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{Record Crackle Sound}
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ANNOUNCER (V.O.):
Hollywood Sunset Boulevard,
famous boulevard...
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glorified in movie,
song and story.
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The glitter street of movie
town that winds its way from
skid row through Hollywood...
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past the luxury of Beverly
Hills, and on to the sea.
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( MUSIC PLAYING )
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♪ Where are you walking
I've seen you walking ♪
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♪ Have you been there before ♪
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♪ Walk down your doorsteps
You'll take some more steps ♪
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♪ What did you take them for ♪
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♪ There's a private
In my boat ♪
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♪ And he wears pins
Instead of medals on his coat ♪
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MARK MAHONEY (V.O.):
I'm going to tell you a story
of vice and of glory.
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And how it was back in the day.
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The yellow brick road it ain't,
it's the street of sinners,
not of saints.
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It's LA's Champs-Élysées.
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I'm going to make it funky
in the style of super junky,
poet of the Angola school.
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And we'll ride east to west
in a short that's the best.
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So lean back, dig the ride
and be cool.
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When the city was dry,
the Strip could supply the
stuff of which dreams are made.
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The pimps and the pushers,
the hustlers and hookers
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all had it made in the shade.
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When the Garden of Allah had
gone on to Valhalla and they
opened Pandora's Box.
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Where the kids with long hair
flipped the wigs of the
squares...
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'til the party got squashed
by the cops.
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Then the teens made the scene,
Arthur Lee reigned supreme.
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'Til the doors closed in on
him. But his coat of many
colors made way for lots...
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of brothers, like that
light-skinned Hendrix named Jim.
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( ROCK MUSIC PLAYING )
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♪ So this ain't the end
I saw you again today ♪
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♪ I had to turn my heart away ♪
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♪ Smiled like the sun
Kisses for everyone ♪
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♪ And tales it never fails ♪
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♪ You lying so low in the weeds
I bet you gonna ambush me ♪
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♪ You'd have me down down
down down on my knees ♪
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♪ Now wouldn't you
Barracuda ♪
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SLASH (V.O.):
I decided to run away
from home at some point...
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when I was like six.
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And so I took a Big Wheel...
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and I rode it all the way down
Laurel Canyon to Sunset.
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That was my first real
adventure.
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♪ No right no wrong
You're selling a song ♪
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♪ A name Whisper game ♪
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♪ If the real thing
Don't do the trick no ♪
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♪ You better make up
Something quick ♪
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♪ You gonna burn burn burn
Burn burn it to the wick ♪
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♪ Aren't you Barracuda ♪
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I believe in sacred places and I
believe that for a musician...
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there are very few sacred places
in the Western world.
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This is. It's a sacred place.
It's a place where you can stand
and think, this is exactly
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where Jim Morrison stood and
figured it all out.
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It's one thing to read some
jerk off's version of what
the Whiskey A-Go-Go
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was like in 1966. It's another
thing to stand there
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and go, wow. This is, it was
probably really powerful.
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You can feel that resonant
energy, it's right there.
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It's a living history.
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From Doheny
to Crescent Heights...
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there's a lot of ghosts,
you know?
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And a lot of history
that I am familiar with.
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And even the ghosts from times
past, I feel that haunting, too.
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Talking about even the smell
of it and the sound of it.
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And the, you know it's a very--
yeah, you can almost taste it.
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A lot of these places are still
there, you know.
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The structures are still there.
The history is still there.
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The feeling is still there.
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Hollywood itself is a magnet...
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and obviously has
great feminine appeal...
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a sexual appeal.
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And the Strip is kind of the
personification of that.
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Well, it certainly will draw you
in, and, you know, fuck you up.
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It's the one street that you
gravitate towards...
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no matter where you are,
because you hear about it...
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and your dreams can start
out there and your dream
will end there...
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you know, if you don't watch
your shit, right?
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It'll end right there, because
you will die that night.
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You know, and it will be because
of whatever dream you're
chasing.
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( MUSIC PLAYING )
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♪ On the first part
Of the journey ♪
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♪ I was looking at
All the life ♪
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♪ There were plants and birds
And rocks and things ♪
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♪ There was sand and hills
And rains ♪
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♪ I've been through the desert
On a horse with no name ♪
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The social milieu and the
history of Los Angeles...
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creates a unique atmosphere
for a place like Sunset Strip.
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I don't think it could happen
anywhere else, not in the way
that it developed.
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When you go back from the 20's
and the little dirt road...
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to being this glamorous pathway
of movie stars and night
clubs...
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segueing into this whole
other era in the 50's...
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of being, kind of you know,
semi-hipster hangout...
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and then segueing into the
60's where you know that
legacy continues on.
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Sunset strip is a civilization
for the broken hearted...
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the mistreated, the overlooked,
the under-loved...
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the underpaid and the doomed.
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If you're gonna die, you might
as well die here, die in front
of all of us.
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We'll write songs about it.
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It was a very rough strip at one
time. It was the outlaw place.
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It's where some of the
agencies set up shop...
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because there was no taxation.
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It's was kind of outside the
police jurisdiction...
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of Beverly Hills
and the studios.
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So it was always this kind of--
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No man's land.
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No man's land.
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In 1892, a French immigrant
comes in and buys 220 acres...
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a guy named Victor Ponet.
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He then proceeds to turn this
area around Sunset Strip...
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and West Hollywood into
poinsettia fields.
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It was still you know you
basically have a lot of
undeveloped land...
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with small trails that turn
into small little roads.
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Sunset Boulevard then becomes
this place between the proper...
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city of Hollywood where all the
filming is being done.
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It's now a gateway to
a development called
Beverly Hills.
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Most people think that the
Sunset Strip is named
because of strip clubs on there.
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Which happened later, but it
really was because it was this
little strip of road...
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that went between the
two cities.
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We are in the center of the
universe in the 21st century.
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You see a city in ruins,
Hollywood USA...
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but once upon a time,
it was great...
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Crescent Heights and Sunset
Boulevard.
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And in 1946, I came to this
exact location with my father.
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And we went down to Schwab's,
which was this way, going
towards Hollywood.
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What sort of fountain
was it?
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The one at Schwab's Drug Store,
up on Sunset Boulevard.
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Schwab's?
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Schwab's.
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Schwab's, thanks a lot.
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The only place I really miss
is-- it was Schwab's.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Because it had the soda
fountains from the old days.
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ARCHIVE VOICEOVER:
I drove down to headquarters.
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That's the way a lot of us
think about Schwab's
Drug Store.
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Kind of a combination office,
coffee clatch and waiting room.
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Waiting. Waiting
for the gravy train.
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That had that magic...
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I miss that place.
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That vibe, you knew a
lot of stuff was born there.
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Yeah, you knew that's where all
the actors were who you looked
up to.
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And that you would meet a
million actors in there that
would never make it.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah,
but the vibe was there.
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Yeah, the vibe was-- yeah.
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You know, their elbows were
on those counters.
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You thought you'd go in there
and have a fucking Coca-Cola...
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and get discovered
for sucking on a straw.
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Then we came here, wait
for the light to change...
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and then we went behind me to
the fabulous garden of Allah.
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The senior Robert Benchly had a
really nice villa there.
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The guys wanted to smoke opium
in his villa.
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You're the lookout. I had
on my miniature sailor suit.
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There I am with my little boat
and my dad says...
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andquot;When the cops come,
scream and start acting like
a moron six-year-old...
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and we'll flush the shit
down the toilet. You got it?
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Yeah. They went upstairs...
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and they laid down
and did the pipe.
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On my first visit out here,
they threw a party for me
at the Garden of Allah.
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And I was very much aware
of the history of the Garden.
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And the many famous people
and celebrities...
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from the Algonquin...
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and people from New York.
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It was a Bohemian atmosphere...
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which was named
for Allah Nazimova...
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who was a famous silent actress.
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Her most famous film
was called Salome.
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And it's a beautiful film,
but it ruined her...
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'cause she used her own money
to make it, which is not
a good idea.
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She owned the Garden of Allah...
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which was a series of
Spanish-style bungalows...
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built around a swimming pool
that was shaped like the Black
Sea or something...
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that reminded her of her past.
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And she lived in the large
house, and later she
had to sell it.
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and that's when
I visited the place...
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and she lived upstairs
in a little apartment.
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She wore a famous wig
in Salome...
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that was little balls
on wires that jiggled
every time she moved.
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A fabulous thing, and that
was in her apartment
when I visited her.
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I was lucky enough to be here
when I came out...
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to go around the Garden of
Allah, which is really the
history of Hollywood.
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And that's where Robert Benchly
used to stay...
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and Errol Flynn would have
a bungalow there...
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and it was a great, charming
place with huge banana trees,
palm trees.
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You'd walk into it and you
would think you were in some
kind of a paradise.
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My first few days in Hollywood
and at the garden...
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were all that I had anticipated.
It was party time, the entire
time.
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So, when I came out the second
visit in LA, I actually made a
point of staying at the garden.
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By then, it was downhill and a
little on the seedy side...
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but you know, for me, it still
had the mystique of its history.
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They tore it down in the late
50's, and put up a parking lot
and a bank.
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You know it's kind of a
shame. It really is.
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When I first came out here in
1971, hearing from the locals
you know well...
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that was the Garden of Allah
where you know Bogie
and Bacall stayed.
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The present and the past
and the future you know,
it all kind of...
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kind of rolls into one because
there's a colliding...
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collapsing kaleidoscope
of images and impressions
from past times.
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The feeling when you take that
drive riding a Harley down the
Sunset Strip towards the ocean.
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( SURF ROCK PLAYING )
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That strip is like where you
leave and where you come back.
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You know, taking Sunset
to the beach to go up PCH.
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You go for a ride, you come back
and when you go, you know...
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you come through Beverly Hills
and then you're coming up...
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on the Strip, it's like,
that's when you go like, okay.
I'm back.
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Places have souls and it,
and it was very clear that it
had something.
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And it has so much history.
It feels a little haunted.
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It had the allure, but in a
strange way, you know, a lot of
places in LA...
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the Garden of Allah, which was
across the street, have a lot of
that history, too.
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But it felt as though it had
suddenly become abandoned.
It was just sort of lost.
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But it had all this history and
people would say, oh, when I
used to stay at the Chateau...
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but no one was staying there
any longer.
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Right, I remember coming there
as a kid, before you fixed
it up...
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and it was pretty funky.
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The fact that I live so close
to it is no accident.
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I mean I-- I truly feel like my
early LA roots are in and around
the Chateau Marmont.
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But back then, it was not
hoity-toity, you know.
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I mean the Chateau was, it was
you know, it had those...
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it was really a couple of layers
of grim. All over it.
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It was a little rundown. Like in
room 21, there was Astroturf.
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You know, you didn't really want
to take your shoes off. But that
was part of its charm.
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When the Chateau started in
1929, it was just after the
stock market crash...
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so they'd intended it as an
apartment house.
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But they ran out of money
and no one wanted to move in.
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So they ended up furnishing it
with all these furniture...
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from all these estates up
in the hills.
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00:15:15,013 --> 00:15:20,285
That's why the lobby had this
look of very eclectic, old
pieces that came from that time.
222
00:15:20,318 --> 00:15:23,622
So when we sort of resuscitated
the whole place...
223
00:15:23,655 --> 00:15:26,625
it was very much looking at
those old historical photos.
224
00:15:26,658 --> 00:15:29,695
And then as you went up into
sort of the penthouse...
225
00:15:29,728 --> 00:15:32,396
and we sort of decorated it in
the scheme of what...
226
00:15:32,430 --> 00:15:35,199
for example, Howard Hughes lived
there in the 50's.
227
00:15:35,233 --> 00:15:36,334
So it was sort of like what
would be...
228
00:15:36,368 --> 00:15:38,570
the high glamour of the 50's.
229
00:15:38,603 --> 00:15:44,543
There's nothing nicer for me,
to feel like if I'm at say
the Chateau...
230
00:15:44,576 --> 00:15:51,016
sitting in a place where I know
know 40, 50 years ago, great
writers, great artists...
231
00:15:51,049 --> 00:15:55,087
great musicians. Not just the
whacked out stories and funny
stories...
232
00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:59,257
and the drug stories, but just
sitting there writing a script
or working...
233
00:15:59,290 --> 00:16:06,198
you know, maybe working on a
tune or working on new material,
whatever. I love sitting there.
234
00:16:06,231 --> 00:16:10,469
The Chateau Marmont became
a kind of home; Thanksgivings,
and having Christmas...
235
00:16:10,502 --> 00:16:16,274
and then having friends stay.
And, it felt like my unsafe,
safe harbor.
236
00:16:16,307 --> 00:16:20,679
Tonight it's quite cloudy,
but I think you can see the view
pretty well.
237
00:16:20,712 --> 00:16:23,749
( JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING )
238
00:16:23,782 --> 00:16:27,619
It brings out people,
a dark, a side, a kind
of fun dark side of people.
239
00:16:27,652 --> 00:16:32,357
I agree with you. It's something
I think a good hotel tends to do
that.
240
00:16:32,390 --> 00:16:35,127
I think unhinges--
241
00:16:32,390 --> 00:16:35,127
It can be dangerous!
242
00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:37,094
Yeah, there is that side.
243
00:16:37,128 --> 00:16:39,498
It can be dangerous or it can
be very creative and very
productive.
244
00:16:39,531 --> 00:16:44,402
However you want to cast it,
but certainly it invites and
encourages kind of an extreme.
245
00:16:44,436 --> 00:16:47,105
And don't you ever forget it,
you [BLEEP]fuckers.
246
00:16:47,138 --> 00:16:50,375
As the children say nowadays.
247
00:16:50,408 --> 00:16:56,348
You know, I've had some really
great, crazy wild times there.
248
00:16:56,381 --> 00:17:00,185
And some that probably overstep
the bounds a little bit...
249
00:17:00,218 --> 00:17:07,792
personally where you just
have you know, some emotional
blow back.
250
00:17:07,826 --> 00:17:12,798
Back in the 80's, you know, late
80's, when I was living there.
251
00:17:12,830 --> 00:17:17,468
Basically there was this one
guy, he was the night guy.
252
00:17:17,502 --> 00:17:24,175
He'd come in at whatever time
and you know, andquot;Good evening,
Mr. Depp, how are you?andquot;
253
00:17:24,209 --> 00:17:28,814
The Chateau was loaded with
characters, but you have those
kind of guys still...
254
00:17:28,847 --> 00:17:30,282
like in Dmitri, you know,
certainly.
255
00:17:30,315 --> 00:17:34,152
Dmitri's a-- he's a special one.
256
00:17:34,185 --> 00:17:38,857
My name is Dmitri. I'm the
maître d'hôtel at Sunset
Tower Hotel.
257
00:17:38,890 --> 00:17:41,560
My job is to create little
moments, just a little
snippets...
258
00:17:41,593 --> 00:17:44,162
a little moment and they
remember that moment.
259
00:17:44,195 --> 00:17:49,266
And hopefully they remember
forever, then I've done a
great job.
260
00:17:49,300 --> 00:17:53,305
It was built smack in the middle
of Hollywood.
261
00:17:53,338 --> 00:17:56,741
You know on Sunset and for many,
many years it was sticking out.
262
00:17:56,774 --> 00:18:01,279
It was one only tall building
in neighborhood and was nothing
else, you know?
263
00:18:01,312 --> 00:18:06,650
And where, these people, you
know, as apartments and even
right now as a hotel, you know.
264
00:18:06,684 --> 00:18:10,655
They're not these artists are
not just staying for one night
or two.
