Sunset Strip
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The Strip is famous for its wall-to-wall advertising |
The
Sunset Strip is the name given to the mile and a half
stretch of
Sunset Boulevard that passes through
West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's east border with
Hollywood at Marmont Lane to its west border with
Beverly Hills at Phyllis street. The Strip is probably the best known portion of Sunset, embracing a premier collection of boutiques, restaurants, rock clubs, and
nightclubs that are on the cutting edge of the entertainment business. It is also known for its trademark array of huge, colorful
billboards.
As the Strip lies outside of the
Los Angeles city limits and was an unincorporated area under the jurisdiction of the
County of Los Angeles, the area was under the less vigilant jurisdiction of the
Sheriff's Department rather than the heavy hand of the
LAPD. It was illegal to
gamble in the city but legal in the county. This fostered the building of a rather wilder center of nightlife than Los Angeles would tolerate and in the 1920s a lot of nightclubs and
casinos went in along the Strip, which attracted
movie people to this less restricted area, with
alcohol served in back rooms during
Prohibition.
Glamour and glitz defined the Strip in the 1930s and the 1940s, with its renowned restaurants and clubs, which became a playground for the rich and famous. There were movie legends and power brokers, and everyone who was anyone danced into stardom at such legendary clubs as
Ciro's, the
Mocambo and the
Trocadero. And some of its expensive nightclubs and restaurants were said to be owned by gangsters like
Mickey Cohen. Other spots on the strip associated with Hollywood include the
Garden of Allah apartments and
Schwab's Drugstore.
By the early 1960s, the Strip lost favor with the majority of movie people. But its restaurants, bars and clubs, continued to be an attraction for locals and out-of-town tourists. In the mid-1960s and the 1970s, it became a major center for the
counterculture as
Go-Go dancers did their thing at such spots as the
Whisky a Go Go.
Bands like
Metallica,
Van Halen,
Mötley Crüe,
Guns N' Roses,
The Doors,
The Byrds,
Buffalo Springfield (whose song
For What It's Worth was about a police riot in the summer of 1966 against
hippies),
Love,
The Seeds,
Frank Zappa,
Martha and the Vandellas and many others played at clubs like the
Roxy,
Pandora's Box and the
London Fog.
The Strip continued to be a major focus for
punk rock and
New Wave during the late 1970s, and it became the center of the colorful
glam metal scene throughout the 1980s. The 1979
Donna Summer song 'Sunset People' from the album
Bad Girls, was about the nightlife on Sunset Boulevard. With the increase in rents in the area during the 1980s, however, and the decline of the glam metal scene in the early 1990s, the Sunset Strip ceased to be a major area for up and coming rock bands without industry sponsorship. The adoption of "pay to play" tactics, in which bands were charged a fee to play at clubs like the Roxy, the Whisky and
Gazzari's (now the
Key Club) also diminished the appeal to rock bands other than as an industry showcase. The music industry dominates clubs on the Strip such as those mentioned above, and only major acts perform at the
House of Blues. Thus, during the 1990s, the center of more alternative music activity in Los Angeles shifted further east to areas like
Silverlake,
Los Feliz and
Echo Park.
In November 1984, voters in West Hollywood passed a proposal on the ballot to incorporate and the area became an independent city. Increasingly, the western end of the Strip is occupied by office buildings, mostly catering to the entertainment industry, and expensive hotels. This area seems to have become an adjunct of Beverly Hills only with more nightlife activity, much of it upscale.
In the evening, the Strip is a vibrant slash of
neon, a virtual
traffic jam of young cruisers on weekends and a mecca for people-watchers and celebrity wannabes.
However, in the 21st Century the rate of new club openings on the Strip has declined due to traffic congestion while
Hollywood Boulevard with less parking restrictions and easy access to the Hollywood Freeway has seen an increase in new openings.
Many
celebrities can still be seen on the Strip, especially on its western end, and quite a few live in the area, particularly the nearby
Hollywood Hills and
Laurel Canyon.
In October of 1993 actor
River Phoenix overdosed on a lethal combination of heroin, alcohol, cocaine, and
GHB at
Johnny Depp's
Viper Room on the corner of Sunset and Larrabee. Depp is no longer an owner of the
Viper Room.
Today the Strip contains some of the most exclusive condominium complexes on the West Coast with "name" buildings such as Shorham Towers, Sierra Towers, and on the exclusive
cul de sac Alta Loma Road, the popular buildings known as The Empire West and The Park Wellington. These four buildings are ofter referred to in the media as the "Sunset Strip Condos" that are the security guarded homes of the Hollywood elite.
Alta Loma Road is also home to the low-key hotel celebrity haunt "The Sunset Marquis" with its famous 45-person
Whisky Bar and a recording studio that has been the home to many hits including songs by
U2. Alta Loma Road was one of the main locations for the film
Perfect but it was also the home a tragedy. In the 1970s, it was the street on which
Sal Mineo lived and died.
Also, it is a little-known fact that the
Las Vegas Strip in
Las Vegas, Nevada, was named "the Strip" after the Sunset Strip.
77 Sunset Strip, a successful 1958-1964 TV series, was set on the Strip between
La Cienega Boulevard and Alta Loma Road.
*
Gazzari's (
Bill Gazzari)
*
Rainbow Bar and Grill *
The Roxy Theatre*
Troubadour*
Whisky a Go Go*
Viper Room
