Need help for trip to LA

[Mr. Wilson]

The Pioneer chicken between Highland + FAIRFAX.. on SUNSET is STILL there.. South side of the street... A nother name now.. Tiny Naylors drive in... Highland + Sunset..LONG GONE...!!... Burritto place..Sunset + Alvarado ..STIll there.. Still a hang out for good fast food...Open all nite..!!!... Holiday Inn West Hollywood.. On sunset ..Still there..!!... Hollywood high school..Highland..Between Hollywood Blvd + Sunset ..Still There...Buy some BB Books.. Cruise neighbourhoods.. Between.
Highland + La Cienga.. Melrose + beverly + Anything in Between...!! Jewish Hoods Back then.. Visit... Santa Monica.. Malibu.. Manhattan.. Hermosa. Redondo..Sunset..Venice.... Laguna.. Hunnington..Newport ...Dana Point,,,Carlsbad... Ventura...Santa Barbara.....BEACHES...!!..The motorcycle + car tracks that Dennis visited are gone...For car hookups... Irwindale raceway... 605 fwy between 210 + 60 Fwy... same kinda deal.....Also Hemet track..Sprint cars...Nude beaches.. Visit blacks beach San Diego  CA...Old BB studio was on 5th street Santa Monica...Anaheim stadium  was were the BB played in front 50-70 thousand people.. Left CRACKS in stadium... Stadium BOUNCED  like a RUBBER ball... Anaheim was NEVER the SAME...!!!San Berdo swing is still there in the orange show parking lot... They have mickey mouse nascar there SaT nite...!!!

[mikee]

I would recommend the Crenshaw District, and especially, Leimert Park. For the best in Free-Jazz and Spiritual Jazz, can't beat the World Stage.

That's a great recommendation.  Close by The Wich Stand,  and the Love's Mt. Vernon and Fairway home.  The World Stage was founded by the late legendaey jazz drummer Billy Higgins.  Higgins played in Ornette Colemans original group and with many other jazz greats over the years such as Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Thelonius Monk, Hervie Hancock, etc.  Shortly before his 2001 death he recorded an album with Charles Lloyd.   He founded the World Stage  to encourage and promote younger jazz musicians. It provides workshops in performance and writing, as well as concerts and recordings.  He was a great guy with an infectous smile and attitude.          

[brianc]

Indeed he was. So was Horace Tapscott, who never got the recognition he fully deserved, but he was every bit the songwriter that Duke Ellington was, and I don't say that lightly. Horace loved those waltzes. As for Billy Higgins, I think he may have actually played on that live album that Ornette Coleman and Paul Bley cut in 1958 at the Hilcrest Club in Los Angeles. From all my research, I believe that the Hilcrest was, like, a gay biker bar in the '50s. That type of avant-garde jazz that they played was not something any other club owner would allow to be booked, so they took it renegade.

There is so much of L.A.'s black music history that has been erased. Books have done much to ressurect it, but most of the old buildings along Central Avenue are long gone. The Dunbar Hotel is still going, as is this one old '40s bar that is so crazy. But the rest... like it never existed. The Central Avenue Jazz Festival is coming up in June, I think. And anyone who really loves jazz in L.A. would be wise to catch that. It's really an incredible day. Very safe during the day. Weekends tend to be a bit safer down there in general. There is a lot of gang-related crime, no denying that. I'd rather not get roped into the whole issue of urban decay and how lack of funds, schooling and opertunity can turn a community desperate. Only to say that there is still a lot of great things happening down there. And for the record, the Crenshaw District and Leimert Park are real renaissance communities. So much positivity happening.

[the captain]

I would recommend the Crenshaw District, and especially, Leimert Park. For the best in Free-Jazz and Spiritual Jazz, can't beat the World Stage.

That's a great recommendation.  Close by The Wich Stand,  and the Love's Mt. Vernon and Fairway home.  The World Stage was founded by the late legendaey jazz drummer Billy Higgins.  Higgins played in Ornette Colemans original group and with many other jazz greats over the years such as Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Thelonius Monk, Hervie Hancock, etc.  Shortly before his 2001 death he recorded an album with Charles Lloyd.   He founded the World Stage  to encourage and promote younger jazz musicians. It provides workshops in performance and writing, as well as concerts and recordings.  He was a great guy with an infectous smile and attitude.          

Higgins (and I know I'm getting way off topic) also played with Lee Morgan on the great "Search For the New Land," which had Shorter, Hancock, Grant Green ... great album.

[Surfer Joe]

....I even walked around and took the bus in the neighborhood and I didn't feel that it was nearly as dangerous as its made out to be. And I am Canadian! Ha, ha... What does Pyongang have in common with Inglewood and Hawthorne, btw?

Hey, man, maybe they put up with you people in South Central, but not in my old neighborhood.  Don't let the sun set on your Canadian ass in  Burbank!

Mods, do you know that there's a Canadian on this board?

I dated a Canadian girl for six years and I never stopped discriminating against her. Fortunately, there were a few diners in town that let us eat at the counter.  At the movies, though, she had to sit in the balcony with the other Canadians.  Damn, could that girl play some hockey.

[Pretty Funky]

Donna K wrote

Last year I was out there and did the monument and Marina del Rey, but didn't get close to Dennis' slip--how do I get that close?

Without looking up the exact slip number, I was on a friends yacht  about two years ago and what I think was the location was undergoing major renovations. All slips had been removed from that area and buildings had been demolished and new construction had begun.

Any ideas on what became of 'Harmony'?

On the Hawthorne area. Walked through the area about 6-12 months before the memorial dedication. Mid-week and mid-day. Group of white teens in SUV drove by shouting out the window. No problem and seemed fitting in a historical sort of way.