265
00:18:10,688 --> 00:18:13,825
Normally they stay for awhile.
You know to create.
266
00:18:13,858 --> 00:18:20,398
Here in LA, people come to like,
hang out, just like a retreat.
267
00:18:20,431 --> 00:18:26,404
You know, people will kind of
actually, locals will actually
move in to the hotels.
268
00:18:26,437 --> 00:18:30,207
I think that people will come
into a hotel...
269
00:18:30,241 --> 00:18:35,180
and sort of get lost.
270
00:18:41,819 --> 00:18:44,656
And I think you told me that it
had been Bugsy Siegel's room at
one point, right?
271
00:18:44,689 --> 00:18:47,359
Bugsy Siegel's apartment, yeah.
272
00:18:44,689 --> 00:18:47,359
At one point, right?
273
00:18:47,392 --> 00:18:50,262
This whole floor was his
apartment.
274
00:18:50,295 --> 00:18:52,364
John Wayne lived right
below there.
275
00:18:52,397 --> 00:18:54,499
What is now the spa.
276
00:18:54,532 --> 00:18:58,770
Somebody told me wasn't it John
Wayne that had the, brought the
cow out on his terrace?
277
00:18:58,803 --> 00:19:00,372
Yep. That's absolutely correct.
278
00:19:00,405 --> 00:19:02,541
Is-- that's a true story?
279
00:19:00,405 --> 00:19:02,541
Yes.
280
00:19:02,574 --> 00:19:04,876
The penthouse,
Howard Hughes lived there.
281
00:19:04,909 --> 00:19:06,444
SHARON STONE (V.O.):
I lived there.
282
00:19:06,477 --> 00:19:09,281
Sharon Stone lived there.
Elizabeth Taylor lived there.
283
00:19:09,314 --> 00:19:14,920
Diana Ross lived there. It's
a suite that obviously attracts
a special energy.
284
00:19:14,953 --> 00:19:20,259
On clear days, Mr. Marlow you
can see the ships in the harbor
at San Pedro.
285
00:19:28,366 --> 00:19:32,437
There are things that aren't
talked about, like the House of
Francis.
286
00:19:32,470 --> 00:19:35,340
That's really not talked about
all that much.
287
00:19:35,373 --> 00:19:36,708
In fact, it's forgotten...
288
00:19:36,741 --> 00:19:40,378
by most contemporary Hollywood.
289
00:19:40,411 --> 00:19:42,414
They wouldn't know what
you're talking about.
290
00:19:42,447 --> 00:19:46,185
That it was a glamorous
house of call girls.
291
00:19:47,752 --> 00:19:54,426
Lee Francis, really she traveled
the world to find out...
292
00:19:54,459 --> 00:19:57,462
the sexual fantasies that were
being fulfilled...
293
00:19:57,495 --> 00:20:01,233
in India, in Paris, in London,
in Rome.
294
00:20:01,266 --> 00:20:04,770
As sort of like the
delicacies of sex.
295
00:20:06,571 --> 00:20:10,542
In Paris, one of the practices
was to pour...
296
00:20:10,575 --> 00:20:14,846
nine different kinds of wines
and liqueurs...
297
00:20:14,879 --> 00:20:18,716
into nine orifices
of a woman.
298
00:20:18,750 --> 00:20:22,887
And to sip it out
of each orifice.
299
00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,358
Okay, I know you're counting.
300
00:20:27,492 --> 00:20:32,030
And all of this she brought
back in the very late 20's,
early 30's.
301
00:20:32,063 --> 00:20:38,670
And she began operating out
of a luxury suite in the
Piazza del Sol.
302
00:20:38,703 --> 00:20:44,709
It was very elitist, but people
that lived on the Strip knew
about it.
303
00:20:44,742 --> 00:20:47,312
They were very attractive,
young ladies.
304
00:20:50,415 --> 00:20:54,485
Francis was much more
than a brothel.
305
00:20:54,519 --> 00:20:57,289
It was like a private club.
306
00:20:57,322 --> 00:21:03,027
Writers from MGM would take over
a room, and spend the evening
writing...
307
00:21:03,061 --> 00:21:07,399
and being served food and
cocktails by pretty women...
308
00:21:07,432 --> 00:21:09,768
who were smart and educated...
309
00:21:09,801 --> 00:21:13,838
who they could run lines
and scenes by.
310
00:21:13,871 --> 00:21:19,644
Sharing ideas, having fun,
it was a pretty exciting
place to be.
311
00:21:19,677 --> 00:21:22,514
But there were some pretty
dark sex going on.
312
00:21:22,547 --> 00:21:26,651
Certain people went in for the
bondage and that sort of thing.
313
00:21:26,684 --> 00:21:31,723
And whipping, so there was a
sound-proof room for that.
314
00:21:31,756 --> 00:21:34,726
Anything you wanted,
you could have there.
315
00:21:34,759 --> 00:21:40,065
Women often were there in the
lobby partying, eating,
drinking.
316
00:21:40,098 --> 00:21:44,803
Women also went there for sex.
It wasn't just for men.
317
00:21:44,836 --> 00:21:49,341
Jean Harlow had a voracious
appetite for both men and women.
318
00:21:49,374 --> 00:21:54,913
Sometimes Jean Harlow would come
for a woman and end up going
home with a customer.
319
00:21:57,715 --> 00:22:02,920
Lee Francis was the reigning
madame of her day.
320
00:22:02,954 --> 00:22:07,959
Up until the 40's,
and that's when she fell.
321
00:22:07,992 --> 00:22:13,531
Lee was busted at the Piazza
del Sol in January of 1940.
322
00:22:13,564 --> 00:22:16,601
There wasn't a single soul that
would help her out.
323
00:22:16,634 --> 00:22:22,107
All the fun,
all the high living...
324
00:22:22,140 --> 00:22:23,842
that people did with Lee.
325
00:22:23,875 --> 00:22:27,712
And she ended up without a dime
and without a friend.
326
00:22:27,745 --> 00:22:31,649
And it is so often the story
in this fickle town.
327
00:22:31,682 --> 00:22:37,356
( SOFT JAZZ PLAYING )
328
00:22:48,866 --> 00:22:51,936
( MUSIC CHANGES )
329
00:22:51,969 --> 00:22:54,539
If any of you people have never
seen the Strip...
330
00:22:54,572 --> 00:22:57,408
I'd like to show you
a bit of it right now.
331
00:22:57,442 --> 00:22:59,577
Oh, don't misunderstand me,
please.
332
00:22:59,610 --> 00:23:04,549
I'm referring to that fabulous
street in Hollywood called
the Strip.
333
00:23:04,582 --> 00:23:08,153
It's only a mile and a half
long, but there's more glamour
and drama...
334
00:23:08,186 --> 00:23:11,856
packed into this boulevard
of nightspots and hot spots...
335
00:23:11,889 --> 00:23:14,158
than almost any other street
you could name.
336
00:23:14,192 --> 00:23:17,629
( MUSIC PLAYING )
337
00:23:17,662 --> 00:23:20,165
I thought it was very glamorous.
338
00:23:17,662 --> 00:23:20,165
Oh, yes, it was.
339
00:23:20,198 --> 00:23:23,668
I used to wear cocktail dresses
from Jack's and get dressed up
every night.
340
00:23:23,701 --> 00:23:25,837
You're born in a cocktail dress.
341
00:23:23,701 --> 00:23:25,837
I was, I was.
342
00:23:25,870 --> 00:23:29,706
I'm overdressed when I'm naked,
so it's perfect for me.
343
00:23:29,740 --> 00:23:32,110
But I remember when I was
a kid growing up there...
344
00:23:32,143 --> 00:23:34,746
it was always so chic and
then Bobby Darin...
345
00:23:34,779 --> 00:23:36,848
was the opening night,
and Tony Bennett.
346
00:23:36,881 --> 00:23:40,151
I mean, there was a lot of
glamour on Sunset Boulevard.
347
00:23:40,184 --> 00:23:44,689
Oh, yes,
it presaged Las Vegas.
348
00:23:46,691 --> 00:23:49,160
There's a little speakeasy
called the La Boheme Club.
349
00:23:49,193 --> 00:23:53,998
And then in 1934, Billy
Wilkerson comes up, sees this
place...
350
00:23:54,031 --> 00:23:58,636
decides that he's going to turn
this La Boheme into a nightclub,
the Trocadero.
351
00:23:58,669 --> 00:24:02,140
So it becomes the first
nightclub on Sunset Boulevard.
352
00:24:02,173 --> 00:24:03,675
My father's Billy Wilkerson.
353
00:24:03,708 --> 00:24:05,243
William Richard Wilkerson
the second...
354
00:24:05,276 --> 00:24:07,078
but he was known as Billy.
355
00:24:07,111 --> 00:24:11,516
He got a tip from a government
friend of his...
356
00:24:11,549 --> 00:24:13,117
that Prohibition was going
to be repealed.
357
00:24:13,150 --> 00:24:15,220
So he took a boat to France...
358
00:24:15,253 --> 00:24:19,724
and bought like 60 or 70,000
dollars worth of French wines
and champagnes.
359
00:24:19,757 --> 00:24:22,660
That was a lot of wine.
360
00:24:19,757 --> 00:24:22,660
It was-- yeah.
361
00:24:22,693 --> 00:24:25,562
So that's when he decided to
build a nightclub...
362
00:24:25,596 --> 00:24:29,968
and then from there, his next
venture was Ciro's, where we
are today.
363
00:24:32,236 --> 00:24:36,741
Mocambo, Ciro's, Trocadero,
which were the triumvirate of
the nightclubs.
364
00:24:36,774 --> 00:24:40,245
And that becomes kind of key,
because all the other clubs that
are coming along...
365
00:24:40,278 --> 00:24:43,147
are all kind of supporting
those, and there's, it's rife.
366
00:24:43,180 --> 00:24:45,950
There may be 20 or 30 really
nice clubs on Sunset Boulevard.
367
00:24:45,983 --> 00:24:47,952
So the reputation of
Sunset Boulevard...
368
00:24:47,985 --> 00:24:52,122
is pretty much
locked from 1934 onward.
369
00:24:52,156 --> 00:24:55,158
It was such a fabulous time
and there were so many clubs.
370
00:24:55,192 --> 00:25:00,031
I loved working there. I worked
the Crescendo and the other one.
371
00:25:00,064 --> 00:25:02,800
So the way it was that there
was The Cloister.
372
00:25:02,833 --> 00:25:05,870
Then there was the Crescendo and
then the Interlude. They were
next to each other.
373
00:25:05,903 --> 00:25:07,705
I worked the Interlude,
that's the other one.
374
00:25:07,738 --> 00:25:10,041
Yeah, the Interlude was great.
375
00:25:07,738 --> 00:25:10,041
Yes.
376
00:25:10,074 --> 00:25:11,910
These clubs were very exclusive.
377
00:25:11,943 --> 00:25:17,682
They were small, a lot of them,
you almost had to be invited.
378
00:25:17,715 --> 00:25:20,952
( MUSIC PLAYING )
379
00:25:34,732 --> 00:25:38,069
When my dad had the Troc, he got
people to come in and eat at his
restaurant.
380
00:25:38,102 --> 00:25:40,338
He had his illegal
card games in the back.
381
00:25:40,371 --> 00:25:43,675
If they didn't like that, they
could go for roulette or
whatever.
382
00:25:43,708 --> 00:25:46,678
And then there were the
exclusive bordellos up here
in the hills.
383
00:25:46,711 --> 00:25:49,714
It was cpmpletely
service-oriented.
384
00:25:53,184 --> 00:25:56,788
Los Angeles being LA in the
1920's and 1930's...
385
00:25:56,821 --> 00:25:59,157
you have a police force that
is easily bought off.
386
00:25:59,190 --> 00:26:02,927
And now you have anybody who's
opening a nightclub clearly...
387
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:07,699
is going to be involved in some
kind of crime syndicate.
388
00:26:07,732 --> 00:26:10,134
ANNOUNCER (V.O.):
One of the most colorful and
notorious gangsters...
389
00:26:10,167 --> 00:26:14,938
in the United States
in the late 1940's
was Mickey Cohen.
390
00:26:14,972 --> 00:26:18,810
An ex-prize fighter, he
reportedly controlled
politicians...
391
00:26:18,843 --> 00:26:23,214
bribed policemen, and killed
gang land rivals on the West
Coast...
392
00:26:23,247 --> 00:26:29,087
until 1951, when he was sent
to jail for four years
for income tax evasion.
393
00:26:29,120 --> 00:26:33,925
Mickey, you say you've never
mixed with prostitution, you've
never mixed with narcotics.
394
00:26:33,958 --> 00:26:36,761
You have made book, you have
bootlegged.
395
00:26:36,794 --> 00:26:39,731
Most important of all,
you've broken one of the
commandments...
396
00:26:39,764 --> 00:26:41,299
you've killed, Mickey.
397
00:26:41,332 --> 00:26:46,237
I have killed no men that
didn't deserve killing.
398
00:26:46,270 --> 00:26:51,209
Of course, there was an out and
out war, it was called the
Battle of the Sunset Strip.
399
00:26:56,013 --> 00:26:57,348
That's where Mickey got shot.
400
00:26:57,381 --> 00:26:59,150
Coming out from across the
street.
401
00:26:59,183 --> 00:27:00,752
Guy was across the street.
402
00:27:00,785 --> 00:27:02,854
That was where they were
waiting for him?
403
00:27:02,887 --> 00:27:04,989
They shot-- they got Mickey
in the shoulder.
404
00:27:05,022 --> 00:27:09,226
He's out going from one club
to another in 1949.
405
00:27:09,260 --> 00:27:11,796
And it's 4:00 in the morning,
you know...
406
00:27:11,829 --> 00:27:15,133
and he's out with the writer
from the LA Times.
407
00:27:15,166 --> 00:27:19,236
She gets shot in the ass,
and he gets shot.
408
00:27:19,270 --> 00:27:22,674
There's a rumor around town
that somebody's posted a bounty
on your head.
409
00:27:22,707 --> 00:27:23,708
Have you heard about this?
410
00:27:23,741 --> 00:27:24,842
No, I haven't.
411
00:27:24,875 --> 00:27:26,110
Are you much concerned
with it?
412
00:27:26,143 --> 00:27:29,947
Not too much.
413
00:27:26,143 --> 00:27:29,947
Well, he had a grip on it all.
414
00:27:29,980 --> 00:27:33,351
Yeah, 'cause from what I'm
hearing, it's pretty hard to get
a grip out here, you know?
415
00:27:33,384 --> 00:27:38,657
It always has been. I think this
is the wild, cowboy element.
416
00:27:40,291 --> 00:27:42,960
TONY (V.O.):
I took care of all
the numbers on the books.
417
00:27:42,993 --> 00:27:47,965
I was a lieutenant and whatever
he wanted done, got done.
418
00:27:47,998 --> 00:27:50,768
That's it. No questions
with him.
419
00:27:50,801 --> 00:27:55,206
No questions.
I learned that fast.
420
00:27:55,239 --> 00:27:59,077
And the three big book makers,
him and Marty the Nose
and Pete Rooney.
421
00:27:59,110 --> 00:28:00,911
Pete Rooney,
remember Pete Rooney?
422
00:28:00,945 --> 00:28:03,447
He's still going, he's going.
423
00:28:00,945 --> 00:28:03,447
He's still going?
424
00:28:03,481 --> 00:28:04,749
Oh, stronger than ever.
425
00:28:04,782 --> 00:28:05,983
So, he had Sneeky Pete.
426
00:28:06,016 --> 00:28:07,785
Where your club is now, The Cat
Club, yeah.
