Cool Article on Where Within the San Diego Zoo the Pet Sounds cover was taken

[Jim Murphy]

http://www.popspotsnyc.com/beach_boys_pet_sounds/

[Pretty Funky]

Great!

Have added it to the BB Historical Sites Thread.

[Alan Smith]

Thanks for the link, Jim - absolutely captivating! Must visit a travel agent soon - A

[JK]

http://www.popspotsnyc.com/beach_boys_pet_sounds/

Bless you, sir!  

[Aum Bop Diddit]

Very cool.

[Ian]

By the way it turned out that the date of that photo session listen in the badman book and in that Wikipedia article as February 15 was probably February 10 instead (as we list at bellagio) I have an article from the San Diego papers from February 1966 about the bbs visit to the zoo

[Cam Mott]

By the way it turned out that the date of that photo session listen in the badman book and in that Wikipedia article as February 15 was probably February 10 instead (as we list at bellagio) I have an article from the San Diego papers from February 1966 about the bbs visit to the zoo

I think I turned that February 15 date and passed it on to Brad Elliott I believe around 1998/9 (isn't it in the PS re-issue booklet?), unless he also turned it on his own. The date came from Lori Krazinski in Photo Services at the San Diego Zoo at the time.  A fella named Ron Garrison was still working there at that time and he had been there in 1966 during the Boys' photo shoot.  As I remember, I understood that the Zoo also took some photos of their own of the Boys shoot but I never followed it up.

I'm curious what the article said about it, when you have time?

[Custom Machine]

Thanks, Jim, for posting this article. The writer did some great research. The San Diego Zoo opened 100 years ago, with the Children's Zoo section (which contains the Petting Paddock and initially required a separate admission) opening circa the late 50's. When I was a kid they'd let you ride on the giant tortoise seen in a few of the photos, but that practice was later discontinued and the tortoise disappeared from the Petting Paddock.

Interesting that when Bruce appears in that photo with the other guys Dennis is gone, thus still giving the appearance of five beach boys. Are there any photos from that shoot where all six BB's appear as a group? Although he's seen in small B&W photos on the back of Pet Sounds, it wasn't until Bruce's photo appeared with the other guys on the back of Wild Honey, showing a very obvious total of 6 BBs, that I felt Bruce was now a full fledged BB, rather than just Brian's touring fill-in replacement.

When I first saw the cover of Pet Sounds in 1966 there is no way I would have guessed that 12 years later Brian Wilson would go missing and finally be found under a tree in Balboa Park, less than a mile walk from the entrance to the Zoo, (and even closer to the Children's Zoo, as the crow flies), looking like a homeless bum, dirty, passed out, and nearly comatose, with no wallet, money, or ID.

[Malc]

CM - all six appear in at least one shot together, under the palm tree next to the elephant enclosure. I know you know really as its in my Album Covers project !!!!!
For the unknowing the PS album shoot us covered in detail by downloading the full 470-page project over at:
www.facebook.com/beachboysalbumsleeves

Interesting to note about the potential date however. I had it down as the 15th... but rereading over that BEAT! magazine article I included in my feature, it DOES state it was on a Thursday, so the 10th seems logical. I shall make an immediate alteration for the next update !!

[guitarfool2002]

Backing up the date of the 10th is the fact that the trip to the zoo for the photoshoot was on a Thursday, and Feb 10th 1966 was a Thursday.

[Custom Machine]

CM - all six appear in at least one shot together, under the palm tree next to the elephant enclosure. I know you know really as its in my Album Covers project !!!!!
For the unknowing the PS album shoot us covered in detail by downloading the project over at:
www.facebook.com/beachboysalbumsleeves

Interesting to note about the potential date however. I had it down as the 15th...

That's right! Don't know how I forgot about that one, Malc!

For anyone who has not yet downloaded Malc's Back Thru the Opera Glass, The Stories Behind the Beach Boys Album Covers PDFs, do so now! You'll be getting one of the best BB books available absolutely free as a set of three PDFs, chock full professionally done graphics, tons of photos, and interesting background info on every one of the Beach Boys regular release albums.

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,23355.0.html

[Ron]

Thanks for this link... I love this kind of stuff.  I'm not going to browse around the rest of his site right now because I'd be up all night!  


Honestly it's one of my favorite things, it's a little weird and hard to explain but something about looking at a location, and knowing what used to be there years ago (and what's gone now, or little pieces that are still left) is just  FASCINATING to me.  

I worked at a grocery store when I was a teenager, they closed and turned it into a couple other things... well about two weeks ago, Wal Mart reopened the property as one of their grocery stores.  I've been in there probably 5 times, just looking at the ceiling, and the floor, etc. trying to remember where everything was layed out when it was the old Grocery Store I worked at years ago.  There's only two things in the entire building that line up with how it once was, that's how obsessive this stuff gets to me.  Not that I care, just that it's fascinating to see what's changed... but there's always a few things that haven't changed. 


Little things, like that picture at the bottom of the page of Dennis standing on that grate... and then if you look, the same kind of grate is still there but nearly everything else has changed.  Look close at the concrete behind the grate though, it's the same too there's a weird angle on the expansion joint in the concrete that lines up.  


Interestingly, the Surfer Girl one doesn't mean much to me because it's a cliff which is natural.  For whatever reason, I only trip out when it's something man-made that survives the years...

[Pretty Funky]

So the 10th Of Feb 1966 shoot date.

50 years this week. It's meant to be!

