Sunset Blvd: One Famous Road

Summary

Podcast Summary: Stuff You Should Know - "Sunset Blvd: One Famous Road"

Release Date: June 26, 2025

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Introduction

In the episode titled "Sunset Blvd: One Famous Road," hosts Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant delve deep into the rich history and cultural significance of Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. From its humble beginnings as a cattle trail to its transformation into a hub of entertainment and counterculture, the hosts explore the multifaceted nature of this iconic street.

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Historical Origins of Sunset Boulevard

The discussion begins with the origins of Sunset Boulevard, tracing its roots back to the 18th century before the establishment of modern Los Angeles. Initially, it served as a cattle trail connecting the downtown Pueblo de Los Angeles to the Pacific.

Notable Quote:

• Chuck Bryant (04:25): "It was a cattle trail to begin with, and then it evolved into what we now know as Sunset Boulevard."

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Evolution into a Cultural Epicenter

As Los Angeles expanded in the late 19th century, Sunset Boulevard underwent significant development. By around 1887, developers began shaping the boulevard, integrating it into the growing cityscape. The boulevard now spans 23 miles, encompassing various neighborhoods like Silver Lake, Echo Park, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, and West Hollywood.

Notable Quote:

• Josh Clark (07:08): "Is Sunset Boulevard great because these neighborhoods around it are great, or are the neighborhoods great because Sunset Boulevard runs through them?"

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Hollywood and the Birth of the Film Industry

Hollywood's emergence as the birthplace of the film industry played a pivotal role in cementing Sunset Boulevard's status. The intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street became a hotspot for film studios, with establishments like Sunset Gower Studios still operational today.

Notable Quote:

• Chuck Bryant (09:02): "Sunset Gower Studios is an original Hollywood studio from the 1910s, still making shows like 'Dexter' and 'Six Feet Under.'"

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The Sunset Strip: From Mobster Clubs to Rock Havens

The Sunset Strip, a subset of Sunset Boulevard, gained fame during the Prohibition era as a playground for mobsters, brothels, and nightclubs. Notable establishments like Club Sokoleff and the Clover Club thrived, backed by organized crime, fostering an environment of decadence and extravagance.

Notable Quote:

• Chuck Bryant (13:27): "Cluster of mob-owned clubs like Sokoleff and the Clover Club made the Strip infamous during Prohibition."

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LGBTQ History and Early Protests

Sunset Boulevard also holds a significant place in LGBTQ history. The Black Cat Tavern, located in Silver Lake, was the site of one of the first major LGBTQ protests in the United States in 1967, predating the Stonewall Uprising by two years. This dignified, organized protest marked a pivotal moment in the fight for LGBTQ rights.

Notable Quote:

• Chuck Bryant (37:11): "The Black Cat Tavern was home to one of the first major LGBTQ protests in U.S. history, a dignified stand for equality."

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Transition into the 1960s and 1970s: Rock and Counterculture

The 1960s brought significant changes to the Sunset Strip. The rise of rock and roll saw clubs like Whiskey a Go Go become epicenters of youth culture. Legendary bands such as The Doors and Van Halen graced these stages, while the Strip also became a hub for comedy with establishments like The Comedy Store, founded by Mitzi Shore in 1972.

Notable Quote:

• Josh Clark (32:25): "Joanie LeBean at Whiskey a Go Go single-handedly started the go-go dancing trend of the '60s."

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The 1980s and the Rise of Hair Metal

The 1980s ushered in the era of hair metal, with bands like Motley Crue and Guns N' Roses dominating the Sunset Strip's music scene. Clubs like The Roxy Theater and Rodney's English Disco became synonymous with the burgeoning glam rock movement, solidifying the Strip's reputation as a bastion of rock music.

Notable Quote:

• Chuck Bryant (54:41): "Motley Crue, living right above the Strip, were instrumental in bringing the hair metal scene to Sunset Boulevard."

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Notable Landmarks: Chateau Marmont and The Comedy Store

Chateau Marmont, an iconic European-inspired hotel, became a safe haven for celebrities seeking discretion. Its strict privacy policies ensured a level of secrecy that attracted Hollywood's elite. Similarly, The Comedy Store emerged as the birthplace of numerous legendary comedians, serving as a crucial platform for up-and-coming talent.

Notable Quote:

• Josh Clark (22:43): "Chateau Marmont's motto, 'Always Open, Always a Safe Haven,' has kept it a staple in Hollywood for nearly a century."

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Listener Mail and Community Engagement

The episode also features listener interactions, such as Austin from St. Louis sharing his unique take on playing Rock, Paper, Scissors with multiple participants—a testament to the show's engaging community.

Notable Quote:

• Austin (57:59): "We played rock, paper, scissors as a knockout tournament, turning mundane workdays into fun and competitive games."

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Conclusion

Josh and Chuck wrap up the episode by acknowledging the vastness of Sunset Boulevard's history, hinting at potential future discussions on related topics like Hollywood High School and the Hollywood Palladium. They extend gratitude to contributors like Dave and emphasize the enduring allure of Sunset Boulevard as a symbol of Los Angeles' dynamic culture.

Notable Quote:

• Josh Clark (57:13): "Sunset Boulevard stands as an iconic representation of LA's rich and varied cultural tapestry."

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Final Thoughts

"Sunset Blvd: One Famous Road" offers listeners an immersive journey through the storied avenues of Los Angeles' most legendary boulevard. With a blend of historical insights, cultural anecdotes, and engaging discussions, Josh and Chuck paint a comprehensive picture of a road that has become synonymous with entertainment, rebellion, and transformation.

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Additional Notes:

• The episode intersperses various advertisements and promotions, which have been omitted from this summary per user instructions.
• The hosts maintain a conversational tone throughout, occasionally sharing personal anecdotes and interacting seamlessly to enhance listener engagement.

Transcript

[Chuck Bryant]

This is an I heart. Podcast host Nora McInerney returns for season three of the Head Start, Embracing the Journey, a podcast from Ruby Studio and AbbVie. Each episode, Nora shares intimate conversations with real people living with chronic migraine as they try to find the doctor that is right for them, navigate their treatment journey and be present in the moment in spite of it all. Join in the conversation for season three and create more space for empathy and understanding for this invisible chronic disease. Listen to the Head Start Embracing the journey on the iHeartRadio app or where wherever you get your podcasts. This episode of Stuff youf Should Know is brought to you by Human Footprint, season two on pbs. And the PBS app. The Emmy nominated series reveals humanity's impact on the world around us. Every coffee cup and outfit connects to a web that will change how you see the world. Travel with biologist Shane Campbell Staten from the Colorado river to Thailand's markets, discover Chile's textile graveyards, and trace extinction from prehistory to present. Watch Human Footprint Season 2 on PBS. Welcome to Stuff youf Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.

[Josh Clark]

Welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh. And there's Chuck. And Jerry's here too. Jerry's being quiet. And this is stuff you should know. The hair metal ish edition.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I mean, you know, we've done a lot of New York centric episodes over the years and I feel like we haven't given LA their due. A city that I know you love dearly.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, the one other city in the world. New York and la.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, I just. La. And especially this episode, this Sunset Boulevard, the street. There aren't many. You know, I mean, there's a handful of iconic streets in the world and Sunset Boulevard is one of them because it's just been historically packed with. I mean, it's not just like film stuff, it's music stuff, it's literary stuff, it's comedy stuff. All sorts of like iconic cultural staples on Sunset Boulevard.

