nights were on the beach, passed out at s party or some new girls. Slinging acid mostly up and down the strand on the piers. We would make it up to the Strip at least once a trip. None of us old enough to get in anywhere or do much but get high, lots of coke, and just get wild. Three summers of that and... Well... It takes a toll even at that age. Things just getting worse and worse with booze and drugs. Whether it would be trips to LA or back home. Amazed most of us made it out and past 21yrs old. A few ... didn't. Was a different world and a very different LA.
Now...the thoughts of going to LA makes me just cringe. Well lit sh!thole with no soul.
Sounds like fun and great memories! 👍😂
Great doc I worked at viper for years, the body shop and cat club/ key club briefly. Love my sunset strip family for life.
You must have some crazy stories!
Fark Nikki Sixx looks goofy in this compared to his later years. Looked healthier though. Love the Strip.
Jim Ladd, who narrates this documentary also was on a 1987 Roger Waters solo album album called radio KAOS where he plays DJ and he mentions the sunset strip in some dialogue between tracks on that CD great CD give it a listen Roger would say later he didn't like how shiny it was produced, but I've always loved the sound on that record
I saw Roger Waters live at Madison Square Garden when he toured that album. It was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to.
Jim Ladd was the best goddamn nightly rock n' roll DJ in the world.
Every night was a narrated musical & lifestyle journey. He was like the late-great Art Bell of album-oriented rock radio, alternating between KLOS & KMET in Los Angeles from the late 1970's to the 90's. He also started & hosted the rock personality profile show, "INNER-VIEW".
"The Lonesome L.A. Cowboy" unfortunately passed away about 2 months ago from complications with Cancer.
RIP Mr. Jim Ladd
Does Waters like anything?
Radio KAOS is great. One of my favorite records.
Thanks for sharing this, it brought back a ton of wonderful memories! The best year of my life was living in that area, while recording my first album at NRG with 12 Stones.
Jim Ladd, ROCK IN ✌💐
Sunset Blvd is pretty manufactured now. Things change, and the history of Hollywood in general is pretty lurid. That is the appeal of L.A. I’m a native. I am in L.A. now, and I have a love/hate relationship with the place. This film looks like it was made in the 1990s. Virgin Records is long gone. The Sunset Millenium Project was finished around 30 years ago.
Thank god our own Jim Ladd ( the midnight cowboy ) is the narrator of this.
Lonesome Cowboy..😅🤙🎸🍺😊👍🍺
I loved LA SF and old town Sacramento in the 70 to 80
I really appreciate the great detail that went into thiS awesome video/time capsule!👍It was niCe that you included so many differences perspectives!✌🤓🙏😇🌹🌞🌹
It was interesting learning about the Sunset Strip Riots.
You really don't hear about Sunset Strip no more the 80s the early 90s was the last time it was such a hot spot
by the 90's it was over. it was the 60's through the 80's when it was its heyday.
Absolutely wonderful ♥ really enjoyed watching this.... Made me laugh and cry 🙁🙃
Things are changing,and I don't care what you say,they aren't changing for the better.
Newsome
Who in the hell would say for the better besides a die hard biden supporter.
Even they're hiding under rocks now. Rightfully so.
A lot of people are HANGRY at them!!😂😂
@Ac0ustics0ul neo-bolsheviks
Change is the nature of existence, and as you say, not always for the better.
I'm from Southern California 🩷💙🩵 but I work & live in Indianapolis, but I miss it soooooo much 💯😢
Good to see someone not trashing the city ❤
@@DJarry394 Absence does have a tendency to make one's heart grow fonder..
I'd go back... just need decent priced accommodations
"The cesspools of excitement, where Jim Morrison once stood" - Frank Zappa, 'Tinseltown Rebellion'
Is there a real live scene anywhere in America??? A club where young people are embracing it and young bands are rocking again???
No. With the Internet, you have it all at your fingertips. Everyone wants fame without doing the work or going out of their house.
Nope That shit is over and done with.
Sadly those days are more than 20 years back 😢
Unfortunately no. Young people are priced out of everything good these days.
Kansas City..Knuckleheads, crossroads, power and light.
I lived in the heart of the Sunset Strip through 22-28 years old when attended medical school. 1980…I still have a large hole in my nasal septum hahahaha. Cedars Sinai.