427
00:28:07,818 --> 00:28:09,120
It was a steak house.
428
00:28:09,153 --> 00:28:11,422
Yeah, a steak house.
Yeah, Sneeky Pete's.
429
00:28:11,455 --> 00:28:16,260
Mickey Cohen had a little casino
in the back. He had a couple 21
games back there for a while.
430
00:28:16,293 --> 00:28:19,362
The police were always watching
him, following him and
everything.
431
00:28:19,396 --> 00:28:25,069
So he would walk around and stop
traffic, 'cause everybody knew
who he was, you know.
432
00:28:25,102 --> 00:28:27,805
The Chief of Police was Parker
at the time...
433
00:28:27,838 --> 00:28:32,877
and he had the intelligence
squad that didn't arrest
anybody, watched everybody.
434
00:28:32,910 --> 00:28:39,217
And the one fellow, the big guy
from Oklahoma, Otis, was tough
as nails.
435
00:28:39,250 --> 00:28:41,986
I mean, he did what he wanted
to.
436
00:28:42,019 --> 00:28:43,321
Otis, oh, that son of a gun.
437
00:28:43,354 --> 00:28:45,490
That son of a bitch,
he was always on my--
438
00:28:45,523 --> 00:28:48,493
They stopped us and they would
take Mickey to the front
of the car...
439
00:28:48,526 --> 00:28:50,394
take me to the back of the car.
440
00:28:50,427 --> 00:28:53,965
andquot;Why don't you start running?
he said.
441
00:28:53,998 --> 00:28:57,235
He's like, andquot;I could shoot you.
442
00:28:57,268 --> 00:28:58,302
He said, andquot;Go ahead.
443
00:28:58,335 --> 00:28:59,370
He was a piece of garbage.
444
00:28:59,403 --> 00:29:01,339
Go ahead, run, he said.
445
00:29:01,372 --> 00:29:03,341
And I just stand there
and say nothing.
446
00:29:03,374 --> 00:29:06,377
Otis, he used to call us,
you andquot;dago
447
00:29:06,410 --> 00:29:10,848
Oh, yeah. He was-- I don't know
how tough he was, 'cause--
448
00:29:10,881 --> 00:29:13,518
I don't know how tough he was,
I didn't care how tough he was.
449
00:29:13,551 --> 00:29:14,552
I never saw him
in a beef or nothing.
450
00:29:14,585 --> 00:29:15,953
Yeah.
451
00:29:15,986 --> 00:29:19,323
But he was a nervy
son of a bitch.
452
00:29:19,356 --> 00:29:21,192
He had the badge and the gun.
453
00:29:19,356 --> 00:29:21,192
That's right.
454
00:29:21,225 --> 00:29:23,160
He had that on him,
he had this--
455
00:29:25,930 --> 00:29:29,000
You gotta understand one thing.
456
00:29:29,033 --> 00:29:34,906
When you walk into the fire,
and come out unscathed...
457
00:29:34,939 --> 00:29:39,510
you're part of the thing,
and that's what you
gotta expect.
458
00:29:39,543 --> 00:29:42,947
You gotta be careful,
you gotta keep your word.
459
00:29:42,980 --> 00:29:48,019
Honesty to me, is the best
policy in the mob.
460
00:29:48,052 --> 00:29:51,856
I don't care how mad Mickey got,
he's always honest.
461
00:29:51,889 --> 00:29:55,359
Mr. Cohen has realized
from his experience
that he so told me...
462
00:29:55,392 --> 00:30:00,899
that the one big lesson he's
learned while he was in prison,
was that crime doesn't pay.
463
00:30:02,299 --> 00:30:03,601
( CROWD CHUCKLES )
464
00:30:03,634 --> 00:30:06,938
( MUSIC PLAYING )
465
00:30:26,457 --> 00:30:31,362
What is now the Roxy used to be
the Largo, which is a very
famous strip club.
466
00:30:31,395 --> 00:30:34,398
Miss Beverly Hills
performed there.
467
00:30:34,431 --> 00:30:36,033
Candy Barr...
468
00:30:36,066 --> 00:30:38,603
There'd be lines, am I right,
lines to get in.
469
00:30:38,636 --> 00:30:40,638
Did Mickey go there?
Because he was involved with--
470
00:30:40,671 --> 00:30:45,109
Oh, Mickey, he was into Candy
Barr. He was in there every
night.
471
00:30:45,142 --> 00:30:48,980
He took out Candy, he took out
Miss Beverly Hills.
472
00:30:49,013 --> 00:30:51,616
He's funny.
473
00:30:51,649 --> 00:30:54,952
One of the great things
of 1930's and 40's era...
474
00:30:54,985 --> 00:30:58,356
of burlesque was that,
you know you had raids
on the burlesque theaters...
475
00:30:58,389 --> 00:31:00,591
and they would arrest certain
performers who were breaking
the law...
476
00:31:00,624 --> 00:31:06,497
and it would be the classic like
being taken away in a mink coat,
still wearing the costume.
477
00:31:06,530 --> 00:31:11,068
Like it was sort of a great way
to get people to come see
her show.
478
00:31:11,101 --> 00:31:14,672
Everyone wanted to come see you
if you were breaking the law.
479
00:31:14,705 --> 00:31:18,074
So a lot of women climbed to the
top billing...
480
00:31:18,108 --> 00:31:22,046
by bringing the house down
in what ever way she could.
481
00:31:24,615 --> 00:31:28,386
It was about titillation
and sex.
482
00:31:28,419 --> 00:31:30,621
Burlesque had
a whole style to it.
483
00:31:30,654 --> 00:31:35,526
The important thing about the
strip tease was not the strip,
it was the tease.
484
00:31:35,559 --> 00:31:37,962
And, you know, it was magic.
485
00:31:48,172 --> 00:31:50,641
This was a nightclub per se.
486
00:31:50,674 --> 00:31:54,145
Ciro's, they had the best acts.
487
00:31:54,178 --> 00:31:57,382
Mocambo had good acts,
but this had the best.
488
00:31:59,049 --> 00:32:00,751
SAMMY (V.O.):
The night I opened at Ciro's...
489
00:32:00,784 --> 00:32:05,123
the excitement that happened
could not have happened
anyplace else.
490
00:32:06,690 --> 00:32:10,962
Sammy Davis opened up here,
when he lost his eye.
491
00:32:10,995 --> 00:32:15,332
And he came and he opened
up here. We were sitting
over there.
492
00:32:15,366 --> 00:32:17,702
And he put on a show you
wouldn't believe.
493
00:32:17,735 --> 00:32:20,370
This place went crazy,
because they'd never seen
anything like this.
494
00:32:20,404 --> 00:32:22,206
And everybody after the Oscars
was here.
495
00:32:22,239 --> 00:32:24,041
He danced,
then did impressions.
496
00:32:24,074 --> 00:32:26,110
Then he played everything
and the band.
497
00:32:26,143 --> 00:32:28,245
I think he played every
instrument except his coat.
498
00:32:28,278 --> 00:32:29,747
Because he was supposed
to do 15 minutes.
499
00:32:29,780 --> 00:32:32,350
Somewhere around an hour and--
500
00:32:32,383 --> 00:32:35,252
Yeah, right, The Hollywood
Reporter said, andquot;A star is born.
501
00:32:35,285 --> 00:32:40,425
♪ My Ho-Bohemia is the place
I want to be ♪
502
00:32:43,494 --> 00:32:44,595
Sammy Davis Jr.--
503
00:32:44,628 --> 00:32:46,096
He was the king of the Strip.
504
00:32:46,130 --> 00:32:49,600
People loved it when he came in
and that was the first black guy
to really--
505
00:32:49,633 --> 00:32:51,602
Could get in there, yeah.
506
00:32:51,635 --> 00:32:55,072
And he'd be, you know,
dancing with white girls
and all of that stuff.
507
00:32:55,105 --> 00:32:57,475
He did a lot of things
for the first time.
508
00:32:57,508 --> 00:32:59,444
He's so bad ass.
509
00:33:01,678 --> 00:33:03,481
I don't hear any sound.
510
00:33:03,514 --> 00:33:06,183
Well, good, you'll hear it
in a minute.
511
00:33:06,216 --> 00:33:08,718
It's gonna come up.
Soon as it warms up.
512
00:33:08,752 --> 00:33:12,656
There we go. Sounds like
one of your arrangements,
I think.
513
00:33:12,689 --> 00:33:16,361
Isn't that wonderful to have my
arrangements up and playing?
514
00:33:17,761 --> 00:33:19,330
Sneeky.
515
00:33:20,564 --> 00:33:22,066
There still are a lot of ties...
516
00:33:22,099 --> 00:33:23,667
between Sunset Boulevard
and Las Vegas.
517
00:33:23,700 --> 00:33:26,737
And so, pretty soon, you start
in the late 40's, early 50's...
518
00:33:26,770 --> 00:33:30,241
Vegas starts to suck all the
entertainment off of
Sunset Boulevard.
519
00:33:33,143 --> 00:33:36,380
The Strip had its own
personality...
520
00:33:36,413 --> 00:33:40,518
and it certainly dramatically
changed from decade to decade.
521
00:33:40,551 --> 00:33:43,788
It evolved, but always reflected
what was going on.
522
00:33:43,821 --> 00:33:47,224
I personally have a prejudice
related to the fact...
523
00:33:47,257 --> 00:33:50,094
that I grew up during a much
more romantic time.
524
00:33:50,127 --> 00:33:51,562
And a much more glamorous time.
525
00:33:51,595 --> 00:33:54,065
And without question I miss it.
526
00:33:54,098 --> 00:34:01,072
I think that with the social,
sexual changes that I very much
played a part in...
527
00:34:01,105 --> 00:34:04,475
and embraced,
you also pay the price.
528
00:34:04,508 --> 00:34:09,447
And I think we did lose some of
the sophistication and romance.
529
00:34:14,650 --> 00:34:19,223
Ciro's kind of closed down,
in the dark period of my family.
530
00:34:19,255 --> 00:34:21,792
The family and the nightclub
kind of went down at the same
time.
531
00:34:21,824 --> 00:34:25,462
Early 1958, that was in my
memory as a young girl...
532
00:34:25,496 --> 00:34:30,134
the dark period of the 50's. And
nightclubs were kind of over.
533
00:34:31,534 --> 00:34:33,536
But something bigger was
changing in the culture...
534
00:34:33,570 --> 00:34:37,441
and it took a while to see
it really change.
535
00:34:37,474 --> 00:34:42,746
Once the glamour of the 40's and
early 50's started to fade...
536
00:34:42,779 --> 00:34:47,585
I think it was headed
for a youthful explosion.
537
00:34:47,618 --> 00:34:54,625
( MUSIC PLAYING )
538
00:34:54,658 --> 00:34:57,694
I was the first
television teen idol.
539
00:35:01,765 --> 00:35:04,734
You know it was like, at the
height of the popularity...
540
00:35:04,768 --> 00:35:07,438
it was probably almost like
Elvis at his top of his game.
541
00:35:07,471 --> 00:35:09,607
There's not much you don't dig.
542
00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:13,611
Way I dig it, you dribbled out
of your place looking real
bombed out like traumatized.
543
00:35:15,579 --> 00:35:17,882
You'd had it, Dad. Do I always
have to bring you on?
544
00:35:17,915 --> 00:35:19,683
Kookie, Kookie,
man with the comb.
545
00:35:19,716 --> 00:35:21,218
Kookie, yeah, Edd Byrnes, man.
Yeah.
546
00:35:21,251 --> 00:35:22,753
We all remember that shit.
547
00:35:22,786 --> 00:35:27,625
Remember his fingers snapping,
yeah. But we all had them little
combs back then.
548
00:35:27,658 --> 00:35:29,560
Don't use them anymore, do they?
549
00:35:27,658 --> 00:35:29,560
I do.
550
00:35:29,593 --> 00:35:32,328
Yeah, you do, you're the last.
551
00:35:32,362 --> 00:35:34,231
Don't leave home without it.
552
00:35:34,264 --> 00:35:35,366
You got it on you?
553
00:35:35,399 --> 00:35:37,902
Yeah, I do, let me see.
554
00:35:37,935 --> 00:35:41,505
Oh, that's old school,
you're going-- give us the--
555
00:35:41,538 --> 00:35:44,675
Handkerchief and-- perfect.
556
00:35:44,708 --> 00:35:47,778
The whole thing might shift.
557
00:35:47,811 --> 00:35:50,614
( MUSIC PLAYING )
558
00:35:50,647 --> 00:35:57,188
September 30th, 1955, drove out
here with a friend of mine from
New York...
559
00:35:57,221 --> 00:36:00,925
to become a movie star...
not an actor.
560
00:36:00,958 --> 00:36:05,663
A movie star, and I arrived up
here on the Sunset Strip
actually.
561
00:36:05,696 --> 00:36:09,667
Oh this is the Edward Brynes
costar of Warner Bros...
562
00:36:09,700 --> 00:36:14,404
TV production, 77 Sunset Strip.
A Kookie comb.
563
00:36:14,438 --> 00:36:17,742
And get a free wallet photo.
564
00:36:20,577 --> 00:36:21,478
That was it.
565
00:36:21,511 --> 00:36:22,880
I mean, I would get the view...
566
00:36:22,913 --> 00:36:24,782
of the Sunset Strip as a kid...
567
00:36:24,815 --> 00:36:27,718
from that TV show. And whenever
the show started off...
568
00:36:27,751 --> 00:36:31,288
you'd see this T-Bird
pulling out.
569
00:36:31,321 --> 00:36:33,958
This is the parking lot
of 77 Sunset Strip.
570
00:36:33,991 --> 00:36:38,262
The view hasn't changed at all,
it's the same view that we had.
571
00:36:38,295 --> 00:36:40,331
Da, da, da, da, da,
Sunset Strip.
572
00:36:40,364 --> 00:36:43,434
( THEME MUSIC PLAYING )
573
00:36:46,003 --> 00:36:50,341
Everybody thought of the sunset
Strip as being the hip place in
the world.
574
00:36:52,776 --> 00:36:55,312
And that was-- for some reason,
the golden highway.
575
00:36:55,345 --> 00:36:59,783
When we first got here,
I remember we all going,
let's find number 77...
576
00:36:59,816 --> 00:37:01,819
'cause we thought it was
a real place, you know.
577
00:37:04,388 --> 00:37:07,825
I don't know-- is there
a 77 Sunset Strip?
578
00:37:11,895 --> 00:37:15,799
So people would just come from
everywhere because it had that
magical name.
579
00:37:15,832 --> 00:37:19,604
For some reason 77 Sunset Strip
it just clicked.
580
00:37:20,637 --> 00:37:23,907
77 Sunset Strip.
581
00:37:23,940 --> 00:37:25,843
Click, click, you know.
582
00:37:25,876 --> 00:37:30,648
That address does not exist.
There is no 77 Sunset Boulevard.
583
00:37:36,586 --> 00:37:41,024
NEWSMAN (V.O.):
The days of the super glamour
stars seem to be gone.
584
00:37:41,058 --> 00:37:45,896
And the super nightclubs have
changed into hangouts for
hippies and teeny boppers.
585
00:37:45,929 --> 00:37:49,500
ANNOUNCER (V.O.):
Tonight, recorded live at the
Whiskey in Los Angeles...
586
00:38:00,677 --> 00:38:02,780
Johnny Rivers and the
Whisky A-Go-Go.
587
00:38:02,813 --> 00:38:06,317
That's February, early '64.
588
00:38:06,350 --> 00:38:10,520
And you know, andquot;Live
Whisky was the album that went
to number one.
