nick f2007
Santa Monica and La Cienega Boulevards, West Hollywood, 1975
This photo, regrettably not of the best quality, looks north on La Cienega. The La Cienega Lanes bowling alley dated from the 1940s to the late 1970s, when it was transformed into Flippers Roller Disco, where you could skate to the pulsating beat of disco music (albeit the late disco era). It may be the only roller rink in skating history with a VIP area (basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was seen here). Sometime in the middle 1980s it closed and was converted into retail space. After a few makeovers it is now a CVS branch.
On the left is one of West Hollywood's most venerated establishments: The Alta Cienega Motel, built in 1950, is alive and well today and entertains guests from all over in part because its Room 32 was the home, from 1968 to 1970, of the late Jim Morrison, frontman of The Doors and who perhaps as much as anyone personified the Sunset Strip rock and roll scene of the late 1960s. The building behind the Alta Cienega eventually became Leo's Flowers, and the space still houses a florist. Beyond, the Fountainview West condominium towers look the same, and the Chevron station at Holloway Dr endures.
La Cienega Boulevard traverses the airport area, scales the Baldwin Hills, continues through Mid-City, qualifies for the outer limits of Beverly Hills, and continues (usually through choking traffic) into West Hollywood. It ascends a final steep hill before ending at Sunset Blvd. (And once there you might get something to eat from Pink Dot.)
As for the billboard above the Lanes, well, I vouch for the product. I remember coming home from the beach to have my mother douse me with Solarcaine to ward off the effects from a day in the sun.
Santa Monica and La Cienega Boulevards, West Hollywood, 1975
This photo, regrettably not of the best quality, looks north on La Cienega. The La Cienega Lanes bowling alley dated from the 1940s to the late 1970s, when it was transformed into Flippers Roller Disco, where you could skate to the pulsating beat of disco music (albeit the late disco era). It may be the only roller rink in skating history with a VIP area (basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was seen here). Sometime in the middle 1980s it closed and was converted into retail space. After a few makeovers it is now a CVS branch.
On the left is one of West Hollywood's most venerated establishments: The Alta Cienega Motel, built in 1950, is alive and well today and entertains guests from all over in part because its Room 32 was the home, from 1968 to 1970, of the late Jim Morrison, frontman of The Doors and who perhaps as much as anyone personified the Sunset Strip rock and roll scene of the late 1960s. The building behind the Alta Cienega eventually became Leo's Flowers, and the space still houses a florist. Beyond, the Fountainview West condominium towers look the same, and the Chevron station at Holloway Dr endures.
La Cienega Boulevard traverses the airport area, scales the Baldwin Hills, continues through Mid-City, qualifies for the outer limits of Beverly Hills, and continues (usually through choking traffic) into West Hollywood. It ascends a final steep hill before ending at Sunset Blvd. (And once there you might get something to eat from Pink Dot.)
As for the billboard above the Lanes, well, I vouch for the product. I remember coming home from the beach to have my mother douse me with Solarcaine to ward off the effects from a day in the sun.