It would be great if we had another epicenter of culture and music like this again, embodying ideals like danger, decadence, irreverence, sleaze, etc, etc. Everything has become boring and safe. Something. Anything would be nice
Danger, decadence, irreverence, sleaze, etc. have a tendency to burn themselves out while creating a lot of casualties in the process.
I lived in Huntington Beach in the late 80's. Remember seeing a Chuck Norris flick called "Hero and the Terror" at the drive in theater and lived about a mile from the beach. It was fantastic...not the cesspool it is now.
You can't expect the Suset Strip to remain an Island Oasis when you change the demographics of the city that surrounds it.
That's exactly what brought it down but they'll never say it
Yup too many migrants now illegals
Demographics is what is killing the west.
You should see what's happening to Paris, London and Europe in general 😢
Jim Ladd your the best
What a depression reality looking at it today
My 1st experiences with the classic rockers on Laurel Canyon up and down Sunset to the sea...🎸🎧🌿... Stephen Marley maybe last year.. Good 👍🏻
Sad they priced out all the struggling actors and artists. When you do that, you take the charm right out of the place. Look at it now.
I hear that’s happening with NYC too. Corporate takes over and the lower or middle class gets pushed out and you lose all the artistic creative types, you lose culture….. so what’s left? A bunch of money hungry corporate suits. Just sucks the air right out of the place.
I bet no one that works there lives down the street now
Just like NYC. I lived there when it was cool and fun and filled with artists and writers and creative people. It’s been over for fifteen years or more. Now it’s full of rich Wall Street types and foreigners who can afford it. It’s completely lost it’s soul. And I don’t even want to visit anymore.
LA is the same.
@@elduderino4579it happened years ago in NY
Same thing happened to San Francisco
Jim (The Last DJ) Ladd. RIP, brother. 🎙
Well done. Thanks.
This brings to mind Joni Mitchell's song "Edith and the Kingpin".
Very interesting, thank you.
Jim Ladd is excellent here ❤
80's were awesome on the strip. The women... spectacular. So glad I was born when I was. Today. People are all toothless fentanyl addicts. Oh wait. Hahahaaa
Good documentary, fu nny to listen the spanish guitar music along the statements plus nice images on the long promenades🎉
I did do what Michael Douglas said in the movie 🎥 “A Perfect Murder” when he coined the phrase “Stolen Moments” lol 😂… My friend got us a gig at the illustrious Whiskey a go-go
We had a makeshift LED Zeppelin tribute band called Black Dog We didn’t have to pay to play I guess cause it was on a Sunday night But I remember they didn’t allow me to bring in my cassette recorder to tape the band cause they said they were going to video tape us which they would sell to us after the show If you could believe such a thing…. 😂 I know they were thieves and conmen or whatever affectionate term you wanna use lol… But at least I can say I graced the same stage as my all time favorites including Led Zeppelin,The Doors,Elton John and Jimmy Hendrix etc… 👍….
Does anyone know the soundtrack to this video or who is playing @ 14:00 minute mark ? Thanks
Cousin Oliver from the Brady bunch, I wasn't expecting him in this
Would love to see how it is today. Thx 👍👍
Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view !"
Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam ."
Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!"
Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window ? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..."
Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!"
Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky."
Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction."
Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?"
Damn I just saw that yesterday in a documentary on Fawlty Towers.
@@skipads5141 forget about the horse you know nothing !
Sonny met Cher at Aldo's Restaurant on Hollywood Blvd., about a mile from the Sunset Strip
Love Chris Hillman of the Byds and Dessert Rose Band....Hell of a songwriter
Hollywood and it's surroundings are really ugly in the harsh daylight hours. I work in the area but am out of there by sundown.
back before the 1990s it was golden 24 hours a day. Just something in the water.
@@chrishultgren777Everything in Cali was better before 1990 or there abouts. Now? Almost a given you will encounter some sort of negative incident if you're out after 9PM
Lots of people come to La that were a big fish in their little tiny home pond. They were talented for their town. They get to the big city and find out they were just a little more extroverted than everyone else where they came from. Lived in La for about 10 years 1989 to 1999. Very depressing driving through sunset during the day light hours. Attended two riots in Hollywood sunset area.
1988 was the tipping point. You arrived just in time to have missed it all.
"attended" riots? Were you given assigned seating?
