music
the alta cienega motel
from jim morrison, the doors posted in music by pete_nice
From 1968 to 1970, Jim Morrison lived in a number of rooms at The Alta Cienega Motel. At the time, the motel was within walking distance of several strip clubs, bars, and the Doors Workshop, where the band culminated this era with the album L.A. Woman.
Morrison's favorite room was #32, which can still be rented, and where numerous devotees of the Lizard King scrawl graffiti on the walls. The motel repaints the interior every year, but you can't stop stupid people sometimes. The room does afford interesting views of La Cienega and Santa Monica Blvd, and you have to wonder what bad poetry crept into Morrison's drug-addled brain.
jim morrison’s deathplace
from jim morrison, the doors posted in music by pete_nice
In 1971, a music-industry weary Jim Morrison moved with his partner, Pam Courson, to Paris to pursue writing. Originally staying at the L'Hotel at 13 rue des Beaux-Arts, Morrsion and Courson moved to this apartment near the Place de la Bastille (where the Bastille Prison used to stand) and the Père Lachaise Cemetery (where Morrison would eventually end up).
By this point in his life, Morrison was drinking 2 to 3 bottles of whiskey a day, so the writing was not as prolific as anticipated.
On the night of his death, Morrison and Courson went to see the Robert Mitchum movie Pursued. They returned to the apartment, drifting off to some of Morrison's home movies. Courson awoke to Morrison coughing up blood in the bathroom. She offered to call a medic, but Morrison declined, saying that he wanted to take a bath.
Courson drew a bath for Morrison, then went to bed. She found him dead at 8:00 am, July 3, 1971. He was 27 years old.
view full location details...the warehouse
from the doors, jim morrison, the grateful dead posted in music by pete_nice
Opened on January 30, 1970, the Warehouse was one of the premier venues for rock music in New Orleans for several years. The first band to play the Warehouse was Fleetwood Mac, with the Grateful Dead playing the second night. The Dead were arrested for drug possession that opening weekend, and this experience was immortalized in their song, "Truckin'."
Jim Morrison's last live show with The Doors was here on December 12, 1970. Morrison slammed the microphone repeatedly into the floorboards, breaking through the stage, then sat down and refused to perform. Five months later he was dead in a Paris bathtub.
The Warehouse was demolished in April 1989.
the doors workshop
from the doors, jim morrison posted in music by pete_nice
Once a former antique store, this two-story building was also home to The Doors Workshop. Used as an office and recording studio for the band, The Doors recorded with engineer Bruce Botnick at this location for the tracks of L.A. Woman. Apparently, Jim Morrison recorded the vocals in the bathroom to get a fuller sound.
Today, the location is a restaurant named "Mexico." The unisex bathroom still exists, and local legend is that the ghost of Jim Morrison haunts the place.
The manager of the restaurant was quoted as saying:
“Funky things happen all the time we can’t explain. Lights popping on and off at weird times. But when that bathroom door handle jiggles by itself, that’s the weirdest sign. It’s totally inexplicable.” (from The Tucson Citizen)
The anniversary of Jim Morrison's death is July 3. Unfortunately, the restaurant is currently closed. Hopefully it will open in time for the anniversary.
view full location details...university of massachusetts amherst
from the pixies posted in music by nevereatshreddedwheat
"In the sleepy west of the woody east..."
Charles Thompson (before he was Pixies singer/screamer/songwriter Black Francis/Frank Black) and Joey Santiago were suitemates at the University of Massachusetts in the early '80s. Thompson dropped out after the first semester of his junior year and went Puerto Rico, and when he returned to the U.S. several months later, he and Santiago moved to Boston. J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr. also was going to school at UMass at the time. He and Thompson met at some point, but it's only significant in retrospect when you imagine these two meeting, since they didn't necessarily hit it off.