589
00:38:10,554 --> 00:38:14,091
Every night lines up and down
Sunset Boulevard...
590
00:38:14,124 --> 00:38:18,662
which hadn't happened in those
three or four blocks...
591
00:38:18,695 --> 00:38:23,100
that became famous as the Strip
with the Roxy and the Whisky...
592
00:38:23,133 --> 00:38:25,669
and the Rainbow later on.
593
00:38:25,702 --> 00:38:31,075
So that opened up the club era
to rock and roll.
594
00:38:31,108 --> 00:38:33,711
ANNOUNCER (V.O.):
And here's the world famous
Whisky A-Go-Go on the Strip.
595
00:38:33,744 --> 00:38:37,948
A favorite dancing spot for
both the mods and movie stars
who want to get it on.
596
00:38:37,981 --> 00:38:40,884
Let's drop in and see what's
happening tonight.
597
00:38:40,917 --> 00:38:42,687
( MUSIC PLAYING )
598
00:38:47,758 --> 00:38:49,926
Elmer, my godfather, my dad told
me this story...
599
00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:53,797
he went to Paris and he saw
that they were doing it
for the first time...
600
00:38:53,830 --> 00:38:55,966
with just a DJ
and people dancing.
601
00:38:55,999 --> 00:39:00,471
And he brought that back
and sort of created the
nightclub in Los Angeles.
602
00:39:00,504 --> 00:39:02,573
Before that it was
you go out and you see a band.
603
00:39:02,606 --> 00:39:06,577
But he was like, no they're
going to come just to
hear music and have a good time.
604
00:39:06,610 --> 00:39:11,115
And that was sort of the birth
of this crazy scene.
605
00:39:11,148 --> 00:39:16,587
For 15 years I was a detective
in Chicago and I'd always liked
nightclubs...
606
00:39:16,620 --> 00:39:22,493
being in them, being a customer,
working in them, even when
I was a policeman.
607
00:39:22,526 --> 00:39:25,562
So I decided to move
to Los Angeles.
608
00:39:25,595 --> 00:39:30,600
Elmo was a crooked cop in
Chicago during like that whole
gangster era.
609
00:39:30,634 --> 00:39:33,971
Mario was a crooked bailiff.
I don't know if I should
be saying all this.
610
00:39:34,004 --> 00:39:35,205
But this is my family history.
611
00:39:35,239 --> 00:39:38,008
Mario was a crooked bailiff, and
my dad was born in Chicago...
612
00:39:38,041 --> 00:39:41,078
so I think they had some Chicago
connections when they met.
613
00:39:41,111 --> 00:39:44,481
You know I think they were the
thugs running the night.
614
00:39:44,514 --> 00:39:47,551
And I think he brought the music
and together they would make
this whole thing.
615
00:39:47,584 --> 00:39:49,752
They already made their money in
chicago, and then came here.
616
00:39:49,786 --> 00:39:55,025
And then with their capital,
were able to, you know, Lou was
able to bring the art into that.
617
00:39:55,058 --> 00:39:56,493
♪ California dreaming ♪
618
00:39:56,526 --> 00:40:00,731
♪ On such a winter's day ♪
619
00:40:00,764 --> 00:40:04,134
♪ I stopped into a church ♪
620
00:40:04,167 --> 00:40:07,104
People started coming
in to LA...
621
00:40:07,137 --> 00:40:11,041
seduced by not just like
the Beach Boys and
Good Vibrations...
622
00:40:11,074 --> 00:40:13,777
but like California Dreaming by
the Mamas and the Papas.
623
00:40:13,810 --> 00:40:16,046
It was like a siren call, I
think, for so many people.
624
00:40:16,079 --> 00:40:19,149
ANNOUNCER (V.O.):
The neon Neverland that the mod
set calls home.
625
00:40:19,182 --> 00:40:24,488
Hundreds upon hundreds of cars
inch their way up this
fantastic boulevard...
626
00:40:24,521 --> 00:40:25,789
every Friday and Saturday
night...
627
00:40:25,823 --> 00:40:28,225
fighting their way through
teeming throngs of people...
628
00:40:28,258 --> 00:40:32,529
that are drawn here every
weekend, like moths to a flame.
629
00:40:32,562 --> 00:40:33,964
It can mean only one thing.
630
00:40:33,997 --> 00:40:36,732
That this is the place.
This is where it's at.
631
00:40:36,766 --> 00:40:39,136
This is where it all happens.
632
00:40:39,169 --> 00:40:44,508
The new sound, the excitement,
the pulsating fever that blocks
out the humdrum existence.
633
00:40:44,541 --> 00:40:49,680
Honestly I mean, it was so
packed with kids, you couldn't
walk down Sunset Strip.
634
00:40:49,713 --> 00:40:54,785
You had to actually walk out
in the street on a Friday
or Saturday night.
635
00:40:55,252 --> 00:40:57,654
It was so alive.
636
00:40:57,687 --> 00:41:01,091
Suddenly all these hip
teenagers...
637
00:41:01,124 --> 00:41:06,096
kind of invade the place and
start to sort of take over.
638
00:41:06,129 --> 00:41:09,799
Mountains of people walking
back and forth, back and forth.
639
00:41:09,833 --> 00:41:15,739
And people standing around at
certain restaurants and parking
lots and even in gas stations.
640
00:41:15,772 --> 00:41:21,278
People would be standing around
meeting each other, chatting up
and just a really cool scene.
641
00:41:21,311 --> 00:41:24,748
There was nothing like it
anywhere.
642
00:41:24,781 --> 00:41:29,686
It became a real magnet for
kids, not simply inside the
clubs, but on the street.
643
00:41:29,719 --> 00:41:33,056
And that became I think a major
problem for the city...
644
00:41:33,089 --> 00:41:37,027
and they, in effect,
chased the kids off the street.
645
00:41:37,060 --> 00:41:40,931
POLICE OFFICER (ON P.A.):
The curfew law is now in
effect.
646
00:41:40,964 --> 00:41:48,038
Anyone under the age of
18-years-old remaining in the
area will be arrested.
647
00:41:50,674 --> 00:41:52,910
( ROCK MUSIC PLAYING )
648
00:41:52,943 --> 00:41:58,615
There were at least three big
buses full of sheriffs, there
had to be a lot of these guys.
649
00:41:58,648 --> 00:42:01,618
And I could see them, they had
their helmets on and everything
and I thought...
650
00:42:01,651 --> 00:42:04,620
andquot;Far out. Looks like
it's gonna go bad.andquot;
651
00:42:04,654 --> 00:42:10,294
I can see these guys all
running, but like soldiers on a
run, marching run, enforcement.
652
00:42:10,327 --> 00:42:14,865
Running west.
Tons of these guys.
653
00:42:14,898 --> 00:42:19,069
I don't know. All with their
little helmets and batons.
654
00:42:19,102 --> 00:42:21,772
And I got some close looks, you
know, cranking the telephoto.
655
00:42:21,805 --> 00:42:27,778
You watch, click and you see
scared eyes, really, these guys
were scared shitless.
656
00:42:27,811 --> 00:42:30,047
Because some of them were
19-years-old...
657
00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:32,082
and they'd never been in this
kind of thing...
658
00:42:32,115 --> 00:42:34,685
and they believed everything
they had heard in the papers.
659
00:42:34,718 --> 00:42:41,325
That there were massive riots
going on and cops were getting
clubbed and stoned and all...
660
00:42:41,358 --> 00:42:45,996
When you smoke a joint, you
don't go out to the club and
stone people, period.
661
00:42:46,029 --> 00:42:49,900
The protest was against closing
our club, the Pandora's Box.
662
00:42:49,933 --> 00:42:54,671
It was like a little house
on an island in the middle
of Sunset Boulevard.
663
00:42:54,704 --> 00:42:56,673
And it was our
favorite place to go.
664
00:42:56,706 --> 00:43:00,644
There were a lot of local bands
played there and we had this
gigantic protest...
665
00:43:00,677 --> 00:43:03,080
and you know in those days there
were no cell phones, or phone
machines or anything.
666
00:43:03,113 --> 00:43:05,616
We had to, it was all
word of mouth.
667
00:43:05,649 --> 00:43:09,620
And somehow the thousands of
kids who hung out on the Strip
all showed up that night...
668
00:43:09,653 --> 00:43:15,692
and we had signs, and were
chanting and it was all about us
against them, you know.
669
00:43:15,725 --> 00:43:20,230
They didn't understand us and we
thought we were going to change
the world. It was a revolution.
670
00:43:20,263 --> 00:43:27,671
Well I was coming in from Laurel
Canyon and we got about a block
away and I see kids...
671
00:43:27,704 --> 00:43:33,110
and I see a line of cops lined
up like they were Roman
Centurions.
672
00:43:33,143 --> 00:43:35,712
And I went,
andquot;Turn the car around.
673
00:43:35,745 --> 00:43:37,848
I didn't even want
to go in there.
674
00:43:37,881 --> 00:43:42,051
I've seen all I need to see and
I wrote andquot;For What It's Worth
the way back.
675
00:43:42,085 --> 00:43:45,789
( MUSIC PLAYING )
676
00:43:45,822 --> 00:43:48,158
People were really
running by me.
677
00:43:48,191 --> 00:43:51,727
I hid behind one of those cement
stanchions for a light post.
678
00:43:51,761 --> 00:43:54,665
So people wouldn't hit me
as I was photographing
what going on...
679
00:43:54,698 --> 00:43:59,770
until, suddenly, I was ripped
away from the lamp post and this
young cop...
680
00:43:59,803 --> 00:44:02,806
with his baton, whack-- he tried
to hit my cameras.
681
00:44:02,839 --> 00:44:06,243
And handcuffed and pulled off to
one of the buses.
682
00:44:06,276 --> 00:44:12,315
Photographed with a Polaroid 1A.
683
00:44:12,348 --> 00:44:16,053
As I looked at it I thought, did
they reserve this for me?
684
00:44:16,086 --> 00:44:18,821
Is this the position they're
giving me? Far fucking out.
685
00:44:18,855 --> 00:44:22,426
All right, I don't like
this, but here I am on the bus.
686
00:44:22,459 --> 00:44:26,196
How do I get out? So, shackled I
am in the bus, or handcuffed.
687
00:44:26,229 --> 00:44:31,067
And I looked out the window and
I saw Bob Denver, and his wife
Maggie.
688
00:44:31,101 --> 00:44:35,138
So I thought, screw it, I took
my handcuffs and I banged them
against the chain,,,
689
00:44:35,171 --> 00:44:38,174
that was up against the window,
enough until he looked up.
690
00:44:38,208 --> 00:44:41,144
And yelling, get help!
691
00:44:41,177 --> 00:44:44,281
Call somebody.
692
00:44:48,251 --> 00:44:50,954
( MUSIC PLAYING )
693
00:44:50,987 --> 00:44:55,058
You hear the legends of Sunset
Strip and you hear the, well
of course the riots...
694
00:44:55,091 --> 00:44:57,227
put it on the map, I think.
695
00:44:57,260 --> 00:45:02,499
But it was all part of
that whole 60's revolution,
music revolution.
696
00:45:02,532 --> 00:45:06,103
And it all seemed
to come out of LA.
697
00:45:09,405 --> 00:45:13,977
I mean a lot of the people that,
the beginnings of rock and
roll...
698
00:45:14,010 --> 00:45:16,813
with not show business
backgrounds.
699
00:45:16,846 --> 00:45:21,184
You know, we were babies in that
sense. You know we were trying
things, you know...
700
00:45:21,217 --> 00:45:23,220
because we didn't have
any rules.
701
00:45:23,253 --> 00:45:25,455
You didn't know that you
couldn't do that.
702
00:45:25,488 --> 00:45:28,825
You didn't know that you
could do Pee-Wee Herman
on a Monday night.
703
00:45:28,858 --> 00:45:33,363
and you could do Bob Marley...
704
00:45:33,396 --> 00:45:34,464
and Cheech and Chong...
705
00:45:34,497 --> 00:45:36,433
the rest of the week, you know.
706
00:45:36,466 --> 00:45:38,401
So we just mixed it up.
707
00:45:38,434 --> 00:45:41,238
It's fabulously freaky.
708
00:45:41,271 --> 00:45:46,309
Rocky Horror, Pee-Wee Herman,
they all did stem from music,
though.
709
00:45:46,342 --> 00:45:49,246
I mean there is this culture of
music on the Strip...
710
00:45:49,279 --> 00:45:53,450
and I think that box is not this
big, it's really this big...
711
00:45:53,483 --> 00:45:57,354
and I think you're able
to fit a lot of stuff into it.
712
00:45:57,387 --> 00:46:01,258
At the bottom of it,
there's a song there.
713
00:46:01,291 --> 00:46:06,563
I think as a musician, what we
learned about this building...
714
00:46:06,596 --> 00:46:13,336
and a lot of what was going
on in this area was the art
of sharing.
715
00:46:13,369 --> 00:46:17,474
And our musical legacy of,
certainly Fleetwood Mac...
716
00:46:17,507 --> 00:46:23,547
was greatly affected by being
more open, less judgmental...
717
00:46:23,580 --> 00:46:28,317
and entertaining
that anything could go.
718
00:46:28,351 --> 00:46:32,790
And I learned that here.
We learned that here.
719
00:46:39,629 --> 00:46:44,968
That's how it was in those days,
you could actually sort of make
a living at these places...
720
00:46:45,001 --> 00:46:50,507
playing every night and you
really got to hone your songs...
721
00:46:50,540 --> 00:46:55,111
in front of people, which was
great, because you can see
which one works...
722
00:46:55,144 --> 00:46:57,346
and which part
of one doesn't work.
723
00:46:57,380 --> 00:47:00,016
That's why our first couple
albums were so good...
724
00:47:00,049 --> 00:47:04,921
because we really had them
down to a T before we went
in to record.
725
00:47:04,954 --> 00:47:09,893
You know over the period
of a year or so, playing
the songs every night.
726
00:47:13,363 --> 00:47:17,500
When your house band
is Jim Morrison
and the Doors or Love...
727
00:47:17,533 --> 00:47:22,973
or The Buffalo Springfield or
Iron Butterfly, I mean that was
pretty amazing.
728
00:47:23,006 --> 00:47:25,542
You know rock gods were walking
the earth here.
729
00:47:25,575 --> 00:47:28,377
Rock gods filled this room.
730
00:47:28,411 --> 00:47:30,947
And that, that will never
happen again.
731
00:47:30,980 --> 00:47:35,285
You know this small space,
I saw The Who play,
Jimi Hendrix...
732
00:47:35,318 --> 00:47:39,222
Led Zeppelin, I mean in this
small, tiny, little space.
733
00:47:39,255 --> 00:47:42,058
The Who, can you imagine how
they filled it up?
734
00:47:42,091 --> 00:47:48,899
I mean it was just, you were
pressed against the wall,
you know.
735
00:47:48,932 --> 00:47:53,303
This booth right here is the
Mamas and Papas' booth where
they would hang.
736
00:47:53,336 --> 00:47:56,205
Right where you're sitting
is where I was sitting...
737
00:47:56,239 --> 00:47:59,075
the night Hendrix played
for the first time in LA.
738
00:47:59,108 --> 00:48:01,211
And that was amazing.
739
00:48:01,244 --> 00:48:05,449
Everybody was standing on the
tables, so you had to stand up
in order to see him.
740
00:48:15,124 --> 00:48:17,660
This is Miss Pamela direct from
the heart of Hollywood...