[Josh Clark]

Right. And it was obviously very well known inside of LA for years, but it wasn't until the early 2010s before the rest of the world heard about it. Thanks to the Aaron Sorkin show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, yeah, I actually watched that for a little while.

[Josh Clark]

It was unwatchable.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, it wasn't very good.

[Josh Clark]

Somebody just breaking out into a moving soliloquy every seven minutes is the most unrealistic writing anybody could ever possibly do.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's Aaron Sorkin, baby.

[Josh Clark]

I know, but it only worked for West Wing.

[Chuck Bryant]

I didn't Watch West Wing at all. So I haven't seen a lot of Sorkin stuff.

[Josh Clark]

It really worked for West Wing, but it did not work for Studio 60.

[Chuck Bryant]

I do love Sarah Paulson, though, and she was in that.

[Josh Clark]

Sure. I felt bad for.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I did too, a little bit.

[Josh Clark]

What was great is 30 rock came out at the exact same time. And they would make fun of some studio 60s like, plot lines.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. In real time.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. The whole. What was the Janis Joplin story? They had to, like, rename her. Didn't have rights to her life story or that was something that Sarah Paulson, like, got a gig due playing Janice Joplin on Studio 60. Yeah. So that's our Studio 60 episode, everybody.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. Back to Sunset Boulevard.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. So, yes, we should probably just say, all jokes aside, it's very long street. It's a very historic street. And it actually dates back to the 18th century, before the city of Los Angeles, as we understand it, was around. Instead, it originated in the Pueblo de Los Angeles, which was the little colony, I guess, or settlement of just 11 families. That was the seed that germinated into Los Angeles. Home of Joe Friday.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. In Sunset Boulevard. Before it became Sunset Boulevard, like many famous streets was originally used as something else. And in this case, it was a cattle trail from that downtown pueblo of Los Angeles all the way to the Pacific. So it runs for 23 miles. You hear about, you know, Sunset Boulevard, you probably think of the Sunset Strip, which is a less than 2 mile area, but Sunset Boulevard, you know, I used to live on the east side in Silver Lake. And Sunset Boulevard over there is great in a whole other way than the Sunset Strip.

[Josh Clark]

How so?

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, I mean, it's just a cultural seed of, you know, great restaurants and cafes and music venues. And, you know, it was sort of the hipster thing back in the day when hipsters were still a thing.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Silver Lake, that's. There's that shaggy dog mystery with Andrew Garfield beneath the Silver Lake. Right. Oh, that was pretty hipster.

[Chuck Bryant]

I think I saw that maybe.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. It's worth watching, especially if, you know it's a shaggy dog mystery going into it.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. But long way of saying that it was a cattle trail to begin with. And then, like, a lot of things, like, that would eventually become a real street. It became Sunset Boulevard about 100 years after that, I believe.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. So there's a couple of origin stories for where the name came from. I couldn't see what they called it, like the westward side of Sunset Boulevard before it was Sunset Boulevard. But I think in 1887 there was a developer, there was a lot of land development going on in the late 19th century that built up Los Angeles. There's a bunch of different little towns, communities, they were independent. And then Los Angeles kept growing and growing and growing and it would absorb them and they became neighborhoods instead. Yeah, well, there was one planned town called Sunset and they planned for Sunset Boulevard, a different stretch of road to go right through the town. And so they apparently came up with the name Sunset Boulevard, but it was another developer who appropriated it and used it for the Sunset Boulevard. After that, town of Sunset never actually happened. It died on the drafting table, I guess, is what you'd say.

[Chuck Bryant]

Is that an industry jargon?

[Josh Clark]

It is now, yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

And you know, surely you can see some, some great sunsets because Sunset, you know, if you're not familiar with sort of the Hollywood Basin, there's a. It's very grid like and there's a series of east west streets, Hollywood, Sunset, Santa Monica or some of the more famous ones. And it goes downhill, you know, from the mountains, the Hollywood Hills, you know, there's the literal mountains and hills, but then it's still up kind of high and L A kind of goes down, down, down into the basin. And Sunset is pretty high on that side. So, yeah, you can see some great sunsets, I'm sure.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And I think originally terminated on the east end in Chinatown or what's now Chinatown. And like you said, it goes through Silver Lake, it goes through a bunch of different neighborhoods. Echo Park, Pacific Palisades, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, West Hollywood. Like all these great neighborhoods, I think are in part great neighborhoods because it's a chicken or the egg thing. Is Sunset Boulevard great because these neighborhoods around it are great or are the neighborhoods great because Sunset Boulevard ran through them?

[Chuck Bryant]

I think it's a chicken meat's egg. And they just shake hands and agree not to discuss it.

[Josh Clark]

Let's never speak of this again.

[Chuck Bryant]

Some film stuff and we're kind of jumping around between things that made it famous, but generally in a timeline. But early on it was obviously Hollywood was the birthplace of the film industry. And you know, we've said it before, if you've never been there, you might think Hollywood is just a euphemism for the film industry. It is that, but it is also a real neighborhood right in the center of the LA Basin there. And you know, it was originally just like all the other suburbs like you were talking about. They were dividing it up into lots. And I believe in the early 1900s. There was a guy named very 1900s name H.J. whitley, who kind of. I don't know if he wasn't officially incorporated, but he made Hollywood like a proper town and a place to live.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I think Hollywood or West Hollywood wasn't incorporated until like the 1980s. Is that right?

[Chuck Bryant]

I think that was probably West Hollywood. Okay, weho, as they say.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, everybody knows that, thanks to Studio 60. So, yeah, so Hollywood, it was almost out of the gate. This is the early 1900s, 1910, when it merged with Los Angeles. The next year, film studios started popping up. And they started popping up in a very specific area. The corner of Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street. And even still today, there's an original studio from that area called Sunset Gower Studios and they're still making shows. That's where Dexter was filmed. That's where Saved by the the College Years was filmed. Six Feet under, that's where. Yeah, Six Feet under, the College Years Heroes. A lot of really good shows have shot there. And it's an old, old timey original Hollywood studio from like the 19 teens.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I never shot there, but I got to as a pa Got to run an errand there once during while Six Feet under was being shot. So I got to see those sets and it was pretty, pretty cool. As a Six Feet under fan, what.

[Josh Clark]

Did you take something to Diddy? Is that what it was?

[Chuck Bryant]

No, no, no, that was to his actual house.

