Shuttered Temple Bar

Temple Bar closed last year and was replaced with Dakota. Before Temple Bar, St. Stephen's Green occupied the building. Being neighborhood regulars, we would be allowed in the backway ahead of the long St. Patrick's Day lines. Sometime last year, a fire closed Dakota.

Jay Leno's South Bay Comedy Roadhouse

Walkabout: Go Ahead & Laugh If You Want To

Schwab's Pharmacy was a drug store located at 8024 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California and has been widely noted as a meeting place and "headquarters" of movie actors and movie industry dealmakers from the 1930s through the 1950s. Like many drug stores in the United States throughout the mid-twentieth century, Schwab's sold medicines and had a counter serving ice cream dishes and light meals.

Schwab's was photographed in the film Sunset Boulevard as a setting where the lead character, down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe Gillis, ran into friends in the movie industry.

Schwab's closed its doors on October 22, 1983. Five years later, on October 6, 1988, Schwab's fell to the wrecking ball to make way for a shopping complex and multiplex theater.

Although Jamie Masada barely spoke English which he mixed in with Hebrew and Farsi, he was soon working with comedians in a comedy club. Such comedic geniuses as Richard Pryor, David Letterman, Jim Carrey, Rodney Dangerfield, Red Foxx and Neal Israel, took Masada under their wings.

A dispute over club owners refusing to pay comedians drove Masada to create The Laugh Factory in Groucho Marx's old building at the age of 16. With a small loan from Neal Israel, he was able to turn his dream into reality, while simultaneously helping comedians

Recognizing Jamie's passion, Richard Pryor was the first comedian to serenade the Laugh Factory stage in 1979. Masada offered to pay Richard, instead Pryor handed him a hundred dollar bill and wrote on it, "You need this for your rent, boy."

Masada has always been ahead of his time and was called a true visionary by the LA Times. He earned this reputation through brilliant marketing strategies and business ventures- inspired by his passion for comedy.

As the country was gripped with the fear of the AIDS epidemic, The Laugh Factory was the first business in America to provide condoms to its customers. This stroke of marketing genius brought the Laugh Factory national exposure and Masada became a hugely sought after guest on the national press junket. Over the next three decades, Jamie Masada would constantly return to the forefront of national media. In 1985, Masada marched down Pennsylvania Avenue with Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, Red Foxx, amongst many others in The Laugh Factory's campaign to send the first comedian into space. The campaign drew so much attention that President Regan asked Bob Hope to arrange a meeting with Masada.

USA Today called The Laugh Factory the number one comedy club in the country.

-- www.laughfactory.com

Walkabout: Sunset Trocadero

This is not the original Trocadero nor the site of the original Trocadero.

Walkabout: House of Blues

On My Walkabout:

Okay, you all know the story. Middle-aged, struggling actress Lana Clarkson waitressed here for tips and connections. Then she met Phil Spector. He shot her. She died. He went to prison. Sad story. No winners.

My sweet Jewish wifey attended a Gospel Brunch at the House of Blues. She adores the music. She had a great time.

Walkabout: The Comedy Store & George Carlin

On My Walkabout:

We saw George Carlin do his show at the Comedy Store. We've watched all of his specials. About a month or two before his death, we attended his q & a at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills. He looked a bit frail. I miss him.

Walkabout: Whiskey A Go Go

On My Walkabout:

Would you believe I've never been to the Whiskey? I've been to Duke's a lot of times, even more when it was located on Santa Monica Boulevard. But this is the place. THE DOORS movie was shot here, replicating the real life events of Jim Morrison's life. Doesn't he stand on top of a car in front of this building?

The traffic remains stinky.

Looking south on San Vicente Boulevard.

Aahs, bought dozens of cards there when I lived on this side of town. I forget what used to be there before. Does anyone remember?

Walkabout: Clubs on Sunset

On My Walkabout:

The Key Club sits on the piece of real estate where the legendary Gazzarri's once stood. The location can be seen in John Cassavetes' THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE where Gazzarri's stands in for a stripclub.

Prior to Gazzarri's, the property held Sherry's Cafe where Mickey Cohen was shot.

Gazzarri's was a nightclub on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States. The Key Club opened in 1996 at the same location after Gazzari's was demolished.

It is most notable as the location where The Doors and Van Halen were featured house bands for long stretches before being discovered. It was also the LA club featured in Huey Lewis and the News MTV video for their hit "The Heart of Rock and Roll."

The club reached its peak of popularity in the mid-1960s through the late 1980s, and was owned and operated by the "Godfather of Rock and Roll", Bill Gazzarri. Gazzarri himself was known for dressing up as a Chicago-style gangster and frequenting the club on performance nights. Located near the corner of Doheny and Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, and just several dozen yards from both the Rainbow Bar and Grill and The Roxy Theatre, Gazarri's became famous as a home of future rock and roll stars.

-- wiki

The Rainbow Bar and Grill is a bar and restaurant on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States adjacent to the border of Beverly Hills, California. Its address is 9015 Sunset Boulevard.

The bottom level of the Rainbow is the restaurant, The Rainbow Bar and Grill. Upstairs is an exclusive club called "Over the Rainbow". The Over the Rainbow consists of a full bar, dance floor, and a DJ booth. The club is usually reserved for musicians and others to whom only bouncers allow access. The restaurant is next to the nightclubs, The Roxy Theatre and The Key Club.

The restaurant was founded in early 1972 by Elmer Valentine, Lou Adler, Mario Maglieri and others. At the time, the word "rainbow" signified peace and freedom. It quickly became known as a hangout for celebrities of all types. John Belushi ate his last meal (lentil soup) at table #16. For many years, the owner was Mario Maglieri.

Before becoming the Rainbow, the restaurant was the Villa Nova restaurant, which was originally owned by film director Vincente Minnelli, at the time married to Judy Garland. Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe met at the restaurant on a blind date in 1952.

The Rainbow became known as a hangout for rock musicians and their groupies.
--wiki

The Roxy Theatre (often just The Roxy) is a famous nightclub on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California.

It was opened on September 23, 1973 by Elmer Valentine and Lou Adler along with original partners David Geffen, Elliot Roberts and Peter Asher. They took over building previously occupied by a strip club owned by Chuck Landis called the Largo. (Adler was actually responsible for bringing the stage play The Rocky Horror Show to the United States, and it opened its first American run at The Roxy Theatre in 1974, before it was made into the movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show the next year.)

-- wiki