741
00:48:17,694 --> 00:48:20,263
the heart of rock and roll
and I really mean that today...
742
00:48:20,296 --> 00:48:23,299
because look where I'm
standing, in front of the
Whiskey A-Go-Go...
743
00:48:23,333 --> 00:48:25,903
Hollywood's rock and roll
landmark.
744
00:48:26,003 --> 00:48:30,340
Every 24 hours was like a month,
because so much was crammed
into it.
745
00:48:30,373 --> 00:48:35,645
Every minute, honestly I'd get
up that day, and I had no idea
what was going to happen.
746
00:48:35,678 --> 00:48:40,183
And it was always
anything-can-happen day.
747
00:48:40,216 --> 00:48:45,020
I think we should take
a little walk over here
to the Rainbow Bar andamp; Grill.
748
00:48:45,054 --> 00:48:49,559
Now this is where everybody
winds up, every night of the
week to just rock out...
749
00:48:49,592 --> 00:48:55,231
hang out, have a wonderful time,
and just get loose.
750
00:48:55,264 --> 00:48:58,134
The first time I came to the
Rainbow was like '73.
751
00:48:58,167 --> 00:48:59,736
The year after it opened.
752
00:48:59,769 --> 00:49:02,439
If you've been coming here
for a while, you get into it.
753
00:49:02,472 --> 00:49:08,044
You know, the ambiance, if
you'd like me to say an artistic
word for it.
754
00:49:08,077 --> 00:49:13,316
The ambiance of the place, yes.
It's got a lot of history in it
for rock and roll, you know.
755
00:49:13,349 --> 00:49:18,221
I mean it's the whole history
of rock and roll, just about,
you know?
756
00:49:18,254 --> 00:49:21,191
And it goes back even further
than that.
757
00:49:21,224 --> 00:49:24,728
I mean, Judy Garland met
Vincente Minelli here.
758
00:49:24,761 --> 00:49:30,233
And Joe DiMaggio met Marilyn
Monroe here when it was an
Italian restaurant.
759
00:49:30,266 --> 00:49:35,171
Sinatra and Dean Martin used
to hang out here, so it goes
back a long way, you know.
760
00:49:35,204 --> 00:49:41,077
You know, I used to park my bike
outside the Rainbow on a Friday
and Saturday night.
761
00:49:41,110 --> 00:49:47,450
Literally just sit on the bike
and ten minutes there'd be a
bird on the back and I'd be off.
762
00:49:47,483 --> 00:49:51,421
We'd be gettin' blow jobs under
the table at the Rainbow.
763
00:49:51,454 --> 00:49:56,026
It's a fucking dinner place,
you know, like what is-- like,
I can't--
764
00:49:56,059 --> 00:49:58,762
Because they had these little
nooks and crannies where you
could creep...
765
00:49:58,795 --> 00:50:03,233
go back in the corner and you'd
be having a just, a raging
party...
766
00:50:03,266 --> 00:50:07,370
and nobody would ever come by
and be like, you guys can't do
that here.
767
00:50:07,403 --> 00:50:10,140
Are you crazy? No one
would say anything.
768
00:50:10,173 --> 00:50:17,379
The bathroom, under the tables,
out in back, in the alley, like
nobody...
769
00:50:17,413 --> 00:50:20,316
like I can't even imagine that
happening right now.
770
00:50:20,349 --> 00:50:25,255
I mean I had my cock sucked
everywhere, behind the Roxy, in
the bathroom at the Rainbow...
771
00:50:25,288 --> 00:50:28,324
behind the Whisky, you name it.
772
00:50:28,357 --> 00:50:30,560
There weren't one place
I didn't get me cock sucked.
773
00:50:32,695 --> 00:50:34,264
Nothing mattered.
774
00:50:34,297 --> 00:50:36,099
There wasn't AIDS,
there wasn't--
775
00:50:36,132 --> 00:50:39,169
People just ripped it, man.
776
00:50:39,202 --> 00:50:42,239
( ROCK MUSIC PLAYING )
777
00:50:53,216 --> 00:50:56,219
The Hyatt House
was the party place.
778
00:50:56,252 --> 00:50:58,822
I don't know if anybody
actually--
779
00:50:58,855 --> 00:51:04,828
I think they got rooms just to
go from party to party to
party to party to party.
780
00:51:04,861 --> 00:51:10,467
And, it was, it was like the
Old West. There was no law
at the Hyatt House.
781
00:51:10,500 --> 00:51:16,372
You'd go to any floor, get off
the elevator and there was some
kind of party going on.
782
00:51:16,405 --> 00:51:19,409
And you'd go to the next floor
and there was another party
going on.
783
00:51:19,442 --> 00:51:22,612
But this was 24 hours a day.
784
00:51:22,645 --> 00:51:24,747
It was the insane asylum.
785
00:51:24,780 --> 00:51:29,119
I am under the influence of a
dangerous drug and I'm liable to
flip out at any moment...
786
00:51:29,152 --> 00:51:31,821
and kill you or myself.
LSD does funny things.
787
00:51:31,854 --> 00:51:34,591
And then they were looking and
laughing right, I was like this
myself and I said...
788
00:51:34,624 --> 00:51:38,160
Shut up or I'll squirt every one
of you with tear gas.
789
00:51:38,194 --> 00:51:39,529
We gotta do something to them.
790
00:51:39,562 --> 00:51:41,897
Two flipped out groupies
kill pop star.
791
00:51:41,931 --> 00:51:44,334
Wouldn't that be something?
792
00:51:44,367 --> 00:51:46,603
It was called the Riot House,
you know.
793
00:51:46,636 --> 00:51:49,305
I mean, the crazy stuff
that went down there.
794
00:51:49,338 --> 00:51:54,177
It was, it was like, I mean,
here in England...
795
00:51:54,210 --> 00:51:58,815
when a guy meets a girl, he asks
her out and goes to the movies
or whatever...
796
00:51:58,848 --> 00:52:01,618
and eventually things happen,
you know. Not here.
797
00:52:01,651 --> 00:52:04,888
It's just straight in the sack,
you know?
798
00:52:04,921 --> 00:52:11,261
It was just like, wow. What
disease have I got now?
799
00:52:11,294 --> 00:52:12,895
I stayed with Led Zeppelin
there, a lot.
800
00:52:12,929 --> 00:52:14,898
And they had the entire
sixth floor.
801
00:52:14,931 --> 00:52:19,502
They always rented out the
entire sixth floor, and you
know, took over.
802
00:52:19,535 --> 00:52:25,341
Everyone knew in Hollywood that
Zeppelin were in town and those
guys were so fucking wild.
803
00:52:25,374 --> 00:52:29,611
They'd abuse the chicks, they'd
like to push it to see how far
they could go.
804
00:52:29,645 --> 00:52:32,815
Burning them, cutting their hair
off, handcuffing them.
805
00:52:32,848 --> 00:52:37,921
I mean, leaving them handcuffed
for a couple of days in the
room.
806
00:52:37,954 --> 00:52:42,258
And they'd be riding motorcycles
up and down the hallway at the
Continental Hyatt House...
807
00:52:42,291 --> 00:52:48,398
and they'd have these wild, wild
parties. Up all night, throwing
TV's out the window.
808
00:52:48,431 --> 00:52:49,666
All that stuff is true.
809
00:52:49,699 --> 00:52:51,801
Like Led Zeppelin
did a lot of stuff.
810
00:52:51,834 --> 00:52:54,770
Richard Cole, he took this
leather strap and he started
beating me...
811
00:52:54,804 --> 00:52:56,239
and I didn't even know him.
812
00:52:56,272 --> 00:52:59,676
They threw Cynthia in the
swimming pool and ruined all her
velvet clothes.
813
00:52:59,709 --> 00:53:03,346
They were really weird.
814
00:53:03,379 --> 00:53:09,352
They were probably the worst,
but there were many that abused
loads of people on the Strip.
815
00:53:09,385 --> 00:53:15,858
But that would never, ever, ever
have been tolerated anywhere
else but America.
816
00:53:15,891 --> 00:53:19,696
In America, they were like, oh,
do you want to hit me some more?
817
00:53:19,729 --> 00:53:20,964
Do you want to burn me?
818
00:53:20,997 --> 00:53:25,500
Do you want to fuck me with a
fucking you know, rod of iron?
819
00:53:25,534 --> 00:53:29,005
We'll do it.
And that's how it was.
820
00:53:29,038 --> 00:53:32,509
( MUSIC PLAYING )
821
00:53:34,710 --> 00:53:39,515
If you stay insane, and you stay
in a magical place...
822
00:53:39,548 --> 00:53:43,419
and you float,
you're not gonna ever die.
823
00:53:54,897 --> 00:53:58,468
Don't be afraid, come on in.
824
00:53:59,969 --> 00:54:03,906
I needed bars, I needed clubs, I
needed places like this...
825
00:54:03,939 --> 00:54:07,343
to feel like there was a purpose
to what I was doing.
826
00:54:07,376 --> 00:54:08,878
I mean it's hard enough to think
that there's a purpose for
anything...
827
00:54:08,911 --> 00:54:11,347
when we're spinning around
in infinity.
828
00:54:11,380 --> 00:54:14,317
So forgetting about that show,
I-- got a little scared for a
second didn't you?
829
00:54:14,350 --> 00:54:16,386
I know you did.
830
00:54:16,419 --> 00:54:18,788
It's a frightening profession.
I was a schmuck, I could've been
a caterer.
831
00:54:18,821 --> 00:54:23,326
I realize now, no, I don't want
to be negative. It's too hot,
it's too nice up here.
832
00:54:23,359 --> 00:54:26,696
Uh, I am, I'm, well I got to
tell you something,
my mother lives in Jersey.
833
00:54:26,729 --> 00:54:31,634
How does she get the Roxy
backstage number? It's really
unbelievable. I just tell
834
00:54:31,667 --> 00:54:35,638
No one knows who the fuck we
are. We don't know why we're
even doing anything, you dig?
835
00:54:35,671 --> 00:54:39,542
So, anyway, it's good
to have a clubhouse.
836
00:54:39,575 --> 00:54:43,546
And there were a lot of
clubhouses on the Strip.
837
00:54:43,579 --> 00:54:46,549
When this was Ciro's, I'm
telling you this place was
jumping.
838
00:54:46,582 --> 00:54:48,584
The thing that the different
eras had in common...
839
00:54:48,617 --> 00:54:54,390
were you had cocaine, you had
young people, you had alcohol,
you had free--
840
00:54:54,423 --> 00:54:56,558
He keeps going back
to the drugs.
841
00:54:58,928 --> 00:55:02,999
The people who made this thing
happen, the public came
to see all of this.
842
00:55:03,032 --> 00:55:04,967
We were all crazy.
843
00:55:05,000 --> 00:55:08,971
I was studying for the ministry,
I have no idea what you're
talking about.
844
00:55:09,004 --> 00:55:12,442
The Comedy Store, I mean walking
in there when you're 20 years
old...
845
00:55:12,475 --> 00:55:14,077
and you're, you know,
like this kid from Iowa.
846
00:55:14,110 --> 00:55:16,346
And seeing those names on the
wall, and the pictures...
847
00:55:16,379 --> 00:55:19,515
and there's Letterman
and Robin Williams and
there's Steve Martin...
848
00:55:19,548 --> 00:55:24,486
and it's just impossible, it's
impossible that you are there.
849
00:55:24,520 --> 00:55:27,824
There was a method to the
madness. You had a place
to work.
850
00:55:27,857 --> 00:55:29,726
You had to fight to be
a part of it.
851
00:55:29,759 --> 00:55:31,461
You had to fight to be a part
of it, you had to be good.
852
00:55:31,494 --> 00:55:32,962
And that's why the people
packed this place.
853
00:55:32,995 --> 00:55:35,964
When Pryor would play here,
you know, on like a weekend?
854
00:55:35,998 --> 00:55:41,371
It was like attending
a heavyweight prize fight
in Vegas.
855
00:55:41,404 --> 00:55:46,576
I was a cocktail waitress
at the Comedy Store
from October of 1980...
856
00:55:46,609 --> 00:55:49,846
until October of 1981.
857
00:55:49,879 --> 00:55:56,586
And that was the explosion
of stand-up comedy.
858
00:55:56,619 --> 00:55:59,789
( MUSIC PLAYING )
859
00:56:11,600 --> 00:56:13,469
This man's a genius.
860
00:56:13,502 --> 00:56:17,640
Now who else can take all
the forms of comedy,
slapstick, satire...
861
00:56:17,673 --> 00:56:21,778
mime and stand-up, and turn it
into something that will
offend everyone.
862
00:56:25,114 --> 00:56:30,553
Richard Pryor was at the Comedy
Store every single night back
then...
863
00:56:30,586 --> 00:56:33,923
preparing for his film
andquot;Live on the Sunset Strip
864
00:56:33,956 --> 00:56:40,797
He was the god that we must all
obey. Whatever he said, went.
865
00:56:49,238 --> 00:56:50,807
Thank you.
866
00:56:54,176 --> 00:56:57,613
I want to know the two people,
the two people who first
did coke.
867
00:56:57,646 --> 00:57:03,686
And one looked at the other and
said, andquot;We're not gonna tell
anyone about this.andquot;
868
00:57:03,719 --> 00:57:06,122
I think it was me
and Richard Pryor.
869
00:57:06,155 --> 00:57:09,058
When I first came out, it was
Sam Kinison and those guys...
870
00:57:09,091 --> 00:57:13,563
and they had guns and they were
always doing coke and they, I'd
never seen it before...
871
00:57:13,596 --> 00:57:18,801
and I thought, I thought, man,
this stand-up is a lot tougher
than I thought.
872
00:57:18,834 --> 00:57:21,638
SAM KINISIN (O.S.):
I think I did too much! Oh!
873
00:57:23,105 --> 00:57:26,476
I did too much!
874
00:57:30,813 --> 00:57:35,618
No, uh, I don't do drugs.
875
00:57:35,651 --> 00:57:37,953
Was it Kinison or Dice, somebody
shot a car or something.
876
00:57:37,987 --> 00:57:40,022
Dice didn't do it.
It was Kinison.
877
00:57:40,055 --> 00:57:43,158
And people, you hear these
stories of bowls of cocaine
and stuff.
878
00:57:43,192 --> 00:57:45,661
You say that's bullshit, you
know, that's bullshit, that's
whatever.
879
00:57:45,694 --> 00:57:47,563
But no, they actually,
that happened.
880
00:57:47,596 --> 00:57:49,565
And then people started
getting greedy.
881
00:57:49,598 --> 00:57:51,801
Listen, you think that
they're ballers now?
882
00:57:51,834 --> 00:57:54,569
These kids now don't know what
balling is, they don't know.
883
00:57:54,603 --> 00:57:57,006
That stuff was pure,
and they had it--
884
00:57:57,039 --> 00:57:59,942
These kids today,
they don't know drugs.
885
00:57:59,975 --> 00:58:02,245
No, I would be in limos and with
Richard and with the gang...
886
00:58:02,278 --> 00:58:06,015
and they would, I mean,
they would have thousand
dollar bills...
887
00:58:06,048 --> 00:58:08,283
they would put the cocaine
and snort it.
888
00:58:08,317 --> 00:58:11,220
And pass it around. When it got
to me, I'd wipe it off and put
the money in my pocket.
889
00:58:11,253 --> 00:58:15,124
I was so rich during that
whole era, I loved it.
It was the best.
890
00:58:15,157 --> 00:58:16,259
I believe him.
891
00:58:16,292 --> 00:58:19,562
Yo, free cocaine, come on in.
