Forget the Walk of Fame—West Hollywood’s alley walls are where legends like MJ and Ali are immortalized in raw, street-level glory.
By Mac Davis Fleetwood
In West Hollywood, legacy is not confined to curated museum walls like at LACMA or the Getty. Instead, it spills out in the quiet shadows of WeHo’s forgotten blocks, just past shuttered nightclubs, empty warehouses, and graffiti-scarred alleys. Here in the Creative City, a unique and captivating kind of idolization festers—louder, rawer, and more honest than anything you’ll find embossed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Take a turn down an alley just south of Santa Monica Boulevard and off Sycamore, and suddenly you’re face to face with a pair of familiar eyes that stop you in your tracks. Piercing, soulful, surreal. It’s the immortal King of Pop, MichaelJackson, or at least the memory of him, rendered in rich colors, framed by waves of soft pastel lines that ripple across his face like soundwaves from a song you can almost hear. His expression is both ethereal and human, as if watching over the sacred Hollywood streets he once danced across in music videos. MJ isn’t just remembered here. He’s revered in a saintly glow.
Buckcherry’s hard-hitting first single from SoCal band’s upcoming album sets the stage for a high-voltage summer.
If Buckcherry’s scorching new single, “Roar Like Thunder,” is any indication, this summer is about to be a full-blown rock ‘n’ roll inferno. The band dropped the track online earlier this week, along with the announcement that their 11th studio album—also titled Roar Like Thunder—will hit on June 13. And if this lead single sets the tone, expect a high-voltage assault of pure, unfiltered Buckcherry.
True to form, “Roar Like Thunder” is a riff-fueled adrenaline rush. Guitarists Stevie D. and Billy Rowe lock into a relentless groove, trading razor-edged licks, while the rhythm section—Francis Ruiz’s thunderous drumming and Kelly LeMieux’s deep, swaggering bass lines—keeps the engine roaring at full throttle. At the helm, singer-songwriter Josh Todd delivers a ferocious vocal performance that practically spits fire.
The band also unleashed a no-frills, high-energy music video directed by Tom Flynn. Shot on a rooftop with a gorgeous panoramic view of Downtown L.A., the clip captures Buckcherry doing what they do best—bringing the heat, no gimmicks necessary.
Fans won’t have to wait long to experience the madness live. Buckcherry kicks off their Roar Like Thunder tour on April 11 in Redding, California, joining forces with glam-metal Sunset Strip stalwarts Steel Panther.
Palm trees, Venice Beach and Axl Rose popping up in the middle of a Billy Joel concert…what’s not to love about L.A.?
Of course, there are a million reasons why Los Angeles rocks, but here are five that literally rock!
1. A GN’R legend and pop-rock superstar randomly pop up at Billy Joel’s 2017 Dodger Stadium show.
Dodger Stadium is the only place where you’re ever gonna experience Axl Rose rocking your face off during a surprise appearance at a Billy Joel concert.
Imagine our surprise when we were sitting at the Piano Man’s killer show at Dodger Stadium in May 2017, when one of our other favorite artists, Pink, randomly pops up to perform two numbers: Joel’s classic “New York State of Mind” and her recent hit “Try.” And then the show got even better.
A few songs after Pink appeared, Sunset Strip refugee Axl Rose also showed up and shook the stadium hard with AC/DC‘s “Highway to Hell” and later, Joel’s “Big Shot.” That unique and unexpected performance made us immediately appreciate the consistent unpredictability of Los Angeles.
Step aside, Batman! The Who, Pink Floyd, Elvis, and other music icons have rocked their way into W/B’s legendary Hollywood history.
Living in SoCal, it’s easy to get jaded when it comes to being starstruck. After all, when you randomly spot Smokey Robinson at the supermarket and Steven Tyler at Coffee Bean—which I have—you tend to get used to seeing superstars as much as you get used to smog and palm trees.
However, a recent tour of Warner Bros. studios had us feeling excited about the magic of Hollywood once again. And that reinvigorated awe had everything to do with the rock and roll history that lies within the eclectic tour that covers every iconic entertainment offering from RebelWithout a Cause and East of Eden toFriends andthe DC universe’s current crop of superhero hits like Batman and Wonder Woman.
Along with all of the movie history, the studio’s backlot has a rich music history, too, including as the location of the iconic cover photo of Pink Floyd‘s 1975 album, Wish You Were Here.
Equally cool was spotting one of the rockin’ motor scooters from The Who’s 1979 classic film Quadraphonia.
The Lambretta and Vespa Italian motor scooters make a memorable appearance in the British drama as the ride of choice for Sting and his Mods as well as their rivals the Rockers.
Many classic Hollywood musicals and music-oriented movies have also been filmed on the lot, from The Music Man and A Star Is Born (two of them, the 1976 and 2018 versions) to Elvis and Selena.
The other king, the King of Pop also has an unforgettable attachment to W/B’s history. Michael Jackson and The Jacksons filmed one of their famous Eighties-era Pepsi commercials on the Warner Bros. backlot. This one was filmed on the backlot’s all-American “Hennessy Street” and co-starred a very young Alfonso Ribeiro.
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s guitar picks and guitar strap are on display alongside costumes and rock paraphernalia from 2018’s A Star Is Born.
Some of the other rockin’ relics that we came across include the original piano from the 1943 classic film Casablanca. The piano is the one Humphrey Bogart was referring to when he famously said, “Play it again, Sam.”
Phoebe Buffay’s (Lisa Kudrow) acoustic Gibson guitar has a place amongst pop culture and entertainment history, too, and is behind glass as part of the W/B tour. It’s virtually impossible to walk past the six-string without “Smelly Cat” popping into your cabeza.
Another, ahem, thrilling moment was seeing legendary record producer Quincy Jones represented for his work with Steven Spielberg on the two-time Oscar nominated soundtrack to the 1975 film The Color Purple.
Warner Bros. Studios’ Props Department houses enough cool music instruments to rival any branch of Guitar Center.
Random acoustic and electric guitars, violins, cellos, bajos, congas, and dozens of other instruments line the walls of the airplane hanger-sized prop room.
The instruments have been used and reused in countless W/B movies and TV shows.
Let’s see, Pink Floyd…Elvis Presley…The Who…Michael Jackson…James Dean…when a studio’s history includes this much badass talent, we can almost forgive the W/B for The Gilmore Girls.
Rockin’ new book For Those About to Rock teaches kids music history with some edgy fun.
If you respect and appreciate good music and great artists, then you may be feeling a bit indifferent about the trending videos on YouTube that feature millennials and Gen Zers sharing their reaction to first hearing classic songs by legendary artists like the Bee Gees and Motley Crue. Now, watching strangers react to music sounds about as interesting as playing Zeppelin records backwards hoping to hear Satan. However, the most surreal part of the whole “reaction video” trend is that some young people simply aren’t ashamed of their lack of basic music history.
Granted, being able to name the four original members of KISS without needing to check Wikipedia won’t land you a professorship at the local university. But by the time anyone reaches their teen years, you’d hope they’d have some semblance of how and why Bruce Springsteen and TheBeatles are just as important to American and world history as George Washington and Albert Einstein.
Considering how difficult it is just to get a basic quality education nowadays, we’re not holding our breath. Fortunately, a rockin’ new book has found a great solution. Author/rocker Kate Seldman‘s For Those About to Rock: A Kid’s Guide to 50 Legendary Musical Acts is a long overdue, gorgeously illustrated “textbook” that highlights a rich musical education delivered in a fun and engaging presentation that would appeal to any young mind that loves learning.
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