On January 1 1967, Sonny and Cher were banned from the Rose Bowl for supporting the Riot on Sunset Strip - which was hardly a riot! Gangsters, nightclubs and rock n roll make up much of the Sunset Strips colorful history -- along with a little-remembered tussle in 1966 that became known as the Sunset Strip riots. The melee erupted as young rock fans were protesting efforts to enforce a 10 p.m. curfew and to close nightclubs that catered to them -- including Pandoras Box, at the corner of Sunset and Crescent Heights boulevards. The confrontation with police also inspired musician Stephen Stills to write For What Its Worth, released two months later by Stills and the band he was in, Buffalo Springfield. Riot is a ridiculous name, he said in an interview. It was a funeral for Pandoras Box. But it looked like a revolution. The club, painted purple and gold, was perched on a triangular traffic island in the middle of the Strip. It drew a crowd of mostly clean-cut teenagers and twentysomethings wearing pullover sweaters and miniskirts. Ensuing traffic jams annoyed residents and business owners, who pressured the city and county to get rid of the kids, the clubs and the congestion. Its unclear from Times files whether Pandoras Box or other clubs had been closed by the time the protests began. But young rock fans interpreted efforts to enforce curfew and loitering laws as an infringement on their civil rights. On Nov. 12, 1966, fliers were distributed along the Strip inviting people to demonstrate. And hours before the protest, One of L.As rock n roll radio stations made an announcement that there would be a rally at Pandoras Box and cautioned people to tread carefully, wrote Domenic Priore, author of the 2007 book Riot on Sunset Strip: Rock n Rolls Last Stand in Hollywood. As many as 1,000 people turned out, along with such celebrities as Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda.https://youtube/watch?v=dNby05-K0k4
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 16:50:44 +0000
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