1995.06.16 - News Pilot - L.A.'s Landmarks of Rock

Transcript of the GNR related parts:
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L.A.'s landmarks of rock

BY COREY LEVITAN
SPECIAL TO RAVE!

from JIM MORRISON'S pad to the RIOT HOUSE
TO WHERE THE STARS GO FOR REHAB...

I’m the one you honked at last week for cruising Sunset at 10 mph. Allow me to explain myself...

For some reason I have a better memory for trivial rock landmarks than important lunch engagements, and whenever my passenger seat is occupied, I reflexively slow down to conduct a guided tour.

To repent for my traffic obstruction, I’ve assembled this tour. Now you, too, can enjoy the thrill of being honked at as you slow down to point out where Jim Morrison dangled off a balcony and Courtney Love danced naked for dollar bills.

Due to space limitation I focused only on the most lurid sites. (If you want to know where Capitol Records or the House of Blues are, open your phone book.)

[...]

ROCK EJECTION: John Lennon from The Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood.
In 1974 the ex-Beatle emerged from the women’s room here wearing a Kotex on his head and slurring insults at The Smothers Brothers, the onstage act; he and drunken pal Harry Nilsson were ejected. Other Trouba-lore: 1) GN’R’s Izzy “Wizzy” Stradlin urinated on the bar in 1985; 2) Folk singer Phil Ochs tore out the bathroom sink in 1972 because Van Morrison wouldn’t sing “Madame George."

[...]

ROCK JOB: Axl Rose at Tower Video, 8844 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood.
GN’R's singer was a night manager here in the early 80s.

ROCK BRAWL (Aborted): Axl Rose vs. Vince Neil, Tower Records. 8801 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood.
Rose challenged Motley Crue’s singer to a street brawl in this parking lot in 1990. Neil says he backed down when informed that Rose was bringing armed bodyguards.

[...]

ROCK JOB: Slash at Centerfold Newsstand, 716 N. Fairfax Ave.
GN’R’s Slash lost his job here in 1986 for conducting band business.

ROCK EATERY: Canter’s. 419 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles.
Home to the Southland’s only half-decent 2 a.m. bagel, which is why rockers from Phil Spector to the Red Hot Chili Peppers have made this the rock deli. Its rock reputation gave Canter’s the idea to open the adjacent Kibbutz Room, a Tuesday-night blues club where the Black Crowes have jammed, earlier this decade. During the early '80s Slash of Guns- N’ Roses dined here free, having attended nearby Fairfax High with one Marc Canter.
The sickest Canter’s tale dates back to 1972, when Keith Moon of The Who, showed up one night wearing a Gestapo uniform, apparently unaware of the implications. He was soon made aware by ogling patrons and exited.

[...]

ROCK APARTMENT: Guns N' Roses, alley next to 1506 Gardner St., Hollywood (former site).
On what is now an empty lot behind the Guitar Center was once the smallest, most disgusting human habitat on this or any planet. It was a one-room studio with a loft bed where the five original GN'R members rehearsed, ate, drank and slept — but couldn't go to the bathroom since there was none!
Sex was constantly had by all. “We had a huge sign on the door that said, If you're not willing to get naked, do not enter!" remembers then-roadie Jojo Zaouk. “We still had lines of girls waiting to get in.”
In 1985 an attempt was made on Rose’s life here by two armed female stalkers.

[...]

ROCK APARTMENT: Kim Fowley, 1720 N. Fuller Ave., Hollywood (former occupant).
During the '80s Hollywood songwriter/scenester Kim Fowley housed several unknown metal bands and hooked them up with musical contacts (in exchange for a fee, of course). His extra bedroom here hosted GN’R and Poison.

[...]

ROCK NEAR-DEATH: Nikki Sixx at the Franklin Plaza Hotel, 7230 Franklin Ave., Hollywood.
On Dec. 22, 1987, the heart of Motley Crue’s bassist ceased beating for more than two minutes before a paramedic kick-started it with an adrenaline hypo. “He was purple,” remembers Steven Adler, former GN’R drummer and one of the friends Sixx was partying with at the time. “I started pounding his chest to get him breathing. I never saw anything like it!” Sixx's bandmates were prematurely informed that their bassist had died of a heroin overdose.

[...]

ROCK JOB: Axl Rose at Lipstick Fixx, 6160 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, (former occupant).
Rose worked this club's door for two nights in 1985 before getting caught for letting every one of his friends inside. Later it was Raji’s, the underground club that launched Rage Against the Machine and closed last year.

[...]

ROCK ARRIVAL: Axl Rose at Greyhound Bus Station, 1409 Vine St., Hollywood.
“Welcome to the Jungle” combined lurid images the GN’R singer saw in New York and upon arriving by bus here from Indiana for the first time in 1980.

[...]

■ Thanks to Stephen Adika, Steven Adler, Rodney Bingenheimer, Mandy Brixx, Belissa Cohen, Herb Cohen, Pamela Des Barres, Aime Elkins, Len Fagan, Kim Fowley, Marc Grossmann, Chuck Negron, Michael Ochs, Danny Sugerman, Jimmy Swan, Jonni Tegarden and Jojo Zaouk. For an entire book on the subject, see The L.A. Musical History Tour by Art Fein.

Some known information here, but also a couple of stories I hadn't heard before.
JoJo Zaouk, one of the people interviewed for the article, is Raz Cue's brother.

This newspaper's archive must have been added recently to the site I'm subscribed to, because its articles hadn't appeared in my search results before.

Yes, the one about armed female stalker attacked Axl was new to me.

Corey Levitan seems to have been fairly well connected. Not based on this article, primarily, but from the two previous News Pilot articles you posted.

Soulmonster wrote:Yes, the one about armed female stalker attacked Axl was new to me.

Corey Levitan seems to have been fairly well connected. Not based on this article, primarily, but from the two previous News Pilot articles you posted.

And the story about Izzy urinating at the Troubadour in 1985. I don't remember reading about that one before either. So this makes it the third known incident of Izzy peeing in public

Yes, it looks like Corey Levitan had sources. He was friends with Steven - he accompanied him in an interview with Stern in January 1997 (I haven't added it to our archive yet).

Blackstar wrote:

Soulmonster wrote:Yes, the one about armed female stalker attacked Axl was new to me.

Corey Levitan seems to have been fairly well connected. Not based on this article, primarily, but from the two previous News Pilot articles you posted.

And the story about Izzy urinating at the Troubadour in 1985. I don't remember reading about that one before either. So this makes it the third known incident of Izzy peeing in public

Yes, it looks like Corey Levitan had sources. He was friends with Steven - he accompanied him in an interview with Stern in January 1997 (I haven't added it to our archive yet).

What was the third time he urinated?

Soulmonster wrote:
What was the third time he urinated?

At the Hammerjacks in Baltimore, Oct. 10 1987