 

[Cam Mott]

The article also has them in San Diego until 5:30 pm, would that work with a Feb. 15th session for "That's Not Me"?  I wonder how the Zoo got their date?

Edit: Really, if the 15th is wrong it could have been any number of dates prior to April 2 I suppose. Working on getting some correction/clarification from the Zoo.

[Smilin Ed H]

And Bruce was on the back of Pet Sounds with the band, though not at San Diego Zoo. Here he is on the back of Pre Sounds:

[The Real Barnyard]

The Capitol Records Twitter account says it was February 15th.
More confusion

https://twitter.com/CapitolRecords/status/699658400418783232

[Cam Mott]

The Capitol Records Twitter account says it was February 15th.
More confusion

https://twitter.com/CapitolRecords/status/699658400418783232

Probably got it from liner notes.

[Ian]

I have to say that I know you don't want to believe it but I actually try hard to research stuff before I say it though errors still happen of course.  The Sunday February 13 1966 San Diego Union discussed the visit.  So sorry it was not sometime before April 2 or February 15. It was Thursday feb 10

[18thofMay]

It is discussed a bit here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDKaPv-vq58&feature=youtu.be.

[Cam Mott]

I have to say that I know you don't want to believe it but I actually try hard to research stuff before I say it though errors still happen of course.  The Sunday February 13 1966 San Diego Union discussed the visit.  So sorry it was not sometime before April 2 or February 15. It was Thursday feb 10

I think you misunderstood my intentions.

This new bit of info from the Sunday February 13 1966 San Diego Union is strike 3 against the info the Zoo had given me back in the day.

[Ian]

OK-here is the San Diego Union article from the Sunday May 13 1966 newspaper-in Frank Rhodes column:  "The Beach Boys, American counterpart of Britain's Beatles gave the San Diego Zoo a very bad time.  The six millionaire-musicians (including one fill-in) came down from Hollywood to take a cover picture for their forth-coming album 'Our Freaky Friends.' Before they left, said zoo public relations director Bill Seaton, the caged animals were 'about to crack up.' Zoo officials were not keen about having their beloved beasts connected with the title of the album, but gave in when the Beach Boys explained that animals are an 'in' thing with teenagers. And that the Beach Boys were rushing to beat the rock and roll group called The Animals.  The Beach Boys 'two with long Beatles hair and all wearing funny boots' arrived with an art director, a cameraman and four girls, Seaton said. After posing with a baby elephant and a baby gorilla, the boys went on a tour of the zoo.  'First off' Seaton said 'one of them bounced a carrot off the head of one of our tigers. Another tried to stick the head of an antelope through some iron bars.  Then they went around handling puppies and baby chicks, putting them down in the open and walking off. A few young girls who saw the Beach Boys acting like this were certainly disillusioned.  The cameraman and the art director were awfully nice guys, but things just got out of hand and they couldn't control the situation.' The zoo superintendent John Muth, an ex marine sergeant major, said the Beach Boys are not welcome back and never will be.

Sounds to me like a clash of generations.  I have a feeling the writer and the people at the zoo weren't rock fans.  I also think Brian and the other guys recognized this and were putting on some squares-with their remarks about the animals, etc

[Bicyclerider]

Interesting that the article notes the album title as "Our Freaky Friends."  Perhaps the album was indeed named Pet Sounds after the photo shoot at Mike's suggestion, as he has said?

[Pretty Funky]

'The zoo superintendent John Muth, an ex marine sergeant major, said the Beach Boys are not welcome back and never will be.'

 

[The Real Barnyard]

A couple of days ago both Brian Wilson and Capitol Records official accounts on Facebook and Twitter celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Pet Sounds photo session, which according to them took place on February 15, 1966. We know that Ian believe that the photoshoot actually happened a few days earlier, on Thursday February 10.
We decided to reach out to the San Diego Zoo on twitter to try to solve the mystery and this is what they said. We've asked them to please share any documents that support the statement.

[Malc]

OK-here is the San Diego Union article from the Sunday May 13 1966 newspaper-in Frank Rhodes column:  "The Beach Boys, American counterpart of Britain's Beatles gave the San Diego Zoo a very bad time.  The six millionaire-musicians (including one fill-in) came down from Hollywood to take a cover picture for their forth-coming album 'Our Freaky Friends.' Before they left, said zoo public relations director Bill Seaton, the caged animals were 'about to crack up.' Zoo officials were not keen about having their beloved beasts connected with the title of the album, but gave in when the Beach Boys explained that animals are an 'in' thing with teenagers. And that the Beach Boys were rushing to beat the rock and roll group called The Animals.  The Beach Boys 'two with long Beatles hair and all wearing funny boots' arrived with an art director, a cameraman and four girls, Seaton said. After posing with a baby elephant and a baby gorilla, the boys went on a tour of the zoo.  'First off' Seaton said 'one of them bounced a carrot off the head of one of our tigers. Another tried to stick the head of an antelope through some iron bars.  Then they went around handling puppies and baby chicks, putting them down in the open and walking off. A few young girls who saw the Beach Boys acting like this were certainly disillusioned.  The cameraman and the art director were awfully nice guys, but things just got out of hand and they couldn't control the situation.' The zoo superintendent John Muth, an ex marine sergeant major, said the Beach Boys are not welcome back and never will be.

Sounds to me like a clash of generations.  I have a feeling the writer and the people at the zoo weren't rock fans.  I also think Brian and the other guys recognized this and were putting on some squares-with their remarks about the animals, etc

Thanks for digging that out Ian ! It'll also help me with the updated details in my Album Covers project ...