[Josh Clark]

Gotcha.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I disavow that entire delivery, though. Poverty Row is what they called Sunset Gower at first because it was pretty low budget at the time, the things they shot there. But in the 1930s, they started shooting some like really kind of high quality things there, notably the movies that happen one night and you can't take it with you.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

And then Gower Gulch. I'm glad I never knew the history. But there's still a strip mall right there called Gower Gulch and it has a little old west theme. And that's where I saw Sherry o' Terry at a Starbucks.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

And where there was a. Hopefully still a print shop there where, you know, you could get scripts printed off and bound.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

But now I know that Gower Gulch is so named because it was where all the westerns were being filmed. And a lot of dudes in like cowboy hats and cowboy boots would kind of hang around waiting to be cast there at that, I guess, whatever the stores were at the time.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, because Hollywood, especially this area where all the studios were churning out westerns left and right through the 20s and 30s. So I mean, I'm sure there were other extras hanging around, but the 10 gallon hat really makes you stand out. And if you put a bunch of them together, it's going to get a reputation for being a cowboy hangout.

[Chuck Bryant]

And.

[Josh Clark]

And they would hang out around the Columbia Drugstore. Is that still there?

[Chuck Bryant]

I don't know. I mean, I feel like there's a Rite Aid and that's probably what that was. But I may be wrong. But you know, Gower Gulch lives on.

[Josh Clark]

Did you ever go into that Rite Aid in Greenpoint? Yeah, in Greenpoint, in New York, in Brooklyn. I don't think that has like a disco ball still from whatever it was before.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, cool. No, definitely not.

[Josh Clark]

It is kind of cool. But anyway, this Columbia drugstore, they would hang out there because the owners of Columbia Drugstore had a telephone and. And they would let the extras use it to call central casting to see if there were any parts available for them. And there was a high profile murder there too, right, Between a couple cowboys.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I mean, I don't know if it was quite a, you know, take 10 steps and draw kind of thing.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

But there was a shooter over. I think they were both seeing the same filly.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And apparently one of them, Blackjack Ward, killed Johnny Tyke. He shot him down once and then he told them each reason he was shooting him. And every time he did, he shot him again until his whole six shooter was empty. Like he murdered that guy in broad daylight in front of a bunch of people and he still got off.

[Chuck Bryant]

And someone said, boy, cast that dude, that's incredible.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I know.

[Chuck Bryant]

That should be out of a movie.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, they should make a movie about him for sure.

[Chuck Bryant]

Prohibition was when the party scene kind of moved in. It was called the county Strip at the time and it was unincorporated still at this point. But it was a stretch kind of between where Hollywood was a dry place because of Prohibition and Beverly Hills is kind of where the Sunset Strip ends.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, well, but it keeps going to the Pacific, Right. Like, doesn't it basically just run out into the ocean or I guess the Pacific Highway.

[Chuck Bryant]

But that's not. The Sunset Strip is just that.

[Josh Clark]

Strip. Strip. Yeah. Yeah, Sorry about that. But yeah, I guess from the outset the Sunset Strip was like mobsters, brothels, gambling rackets, nightclubs. It was huge during Prohibition. And I guess the reason why is because it was unincorporated. So the LA county sheriff was in charge of overseeing or enforcing laws. And I guess they weren't particularly inclined to enforce laws in the area. So that's where you went. And that in and of itself is like worth mentioning. It's historic. But one of the reasons it's so famous or the Strip became the Strip is because on the other side, like you said, there's Beverly Hills and that's where the stars had moved around the same time. So they would come into the county strip and party and then go back to Beverly Hills. And the fact that there were all these world famous movie stars partying there kind of really put a stamp on Sunset Strip that stayed forever.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, that was 8477. Sunset had four different mobster clubs, basically where the mob owned and backed them. It was at first the Spanx, then the Han Club, but then Club. What would that be? Sokolef?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I think so.

[Chuck Bryant]

Sokolef.

[Josh Clark]

Sokolef. Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

S O K O L O E F F and then the Clover Club. And if you're wondering what 8477 is now, it's a weed dispensary.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, that's appropriate.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Like it kind of feels right, doesn't it?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, because I'll bet it was a weed dispensary back in the 30s too.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, probably so.

[Josh Clark]

But I'll bet it was some crap weed.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

So, yeah, no crap like the kids say today.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right. I think there's no cap, isn't it?

[Josh Clark]

I think they just don't know what they're saying. Okay, so I mentioned brothels. That apparently was a huge foundation of Hollywood. So there's Hollywood that people think about as Hollywood and then there was like real Hollywood that the actual stars, how they actually lived their lives. And it was depraved and decadent, as you can imagine during the golden era. It might have been the most depraved and decadent during the golden era, depending on what your moral views are. And people just went buck wild. The brothels were a huge part of that. They were everywhere along Sunset Boulevard. They were in private homes, they were in apartment buildings, they were sometimes in commercial spaces and they even had some that imitated or there were lookalikes of stars of the day too.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, that was one of the plot lines of LA Confidential, if you remember. Oh yeah, it was a brothel where. Except in that movie they were, I think the line was like, they're cut to look like celebrities. So I think they had actual like plastic surgery.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, gotcha.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, to look like Hollywood stars. And you know, the rumors were that the studios were kind of funding these to take investors, like foreign investors. There and they could sleep with a sex worker that looks like Vivian Leigh.

[Josh Clark]

That seems to be a really well founded rumor. Like, I don't know that there's any actual documentation of it, but it seems to be pretty much accepted as fact from what I saw.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I believe it.

[Josh Clark]

So. And actually, because this is Hollywood and celebrity, I guess celebrity worship is just part of it and always has been. Whenever some of the madams would get busted, they would become internationally famous as well. There were two that stick out. One's name was Lee Francis. I think she might have originally worked under the other very famous one, the black widow, Anne Forrester. And by this time, the Hollywood movie studios were so powerful that both Lee Francis and Forrester were busted with client information. One of them had essentially like an index card system, the other one had a black book. And both of those things disappeared before they could ever make it into the evidence locker. And no one was arrested in any of the cases, even the guys who were caught in the act, because they just, you just kept people's names out of the paper. It just didn't happen in Hollywood. And I think that level of protection by the studios just fueled the lifestyle that the stars were living because they couldn't get in trouble. They could not. There were no consequences for what they were doing. So people just did anything and everything there during that golden age, I guess of the 20s and 30s and 40s maybe.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And you know, because of that, it was sort of a, you know, as Dave called it, kind of a blessing in disguise for the LGTBQ community. And, you know, that's West Hollywood, or WeHo again is sort of the heart of the LGTB community in central Los Angeles. But way before that it was, it was where a lot of gay bars were, gay clubs, drag clubs. I think the first drag shows in the city and probably some, some of the first in the United States were at a speakeasy in 1927 called Cafe La Boheme. But there were also, you know, all kinds of clubs there. There was a very famous one called the Trocadero that opened in 1934 where Cafe La Boheme was. And it was opened by a guy named Billy Wilkerson who was a publisher of the Hollywood Reporter, which I guess used to be news and like gossip and stuff. Now it's like a, you know, fully sort of stand up, legitimate industry rag.

[Josh Clark]

I know they write about us pretty much constantly.

[Chuck Bryant]

I think we were in it once actually.