892
00:58:19,595 --> 00:58:27,669
You know, I used the Strip for
many other things that had
nothing to do with my craft.
893
00:58:27,703 --> 00:58:32,975
The Strip, you know, for me
was a source of--
894
00:58:33,008 --> 00:58:37,145
It's hard to delineate what was
just fun and recreation...
895
00:58:37,179 --> 00:58:42,051
and what was like, I should die
tonight, but I made it through,
you know.
896
00:58:42,084 --> 00:58:44,953
TED KOPPEL:
John Belushi careened
at a breakneck pace...
897
00:58:44,987 --> 00:58:47,056
between the irreverent
and the outrageous.
898
00:58:47,089 --> 00:58:49,792
It was not only his comedy that
was unpredictable...
899
00:58:49,825 --> 00:58:53,763
there was always a strong sense
that the act was a reflection
of the man...
900
00:58:53,796 --> 00:58:56,265
and the man a bizarre
reflection of a generation.
901
00:58:56,298 --> 00:58:58,234
Now John Belushi is dead.
902
00:58:58,267 --> 00:59:02,071
FEMALE ANNOUNCER (V.O.):
The Chateau Marmont sits just
above Sunset Boulevard...
903
00:59:02,104 --> 00:59:03,339
in the Hollywood Hills.
904
00:59:03,372 --> 00:59:05,174
It is a landmark in this town.
905
00:59:05,207 --> 00:59:09,946
A hotel where many actors
stay while in Los Angeles
and where some live.
906
00:59:09,979 --> 00:59:13,049
John Belushi was among the
hotel's frequent visitors.
907
00:59:13,082 --> 00:59:15,850
He had checked into bungalow
three last Sunday.
908
00:59:15,884 --> 00:59:19,989
And it was in the bungalow's
master bedroom where Belushi
was found dead...
909
00:59:20,022 --> 00:59:21,590
just after noon today.
910
00:59:21,624 --> 00:59:26,861
We were kind of excited that
Belushi was popping in,
and then he did come in.
911
00:59:26,895 --> 00:59:30,800
And he just looked like shit.
912
00:59:30,833 --> 00:59:32,034
He just looked like hell.
913
00:59:32,067 --> 00:59:36,606
He was trying so hard
not to do coke.
914
00:59:36,639 --> 00:59:42,011
He actually had to hire people
to keep people with drugs
away from him.
915
00:59:42,044 --> 00:59:47,249
On March 5th, 1982,
my partner passed away.
916
00:59:47,282 --> 00:59:51,320
Or was taken by a, what we
can say is an accidental
drug overdose.
917
00:59:51,353 --> 00:59:53,255
You know Belushi was
a workhorse.
918
00:59:53,288 --> 00:59:57,259
He could smoke more than anybody
else. He could drink more
than anybody else.
919
00:59:57,292 --> 01:00:01,731
He could eat more than anybody
else. He could take more drugs
than anybody else.
920
01:00:01,764 --> 01:00:06,902
And Belushi died? I mean, people
were freaked.
921
01:00:06,935 --> 01:00:09,138
And Richard Pryor
was one who was freaked.
922
01:00:09,171 --> 01:00:13,843
And Paul Mooney, his writer
and dear friend...
923
01:00:13,876 --> 01:00:17,079
who had tried so hard
to keep him sober...
924
01:00:17,112 --> 01:00:20,182
had Richard up against the wall
saying...
925
01:00:20,215 --> 01:00:23,886
andquot;Man don't you get it? This is
what they're saying about you!andquot;
926
01:00:23,919 --> 01:00:26,623
Everybody thought
that would be you.
927
01:00:30,693 --> 01:00:35,431
Richard Pryor was on the wagon.
Richard was clean.
928
01:00:35,464 --> 01:00:37,732
I know what that means. I've
been on it a couple times.
929
01:00:37,766 --> 01:00:39,902
Okay, good.
930
01:00:39,935 --> 01:00:43,272
When Belushi came in,
loaded out of his mind...
931
01:00:43,305 --> 01:00:46,174
he came up to me and said,
andquot;Paul, is Pryor coming tonight?
932
01:00:46,208 --> 01:00:48,377
I said, andquot;Yeah.
933
01:00:48,410 --> 01:00:50,279
He said, andquot;Well, I'm at the
Chateau Marmont.andquot;
934
01:00:50,312 --> 01:00:53,249
Tell him to come to the house,
blah-blah-blah.
935
01:00:53,282 --> 01:00:56,952
And then he left, and then
Richard came in, and I gave
the message.
936
01:00:56,985 --> 01:00:59,755
I said, andquot;Richard, don't go up
there to the Chateau Marmont...
937
01:00:59,788 --> 01:01:03,192
andquot;because they're all up there
and you're on the wagon, you'll
get offered it if you go there.andquot;
938
01:01:03,225 --> 01:01:04,894
So you saved
Richard Pryor's life.
939
01:01:04,927 --> 01:01:07,997
No, I said go home,
and he did go home.
940
01:01:08,030 --> 01:01:10,332
That's for real. He went home
when the rest of it did happen.
941
01:01:10,365 --> 01:01:14,002
Yeah, Richard would've went up
there and been in the middle
of all of it, too.
942
01:01:14,036 --> 01:01:19,775
I don't know what to say to you,
you know? I mean, I see you
here, y'all look beautiful.
943
01:01:19,808 --> 01:01:25,314
And I'm sober, and it's still
a strange feeling being sober...
944
01:01:25,347 --> 01:01:28,985
because I got nothing to do
tonight but go to sleep.
945
01:01:30,452 --> 01:01:32,922
Well, there are two instincts
we have, the instinct to live...
946
01:01:32,955 --> 01:01:36,192
and the instinct to kill
ourselves. You do know that,
that's for everybody.
947
01:01:36,225 --> 01:01:38,861
( MUSIC PLAYING )
948
01:01:46,001 --> 01:01:50,840
Living or dying in LA, it all
happens here it seems like.
949
01:01:52,808 --> 01:01:55,144
Hey, man,
what is this place?
950
01:01:55,177 --> 01:01:56,979
I got something better
for y'all.
951
01:01:57,012 --> 01:02:00,149
( PUNK ROCK PLAYING )
952
01:02:11,293 --> 01:02:16,265
You feel as though Jack Kerouc
was down in Venice Beach,
you know.
953
01:02:16,298 --> 01:02:19,968
Or Jim Morrison was over here
and Otis Redding was over there.
954
01:02:20,002 --> 01:02:24,006
And you feel like, yeah,
I'm a part of that and
it's sort of true...
955
01:02:24,039 --> 01:02:28,344
and you're sort of blowing smoke
up your own ass, so.
956
01:02:28,377 --> 01:02:31,247
But I think everybody had
a sense that we were
doing something.
957
01:02:32,881 --> 01:02:35,884
Punk rock fans,
between '77 and '80...
958
01:02:35,918 --> 01:02:42,191
you were making a flyer or you
made a fanzine, or you were
writing for Slash Magazine.
959
01:02:42,224 --> 01:02:44,093
So in that way it
was very Bohemian.
960
01:02:44,126 --> 01:02:48,931
'Cause people had jobs, but
they, that was secondary.
961
01:02:48,964 --> 01:02:51,333
It was pretty crazy.
It was pretty scruffy.
962
01:02:51,366 --> 01:02:53,569
You know, there was
a lot of runaways.
963
01:02:53,602 --> 01:02:56,872
We were totally outside
of society and all the bands
were and the fans were.
964
01:02:56,905 --> 01:02:59,475
We didn't fit in anywhere.
965
01:02:56,905 --> 01:02:59,475
It was clique-ish.
966
01:02:59,508 --> 01:03:03,812
But it was still us against
them, so the cliques
would unite...
967
01:03:03,846 --> 01:03:07,983
against people from the outside,
and I think it was more
supportive.
968
01:03:08,016 --> 01:03:10,886
If one band succeeded a little
bit, it was good for all of us.
969
01:03:10,919 --> 01:03:11,987
We'd be at a show, we'd say...
970
01:03:12,020 --> 01:03:13,455
what's happening tomorrow night?
971
01:03:13,488 --> 01:03:15,024
And everyone would congregate...
972
01:03:15,057 --> 01:03:18,394
at that club the next night.
973
01:03:18,427 --> 01:03:23,999
They'd have acts, you know,
The Bags and The Weirdoes and
The Germs.
974
01:03:24,032 --> 01:03:29,071
And stage diving. It was packed.
A lot of noise, loud.
975
01:03:29,104 --> 01:03:32,073
Angry, violent, Germs,
X were good, though.
976
01:03:32,107 --> 01:03:34,310
It was an angry, violent scene.
977
01:03:34,343 --> 01:03:37,980
In the punk rock days, hanging
around, the police would come
and clear everybody away.
978
01:03:38,013 --> 01:03:42,585
You know, they seem to like the
hair bands, because they--
I don't know, they were--
979
01:03:42,618 --> 01:03:46,589
Girls wore skimpy clothes
and the guys were loaded.
980
01:03:46,622 --> 01:03:48,825
I don't know what--
981
01:04:04,273 --> 01:04:09,879
The Sunset Strip! And it's time
to go round and round. Yeah.
982
01:04:09,912 --> 01:04:12,381
Early 80's, '80, '81.
983
01:04:12,414 --> 01:04:14,283
'81, '82.
984
01:04:14,316 --> 01:04:16,084
It turned from the punkers
walking the streets and
everything...
985
01:04:16,118 --> 01:04:20,456
into all the like rock bands,
like over a summer.
986
01:04:20,489 --> 01:04:23,492
I mean, those were the good
days, because it was all new.
987
01:04:23,525 --> 01:04:24,960
You know, we were just--
988
01:04:24,993 --> 01:04:27,563
There's Sunset Boulevard...
have at it.
989
01:04:27,596 --> 01:04:32,568
Between the Roxy and the
Whiskey, it was just like a
parade of freaks...
990
01:04:32,601 --> 01:04:33,669
walking up and down Sunset.
991
01:04:33,702 --> 01:04:35,971
Metal head!
992
01:04:36,004 --> 01:04:38,240
The Rainbow being kind of the
epicenter of the whole thing,
the meeting place.
993
01:04:38,273 --> 01:04:42,444
So there's like a whole scene
of people just like walking
from show to show.
994
01:04:42,477 --> 01:04:46,115
Come in here to get a drink,
going to another show,
and it just...
995
01:04:46,148 --> 01:04:49,218
It was like a street festival
every night.
996
01:04:49,251 --> 01:04:53,255
I mean, there was a time
when hanging out in front
of all the venues...
997
01:04:53,288 --> 01:04:58,127
was probably more fun than
actually being inside.
998
01:04:58,160 --> 01:05:05,433
I mean, I would say the street
life of Sunset Strip was really,
really happening in the 80's.
999
01:05:05,467 --> 01:05:07,670
All through the 80's,
actually it was great.
1000
01:05:07,703 --> 01:05:10,471
You didn't have to go anywhere,
you could just walk down
the street...
1001
01:05:10,505 --> 01:05:15,544
and it was fun, everyone was
hanging out, flyering,
it was good.
1002
01:05:15,577 --> 01:05:18,280
Poodle heads on the Strip.
It was a nightmare.
1003
01:05:18,313 --> 01:05:21,984
It was like post-Motley Crue
now, so it was a nightmare.
1004
01:05:22,017 --> 01:05:23,986
Pay to play,
that whole fucking nightmare.
1005
01:05:24,019 --> 01:05:25,587
Just when everyone would like--
1006
01:05:24,019 --> 01:05:25,587
What year?
1007
01:05:25,620 --> 01:05:27,556
This is 1988.
1008
01:05:27,589 --> 01:05:30,159
I moved here in '88,
that's when I moved here, yeah.
1009
01:05:30,192 --> 01:05:32,294
That's when like every
idiot wearing--
1010
01:05:32,327 --> 01:05:37,132
We're playing the Roxy April
7th, headlining, we have pins
for you.
1011
01:05:37,165 --> 01:05:38,433
But you gotta wear 'em.
1012
01:05:41,203 --> 01:05:43,272
There you go.
That's the band to see.
1013
01:05:43,305 --> 01:05:46,442
You really, if you wanted to
come to LA and you didn't have
anything to do...
1014
01:05:46,475 --> 01:05:48,243
you could just
come to the Sunset Strip...
1015
01:05:48,276 --> 01:05:50,578
and there were so many people.
1016
01:05:48,276 --> 01:05:50,578
Talk to people.
1017
01:05:50,612 --> 01:05:53,582
And people dressed crazy,
you know, of all different types
of rock genres.
1018
01:05:53,615 --> 01:05:55,383
It's just like toast.
1019
01:05:55,417 --> 01:05:58,487
Too many long-hairs. It's no
more punkers and turf rockers.
1020
01:05:58,520 --> 01:06:01,156
Too expanded, too much
of the same thing.
1021
01:06:01,189 --> 01:06:03,625
Too many glam dudes.
1022
01:06:03,658 --> 01:06:05,394
Yeah, yeah.
1023
01:06:05,427 --> 01:06:08,597
But it's basically just all sex,
just all sex.
1024
01:06:08,630 --> 01:06:11,233
That's the basic feeling along
the Strip, sex.
1025
01:06:11,266 --> 01:06:15,237
Sex and rock and roll, it's
total decadence, you know.
1026
01:06:15,270 --> 01:06:17,272
Total sex and decadence, you
know?
1027
01:06:17,305 --> 01:06:20,743
There was that one point
in the 80's there where like...
1028
01:06:20,776 --> 01:06:25,614
people kind of stayed away from
the Strip because it was so that
like glam rock era thing...
1029
01:06:25,647 --> 01:06:27,249
you know what I mean?
1030
01:06:27,282 --> 01:06:28,751
So if you didn't have teased
hair or whatever...
1031
01:06:28,784 --> 01:06:33,255
they had kind of taken over
this whole part of the Strip.
1032
01:06:33,288 --> 01:06:36,358
Well, I think that's why we all
hung out here, because we
weren't in that scene.
1033
01:06:36,391 --> 01:06:40,229
Yeah, so we had to have a little
place to, you know, hide out.
1034
01:06:40,262 --> 01:06:44,233
We were lost in the past.
Yeah.
1035
01:06:44,266 --> 01:06:48,804
Ladies and gentlemen,
you fucking broke it,
you fucking bought it.
1036
01:06:48,837 --> 01:06:54,509
Give it up for Steel Panther!
1037
01:07:16,264 --> 01:07:18,067
It's been 11 years we've been on
the Sunset Strip.
1038
01:07:18,100 --> 01:07:21,804
Every single-- we're the longest
running heavy metal weekly
show...
1039
01:07:21,837 --> 01:07:23,806
in the history of the
Sunset Strip.
1040
01:07:23,839 --> 01:07:28,243
I want to fuck some bitches
tonight, two, three, four.
1041
01:07:28,276 --> 01:07:30,812
Ugh! Like that.
That's fucking awesome.
1042
01:07:30,846 --> 01:07:33,248
If you're into heavy metal,
like we all four are...
1043
01:07:33,281 --> 01:07:35,683
it's the only place
to be is right here.
1044
01:07:35,717 --> 01:07:38,487
Right, or during the day,
you could, if you're not
doing anything...
1045
01:07:38,520 --> 01:07:40,756
you could go to the zoo.
1046
01:07:40,789 --> 01:07:46,495
It's just a place where you can
come and fucking be whoever you
want to be.
1047
01:07:46,528 --> 01:07:48,763
You can wear like lip gloss...
if you want.
1048
01:07:48,797 --> 01:07:50,866
Yeah.
