The Tropicana Motel’s Totally Rocking Heyday. The Tropicana Motel in West Hollywood had a brush with celebrity even before it became a hangout for rock stars in the late ’60s and ’70s. Baseball Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax bought the inn—which was built in the 1940s and located at 8585 Santa Monica Boulevard in 1962. He was the motel’s fourth …

Remembering L.A.’s First Great Record Store, “Wallich’s Music City”. Bing Crosby shopped the aisles, Frank Zappa worked the floor. Before there was a Tower Records, before THE Capitol Records building was the Capitol Records building, L.A.’s coolest music-industry hub was Wallichs Music City. Glenn Wallichs opened the record store with his brother, Clyde, at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and …

Ok, Angelenos, I know you remember “Ship’s Coffee Shop” and those Toasters on the tables! Here’s an article I wrote for Los Angeles Magazine featuring all three ‘space age’ locations. Which one did you frequent? Westwood, Culver City or the one at La Cienega and Olympic? The boomerang shaped roof and atomic neon sign made the structures look like flying …

In the early 1960s, one of the first discotheques opened up across the street from the original Fred Segal in the heart of West Hollywood. It was called, P.J.’s. It paved the way for new dance clubs such as Gazzarri’s and the Whisky A Go Go which opened up on the infamous Sunset Strip. Fred Segal frequented this popular dance …