 

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Pay your respects to Dennis at Basin C, 1100 is the slip number I think.  It's off a street called Marquessa.

[Surfer Joe]

Damn. no laughs!  Least I didn't kill the thread.

Way back when I was in art school, a friend did a documentary on gangs in that area, and I went with him on a police ride-along to run the camera for him.  (Actually, my only mildly unpleasant experience down there, now that I think of it- I am under official death threat from the Compton Crips). When the patrol car turned into Hawthorne High I said "Home of the Beach Boys!"  The cop turned around and looked sourly into my camera and said "Well, it ain't the Beach Boys anymore." That became the opening of his film.

[Mahalo]

I would chill out man... What does Pyongang have in common with Inglewood and Hawthorne, btw?

It's just a phrase that probably no one has ever imagined before, posted here to get a chuckle, or at least a WTF.


I appreciate everyones insights on the how welcoming and safe south central Los Angeles is, I'm glad to hear you guys expound on how wonderful a place it is. Maybe I'll one day start a family there. I'm sure it's a swell place to exist in peace.

[endofposts]

There's a very nice picture of the former Wich stand, lit up at night, in a current LA Times story about Googie architecture.  The article has a link to a Googie picture gallery that contains the photo:


http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-googie18-2008may18?page=1

[DonnaK]

Pay your respects to Dennis at Basin C, 1100 is the slip number I think.  It's off a street called Marquessa.

Can I just walk out there? I know that the actual gate to the pier where the owners walk to get to their boats is locked, but can I at least walk that far so I can take a picture? Am I allowed to throw a rose in the water? Maybe I should skip that part.

Thanks guys!

[Pretty Funky]

Would Dennis have wanted that Donna?

http://www.hollywoodusa.co.uk/deathsites/basinc.htm

How about raising a glass to him from a bar over looking the coast at sunset watching the surfers and sailboats? Remember he was buried at sea out there somewhere.

[DonnaK]

Would Dennis have wanted that Donna?

http://www.hollywoodusa.co.uk/deathsites/basinc.htm

How about raising a glass to him from a bar over looking the coast at sunset watching the surfers and sailboats? Remember he was buried at sea out there somewhere.

TOA, who knows what Dennis' would have wanted. I imagine he would be happy just feeling the love of a fan of his music. Last year when I was out there, I sat on the beach at night with my headphones on listening to POB and Bambu staring out at the ocean saying my goodbyes and thanks. According to Jon's book, he was taken 3 miles out from Long Beach for the "ceremony". I'm certainly not going to sit on a beach near Long Beach. I only have the best of intentions. I'll be going to Chez Jay's to meet up with a fellow fan for lunch and to raise a glass to him for the "new" POB/Bambu and all he has given us and meant to us. Call me nuts, you won't be the first!!!!

[Pretty Funky]

Nuts?
Never! Have a great time and enjoy the Dennis Wilson music. 

[brianc]

There's a very nice picture of the former Wich stand, lit up at night, in a current LA Times story about Googie architecture. 

Man, what we need most is to find that song "Wich Stand" by the Survivors, from 1964. That would be the coolest.

[mikee]

So was Horace Tapscott

Absolutely!  His recordings are harder to find but wonderful.

 

As for Billy Higgins, I think he may have actually played on that live album that Ornette Coleman and Paul Bley cut in 1958 at the Hilcrest Club in Los Angeles. From all my research, I believe that the Hilcrest was, like, a gay biker bar in the '50s. That type of avant-garde jazz that they played was not something any other club owner would allow to be booked, so they took it renegade.

He is the drummer on the Hillcrest album.  He also is on both Coleman's first l.p.  1958's "Something Else' and 1959's 'The Shape Of Jazz To Come'  two of the most important albums not just in Coleman's catalog but in the entire history of jazz.     

this one old '40s bar that is so crazy.

Where is this place exactly, on Central near the Dunbar?,  and what is it's name?  I'd like to go there.  I  go by the Reno Room in Belmont Heights, Long Beach occasionally which is kind of a 1920's place that is a lot of fun.  It is still jumping in a neighborhood kind of way.

[brianc]

I don't know the exact location. My pal Sam took me there a few years ago, and it was really cool. We just sat there thinking about how this culture really could thrive again, if there were ever a revival in rhythm & blues and jazz. I've been thinking it was going to come on strong since DJ Shadow and Beck and that Dap-Tone stuff, but it's not really hit the mainstream yet. Amy Winehouse is getting closer. But it would be amazing if the music started hitting at a club level down on Central. I don't care about neighborhood condition... if the music drew me time and again, I wouldn't be able to help myself.

That's the one thing about World Stage. It's cool, but always felt a little clinical to me. The museum feel is, I suppose, the only way to keep it going. But the seediness is missing. Damn if I didn't almost book the Flying Fox before it closed. If you go on the Dumb Angel Magazine blog, we did one on the Crenshaw District, and met with Jerry from the Flying Fox. He was totally up for booking Plas Johnson with Joey Altruda's band, and having some hardcore burlesque in the club. I got so busy writng two books that I drug my feet on booking the event. Arg...

What's the Long Beach place called?

[mikee]

The Reno Room
(562) 438-4590
3400 E Broadway (Broadway and Redondo) Long Beach

A locals (not tourists) bar in a building that I believe survived the 1933 Long beach earthquake.  Very friendly place in an interestig older neighborhood with an adjoining mexican food resturant that serves late.  When I walk out of there I feel like the next car coming around the corner will probably be a Hudson Hornet, if that makes any sense.     

[brianc]

Awesome! Thanks for the recommendation. Do they have live music there?

[mikee]

Do they have live music there?

Mostly they don't because it is relatively small but occsionally they do anyway and it getsa little crazy.  There are musicians that hang out there though.