1049
01:07:50,899 --> 01:07:55,703
I wear sparkly kind of lip
gloss, because sometimes the
lights glisten off of it.
1050
01:07:55,737 --> 01:08:00,175
Plus, the glistening, actually
it comes off on some of the
cocks that you suck.
1051
01:08:00,208 --> 01:08:02,711
You're an asshole.
1052
01:08:00,208 --> 01:08:02,711
Glistening kind of cocks.
1053
01:08:02,744 --> 01:08:04,179
Asshole, I was in jail.
1054
01:08:04,212 --> 01:08:05,714
'Cause that's his other band.
1055
01:08:05,747 --> 01:08:09,250
He's in a solo band called
Glistening Balls. Awesome!
1056
01:08:27,502 --> 01:08:33,275
The whole hair thing happened
with the hair bands.
1057
01:08:33,308 --> 01:08:37,179
100 of them, and I actually got
into that whole scene.
1058
01:08:37,212 --> 01:08:39,414
I had long hair, I had the
Harley Davidson.
1059
01:08:39,447 --> 01:08:43,886
I was in shape and I had a
couple of solo albums out...
1060
01:08:43,919 --> 01:08:49,424
and now this is pre-AIDS...
1061
01:08:49,457 --> 01:08:52,895
and all the birds
looked like strippers.
1062
01:08:52,928 --> 01:08:55,163
And it was great.
1063
01:08:55,197 --> 01:08:56,765
It was rocking, there were
people just up and down the
street.
1064
01:08:56,798 --> 01:08:59,367
Everyone was making out flyers.
It was the best time.
1065
01:08:59,401 --> 01:09:04,572
I wasn't in that kind of band,
but I lived around here, loved
it around here always.
1066
01:09:04,606 --> 01:09:06,908
And that's what was
going on at the time.
1067
01:09:06,942 --> 01:09:08,710
It was truly rocking back then.
1068
01:09:08,743 --> 01:09:11,346
All the bands were kind of
in like a community.
1069
01:09:11,379 --> 01:09:15,850
Handing out flyers to their next
show, and every bar had
something going on in it.
1070
01:09:15,884 --> 01:09:20,689
That went on for about
four years maybe? Three
or four years...
1071
01:09:20,721 --> 01:09:23,492
And then Nirvana came along and
it all ended.
1072
01:09:23,524 --> 01:09:28,930
Then the whole grunge thing,
dirty looking people, started.
1073
01:09:28,964 --> 01:09:33,935
And just yeah, somehow
gave the perception...
1074
01:09:33,969 --> 01:09:38,373
that it was uncool to be,
you know, here.
1075
01:09:38,406 --> 01:09:41,743
Which was-- we all know
it's all the same stuff.
1076
01:09:41,776 --> 01:09:45,781
Instead of spandex, it's
flannel, it's all the same,
it's-- you know?
1077
01:09:46,848 --> 01:09:51,486
But that is a time and it's
because people dying of drugs...
1078
01:09:51,519 --> 01:09:55,591
and people getting AIDS,
that time is just gone...
1079
01:09:55,624 --> 01:10:00,829
because when you hear the term
andquot;sex, drugs and rock
and rollandquot;...
1080
01:10:00,862 --> 01:10:04,433
that was it, I mean, that
really, really, really was it.
1081
01:10:04,466 --> 01:10:07,002
That was the last time it was
like that on the Strip.
1082
01:10:07,035 --> 01:10:10,439
And people won't-- now it's not
cool to say hey, I got drugs.
1083
01:10:10,472 --> 01:10:11,807
You're like, yeah, you're a
weirdo.
1084
01:10:14,009 --> 01:10:15,911
It felt real hollowed out.
1085
01:10:15,944 --> 01:10:18,580
People would come back and be
like, you guys want to do some
blow?
1086
01:10:18,613 --> 01:10:22,851
And I'd be like, no, and they'd
be like kind of depressed, like
nobody to party with, you know?
1087
01:10:22,884 --> 01:10:27,489
Grunge at that time, although it
seems very cozy and cute now...
1088
01:10:27,522 --> 01:10:31,593
completely anhilated everything
that hair metal stood for.
1089
01:10:31,626 --> 01:10:36,465
It was sort of a joke. It was
more like cartoon characters
coming through the door.
1090
01:10:36,498 --> 01:10:39,934
We didn't want to be part of the
cartoon. We were sort of blowing
the cartoon up.
1091
01:10:39,968 --> 01:10:46,808
And so the Sunset Strip
we encountered was the sad-face
clown version of it.
1092
01:10:46,841 --> 01:10:50,345
You know, like, it used to be
so much fun, now it's not
fun anymore.
1093
01:10:50,378 --> 01:10:53,715
When grunge took over metal,
and it did, it really knocked
it out.
1094
01:10:53,748 --> 01:10:54,782
We were kind of--
1095
01:10:54,816 --> 01:10:57,586
Why do you keep saying that?
You keep reminding--
1096
01:10:57,619 --> 01:11:00,389
It's like having-- being dumped
by a girlfriend...
1097
01:11:00,422 --> 01:11:03,458
and somebody keeps bringing it
up, how you got dumped by your
girlfriend.
1098
01:11:03,491 --> 01:11:05,294
Well, this is how--
1099
01:11:03,491 --> 01:11:05,294
It's been 20 fucking years.
1100
01:11:05,327 --> 01:11:06,295
I don't want to hear that
anymore.
1101
01:11:06,328 --> 01:11:07,663
Let me finish, Jesus!
1102
01:11:07,696 --> 01:11:10,032
I swear, I see people walking up
and down Sunset Strip...
1103
01:11:10,065 --> 01:11:13,535
I'm like, seriously, have you
been in a fucking time capsule?
1104
01:11:16,071 --> 01:11:19,875
I mean, there's been so many
different generations of things
that have gone on in music...
1105
01:11:19,908 --> 01:11:24,746
and things that have happened
but you still stuck in like 80's
hair metal bands.
1106
01:11:24,779 --> 01:11:26,515
And that's kind of what I love
about the Strip...
1107
01:11:26,548 --> 01:11:29,351
because it's, you know what
you're getting.
1108
01:11:29,384 --> 01:11:32,488
( JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING )
1109
01:11:37,926 --> 01:11:41,496
What I wanted out of the
Viper Room, I mean, first
and foremost...
1110
01:11:41,529 --> 01:11:42,864
wouldn't it be great to have...
1111
01:11:42,897 --> 01:11:45,534
a place that you could go
to where...
1112
01:11:45,567 --> 01:11:48,003
you weren't necessarily...
1113
01:11:48,036 --> 01:11:49,504
on display all the time...
1114
01:11:49,537 --> 01:11:54,009
or you didn't feel like
a novelty, you know?
1115
01:11:54,042 --> 01:11:58,046
Um, you didn't have to sneak
in and sneak out...
1116
01:11:58,079 --> 01:12:02,517
you know, hide, all that, and
you could listen to the music...
1117
01:12:02,550 --> 01:12:04,486
you know, that you
and your friends like.
1118
01:12:04,519 --> 01:12:07,856
We wanted to hear Louis Jordan
and we wanted to hear
Cab Calloway.
1119
01:12:07,889 --> 01:12:13,528
And we wanted to hear old blues,
Robert Johnson and Howlin' Wolf.
1120
01:12:13,561 --> 01:12:15,630
So that was the initial thing,
you know.
1121
01:12:15,663 --> 01:12:22,603
Let's make this place feel like
it should have been or like
maybe it was back then...
1122
01:12:22,637 --> 01:12:25,773
you know, in the 30's,
a speak-easy.
1123
01:12:25,807 --> 01:12:28,009
It was called The Melody Room
then, which is at that time...
1124
01:12:28,042 --> 01:12:31,413
I mean, the people that I heard,
that had played there were like,
you know...
1125
01:12:31,446 --> 01:12:37,786
Charlie Parker, Coltraine,
you know, all these amazing,
amazing players...
1126
01:12:37,819 --> 01:12:39,988
from back in the day,
you know?
1127
01:12:40,021 --> 01:12:46,362
So, yeah, we were all very
excited about the history
of the place.
1128
01:12:50,632 --> 01:12:54,769
It was a really cool time, it
was definitely something that
was so different.
1129
01:12:54,803 --> 01:13:01,108
The Viper Room paved the way for
everything from where I am today
with the Pussycat Dolls.
1130
01:13:01,142 --> 01:13:06,882
There's something so amazing
about the intimacy performing
for such a small crowd.
1131
01:13:06,915 --> 01:13:09,718
And every single person
is just feeling it.
1132
01:13:11,653 --> 01:13:14,923
The Pussycat Dolls started as an
underground cabaret act really.
1133
01:13:14,956 --> 01:13:17,726
I remember Johnny saying this
is why I opened the club.
1134
01:13:17,759 --> 01:13:19,828
This is-- I wanted this,
you know?
1135
01:13:19,861 --> 01:13:22,097
And it had only been open
for like six months.
1136
01:13:22,130 --> 01:13:25,834
He said, oh, I'd love for you
guys to come and perform here
and maybe...
1137
01:13:25,867 --> 01:13:31,006
you can do like once a week kind
of residency, and I'm like, oh,
my god, this is amazing.
1138
01:13:31,039 --> 01:13:34,543
And that's how it started,
and then we were there
for ten years.
1139
01:13:36,911 --> 01:13:41,550
Johnny helped me live out my
dream, and it might sound
cliché...
1140
01:13:41,583 --> 01:13:43,951
but it's real, that is real.
1141
01:13:53,194 --> 01:13:55,497
ANNOUNCER (V.O.):
Young film star River
Phoenix...
1142
01:13:55,530 --> 01:13:58,666
died early today outside
a popular West Hollywood
nightclub.
1143
01:13:58,700 --> 01:14:00,669
Among the films...
1144
01:14:02,837 --> 01:14:06,675
He came with his girlfriend
and his guitar.
1145
01:14:06,708 --> 01:14:08,210
He wanted to play music.
1146
01:14:08,243 --> 01:14:13,582
You know, for me, you couldn't
erase what had happened.
1147
01:14:13,615 --> 01:14:16,985
You couldn't erase the memory,
you couldn't erase the tragedy.
1148
01:14:17,018 --> 01:14:20,222
And also this place that was...
1149
01:14:20,255 --> 01:14:22,891
basically just a bar, a club...
1150
01:14:22,924 --> 01:14:25,494
that started for
all the right reasons.
1151
01:14:25,527 --> 01:14:28,230
Suddenly there was
this cloak over it, you know.
1152
01:14:28,263 --> 01:14:30,699
I mean, talk about mystique,
talk about, you know...
1153
01:14:30,732 --> 01:14:35,136
the idea that wow, you know,
there's something weird
at the Vipor Room.
1154
01:14:35,169 --> 01:14:40,108
It became this kind of dark
entity for a lot of people,
you know, it's mystery...
1155
01:14:40,141 --> 01:14:45,580
that they, you know, you know,
for (all of us) there's
something evil there.
1156
01:14:45,613 --> 01:14:47,849
There's something weird there,
you know?
1157
01:14:47,882 --> 01:14:55,257
And when Johnny Cash
came and played in '94
I believe it was...
1158
01:14:57,091 --> 01:14:58,994
It was like a great cleansing.
1159
01:14:59,027 --> 01:15:02,931
It was like he'd performed this,
this exorcism.
1160
01:15:02,964 --> 01:15:04,032
( MUSIC PLAYING )
1161
01:15:04,065 --> 01:15:05,366
♪ I got a friend
Named Whiskey Sam ♪
1162
01:15:05,400 --> 01:15:08,769
♪ He was my boonie rat buddy
For a year in 'Nam ♪
1163
01:15:08,803 --> 01:15:11,606
♪ He said I think my country
Got a little off track ♪
1164
01:15:11,639 --> 01:15:14,610
♪ Took him 25 years
To welcome me back ♪
1165
01:15:16,811 --> 01:15:19,648
♪ But it's better than not
Coming back at all ♪
1166
01:15:19,681 --> 01:15:23,317
♪ Many a good man I saw fall ♪
1167
01:15:23,351 --> 01:15:25,219
♪ And even now every time
I dream ♪
1168
01:15:25,253 --> 01:15:30,291
♪ I hear the men and the
Monkeys in the jungle scream ♪
1169
01:15:30,325 --> 01:15:35,630
♪ Drive on it don't mean
Nothing it don't mean nothing ♪
1170
01:15:35,663 --> 01:15:40,067
♪ Drive on ♪
1171
01:15:41,636 --> 01:15:43,038
Thank you.
1172
01:15:48,242 --> 01:15:51,680
You really start to have a
history with these people.
1173
01:15:54,716 --> 01:15:59,588
You see people come, you see
people go, you see people sadly
die, you see people succeed.
1174
01:15:59,621 --> 01:16:02,991
And it's all happening
in one place.
1175
01:16:03,024 --> 01:16:05,861
( MUSIC PLAYING )
1176
01:16:09,697 --> 01:16:15,604
♪ 13 men and me the only
Gal in town ♪
1177
01:16:15,637 --> 01:16:20,808
♪ There were 13 men and me
The only gal in town ♪
1178
01:16:20,842 --> 01:16:24,312
This club means so much to me,
because it was not only on the
Sunset Strip...
1179
01:16:24,345 --> 01:16:28,817
but it's the first place
I ever actually sang in my life.
1180
01:16:28,850 --> 01:16:31,686
♪ I won't tell you where
I've been ♪
1181
01:16:31,719 --> 01:16:34,723
♪ 'Cause if it's just a dream
I hope to dream it again ♪
1182
01:16:34,756 --> 01:16:38,927
I did everything for the first
time on Sunset Strip.
Everything.
1183
01:16:41,729 --> 01:16:43,898
Everything.
1184
01:16:43,931 --> 01:16:50,237
I even feel like I probably--
yeah, I lost my virginity on the
Sunset Strip even.
1185
01:16:50,271 --> 01:16:53,407
I had my first getting drunk,
I went to my first club.
1186
01:16:53,441 --> 01:16:56,711
We weren't Hollywood kids,
we were Sunset Strip kids.
1187
01:16:56,744 --> 01:16:59,947
( MUSIC PLAYING )
1188
01:17:15,463 --> 01:17:18,733
♪ Friday night
The weekend crowd
1189
01:17:18,766 --> 01:17:24,339
♪ Move on in to get on down
On Sunset ♪
1190
01:17:24,372 --> 01:17:27,676
( PAPARAZZI YELLING )
1191
01:17:29,277 --> 01:17:36,151
♪ Sunset people ♪
1192
01:17:36,184 --> 01:17:40,188
♪ Sunset people ♪
1193
01:17:42,457 --> 01:17:44,426
♪ Sunset people ♪
1194
01:17:44,459 --> 01:17:48,797
It used to be so much fun.
I used to love going out
on the Sunset Strip.
1195
01:17:48,830 --> 01:17:51,900
( CROWD SHOUTING )
1196
01:17:54,469 --> 01:17:55,970
Bizarre.
1197
01:17:54,469 --> 01:17:55,970
No doubt.
1198
01:17:56,003 --> 01:17:59,907
It's all paparazzi down here.
1199
01:17:59,941 --> 01:18:01,376
We all used to be able
to roll around...
1200
01:18:01,409 --> 01:18:04,913
and the guys that moved up here,
and got their houses here.
1201
01:18:04,946 --> 01:18:06,481
You weren't worried
about being followed home.
1202
01:18:06,514 --> 01:18:08,917
You didn't worry about where
you lived. You had people over.
1203
01:18:08,950 --> 01:18:10,985
It just was pretty provincial.