[Josh Clark]

We were selected for some honor of like, I think, powerful podcasters or something crazy like that.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, we made that list a time or two. And we were in Variety once too. A couple of, you know, feathers in our caps.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. So nice. I love to stroke those feathers sometimes.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, it's easy to forget when they don't come calling, you know, it's true. But he owned, Billy Wilkerson, owned the Trocadero. And it was another one of those things where he was like, hey, you come by the Trocadero and we're gonna make sure that you get in the gossip column, you know. Cause at the time, you know, that was kind of good press.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. At the same time, the Trocadero was set up for, to cater to stars and celebrities, because autograph hounds and people who looked a little too hungry or thirsty to get in there were shut out of that. To protect people inside, the celebrities inside, so they could relax and not have to worry about, I guess, being asked for their autograph. The worst thing that can possibly happen to you.

[Chuck Bryant]

And then the final one we'll mention here before the break is a nightclub called Ciro's. It opened in 1940 and I believe it was also Wilkerson who owned that one. And it was notable. It was just a very famous and popular nightclub, but it made its name because Bugsy Siegel would go there a lot, the infamous mobster. And when he was in jail on murder trial, he got food from zeros delivered right there to a cell. Because you could do that at the time.

[Josh Clark]

Yep. Takeout food. Can you believe it?

[Chuck Bryant]

So we'll take a break now.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, yeah, I think it's a good idea.

[Chuck Bryant]

Great. And we'll come back and talk about the legendary Chateau Marmont right after this.

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[Dexter Thomas]

There any pictures of you online? I'm not just talking about Google. I'm talking anywhere.

[Unnamed Host]

Clearview scrapes together images from Facebook, from LinkedIn, from Venmo accounts.

[Dexter Thomas]

That database is now being used by police departments all across the country to match criminal suspect photos. And sometimes it makes mistakes.

[Unnamed Host]

So in this one case, two of the search results that I think were in the top 10 of the search results were Michael Jordan, a picture of Michael Jordan.

[Dexter Thomas]

But cops are still using it to make arrests.

[Unnamed Host]

Police, they are trusting this software to lead them to the right suspect. But you're not even being told that it was used, let alone given any of the details about how it works.

[Dexter Thomas]

This is not Minority Report. This is happening right now. People are getting arrested and, and doing actual time in jail after being picked out by a computer. I'm Dexter Thomas, host of Kill Switch, where every Wednesday we explain the right now of living in the future. You can turn off the computer, but do not let the computer turn you off. Listen to Kill Switch in the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, we're back. We promised TALK of the Chate. That is a very famous hotel built in 1929. It's the one that sits right in the hills and kind of looks like a castle. A very European inspired luxury hotel. And its motto is still if you go to their website says always a safe haven, always open. And from the start, it was kind of like what you've been describing. It was a place where you could go and party hardy and ensure that your name wouldn't be in the news because of it.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, like they had and I believe still have a strict policy among their staff. Like, you do not talk about what you see at the Hotel. And the reason why is they figured out very early on that if you can provide like that level of discretion or privacy, you're going to be. You're in good. Like the, the word of mouth alone is going to keep you in business for decades. And clearly that worked out for more than a century, almost a century. And then conversely if the staff started gossiping or talking about what they saw or started selling their stories to papers or tabloids like the Chateau Marmont would have gone out of business in six months essentially. So I don't know how they managed to do it to keep people from rumor mongering or anything like that, but they seem to have quite successfully over the years.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And I was delighted to see today and for a while kind of during the early Covid years I remember it was closed down and it was supposedly going to reopen as a sort of like a members only. You could buy places or maybe live in them long term or something. I can't remember what the plan was and it bummed me out because I'd never had a chance to stay there. But I went today and apparently it's a hotel again. And I don't know if those plans are completely off or what, or what happened, but looks like you can stay there. I have never stayed there, but I have mentioned before I have partied in the John Belushi bungalow like six or seven times and neat. It's just a pretty awesome special place. The restaurant there and the bar, you just sort of feel. It's not like I go there to, you know, get away with doing bad stuff. But it feels insulated when you're in there. Like this little weird haven.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I mean like I said, apparently it's still very much like that and it's very tight lipped. Yeah, yeah, it's just, I mean that's just such an iconic place that it almost to me stands apart from Sunset Boulevard. It's about as iconic as Sunset Boulevard itself in my opinion.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, agreed. And it was right there at sort of that junction where very famously had the big Marlboro man poster ad for Forever that thing was up.

[Josh Clark]

There was one other thing. Dave helped us with this and he turned up a quote from the guy who used to run Columbia Pictures I think in the 30s. His name was Harry Cohn and he used to tell his actors if you must get in trouble, do it at the Chateau Marmont. Yeah, because nobody's going to find out about it. Like that hotel could even keep people's names out of the paper when Someone died in their hotel, the death would get reported, but the papers would not report the person's name. In a lot of cases, it's got.

[Chuck Bryant]

To be NDAs, I guess.

[Josh Clark]

But, I mean, this is long before there were NDAs, you know.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, I don't know when those came along.

[Josh Clark]

I mean, certainly they weren't around in the 1930s, I wouldn't think. I think just the studio heads would send goons.

[Chuck Bryant]

Break your legs.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Down the street from the Chateau was another very famous, well, eventually hotel. It's called the Garden of Allah. And you should look this place up if you're someplace where you're not driving and look at pictures of it. It was pretty wondrous. I think it was a few acres named for its original owner. It was a silent film star named Allah Nazimova. And Ala had a lot of money and bought a mansion there in 1918. And then when things. It was sort of like, hey, come and party. It was sort of like the New York salons at the time. Like, the elite would party there. And I think Nazimova coined the phrase sewing circles as code for lesbian and bisexual actresses at the time.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I saw her described as the Sapphic mother of Hollywood. Like, she is a LGBTQ icon from still today, but from this era. And she was really famous and made a lot of money. Apparently, at one point, she was making $13,000 a week, which is $276,000 a week today. And so according to the moral codes of the time, this was decadent and depraved, but it was a safe place for the stars who were closeted lesbians or closeted bisexual to, like, come and, like, have affairs or make relationships or whatever. It was just a really safe space. And Nazimova was the reason why, like, she managed to, like, keep a lid on that as well, while still, like, everybody went and had fun.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, totally. And, you know, it went from a private house where she hosted these salons to after the silent film era, she didn't make the transition to the talkies so well, and so was a little down on her luck financially and remodeled it as a Hotel in 1927. And it became sort of the same version of the same thing, but as a hotel.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, for sure. And I think as a hotel, it might have been less of a safe space, but probably still carried it on some. Like, from what I understand, when it was her house, like, it was lesbian central, essentially. And then once it became a hotel, it was much more open to, I think, everybody.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, for sure. It's now a strip mall. It was demolished fully, unfortunately. But you can go look at great pictures of it. It was across from the very famous Schwab's Pharmacy, which was a lot of things. There was, I think, from the movie 1951 Sunset Boulevard, man. The great Billy Wilder movie.

[Josh Clark]

That is such a good movie, man.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, it's unbelievable. William Holden, as a washed up screenwriter, says, after that, I drove down to headquarters. That's the way a lot of us think about Schwabs. Kind of a combination office, coffee clatch and waiting room. Waiting. Waiting for the gravy train. Yeah, and that's what it was. It was this weird combo where you could go seen and be seen and also sit around and, you know, wait for the phone to ring.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, they had this lunch counter that apparently was pretty good because a lot of stars went there, but they didn't discriminate. It wasn't like you could be an aspiring actor who's getting nowhere and you're sitting there almost literally rubbing elbows at this lunch counter with Marlon Brando or something like that. Like, it was just people coming together from all walks of life. And I thought that was pretty cool. But it made it legendary. I mean, just basically anywhere that stars went on Sunset Boulevard automatically became legendary. And now they're all Rite Aids or Chase Banks.

