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The Classic Cat |
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London Fog, The Galaxy and The Whiskey |
By
1966, there were over a dozen music clubs on the Sunset Strip, among them The
London Fog, an afterthought between Hamburger Hamlet and the Galaxy, was the
first real club date for the Doors. Jesse James' London Fog was initially
called Jesse James' Opera House until the name change in 1965. The Doors played
for five dollars apiece (less, btw, than the Sounds of Shadows), four sets per
night, seven nights a week, beginning May 1966. The only stalwart and
recognizable song of the sets was "Strange Days." The audience, mostly UCLA
film students, grew as the foursome honed and experimented, and Morrison, at
first standing with his back to audience, shy and unassuming, evolved into the
Lizard King. Though the gigs were
ardently attended, and obviously ahead of their time, the Doors began to scare
people; eventually they were "let go."
Morrison said in 1967, "Our first Job was at the London Fog on Sunset Strip. It was a small club that no longer exists, and the most people it could hold I’d say would be about fifty. There was a bartender named George, a doorman named Sam and a dancer named Rhonda, who danced in a little roped cage across from the band stand. Jesse James was the owner. He was a young man, but he was dying of cancer, and it was kind of a struggle to keep the place going."
The
Sea Witch, a 50s era dive with a nautical theme just next to Dino’s Lounge
(where Dean Martin’s illuminated face would shine down on the Strip) was among
the first to realize that the teenager, a particularly new innovation, had
money to burn. That ideology was even more prominent at Pandora’s Box at Sunset
and Crescent Heights. Some
would argue it was Pandora’s Box that truly initiated the L.A. club scene (and not
The Trip), with performances by already known bands as early as 1964, but this
was sporadic (not policy), and it wasn’t till the Fall of 1966 that bands like
The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean and The Grass Roots made Pandora’s Box what it
would infamously become.
Initially a jazz/beat club, Pandora’s Box was
acquired by KRLA DJ and host of ABC’s Shindig!, Jimmy O'Neill, in 1963 and immediately began
catering to a younger crowd. That would spark, in 1966, what many call the Sunset
Strip Riots. General teen rowdiness all hours of the night, not to mention the increased traffic on the Strip (a main artery between Hollywood and
Beverly Hills), prompted the L.A. County Sheriff’s Office to enforce a 10 pm
curfew for teens under 18. To make matters worse, the club was shuttered for
being out of compliance with County code requirements. On November 12,
1966, a protest was organized that attracted more than 1000 youths for six
consectutive weekends. Jack Nicholson was on the scene, as was Peter Fonda who
was handcuffed by the Sheriffs, then released. Growing up in L.A. this was the big story on The Big News with Gerry Dunfey. Everyone was horrified and incensed by those hippie kids.
The
protests inspired the Buffalo Springfield’s AM10 single “For What It's Worth,” played on the air the first time when Pandora's Box reopened for one final performance, Christmas Day 1966. The Sonny and
Cher number, "We Have as Much Right to Be
Here as Anyone," was also inspired by the riots. 100s of arrests took
place during those weekends, both at Pandora’s Box and at teen coffee shop
hangout, Ben Frank's (today’s Mel’s Drive In). Pandora's Box was demolished in
August 1967 after the County condemned the building to "realign the streets." The
once famous corner where The Garden of Allah and Schwab's Pharmacy also stood,
bears no recognizable feature for one to point out and say, "I remember that." [Click the photo below to view newsreel footage of the riots.]