When my father closed his sign shop in 1966 to paint billboards on the Sunset Strip, I was too young to realize that he would become a part of rock 'n' roll history, and in a way, so would I. My father's first billboard, and purportedly the first rock 'n' roll billboard on the Strip, was for The Doors, the installation of which was photographed by Henry Diltz and included The Doors themselves (see the post, "Bill's Signs). Henry Diltz, without my knowledge, had a long association with my father, although I doubt that they ever really spoke or even knew of one another. My father transcribed in paint at least half a dozen Henry Diltz photographs into gigantic rock murals in the 60s and 70s. Over the years, Diltz's photographs have become an important reference source for me (once again without my knowing), a visual representation of what I experienced growing up in L.A. and my father's odd, if iconic, role in rock history.
No other photographer was more intrinsic to the California rock scene. It's interesting though that throughout his travels, from Laurel Canyon to Elysian Park, I was making those same journeys; I was just in the back seat of the car, looking and wondering, taking it all in - just like Henry.
In an article in The Telegraph (UK, 2014), Diltz told interviewer, James Lachno, "I lived in Laurel Canyon alone at first, in a little one room cabin, with an attached kitchen and a big window that looked right out on the street. I remember sitting there for hours with the incense going. If you sat there on the bed the insence would curl up in the still air. We’d have Ravi Shankar music playing. That was kind of the mood [laughs]. Right across the street from me was Mark Volman of the Turtles. And the Mamas and Papas lived down the street, and up the street. Stephen Stills lived near there, and Joni Mitchell lived right down the hill, and Frank Zappa – a lot of musicians. There were a few families, but it was hard to have a family there because there are no back yards and no sidewalks.
Of the Love-ins, Diltz said, "We had what you called 'love-ins'. This was a Sunday afternoon where everyone showed up at the park – all wearing their colourful clothes, love beads, polka dots, as an expression of the difference between them and their parents' grey flannel suits. It was an expression of joy, experiencing life in a new, free way. Everyone would hang out and smoke a little pot, maybe take psychedelics.
Diltz' friends and career, though, centered on the musicians. He told The Telegraph: My favourite musicians were Crosby, Stills and Nash, Jackson Browne, I really admired Jimmy Webb, and of course Joni. But all the people I photographed: I love their music.