1204
01:18:11,018 --> 01:18:14,222
And I've seen plenty of people
become prisoners of their own
whatever.
1205
01:18:14,255 --> 01:18:17,792
But I also do think there is a
debasing of it on the strip.
1206
01:18:17,825 --> 01:18:20,894
The paparazzi culture and the
tabloid culture has changed
everything.
1207
01:18:20,928 --> 01:18:24,199
You leave your house now, you go
to get a hot dog, it's a press
junket.
1208
01:18:24,232 --> 01:18:26,267
So a lot of folks don't
want to go anywhere.
1209
01:18:26,300 --> 01:18:29,237
( MUSIC PLAYING )
1210
01:18:36,377 --> 01:18:39,214
It is what it is, and I came up
here and I call this home.
1211
01:18:39,247 --> 01:18:42,917
So even if it was just a bunch
of burned out shop windows...
1212
01:18:42,950 --> 01:18:46,755
and whatnot, I'd still feel
a sense of belonging here and
all that.
1213
01:18:46,788 --> 01:18:50,959
I think one of the biggest
things that changed you know,
Tower Records closing.
1214
01:18:50,992 --> 01:18:56,364
That was a major, that was when
you really had to accept that
things have changed...
1215
01:18:56,397 --> 01:18:58,500
massively in this town.
1216
01:18:58,533 --> 01:19:01,102
The Tower Records, even from
when I was a little kid...
1217
01:19:01,135 --> 01:19:03,972
was like almost a home
away from home.
1218
01:19:04,005 --> 01:19:08,209
And a lot of people, tons of
people sort of identified with
Tower Records...
1219
01:19:08,242 --> 01:19:14,415
as being the music store that we
all used to hang out at.
1220
01:19:14,448 --> 01:19:16,951
There was conversation,
community.
1221
01:19:16,984 --> 01:19:21,289
There was nothing like driving
out of that parking lot and
holding up the CD...
1222
01:19:21,322 --> 01:19:24,159
on my way out when my friend
was going in and being like,
I got it.
1223
01:19:24,192 --> 01:19:28,029
You know, and that was, you
know, things were more local.
1224
01:19:28,062 --> 01:19:31,132
They were more in--
you know, right here.
1225
01:19:31,165 --> 01:19:34,269
Tower was much more
than a record store.
1226
01:19:34,302 --> 01:19:38,940
It was really a haven for music
lovers everywhere.
1227
01:19:38,973 --> 01:19:41,176
Just seeing the listening
booths.
1228
01:19:41,209 --> 01:19:45,013
Seeing the
immersion in music.
1229
01:19:45,046 --> 01:19:51,052
It was so special, so that the
original Spago, right across
the street.
1230
01:19:51,085 --> 01:19:54,989
I would go there with my
family or colleagues...
1231
01:19:55,022 --> 01:20:02,564
and immediately go into that
parking lot and spend an hour
or two hours there.
1232
01:20:02,597 --> 01:20:07,869
When you're used to seeing
a certain building with a
certain color...
1233
01:20:07,902 --> 01:20:12,473
it's imbedded in your psyche.
1234
01:20:12,506 --> 01:20:16,845
And you go there and it's just
gone. It's like, what happened,
you know?
1235
01:20:16,878 --> 01:20:21,849
Like something blew it up or
something? You know, it's just,
it was sad, very, very sad.
1236
01:20:21,883 --> 01:20:24,018
When Tower Records closed,
I think...
1237
01:20:24,051 --> 01:20:27,155
that was definitive proof that
Sunset Strip changed forever.
1238
01:20:27,188 --> 01:20:31,025
The places do go
every 20, 25 years.
1239
01:20:31,058 --> 01:20:33,194
The same places ain't going
to be there...
1240
01:20:33,227 --> 01:20:39,968
but the streets gonna always
connect to heaven or hell
or where you're gonna go.
1241
01:20:40,001 --> 01:20:43,171
I could've ended up
living in Ohio...
1242
01:20:43,204 --> 01:20:46,574
and my dad owned the
hardware store on the corner...
1243
01:20:46,607 --> 01:20:49,444
and he said son get down here,
you're on the register today.
1244
01:20:49,477 --> 01:20:54,514
It just happened to be on
Sunset Strip and Guns N'Roses
was playing.
1245
01:20:54,548 --> 01:20:58,119
The artists, the manager,
all those people should be
treated better.
1246
01:20:58,152 --> 01:21:01,155
That was why the Roxy opened.
1247
01:21:01,188 --> 01:21:05,593
But Elmer had done that at the
Whisky for years before that.
1248
01:21:05,626 --> 01:21:09,530
And Nic has seen it,
seen how it was operated.
1249
01:21:09,563 --> 01:21:17,038
And it was very easy for him
to then be that kind
of a club owner.
1250
01:21:17,071 --> 01:21:21,242
Then at the end of the day you
have the Rainbow, which is
a combination of our family.
1251
01:21:21,275 --> 01:21:25,647
And then you have the Roxy is a
family business and the Whisky
is a family business.
1252
01:21:25,680 --> 01:21:30,151
And Tenmasa, the Japanese
restaurant is a family business
and believe it or not...
1253
01:21:30,184 --> 01:21:33,221
Hustler, they live in the
community, they're a family
business...
1254
01:21:33,254 --> 01:21:37,992
and the Cat Club's a family
business and not for a year
or two years or five years...
1255
01:21:38,025 --> 01:21:41,596
but for 20 years and 30 years.
1256
01:21:41,629 --> 01:21:45,099
It's like this tree and the
roots of this tree...
1257
01:21:45,132 --> 01:21:51,638
and how this handful
of families have now...
1258
01:21:51,672 --> 01:21:58,012
our generation led to our kids'
generation, and then it's going
to go again, hopefully.
1259
01:21:58,045 --> 01:22:01,683
So it's like all these
generations of us have
grown up together...
1260
01:22:01,716 --> 01:22:07,389
and if you were to do like a
family tree of Sunset, it would
be very incestuous.
1261
01:22:09,090 --> 01:22:11,159
I think we all kind of realized
that we are a family.
1262
01:22:11,192 --> 01:22:17,598
And it's pretty cool to see
you know, the clubs initially
made the Strip.
1263
01:22:17,631 --> 01:22:23,604
Now it seems as if the Strip and
its history is making the clubs.
1264
01:22:23,637 --> 01:22:26,641
I think we were kind of forced
to make it something that we
thought was cool.
1265
01:22:26,674 --> 01:22:30,211
And something that we were all
into and not something our
parents showed us...
1266
01:22:30,244 --> 01:22:32,580
or grandparents showed us.
It was like, we want to make
this our thing.
1267
01:22:32,613 --> 01:22:37,518
It took for a new generation to
come in and make that happen...
1268
01:22:37,551 --> 01:22:41,589
machine and we were churning.e a
1269
01:22:41,622 --> 01:22:45,626
It just kind of wore on itself
and then we kind of looked
and was like...
1270
01:22:45,659 --> 01:22:49,731
Oh, well we actually have to
start discovering music again.
1271
01:22:49,764 --> 01:22:54,135
It seems like there's a new
iteration of the essential
fantasy...
1272
01:22:54,168 --> 01:22:57,237
of what the Sunset Strip
represents every few years.
1273
01:22:57,271 --> 01:22:59,206
I don't whether there
ever will be again.
1274
01:22:59,240 --> 01:23:03,144
We're now at a place where it's
sort of sponsored and
commodified...
1275
01:23:03,177 --> 01:23:07,682
and the Sunset Strip has
just become like a kind
of museum in a sense.
1276
01:23:07,715 --> 01:23:11,619
I'd love to think that it
could be revived and reborn
in some way...
1277
01:23:11,652 --> 01:23:15,556
but I'm not quite sure how
that's going to happen.
1278
01:23:15,589 --> 01:23:18,026
( MUSIC PLAYING )
1279
01:23:40,614 --> 01:23:42,817
I've been playing on this street
now almost 20 years.
1280
01:23:42,850 --> 01:23:45,586
It's not the same as just
playing in another
show in a city.
1281
01:23:45,619 --> 01:23:48,656
It's a place where you can
measure things against
other things.
1282
01:23:48,689 --> 01:23:51,125
Maybe that's not always
a public understanding.
1283
01:23:51,158 --> 01:23:53,428
But, personally it means
something.
1284
01:23:58,299 --> 01:24:01,569
She's probably like some
rumbling going on under there...
1285
01:24:01,602 --> 01:24:04,439
it's going to burst
out again anytime. It has to.
1286
01:24:04,472 --> 01:24:10,812
Because of the incredible
history and energy that's
boiling up underneath here...
1287
01:24:10,845 --> 01:24:12,580
and will always be here.
1288
01:24:12,613 --> 01:24:16,284
It was creepy and exciting,
really dangerous, you know?
1289
01:24:16,317 --> 01:24:18,853
Like tonight we were going
to bring a little bit
of that back, man.
1290
01:24:18,886 --> 01:24:23,324
We're going to suspend some
women from the ceiling
by their flesh.
1291
01:24:27,228 --> 01:24:29,397
( MUSIC PLAYING )
1292
01:25:13,941 --> 01:25:17,577
The person that comes in tonight
and is standing in the
front row...
1293
01:25:17,611 --> 01:25:20,448
and is looking
at their favorite artist...
1294
01:25:20,481 --> 01:25:24,852
and they can't believe that they
can touch their shoe and they
can hold their hand...
1295
01:25:24,885 --> 01:25:27,688
and that's all that matters,
that one moment.
1296
01:25:27,721 --> 01:25:30,758
You know, and that moment will
live with them forever.
1297
01:25:30,791 --> 01:25:34,762
And they'll look back and
say it's never going to be
like that.
1298
01:25:34,795 --> 01:25:39,467
You know, it'll never be that
great, but in that same
moment...
1299
01:25:39,500 --> 01:25:41,836
someone's reliving that
experience.
1300
01:25:41,869 --> 01:25:45,505
There's another 23-year-old
kid that's standing
in the front row...
1301
01:25:45,539 --> 01:25:49,610
and having the greatest music
moment of their life.
1302
01:25:49,643 --> 01:25:52,380
And then that's going to happen
again the next night.
1303
01:25:52,413 --> 01:25:55,849
And I think that's been
happening, probably for--
1304
01:25:55,883 --> 01:25:57,518
Since Frank Sinatra.
1305
01:25:57,551 --> 01:25:58,953
Yeah.
1306
01:25:58,986 --> 01:26:02,557
( MUSIC PLAYING )
1307
01:26:22,910 --> 01:26:27,415
God has provided a place where
you can make mistakes, be hated,
be loved...
1308
01:26:27,448 --> 01:26:32,320
be ignored, and then come back,
just because it's within
your right...
1309
01:26:32,353 --> 01:26:34,689
as a magical human being
to do so.
1310
01:26:36,724 --> 01:26:41,763
You make your last stand in
Eden. And this is Eden.
1311
01:27:01,448 --> 01:27:04,619
( MUSIC PLAYING )
1312
01:27:14,795 --> 01:27:18,866
♪ We was a-d-d-d-drivin'
D-downtown L.A. ♪
1313
01:27:18,899 --> 01:27:25,539
♪ About a midnight hour
And it almost b-blew my mind ♪
1314
01:27:25,572 --> 01:27:28,743
♪ I got caught
in a colored shower ♪
1315
01:27:28,776 --> 01:27:33,014
♪ All those lights were
t-t-twinkling on Sunset ♪
1316
01:27:33,047 --> 01:27:35,782
♪ I saw a sign in the sky ♪
1317
01:27:35,816 --> 01:27:39,587
♪ It said T-t-t-trip a t-trip,
I trip, trip ♪
1318
01:27:39,620 --> 01:27:42,957
♪ I couldn't keep up up
if I tried ♪
1319
01:27:42,990 --> 01:27:47,327
♪ Ah we stopped down
To reality company ♪
1320
01:27:47,361 --> 01:27:50,398
♪ To get some instant sleep ♪
1321
01:27:50,431 --> 01:27:53,601
♪ And the driver turned
I said welcome back ♪
1322
01:27:53,634 --> 01:27:56,904
♪ He smiled and he said
Beep beep ♪
1323
01:27:56,937 --> 01:28:00,641
♪ What goes on
Chick-a-chick ♪
1324
01:28:00,674 --> 01:28:03,878
♪ What goes on
I really wanna know ♪
1325
01:28:03,911 --> 01:28:09,483
♪ What goes on all around me
What goes on ♪
1326
01:28:09,516 --> 01:28:11,318
♪ I really wanna know ♪
1327
01:28:11,352 --> 01:28:14,588
♪ When in should come-a
My dream woman ♪
1328
01:28:14,621 --> 01:28:17,825
♪ She got sequins in her hair ♪
1329
01:28:17,858 --> 01:28:21,962
♪ Like she stepped out
Off of a Fellini film ♪
1330
01:28:21,995 --> 01:28:24,832
Straw chair ♪a white
1331
01:28:24,865 --> 01:28:28,769
♪ But I thought I'd take a
Second look ♪
1332
01:28:28,802 --> 01:28:31,639
I could see ♪ what
1333
01:28:31,672 --> 01:28:35,942
♪ And my scene had popped out
Like a bubble does ♪
1334
01:28:35,976 --> 01:28:39,547
♪ There was nobody there
But me ♪
1335
01:28:39,580 --> 01:28:42,817
♪ I said Girl you drank a lot
Of drink-me ♪
1336
01:28:42,850 --> 01:28:46,687
♪ But you ain't
In a Wonderland ♪
1337
01:28:46,720 --> 01:28:49,990
♪ You know I might-a be there
To greet you child ♪
1338
01:28:50,023 --> 01:28:53,427
♪ When your trippin' ship
touches sand ♪
1339
01:28:53,460 --> 01:28:56,831
♪ What goes on
Chick-a-chick ♪
1340
01:28:56,864 --> 01:29:00,567
♪ What goes on
I really wanna know ♪
1341
01:29:00,601 --> 01:29:03,904
♪ What goes on
Chick-a-chick ♪
1342
01:29:03,937 --> 01:29:07,708
♪ What goes on
I really wanna know ♪
1343
01:29:07,741 --> 01:29:10,611
♪ A silver goblet of wine ♪
1344
01:29:10,644 --> 01:29:14,982
♪ Is-a to be held
In a bejewelled glove ♪
1345
01:29:15,015 --> 01:29:17,385
♪ And her knights they toast ♪
1346
01:29:17,418 --> 01:29:20,554
( MUSIC CHANGES )
1347
01:29:34,568 --> 01:29:37,905
( MUSIC CHANGES )
1348
01:29:39,440 --> 01:29:40,607
Action!
1349
01:29:43,110 --> 01:29:46,547
♪ What goes on?
Chick-a-chick ♪
1350
01:29:46,580 --> 01:29:50,151
♪ What goes on
I really wanna know ♪
1351
01:29:50,184 --> 01:29:53,587
♪ What goes on all around me ♪
1352
01:29:53,620 --> 01:29:57,157
♪ What goes on
I really wanna know ♪
1353
01:29:57,191 --> 01:29:58,492
Well, come on!
1354
01:29:58,525 --> 01:30:01,629
( MUSIC CONTINUES )
1355
01:31:20,040 --> 01:31:22,944
( MUSIC ENDS )
1356
01:31:28,315 --> 01:31:30,284
One, two, three, four!
1357
01:31:30,317 --> 01:31:33,955
( MUSIC PLAYING )
1358
01:34:04,271 --> 01:34:07,642
( MUSIC CHANGES )