Hollywood Hangover

November 15, 2005 8:58 PM

Where are they now? Stories and pictures from the Sunset Strip in the 60s. [some NSFW]
posted by tellurian (9 comments total)

Bob Nutt, who used to manage REO back in their heyday, is back in Champaign, Illinois driving a cab.

When I was in high school, REO was huge, I never cared for them much but god they sold some records. Wonder where that money went (or who got it). Richie Furay of Buffalo Springfield fame is pastor of a church, hope he's happy. Lots of people there I never heard of, some I hadn't thought about in years. interesting site, thank you.

There was a book about L.A., Sunset Strip etc. during the sixties, title was from a Doors song I think. Anyone?
posted by marxchivist at 9:13 PM on November 15, 2005

So I'm curious, are there any of you out there who knew any of these people and their periphery?
I used to know a Valorie Treesoul and she used to tell me of her days at MorningStar, a commune out on the Russian River.
Sounded like a really wild time, lots of nudity and free love, whatever that meant back in the day.
Shame we couldn't have something similar today. Not for 'illicit reasons', just to share the love. . .
Just to put things in perspective, when I knew Val, she was a real 'June Cleaver' kind of person, not a wild oversexed hippy freak kind o' gal.
Oh for the good ole' days.
posted by mk1gti at 9:25 PM on November 15, 2005

Well, from revisionist texts that I've read, a lot of that "free love" was pretty misogynistic. It did eventually evolve into contemporary polyamory and other well-developed individualistic philosophies, but back then it was an excuse for guys to expect girls not to say "no" or be exclusive.
posted by dhartung at 10:30 PM on November 15, 2005

Zappa and Byrds dancer Carl "King of the Freaks" Franzoni is still freaky and living in Santa Rosa. He shared some of his wild and hairy Sunset Strip tales with John Trubee for a recent issue of my magazine Scram, which was such a blast we gave him a gig as an advice columnist. He's happy to provide guidance on all manner of life questions sent c/o [e-mail].
posted by Scram at 11:39 PM on November 15, 2005

Very sad, reading about all these people dropping off the perch, thinking about how they were at the prime of their lives not that long ago.

How is this group defined? How did one become a member of the Sunset Strip? Not trying to be facetious.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 11:48 PM on November 15, 2005

> Very sad, reading about all these people dropping off the perch,

In particular, too bad about Zappa himself. But, y'know, prostate cancer, what are you gonna do? At least he didn't OD or something, and had a long and productive career.
posted by jfuller at 3:16 AM on November 16, 2005

Damn, I was hoping to strike gold here and have a member of this crew/era be a MeFite. I am of an age that looks back fondly on this time albeit in a different country, but for me USA led the way in the 60s with regard to youth culture.
posted by tellurian at 4:03 AM on November 16, 2005

Good post. I'm going to have to sift through it some more when I have more time. Reminds me of that awesome post that someone made a while back with photogalleries from NYC in the 70s and 80s.
posted by afroblanca at 7:01 AM on November 16, 2005

There was a book about L.A., Sunset Strip etc. during the sixties, title was from a Doors song I think. Anyone?

Marx, you must be thinking of Waiting for the Sun. Great book. File under "Books about rock music that aren't stupid."


Tellurian, good post. I love this stuff.
posted by scratch at 3:36 PM on November 16, 2005