LAUREL CANYON, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

'Laurel Canyon' is a canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was first settled in the 1920s, and became a part of the city of Los Angeles in 1923 (prior to then, it was an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County).^[1]
Much like Topanga Canyon, community life is focused on its central thoroughfare, Laurel Canyon Boulevard. Unlike other nearby canyon neighborhoods, Laurel Canyon has houses lining one side of the main street most of the way up to Mulholland Drive. There are many side roads that branch off the main canyon, but most of them are not through streets, reinforcing the self-contained nature of the neighborhood. Some of the main side streets are Mount Olympus, Kirkwood, Wonderland, and Lookout Mountain Avenue. The zip code for at least part of the neighborhood is 90046.
Laurel Canyon is an important transit corridor between West Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley, specifically Studio City. The division between the two can roughly be defined by the intersection of Laurel Canyon and Mulholland Drive. In early 2005, the first section of the road on the Hollywood side was partially washed away in a heavy rainstorm, and traffic was redirected to a normally quiet residential side street.

Contents

History

Famous residents

Deaths in Laurel Canyon

Notes

Further reading

External links

History

Between 1912 and 1918, a trackless electric trolley ran up the canyon from Sunset Boulevard to the top of Lookout Mountain Road.
Among the famous places in Laurel Canyon are the log cabin house once-owned by silent film star Tom Mix that later became home to the Zappa clan, and another (directly across the street) that legendary magician Harry Houdini may or may not have lived in.
Laurel Canyon found itself a nexus of counterculture activity and attitudes in the 1960s, becoming famous as home to many of L.A.'s top rock musicians, such as Frank Zappa, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and Love. Joni Mitchell, living in the home in the Canyon that was immortalized in the song, "Our House", written by her then-lover, Graham Nash, would use the area and its denizens as inspiration for her third album, ''Ladies of the Canyon''. The bohemian spirit from that time period endures to this day, and every year residents gather for a group photograph at the country market.

Laurel Canyon has been mentioned in many films and novels of Los Angeles, including ''Laurel Canyon'' written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko in 2002, and is the subject of a book by Michael Walker, ''Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Legendary Neighborhood,'' published by Faber and Faber in May 2006.
Laurel Canyon was also prominently featured in the 2003 film ''Wonderland'', which chronicled the 1981 Wonderland Murders that occurred at 8763 Wonderland Avenue in the Canyon, and involved porn star John C. Holmes and reputed gangster Eddie Nash. The Wonderland Massacre has been described as one of the bloodiest mass murders in California history.

Famous residents

★ Anthony Kiedis, 1990s-present

★ Justin Timberlake, Present

★ Robert Mitchum, 1940s-'60s

★ Errol Flynn, early to mid 1950s

★ Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank, Jr. 1960s - present

★ Cass Elliot, 1960s

★ Peter Tork, mid 1960s

★ Jim Morrison, late 1960s

★ Abigail Folger and Wojciech Frykowski, 1968-1969

★ Frank Zappa, 1968-1993

★ John Mayall, 1969-1979 (see the 1968 blues album ''Blues from Laurel Canyon'')

★ Joni Mitchell & Graham Nash, early 1970s

★ Roman Gabriel, former quarterback of the Los Angeles Rams, lived on Skyline Drive, 1970s

★ Alice Cooper, 1971-1976

★ Eric Burdon, 1970s

★ Jerry Brown, 1970s.

★ Dusty Springfield, 1970s

★ Victory Tischler-Blue aka Vicki Blue, 1980s - 2003, producer / director, bass player for the 1970s all-girl band The Runaways

★ Keith Richards, 1970s

★ Marilyn Manson, 1997-2004 (residence is on Appian Way at the famed 'Mary Astor House', built in the 1920s as a 'Hills hideaway for actress Mary Astor, who used the home secretly for her romantic trysts with studio execs and other notables; Marilyn Manson wrote the entire Mechanical Animals album at this house, and much of it was recorded at 'The White Room'--Manson's home recording studio in his pool house)

★ Red Hot Chili Peppers, the rock band was formed in Laurel Canyon and is currently based there.

★ The Rolling Stones, 1970s (interestingly, The Rolling Stones occupied the same house mentioned above, the 'Mary Astor House' in which Marilyn Manson lives today; their film, Cocksucker Blues was filmed here)

★ Denny Doherty, 1960s (also lived in the Mary Astor house on Appian Way)

★ Leslie Caron, 1950s (lived on Ridpath Dr)

★ Chuck Connors, 1950s (lived on Ridpath)

★ Fabian, 1960s (lived on Ridpath)

★ Troy Donahue, early 1960s (lived on Ridpath)

★ John Saxon, 1960s-70s (lived on Jewett Dr.)

★ Sue Lyon, 1960s (during first marriage, on Kirkwood)

★ Bob Masse, late 1960's

★ Keith Moon, mid-1970s (Studio City side of Laurel Canyon)

★ Orson Welles, lived on Greenvalley Road, late 1970s.

★ Slash, 1976-mid-'80s

★ Jennifer Aniston, early-mid 1990s

★ Christina Applegate, present

★ Meg Ryan, present

★ Ian Thorpe, present

★ Katherine Helmond, present

★ Harry Houdini, 1919-1921

★ Geoff Emerick, present

★ Richard Day (Art Director), lived on Oakstone Way 1920-1940

★ Adam Pascal (Rent), present

★ Pete Wentz, present

★ Esther Galil, present

★ Harry Bosch, present (fictional)

Deaths in Laurel Canyon

★ Frank Zappa (d. 1993)

★ Ramon Novarro (d. 1968)

★ Wonderland Murders, the 1981 quadruple murder of the Wonderland Gang, the then-leaders of the LA cocaine trade.

Notes

1. by Leonard Pitt and Dale Pitt, published by the University of California Press, Los Angeles.

Further reading

★ Michael Walker, ''Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock ’n’ Roll’s Legendary Neighborhood'', Farrar Straus and Giroux (16 May, 2006), hardcover, 277 pages, ISBN 0571-21149-6 trade paperback (May 1, 2007) ISBN 0865479666

External links

★ www.laurelcanyonthebook.com website for ''Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll’s Legendary Neighborhood,'' by Michael Walker, published by Faber & Faber/Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2006

★ "Music and Mayhem in 'Laurel Canyon'", from NPR.org broadcast September 6, 2006