[Chuck Bryant]

And Schwab's Pharmacy is where the famous story about Lana Turner being discovered there while skipping school before her name was Lana Turner. But I think, I feel like we talked about this, that that wasn't true.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, it turns out, I mean, she was discovered skipping typing class at Hollywood High School, but she was discovered at the Top Hat Malt Shop, not at Schwab's.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

And I guess Schwab just filled in for Top Hat because it was much more famous. Maybe. I don't know.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, probably.

[Josh Clark]

But that same Billy Wilkerson who founded Ciro's and the Hollywood Reporter, he's apparently the one who discovered her.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, yeah, that's right.

[Josh Clark]

It's all true. Except for the Schwab's part.

[Chuck Bryant]

As we move into the 60s is when the Sunset Strip particularly became part of the kind of the seated counterculture of Los angeles in the 1950s. A lot of money went to Vegas when Vegas was first opening up. And so rents fell lower on the Strip. So some grittier nightclubs moved in. And I think you found too, where Vegas. If you played in Vegas, you needed to at least, like, have a reputation in la. So that's why a lot of bands played there.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, well, no, the mob had enough money that they could pay you just such a fat contract. That part of the contract was you can't go play la. Cause we want people to come to Vegas, right. So all of the entertainers and performers left the Sunset Strip and went to Vegas. So the club started having trouble. And then they started bringing in black axe, Motown, rb. Otis Redding very famously played at, I can't remember what club, with Bob Dylan watching him just agog. And sadly, the sudden appearance of black performers on the Sunset Strip actually depressed real estate values even further. And so as rock and roll kind of came along, young entrepreneurs who wanted to open rock clubs were able to afford these spaces along the Sunset Strip. And that's how it went from, you know, glamorous Frank Sinatra to grungy rock clubs. There was a transition, a swing from the R and B artists of the time playing the Sunset Strip for a little while in between those things.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, okay, that makes sense. So then it became more rock and roll because that's when the Whiskey A Go Go opened in 64, a venue I've still not been to. They just don't have a lot of stuff that I'm into anymore. It's a lot of, still a lot of like metal and like metal tribute bands and stuff like that. But I'm gonna make it a point just to go at some point, just so I can be in that room. But that became sort of the epicenter of the counterculture and youth culture. And Whiskey A Go Go, if you've heard of Go Go Dancing, it comes from the Whiskey A Go Go. Like literally.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. There was a DJ at the Whisky named Joanie LeBean and the DJ booth was in a glass case. I'm not sure if it's still there or not, but it was several tens of feet off of the dance floor, just over it. And when she was spinning records, she would just kind of dance and she had a certain way of dancing and she would wear very short skirts and long white boots. And she started the Go go dancing trend of the 60s single handedly. Essentially everybody started kind of mimicking her. And it was all at the Whiskey Go Go.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. If you've heard of the rock band the Doors, the rock band without a bass player, featuring Jim Morrison and others. Ray Manzarek.

[Josh Clark]

I remember how excited I was in eighth grade when that movie came out.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, I was a freshman in college. Yeah, I was too. That's cool that you were psyched at that age because it felt like college is when everyone got into The Doors for a couple of years, and that was definitely me. And the Whiskey certainly featured heavily because they were the house band for basically a summer in 1966. And, you know, everyone of the day played there. It's not a very big venue either. I don't know what the capacity is, but it feels like just by looking at it, it's probably under a thousand.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, yeah, I would definitely say that. I mean, imagine seeing Led Zeppelin or Jimi Hendrix, like, in a small room like that.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I mean, I can't imagine seeing them, period, much less in a small room.

[Josh Clark]

And then one other thing about the Whiskey. Go Go, I think it's probably the greatest club name of all time. And I looked up why or where Go Go came from, and apparently Go for a little while was slang for fashionable, and it just kind of morphed into Go Go. That makes it fashionable or cool, right? Doubly fashionable. So the Whiskey a Go Go was very fashionable.

[Chuck Bryant]

I guess a rare in show lookup. It's a capacity of 500, so. Yeah. That's amazing.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, wow. Yeah, that's like a stuff you should know show in our hometown of Atlanta.

[Chuck Bryant]

Wow. In the mid-60s is when cruising the strips became like a real thing with, you know, basically people just would get in their cars, get in their convertibles, get on their motorcycles and just drive up and down the Sunset Strip. If you've ever seen the movie American Graffiti, even though that drive in was filmed on Van Ness, because Mel's drive in is a small chain, I think it was supposed to be the one on the Sunset Strip, if I'm not mistaken.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, definitely. That whole LA youth culture and car culture that produced the Beach Boys and all that, that's when it was set. Right. And I think it actually Happy Days was essentially spun off of American Graffiti. What's his name? Cunningham.

[Chuck Bryant]

Richie Cunningham. Ron Howard, baby.

[Josh Clark]

Yes. He was in American Graffiti, essentially playing Richie Cunningham.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Right before Happy Days started.

[Chuck Bryant]

So I never thought about that.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, one little thing about that. I was looking up Mel's drive in An American Graffiti, and I ran across there was a list of suggested names from the studio instead of American Graffiti. And it's even on, like, Lucasfilm stationary or something like that. One of them was Burger City. They considered naming that movie Burger City.

[Chuck Bryant]

Wow. We should write a script called Burger City, see if we can get it developed.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I think that'd be great.

[Chuck Bryant]

Or Good Burger. That'd be an equally weird name.

[Josh Clark]

Isn't that Kenan and Kel?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I was just kidding.

[Josh Clark]

Have you ever seen that movie?

[Chuck Bryant]

I never saw it. That was. Was it a movie or a show?

[Josh Clark]

It was a movie. It was like the Kenan and Kel movie.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, he's the best. Well, I don't know much about Kel, but Kenan's awesome. I love that guy.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I agree.

[Chuck Bryant]

66 was when a club called Pandora's Box famously became the sort of heart of what was known as the Riot on sunset strip. The LA Sheriff's Department headed forced a 10 o' clock curfew for teenagers, basically anyone under 18. And on November 12th of 66 is when thousands of young teenage hippies protested. They sat down in the street in front of Pandora's Box, blocked traffic, and it ended pretty violently. Cops came in and Stephen Stills wrote the famous protest song, for what It's Worth, because he witnessed that event.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, they just came in with police batons, a flying, cracking heads. It's like lapd. Will you ever change?

[Chuck Bryant]

Mm, maybe, maybe not.

[Josh Clark]

The signs are not pointing to a definite yes at this point yet.

[Chuck Bryant]

And if you're thinking, I don't know this song, for what it's worth, it's the song you better stop. Hey, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down. You just probably don't remember it as having the name. For what it's Worth.

[Josh Clark]

No, because it's one of those songs that just. The title just doesn't fit the other part, I think, but Buffalo Springfield. Yeah. It's a good song.

