Does anybody really "own" Sunset Strip? Does George Maharis? Jim Morrison's ghost? John Doe?
There's a fun little debate being drummed up in the pages of the Times over whether West Hollywood (a bonafide city whose borders encompass the Strip) or Hollywood (a neighborhood of Los Angeles) is the true owner of the ever-mutating nightlife capital of L.A.
It seems the city of West Hollywood slapped up 10-dozen lamppost banners blaring "Sunset Strip - Only in West Hollywood," which set a little electricity crackling into the knee-joints of Rodney "Mayor of Sunset Strip" Bingenheimer and Laugh Factory founder Jamie Masada, who are declaiming the posters as a history-obliterating buzz-grab.
Bob Pool's article is full of delicious morsels of history -
To some, in fact, the real history of the Sunset Strip is tied to the corner of Sunset and Crescent Heights — two blocks east of West Hollywood.
Schwab's drugstore, a hangout for film writers and renowned as the place where starlets supposedly sipped soda fountain drinks while waiting to be discovered, was directly across the street from the Garden of Allah.
Later, the intersection found itself in the center of the transition of the Sunset Strip from a playground of the coat-and-tie jazz crowd to a destination for today's jeans and rock-music set.
By the mid-1960s, free-spirited hippies had moved in and drug use was rampant along the boulevard. Bands such as Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds and Jim Morrison's the Doors drew younger crowds to rock clubs that sprang up along the Sunset Strip.
In 1966, a small rock club called Pandora's Box on the southwest corner of Sunset and Crescent Heights was the site of protests after authorities imposed a 10 p.m. curfew for those under 18. Authorities said they acted to control growing crowds of youngsters spilling out of the club and into Sunset Strip traffic.
After several confrontations between youths and police outside the club, Los Angeles officials bulldozed Pandora's Box and built a right-turn traffic lane there. The episode led to a 1967 teen-exploitation movie, "Riot on Sunset Strip."
... and this salient fact: West Hollywood was incorporated only 20 years ago, a good while after the Strip earned its identity as a landmark region of Hollywood.
Not so black-and-white now, huh?
If fame is money (and that's axiomatic in this town) then the "true" location of the Sunset Strip means untold millions for the city of West Hollywood if they can persuade lazy entertainment writers everywhere to be more factual about describing its location.
But they'll have to overcome the fine, old tradition of lazy entertainment writers placing the Strip in Hollywood, which is not entirely factual on either a geographic basis, or a governmental basis since as a neighborhood it lacks its own government.
I think West Hollywood can squarely lay claim to the 1.7-mile chunk of the Strip that passes through town. But I sincerely doubt the banners will affect one shred of perception among the other umpteen-square miles of Los Angeles when it comes time to hit the streets for a late-night cruise, a club gig or a "Hollywood deaths" tour of places like the WeHo-based Chateau Marmont.
In the end, a good vodka martini and a kickin' DJ will get you loosened up no matter where you are.
Posted by: mack_reed on Monday, August 16, 2004 - 08:59 AM
