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"The Sunset Strip"

Guide to Sunset Strip which runs from Crescent Heights Boulevard to Doheny Drive, perhaps the most famous section of Sunset Boulevard

Running from Crescent Heights Boulevard at its eastern end to Doheny Drive on the west, The Sunset Strip is the most famous and well known section of  Sunset Boulevard.  The Strip was immortalized in the 1960's  T.V. series "77 Sunset Strip" starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr and Ed Burns who starred as “Kookie”. The Sunset Strip has a character all of its own from the fabled giant billboards, clubs & shops to its sidewalk bars, this is the place to people watch. A must see place at night when The Sunset Strip explodes into life. Neon lights, celebrity wannabes and celebrity spotters adorn the sidewalk bars taking in The Sunset Strips unique atmosphere. 

History
The Sunset Strip is the name given to the mile and a half stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's east border with Hollywood at Marmont Lane to its west border with Beverly Hills at Phyllis street. The Strip is probably the best known portion of Sunset, embracing a premier collection of boutiques, restaurants, rock clubs, and nightclubs that are on the cutting edge of the entertainment business. It is also known for its trademark array of huge, colorful billboards.
As the Strip lies outside of the Los Angeles city limits and was an unincorporated area under the jurisdiction of the County of Los Angeles, the area was under the less vigilant jurisdiction of the Sheriff's Department rather than the heavy hand of the LAPD. It was illegal to gamble in the city but legal in the county. This fostered the building of a rather wilder center of nightlife than Los Angeles would tolerate and in the 1920s a lot of nightclubs and casinos went in along the Strip, which attracted movie people to this less restricted area, with alcohol served in back rooms during Prohibition.
Glamour and glitz defined the Strip in the 1930s and the 1940s, with its renowned restaurants and clubs, which became a playground for the rich and famous. There were movie legends and power brokers, and everyone who was anyone danced into stardom at such legendary clubs as Ciro's, the Mocambo and the Trocadero. And some of its expensive nightclubs and restaurants were said to be owned by gangsters like Mickey Cohen. Other spots on the strip associated with Hollywood include the Garden of Allah apartments and Schwab's Drugstore.
By the early 1960s, the Strip lost favor with the majority of movie people. But its restaurants, bars and clubs, continued to be an attraction for locals and out-of-town tourists. In the mid-1960s and the 1970s, it became a major center for the counterculture as Go-Go dancers did their thing at such spots as the Whisky a Go Go. Bands like Metallica, Van Halen, Mötley Crüe, Guns N' Roses, The Doors, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield (whose song For What It's Worth was about a police riot in the summer of 1966 against hippies), Love, The Seeds, Frank Zappa, Martha and the Vandellas and many others played at clubs like the Roxy, Pandora's Box and the London Fog.
The Strip continued to be a major focus for punk rock and New Wave during the late 1970s, and it became the center of the colorful glam metal scene throughout the 1980s. The 1979 Donna Summer song 'Sunset People' from the album Bad Girls, was about the nightlife on Sunset Boulevard. With the increase in rents in the area during the 1980s, however, and the decline of the glam metal scene in the early 1990s, the Sunset Strip ceased to be a major area for up and coming rock bands without industry sponsorship. The adoption of "pay to play" tactics, in which bands were charged a fee to play at clubs like the Roxy, the Whisky and Gazzari's (now the Key Club) also diminished the appeal to rock bands other than as an industry showcase. The music industry dominates clubs on the Strip such as those mentioned above, and only major acts perform at the House of Blues. Thus, during the 1990s, the center of more alternative music activity in Los Angeles shifted further east to areas like Silverlake, Los Feliz and Echo Park.
In November 1984, voters in West Hollywood passed a proposal on the ballot to incorporate and the area became an independent city. Increasingly, the western end of the Strip is occupied by office buildings, mostly catering to the entertainment industry, and expensive hotels. This area seems to have become an adjunct of Beverly Hills only with more nightlife activity, much of it upscale.
In the evening, the Strip is a vibrant slash of neon, a virtual traffic jam of young cruisers on weekends and a mecca for people-watchers and celebrity wannabes.
However, in the 21st Century the rate of new club openings on the Strip has declined due to traffic congestion while Hollywood Boulevard with less parking restrictions and easy access to the Hollywood Freeway has seen an increase in new openings.

Even numbers are on the south side and odd numbers on the north side of Sunset Strip. We are heading West

Virgin Megastore. 8000 Sunset Boulevard. (310)-278-1181. Former sight of  legendary Schwab's Drug Store.

The Laugh Factory. 8001 Sunset Boulevard. (323)-656-1336.

The Cajun Bistro. 8301 Sunset Boulevard. (323)-656-6388. The sidewalk cafe used in the final scenes of the Woody Allen film "Annie Hall".

Carney's. 8351 Sunset Boulevard.(323)-654-8300. The restaurant in a Railway Carriage, a large yellow one to be precise.

The Argyle. 8358 Sunset Boulevard. (323)-654-7100. Also know as  Sunset Tower, resembles the Empire State Building. Virtually every star in Hollywood  has stayed here at one time or another. Completely renovated in the late 80's,  Now this 13 story building represents one of  the best examples of Hollywood's  Golden Era.

Mondrian Hotel. 8440 Sunset Boulevard. (323)-848-6025. Contains "The Sky Room" one of the hottest nightspots in LA.

Billy Martins. 8605 Sunset Boulevard. (310)-289-5000. Western style clothing shop used by many celebrities including Bruce Springsteen and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Le Dome. 8720 Sunset Boulevard. (310)-659-6919. Restaurant of the rich and famous with a mammoth circular bar.

Kenneth Cole Shoes. 8752 Sunset Boulevard.(310) -289-5085. Shoemaker to the stars. These same stars have left their bare footprints in cement outside. ElizabethTaylor & Richard Gere  are just two of the stars who have left  footprints here.

Tower Records. 8801 Sunset Strip. (310)-657-7300.
Hollywood landmark where stars autograph records, shop & hold concerts in the car park.

The Whisky a GoGo. 8901 Sunset Boulevard. (310)-652-4202.
Birthplace of go-go dancing in the 60's when a mini skirted female DJ  began swinging in a cage above the floor. Jim Morrison & The Doors started out here as the resident band. Many Rock legends have appeared here over the years and still going strong with mostly heavy metal.

The Roxy. 9009 Sunset Boulevard. (310)-276-2222.
Hollywood's favorite Rock Club of the celebrities. Where Bruce Springsteen's career started and where John Belushi dined in the private club "On the Rox" above "The Roxy" on the day of his death.

Rainbow Bar & Grill. 9015 Sunset Boulevard.(310)278-4232.
Small restaurant used by the stars. Formerly The Villa Nova restaurant  where Vincente Minnelli (Liza's father) proposed to Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe had her first date (A blind date), with baseball legend & future husband Joe DiMaggio. The Rainbow also claim that John Belsuhi had his last meal in their kitchen, a bowl of Lentil Soup, which they have never served since. Also includes an array of celebrity photos and memorabilia donated by the stars over the years.

Gazzari's Rock Club. 9039 Sunset Boulevard.
Bugsy Siegel's former right hand man Mickey Cohen was shot here in 1948 it was then called Sherry's Restaurant. Many people claim Cohen was one of the shooters involved in Bugsy Siegel's slaying the previous year.

The Famous Sunset Strip

• History from  www.wikipedia.org