[Chuck Bryant]

Love it.

[Josh Clark]

Stephen Sills, did you hear that? Thanks, Dave.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, did he not put the T in there?

[Josh Clark]

No. Stephen Sills. I loved it.

[Chuck Bryant]

Crosby Sills, Nass and Yown.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, man, we love Dave here. We love him.

[Chuck Bryant]

So we should talk a little bit about the Black Cat Tavern, because Black Cat Tavern was home of one of the first major LGBTQ protest in the United States. Certainly a couple years before Stonewall even.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, two years before Stonewall, you said, right?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And I think on New Year's Eve, the cops came in the LAPD again, or the sheriff's office, I'm not sure which one. They started cracking heads. They started just beating up the gay patrons there for being gay. They accused them of lewd conduct or whatever. I think you turned up that two men were caught kissing and that's essentially what started the beatings. Is that correct?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I mean, they ended up arresting 14 people. But those two men ended up getting convicted and had to register as sex offenders for kissing each other. The Supreme Court of the United States refused To hear their appeal. And so they took away their liquor license in May, I believe of 67, shortly after the protest on February 11, because of the raid on New Year's Eve. And they had to shut down, I think it reopened to several other gay bars over the years until 2011, when it reopened in 2012 as a Rite Aid. As the Black Cat. It was a restaurant this time. They paid honor to its roots a by naming it that and having kind of the same logo. But just the historical significance is on display there with photographs and a plaque. And this is in the Silver Lake side. This is not on the strip. And in 2022, it was a duplex in a very small sort of two sided building. Shake Shack opened up on the other side in the adjacent space and apparently dominated with their signage. And everyone got really, really mad at that. And it didn't last long. Shake Shack there is now closed.

[Josh Clark]

You know, one of the most interesting things I've ever seen is a story about Shake Shack. The original one in whatever park it's in in New York.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

Yumi and I were there. We were in line, Very long line. And the line goes through the park, so there's a lot of trees overhead and.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh yeah, I know that one.

[Josh Clark]

This guy. I'm not sure what park it is. I guess it doesn't matter. But this guy who is either one or two behind us in line suddenly was surrounded by bird poop. It just formed like a halo around his body. And everyone like turned around looking for the poop that had surely gotten on the guy. And he had nothing on him. Somehow the poop had all magically fallen within inches of his body all around him without actually getting on him. And everyone in the line who knew what happened was just like. That is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. That guy was so happy. He was not.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, go buy a lottery ticket.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, exactly.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's amazing.

[Josh Clark]

My Shake Shack story, I don't think.

[Chuck Bryant]

I've ever heard that. I didn't know that was the first one either.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I think it's the first one. It was just in the park.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, it's over. It's like it's near Union Square. I don't know where the park is either, though.

[Josh Clark]

And then one other thing about the Black Cat Tavern. It's, you know, obviously like, people are like, this happened, you know, before the Stonewall raid. It might have even happened before the Compton's Cafeteria riot. And the fact that it's compared to Stonewall, it makes you think that there was a riot involved. It wasn't. It was a dignified organized protest. But it's the first recorded LGBTQ protest in American history. That's what. That's its big claim to fame.

[Chuck Bryant]

Amazing. I feel like that's a great time for a break.

[Josh Clark]

Totally.

[Chuck Bryant]

And we'll segue into the 70s right after this.

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[Dexter Thomas]

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[Unnamed Host]

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[Dexter Thomas]

But cops are still using it to make arrests.

[Unnamed Host]

Police, they are trusting the software to lead them to the right suspect. But you're not even being told that it was used, let alone given any of the details about how it works.

[Dexter Thomas]

This is not Minority Report. This is happening right now. People are getting arrested and doing actual time in jail after being picked out by a computer. I'm Dexter Thomas, host of Kill Switch, where every Wednesday we explain the right now of living in the future. You can turn off the computer, but do not let the computer turn you off. Listen to Kill Switch in the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Josh Clark]

Okay, so the 70s, which we just segued into this was where the rock clubs, like, kind of transitioned from hippie rock to all sorts of different stuff. Proto punk, glam rock, eventually hair metal, as we'll see. And there were three big clubs, rock clubs that were around at the time. There was the Roxy Theater, Rodney's English Disco, and Gizzares. Those were the three that were like the. The three big rock clubs in the 70s that kind of kicked off that transition from what I understand.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And Gazzari's is best known for Van Halen. Baby. Van Halen was known for two things in their early days. Before they put a record out, it was playing backyard parties in Pasadena where they lived, and being the house band at Gazzari's for like, years.

[Josh Clark]

Did you know that Van Halen was from California?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, of course I did.

[Josh Clark]

Of course. I always thought they were a Dutch band.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, I mean, Eddie and Alex were Dutch by heritage, and I think they were even born there.

[Josh Clark]

Maybe David Lee Roth isn't Dutch.

[Chuck Bryant]

No.

[Josh Clark]

Have you ever heard him talk?

[Chuck Bryant]

Sure. I think you're right. I mean, I'm a big Van Halen guy, so I've studied and read all the books, but there's one in particular. Oh, God, is it called Becoming Van Halen? It's the most intense. Like, I don't know how this guy got this information, but it's the most intense detailing of pre record contract Van Halen that I've ever heard of in my life. It was incredible how much this guy knew about their Pasadena backyard party days.

[Josh Clark]

Well, since you know so much about Van Halen, answer this for me. It's a question I actually carry around with me. What was the deal with Eddie Van Halen slamming Michael Anthony as a bad bass player? Like, I think about upon Michael Anthony's death?

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, well, you mean Eddie Van Halen's death. Michael Anthony.

[Josh Clark]

Michael Anthony. Okay. Well, for Some reason Eddie Van Halen came out and said that he thought Michael Anthony was a terrible bass player.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, Eddie, you know, he's one of the greatest in RIP for sure. But he could be unkind at times to people. I think Michael Anthony's one of the greatest. And he had the voice that kind of helped make Van Halen with those backing vocals. And he's still crushing it because I went and saw Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony in Vegas, played not too long ago for the second time in a year.

[Josh Clark]

Were you the guest of our good friend Aaron Hagar who listens to this?

[Chuck Bryant]

No, I wasn't a guest this time. Aaron. I was hoping and he could meet there and I could finally have a chance to meet his pops. But Aaron showed up the week after I was there. But Adam Pranica, friend of the show of the Greatest Generation podcast, met me from LA and we played a little golf and saw Sammy and just had a great time. It's a really good show. Those guys are still killing it. Michael Anthony is, besides his talents, is known as one of the nicest guys in rock and roll.

[Josh Clark]

Nice.

[Chuck Bryant]

Which really stinks. If Eddie said that because Michael Anthony has always taken the high road.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, he did say it. It was a big deal. And Sammy Hagar came out and said, I don't know what Eddie's talking about. He's basically being an idiot. Michael Anthony's the best bass player I ever worked with, so he swooped in.

