Sunset Strip - The Movie

[Coyote]

Another must see... (Somehow I don't think anyone from the VH camp are involved with this...)
Sunset Strip the Movie Trailer from Sunset Strip the Movie on Vimeo.

[gbranton]

I'll probably watch it, though I was more excited about it before I watched that trailer. I was hoping it would be a lot more about bands and the music than about Johnny Depp, Keanu Reeves, Mickey Rourke, Ozzy, Hef or Sharon Stone. None of them launched their careers there. Without the Strip Johnny and Keanu would be just as over rated as they are today, so I don't see what they have to do with shit.

[Nitro Express]

We did the Sunset Strip thing last time we were in LA. In fact, Hollywood looked the best I have ever seen it. In the 70's it was pretty run down. Had dinner at the Chateau Marmont which has been fixed up but not fixed up too much. The mojo is still there. The street in many ways has that old kind of 60's Americana vibe still. I'm amazed how many places are still there over the years. Unlike the Vegas Strip that tore down and destroyed it's heritage, it's still there on the Sunset Strip.

[DONNIEP]

I still remember my first trip to the Strip...ahh, yes...It was everything I always wanted it to be...and a whole hell of a lot less...

[Hardrock69]

It was pretty vibrant in the late 80s-early 90s time frame still when I lived out there. Glad to hear in general it is still alive and kicking. Though I have to wonder what it is like on Fridays and Saturdays now....I mean, it used to be that the sidewalks were crowded with rockers flyering anything that moved, and skanks all fucked up and trying to get in with the rockers, etc.

[Nitro Express]

It was pretty vibrant in the late 80s-early 90s time frame still when I lived out there. Glad to hear in general it is still alive and kicking. Though I have to wonder what it is like on Fridays and Saturdays now....I mean, it used to be that the sidewalks were crowded with rockers flyering anything that moved, and skanks all fucked up and trying to get in with the rockers, etc.

That scene is all done with. Not the music scene it was but then the record industry thing is gone too. What you see more of now is Paparazzi out prowling to make a score off whatever celebrities are out and about. It's a calmer scene now but people who own the buildings there for the most part understand they own a piece of history and try to keep the history in tact.

[Nitro Express]

I still remember my first trip to the Strip...ahh, yes...It was everything I always wanted it to be...and a whole hell of a lot less...

That's a good way to describe it. I mean all these famous clubs we grew up hearing about are really nothing that great when you finally go to them. But they are there and amazingly the way they were 30 years ago. I think they ruined Times Square in New York and the Vegas Strip is ruined. They became too corporate. The Sunset Strip still has it's soul.

[Nitro Express]

I guess the best way to describe the strip is nothing is there but yet everything is there.

[Hardrock69]

That is one thing that is always funny to me....world famous clubs....the reputation some of them have had for the past 50 years or so....people expect some kind of massive edifice that is a monument to rock and roll....and instead they find a little shit hole...Cafe Wha? or the Whisky Au Go Go....the Roxy and Gazarri's are buildings that are fairly large compared to the Whisky.

The Troubador is a decent-sized place.

My fave was always FM Station in the Valley. My favorite place in Hollywood itself was the Gaslight, behind the Ivar theater. Cheap drinks, and shitty bands, and it had atmosphere....the entrance was in this alley...with a crummy neon light over it...no sign, no advertising on the building or anything. It was small, and it was a shit hole, but it had character.

[Nitro Express]

Even the so called great hotels aren't so great. I had to go to New York City for some training and the company put us up in The Waldorf Astoria. I had heard my whole life what a luxery hotel it was but came to find the rooms aren't that great and it's noisy as hell. Oh I'm sure a penthouse suite is nice but I wished they put us in a modern Hyatt or Marriott instead.

[Hardrock69]

Funny....just did a google on the Ivar Theater....seems from the 70s and 80s it was a lame, seedy strip joint.....couple of nights a week were "Camera Night", where you paid a cover, and could take photos of the naked chicks as much as you wanted, lol. How fitting for the Gaslight to be in the back end of that building.

[Nitro Express]

In actuality the reality of Hollywood is not that great. It's all the stuff you have cooked up in your head that make it interesting. Belushi died here. Van Halen played here. The Doors played there. All of that. I mean it was those kind of legends that made me travel to Bowery and Bleeker finding myself in the biggest shit hole ever listening to a shit band scared of drinking anything from behind the filthy bar. Who in their right mind would even want to be there? LOL! Now I hear they cleaned the place up and it's a yuppie clothing store. I don't know, you hear, see, and read about these places and you want to check them out but in reality, without the media influence, you wouldn't give these places the time of day.

[DONNIEP]

In actuality the reality of Hollywood is not that great. It's all the stuff you have cooked up in your head that make it interesting. Belushi died here. Van Halen played here. The Doors played there. All of that. I mean it was those kind of legends that made me travel to Bowery and Bleeker finding myself in the biggest shit hole ever listening to a shit band scared of drinking anything from behind the filthy bar. Who in their right mind would even want to be there? LOL! Now I hear they cleaned the place up and it's a yuppie clothing store. I don't know, you hear, see, and read about these places and you want to check them out but in reality, without the media influence, you wouldn't give these places the time of day.

Exactly. I moved to San Diego in August of '95 and the first place I wanted to go was the Strip. It was several weeks before I made the drive up on a Friday and I had it in my head that the Strip was this mythical place - the Mecca of the rock world. And it was great, it just wasn't what I had built it up to be. And it didn't take but a couple of trips up to LA for reality to set in. Once I'd been to all the famous spots, and a couple of complete shithole after-hours clubs (are ALL of them hell holes?) I decided to stick closer to home. I'm glad I got to experience it - I was just 15 or so years too late.

[Nitro Express]

It's much like when I went to Antarctica. The ship broke pack ice to get us close to shore. We piled into a Zodiac boat and went to shore. I set foot on the Antarctic continent, something most people don't get to do. Maybe that was the thrill right there. Society and all it's problems were way off to the north of us, we were in pure nature man. It smelled like penguin shit and it was cold as hell. We wore bright red jackets to be seen and we counted everyone before we left to make sure we weren't leaving anyone. I did it. I went to Antarctica. Will I go back? Probably not but I can say I went there and experienced it. The Sunset Strip is the same kind of thing. Why do we go to the strip? Because it's there.

[Nitro Express]

Funny....just did a google on the Ivar Theater....seems from the 70s and 80s it was a lame, seedy strip joint.....couple of nights a week were "Camera Night", where you paid a cover, and could take photos of the naked chicks as much as you wanted, lol. How fitting for the Gaslight to be in the back end of that building.

The Iver Theater in Hollywood? They must have cleaned the joint up because it gets good reviews.

I thought this place was gonna be a total dump but it surprisingly exceeded my expectations! The theater isn't too big inside (holds around 200-300), but it was clean and renovated. They have enough restrooms so your bladder doesn't explode and we even found street parking. score!!
oh, and i also liked how the ticket lady complimented my necklace, then my bracelet. in a non-sexual way of course :)

Like I said, I was in Hollywood last summer and the place was a far cry from the dump it was in the 70's.