Salute to the Sunset Strip

Rodney Bingenheimer receives the Key to the City

The Sunset Tower

West Hollywood, California

May 30, 2007

By Victoria Joyce
(SugarBuzz Hollywood)

Photos by: David Logan

The City of West Hollywood did a nice thing.

Every year their Historical Preservation Commission does a little party. Last year it was a salute to the last hamburger stand, Irv’s Burgers on Route 66 (aka Santa Monica Blvd.) with a rockabilly band and vintage cars.

This year, on May 30th, the City threw a little shindig shining the spotlight on The Sunset Strip. This mile and a half of Sunset Boulevard lies between Hollywood and Beverly Hills, running through what is now West Hollywood. Back in the day it was an unincorporated area that welcomed gangsters, bootleggers, harlots, panty-sniffers and pimps before the movie stars, comedians, rockers and roadies showed up.

Ever see the movie “LA Confidential?” It’s like that.

The Rockers and the Comics took over in the 70s. I know this because Hollywood historian, Marc Wannamaker told me so during his PowerPoint presentation. Fascinating stuff. What used to be where and what is used to be before it was the Rainbow, the Key Club, the Roxy, the Viper, the Whisky, the Troubadour and the Coconut Teaser.

But the good part was when this little soiree was kicked off by West Hollywood’s Mayor, John Duran, who gave the Key to the City to Rodney Bingenheimer, the unofficial Mayor of the Sunset Strip. And if you haven’t seen the documentary of the same name, shut down your computer now, leave your house and don’t’ come home until you have the DVD in our hands. (See Sugarbuzz review.)

If you don’t know, Rodney on the ROQ is the most amazing and important DJ in the world. No exaggeration. He broke Bowie. The Sex Pistols. The Ramones. X. To name a few. Bingenhemer loves girl groups. The Bangles, the Go Go’s, Gwen Stefani and The Donnas. Rodney migrated to LA from the Bay Area when he was a teeny bopper and hooked up with the Flower Power crowd. He is still good friends with Cher and was the stand-in for Davy Jones on the Monkees. Brian Wilson wrote his theme song. Like we said – see this documentary immediately.

The celebration would not be complete without some laughs from a couple of stand-up comedians and MC, Jeff Hilliard showed a little video interviewing the owners of the world famous comedy clubs; The Laugh Factory, The Comedy Store and the Impov.

The evening ended with photographer, musician and roller derby Doll, Dawn Laureen presenting a collection of her rock and roll photography. Our favorite shot was Billy Idol on his bike in front of the Whisky. No, check that. Our favorite was the shot of Rodney and Johnny Ramone. Miss D presented Mr. B with a framed print to end the show.

This tribute to Rodney was long overdue.

Listen to Rodney on KROQ, 106.7 fm, Sunday nights, midnights to 3am in LA or streaming live from the website. Check your world time zones: Eastern time: 3:00am till 6:00 am and in the UK - 8:00 am -11:00am. He’s very old fashioned. You can call Rodney to make a request during the show. What? Yeah, no kidding. In the greater LA area call 520-1067 or 1-800-520- 1067. And if your out of state and streaming on the web you can call 1-323- 520 -1067.

OK, I wanna hear “Los Angeles” by X. It’s one of his favorites.

www.myspace.com/rodneyontheroq

Sunset Tower

City Of West Hollywood

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