[Chuck Bryant]

All that band stuff just makes me sad fighting like that.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. I'd like to circle back to Adam Pranica.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

For people who aren't familiar with him, I would say go listen to the Greatest Generation podcasts. But if you ever get a chance to meet Adam Pranica, you should consider yourself blessed because he is one of the greatest human beings you will ever meet in your life, like legitimately through and through. Just a great dude.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, agreed. He's the Michael Anthony of podcasting.

[Josh Clark]

He definitely is, man.

[Chuck Bryant]

Along with his co host, Ben Harrison.

[Josh Clark]

No, Ben's great too. He's no Adam Pranica, though.

[Chuck Bryant]

Ben's gonna like that. Burn the roxy opened in 73. David Geffen, very famous sort of record label owner and early on music producer, and Lou Adler, legendary producer, opened the Roxy. And it was legendary for a lot of reasons. I mean, the biggest of the big played there in this again, a small club, but the very first staging in the US of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. This is when it was just a stage musical played at the Roxy.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And Pee Wee Herman debuted his show, what became the Pee Wee Herman TV show, his live stage version of it that came out first in 1981 at the Rossi. Have you seen that documentary yet?

[Chuck Bryant]

Still haven't seen it because we were on vacation, but it's on the list.

[Josh Clark]

And then Rodney's English Disco. I don't know why those three words together are hard for me to pronounce, but that was Rodney Bingenheimer's club that opened in 1972. So think about how ahead of the curve he was by naming it a disco. There was no disco around yet.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, that's a good point. He was a legendary DJ at Kroc in LA from 76 to 2017.

[Josh Clark]

I'm sorry, Chuck. It's KROQ.

[Chuck Bryant]

And was very famous for breaking, like. The list of bands that he broke on air is incredible. Like, just look it over some time. I don't have time to go over all of it here because we're running long, but it's just really impressive. And he was a. There was a great documentary about him called the Mayor of Sunset Strip. He has a star on Hollywood Boulevard. And it's just like, wow, what a guy. And then, very disappointingly, a couple of years ago, Kerry Crome of the Runaways filed a lawsuit and said, he sexually assaulted me when I was 13 years old.

[Josh Clark]

Man, those poor runaways, they got just totally exploited and just used up. It's sad.

[Chuck Bryant]

Just young teenage girls and Kim Fowley, their manager, seems like a horrible human.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Took part in that assault. And then five more women came forward after that, including Jane Weadland of the Go Go's and said, yeah, Rodney sexually assaulted me too. And there hasn't been a result of that lawsuit yet, but turns out, not a good guy.

[Josh Clark]

Well, good for them for standing up to that dude.

[Chuck Bryant]

Totally.

[Josh Clark]

We couldn't mention the Sunset Strip without mentioning, especially during the era of the seventies, the Continental Hyatt House.

[Chuck Bryant]

You stayed there, by the way.

[Josh Clark]

I have.

[Chuck Bryant]

I'm almost positive that we both stayed as now the Andaz in one of our LA podcast festival appearances.

[Josh Clark]

I do not recall that I remember seeing at the sls. Is that what you're talking about?

[Chuck Bryant]

No, this is Andaz. I mean, I definitely stayed there. I thought you did, but it was the Continental Riot House. It was the Hyatt House officially. If you've ever read the Led Zeppelin book. And there's that picture of Robert Plant standing on the balcony saying, I'm a golden God. That was the Riot House.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And the Continental just As a little aside, that's from the original name of the hotel, the Continental, which was owned by Gene Autry.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, wow. Didn't know that.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. It's kind of a weird transition, right?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, totally. All right, as the tour goes forward, we're going to take a little stop here at the Rainbow Bar and Grill on sunset. Opened in 72, and it was the people who own the Whiskey a Go Go that opened the Rainbow. And the Rainbow was just a den of debauchery disguised as a not too great Italian restaurant. But that was where the Hollywood vampires hung out. The kind of silly looking at it now drinking club founded by Alice Cooper, as members of which were Keith Moon, Ringo Starr, Micky Dolenz, and the debaucherous and great Harry Nilsson.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And they're now kind of a band with Alice Cooper and Aerosmith guitarist.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, Joe. Oh, geez, what's his name? Steven Tyler. And the other guy. I'm just blanking.

[Josh Clark]

Well, anyway, Johnny Depp is in it. There's like a couple other people, too. I think one of the dudes from Guns N Roses might be in it, too.

[Chuck Bryant]

Maybe. I don't know if they're any good. Are they?

[Josh Clark]

I don't know. I think they're more a novelty act.

[Chuck Bryant]

Maybe. I mean, you know, it's got Johnny Depp in it.

[Josh Clark]

Right, right. I think that kind of makes it a novelty act as far as musical acts are concerned.

[Chuck Bryant]

Joe Perry.

[Josh Clark]

Joe Perry.

[Chuck Bryant]

I keep wanting to say Joe Elliot, but that's Def Leppard.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, yeah, that's right. That's the lead singer.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

One other thing about the Rainbow Bar and Grill, that's where John Belushi ate his last meal.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

In 1982, before he died of a drug overdose at the Chateau Marmont. And had he gotten the speedball from Schwab's, it would have been a Sunset Boulevard trifecta.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, yeah, I guess you're right.

[Josh Clark]

And then I guess. Moving on. Chuck, we can't talk about Sunset Boulevard without talking about comedy clubs, because it was essentially the place where the whole concept of a comedy club was born.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, thanks to Polly Shore's mom, Mitzi Shore.

[Josh Clark]

Is it his mom? Cause I looked it up and I couldn't find that. Was it his mom?

[Chuck Bryant]

Really? Oh, yeah. That's funny. Cause he likes. He was like a kid roaming around those parts.

[Josh Clark]

That's awesome.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, she, Mitzi Shore opened the comedy store in 72 where Tiro's used to be. And it was like you said, it was the very first stand up only nightclub in the world, which is crazy.

[Josh Clark]

To think about, for sure. And so Mitzi Shore became very famous for considering the Comedy Store as a comedy workshop where up and comers could work on their material, work on their acts. And because it was a comedy workshop and not a comedy club, she didn't pay them, especially the up and comers. There are very few big name acts that would come through and she would pay them. But if you were working on your stuff, and we're talking like legendary people here, we're talking like Jim Carrey, Howie Mandel, Garry Shandling, Andy Kaufman, Robin Williams, Michael Keaton, for some reason, apparently was a stand up.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, yeah, Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

I did not know that. He's just so serious now, you know?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. But I mean, he started in comedy movies and you can get his early standup. It's kind of fun.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, no, I know his comedy movies. I've seen.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, I mean the stand up you can watch.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, gotcha. So, like, these were people who all had their careers launched thanks to the Comedy Store, but they were paid an exposure and eventually they were like, this is not worth it. We're going on strike.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. They went on strike in 79, which opened a door for another club. Yeah. The world famous Laugh Factory opened in 79, just a few blocks away by a 16 year old, which is amazing Iranian immigrant, also amazing, named Jamie Masada. And he ended up opening laugh factories all over the country.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And he was like, how about this? You guys come play here and I'll share some of the COVID charge with you. Like, I'll actually pay you. And apparently the original name of the Laugh Factory was Joke on Yolk. Like egg yolk.