RIP Tower Records
R.I.P. Lonesome Cowboy..❤🍺🙏🎸🎸🎸 Absolutely unmistakable voice..🙏🍺🎸😊🤙
Sadly it is all gone. They have made the strip look so corporate now. They ruined a good thing. Things totally died in the early to mid 2000's. It was trying to hang on but the light burned out then. What a shame. :(
Unfortunately Hollywood is dead, DTLA is the new rock heaven !!! Less traffic and easier to get in and out!!!! 🤙🏽
no energy here people, it's as dull as it gets. Lived here 35 years, nothing ever happens.
Really? I live in SW FL and I was always under the opposite impression, to the point of wanting to move there....
@@mandysue882The grass always does seem greener on the other side, but it's just illusion. If there ever was a time to not go there, it's definitely now..
I did Hollywood from '77 to '96 and seen all of this sez Billy O'Damit
Robbie Rist is actually a really good singer! I've heard a lot of great covers he's done. My favorite was a Nick Gilder cover band! I used to wish I'd moved to Los Angeles instead of San Diego... but now the homeless and crime is SO bad, and it's outrageously expensive. Overpriced. My son lives there now, but he works so much I only see him once or twice a year, despite it only being a 2-hr drive. He works at a trendy Japanese pizza restaurant & sees celebs there all the time & makes good money, and now also at a trendy new coffeehouse that used to be a bar, and says he makes even better tips there! I miss visiting LA, but I am so broke trying to live in San Diego i can't go anywhere. I'm leaving the state soon...i cannot stand the state of this state anymore. I'll miss my 2 kids and the weather, but i am tired of being poor even though I'm "house rich", so I'm cashing out to get my dream ranch house in Ohio....
Nostalgia and melancholy =Damn depressing.
Lived one block away from the Whisky for about 3 months in 1983. The Strip was less dicey than Hollywood. There was a feeling then, as perhaps in every era, that it was fun and exciting but not as good as 'back in the day.' Right before the 1984 Olympics they cleaned up Hollywood.
Would be interesting to do an updated version of this doc from 2002. These days there is no parking and it feels like the pedestrian strip malls of Vegas.
It’s crazy what’s become of our California
Our California😂
Yeah, you can say the same thing about my state Texas. Born and raised here and really don't recognize it. Or were just old and cranky!🤣
Blame Newsom, Pelosi and Biden
Lord poopy pants Donald rump did this
@@joehalverson9640 I call him Dirty Diaper Donny!🤣
Places like Whiskey A Go Go and Rainbow Bar and Grill was all the rage on the Strip
California invited the world to come
and they did...
Just like Texas is now!☹️
Always refreshing to see a veteran of the 60s cut the crap and admit they blew it.
This is just too old to be relevant in 2024. If they could see Sunset today......oof. And ick. Always nice to hear Jim Ladd's voice, a SoCal FM thing back in the glory days. 🎬
People today probably don't understand the part where police were enforcing laws. It seems so quaint now that public drunkenness and hookers were their biggest concerns.
No mention of the Troubador. Seems odd.
When was this produced? IMDB says 2002, but it seems older.
No its 2002 or 2003 because in one of the shots " hoobastank" was being advertised at the whiskey and thats around the time they broke out
28:02 - A "performier"?
French...
Sunset Strip - Toilet of the world.
This is really old its looks to b 2000'- 2005
It's 2002, so you were well within the ballpark.
i grew up in Granada Hills in the SFV. I was in Bands and worked in the Entertainment Industry while living in Hollywood for years, but I got smart and finally moved out of Party Town back in the 2000s! I ended up working on Live Shows and lived in Mexico for years and got in Far Less trouble while enjoying life a lot more Sober! I think the Fun LA sorta Ended by the Mid 2000s..
18:36 Nikki Sixx 🖤
3:37 The Whiskey Go Go 🎸🎶
6:26 The Rainbow Bar & Grill ☠️🌈🥃♠️
10:54 The Comedy Store 😂🎙️
🙋🏻♀️🌿
1:24 pretty sure that guy played Oliver on The Brady Bunch. If not, he did now.
Sad….generations of lost souls…
They can still be redeemed.
My band played the viper room in 2021 and we partied at the rainbow and did a photo shoot there. It’s still awesome on the strip no matter what.
Feels pretty empty-
All that “ look at me! Look at meee!
A dog chasing its tail.
Haha they changed the Marlboro sign to beer😂🙄
Bloody hell the futility of it!