[Chuck Bryant]

Really? Yeah, Joke on Yolk. I don't get it. Was there a Yolk Street?

[Josh Clark]

I think he thought that was funny.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, okay.

[Josh Clark]

It rhymes, so it's funny.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, I guess he was a better business owner than comedian, right?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, well, he was an aspiring comedian. That's why he opened that club.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Joke on Yolk.

[Josh Clark]

Get it right. So one other thing circling back. Mitzi Shore finally resolved the strike after a few weeks by agreeing to pay the comedians $25 a set, which is a whopping $110 today.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's not too bad. If you're getting up there and doing seven minutes.

[Josh Clark]

I don't know, you can buy like a pack of cigarettes with $110 today.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, we're going to move into the 80s and you got to talk about the 80s because you got to talk about hair Metal. And if you're going to talk about hair metal in this Sunset Strip, you got to start with Motley Crue.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I guess they were the ones who, like, started the whole thing on the Sunset Strip. I'm sure you knew that because you probably read ten books about Motley Cruelty.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, just two.

[Josh Clark]

Okay.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I mean, they lived right above it. They could walk down there and, you know, have big parties at their disgusting place that they shared above the Sunset Strip. But, yeah, they were, if not the first, one of. The first to kind of bring that scene there. And, you know, poison, L.A. guns, faster pussycat. Eventually, Guns N Roses would start out there in the mid-80s. But yeah, the whiskey kind of had a bunch of different lies from. From hippie stuff to sort of what we would view as classic rock to eventually hair metal. And now, I guess, hair metal cover bands.

[Josh Clark]

Right. And in between then and now, grunge came along and killed hair metal, which was a sad day.

[Chuck Bryant]

I think you can still go see those bands. They're around.

[Josh Clark]

You can see the tribute versions of.

[Chuck Bryant]

Them and other ones. I'm going to see Judas Priest a little bit.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, nice.

[Chuck Bryant]

I've never seen them, and I got tickets on a whim to go see them this fall.

[Josh Clark]

Speaking of Judas Priest, I just have one more place I want to mention, but Judas Priest has one of the cooler documentaries around. It's called Parking Lot or something like that.

[Chuck Bryant]

Heavy metal Parking Lot, yes.

[Josh Clark]

Have you seen it?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I mean, it's not just about Judas Priest. It's just about Penelope Spiras directed that. Kind of a legendary documentary.

[Josh Clark]

Right. Okay. Well, I guess I'm the only one who saw it, but I love that documentary. It just takes place at the Parking lot before Judas Priest show.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, I don't think I even remembered it was Judas Priest.

[Josh Clark]

I'm almost positive it is Judas Priest.

[Chuck Bryant]

It probably is, but yeah, it really encapsulates that culture at the time.

[Josh Clark]

It totally does.

[Unnamed Host]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

The last place I wanted to mention was the Beverly Hills Hotel. Apparently it was around before there was even a Beverly Hills. And old Hollywood used to hang out there, blah, blah, blah. The thing that makes it noteworthy to me is, you know that iconic banana leaf wallpaper that you kind of see? It's like, kind of that's where it debuted or that's where it became big. That pattern is called Martinique. And I think it was in the mid late 40s that this decorator papered the Beverly Hills Hotel with that and it just took off from there.

[Chuck Bryant]

Wow. I've never been There, but that's one of those places I want to go, like have dinner just to kind of like Tavern on the Green style.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, it looks amazing. Actually. Their bar looks amazing too.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, it's still got that kind of mid century charm, doesn't it? Louisiana style?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I guess that's it for Sunset Boulevard.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I mean, there's so many things we couldn't get to because we didn't want to do a two parter. But if you want to look up stuff on Hollywood High School and the weird Crossroads of the World Shopping center or the Hollywood Palladium, certainly do that because there's still a lot more about the Sunset Strip. And it's, you know, you go to LA and you're into touristy stuff, you should go check it out.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, for sure. And there's a lot of good writing out there. People love writing about the Sunset Strip. For sure.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And thanks again to Dave for helping us out with this one. Good job, Dave. And since I said good job Dave, that means it's time for listener mail.

[Chuck Bryant]

And this one actually is a listener suggestion. So we wanted to shout out Sayer Del for Sunset Boulevard.

[Josh Clark]

Man, it's a great name.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I mean, not for making the road, but, you know, for giving the suggestion. Hey guys, long term listener who wants to thank you for keeping me entertained during work, school, travel and pretty much any excuse to have a podcast on for the past few years. The reason I Write is in 2022 you talked about Rock, Paper Scissors. You didn't think it was possible to play with more than two people? You may be interested to know that my friends and I used to play three to four person games at work as landscapers. In the mornings we were weed eating on the property and we'd come across items that only required the work of one person and we would play rock, Paper scissors. And this is how you do it. We would simply all throw at once like a normal game. In a three person game, if anyone beat all the other players, then they would step out and the other two would play again. So it's sort of like a knockout tournament. If two players beat the others on the first game, then the loser lost immediately. After many games over the weeks and months, the strategies, alliances, and yes, some game theory all made the work quite fun and competitive. Love the show. All the best to you and your families. Respectfully, that is Austin from St. Louis, Missouri.

[Josh Clark]

Nice work Austin. You cracked the code. Finally. Thank you for that. Thanks for letting us know too. And if you want to be like Austin right?

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right.

[Josh Clark]

If you want to be like Austin, then send us an email and you can be like Austin. Send it off to stuffpodcastheartradio.com.

[Chuck Bryant]

Stuff youf Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts My Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Josh Clark]

Do you know the symptoms of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, or osa, in adults with obesity? They may be happening to you without your knowing.

[Chuck Bryant]

If anyone's ever said you snore loudly, or if you spend your days fighting off excessive tired irritability and concentration issues, it may be due to osa. OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep, which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation. Learn more@don'tsleeponosa.com this information is provided by Lilly USA, LLC.

[Unnamed Host]

OpenAI is a financial abomination, a thing that should not be an aberration, a symbol of rot at the heart of Silicon Valley. And I'm going to tell you why on my show Better Offline, the rudest show in the tech industry where we're breaking down why OpenAI, along with other AI companies, are dead set on lying to your boss that they can take your job. I'm also going to be talking with the greatest minds in the industry about all the other ways the rich and powerful are ruining the computer. Listen to Better offline on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts Wherever you happen to get your podcasts.

[Dexter Thomas]

Are there any pictures of you online? Then you could already be in a massive police database without even knowing it.

[Unnamed Host]

Clearview scrapes together images from Facebook, from LinkedIn, from Venmo accounts.

[Dexter Thomas]

I'm Dexter Thomas, host of Kill Switch, a podcast about how living in the future is affecting us right now.

[Unnamed Host]

Police. They are trusting the software with this magical ability to lead them to the right suspect.

[Dexter Thomas]

In this episode, we dive into how cops are using AI and facial recognition and sometimes getting it wrong and putting innocent people behind bars.

[Unnamed Host]

So if your accuser is this algorithm, but you're not even being told that it was used, let alone given any of the details about how it works.

[Dexter Thomas]

Listen to Kill Switch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get.

[Chuck Bryant]

Your podcasts, this is an iHeart podcast.