I put on my walking shoes and knee brace (sigh), peed, and headed over to check out the Tropicana Motel on Santa Monica Boulevard.
This should be cool!
Pitching great Sandy Koufax bought the motel in 1962 to supplement his Los Angeles Dodgers pay.
He put his name on the place, sure that out-of-town fans would grab the motel’s 74 rooms, each with a kitchenette.
Koufax at his motel
Oops, that didn’t work as planned! Ball four!
Location, location, location!
Just as Koufax made the investment, the 1960s rock revolution exploded on nearby Sunset Strip with all its nightclubs: The Troubadour, the Whisky A Go Go, Pandora’s Box, Gazzari’s, London Fog, etc.
So what Koufax actually ended up with was one big party and crash pad that turned the Tropicana into the Chelsea Hotel of the West. As noted by one writer, “Under the Trop’s jungle-like foliage there were orgies, murders, suicides, over-doses, love triangles, marriages and drunken brawls on a daily basis.”
Cool! This’ll be the best walk yet.
Jim Morrison of the Doors liked to drink way too much at the The Palms, a low-rent lesbian bar across the street from the Tropicana. Jim would then stumble back across Santa Monica Boulevard and pass out.
Tom Waits lived at the Tropicana for nine years with a Steinway upright piano jammed into his room’s kitchenette.
Van Morrison wrote “T.B. Sheets” and other songs while staying at the Tropicana.
Big Brother and the Holding Company, Bob Marley and the Wailers, and Alice Cooper all worked out of, and lived in, the Tropicana.
As did Stevie Nicks, Joan Jett, Blondie, and Tom Petty.
And Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Zappa, Alice Cooper, Led Zepplin, the Mamas and the Papas, the Beach Boys, Jim McGuinn of the Byrds, Martha and the Vandellas, and Sly and the Family Stone.
Plus William S. Burroughs.
Oh, this would be a great walk!
I’d have to check out the lobby for sure (and the men’s room...sigh), taking in the vibes of all those who once did the same.
I was especially excited because The Ramones often stayed there.
Johnny and Joey Ramone outside the Tropicana Motel circa 1978. (Photo by Brad Elterman)
I know a guy (actually, two guys) in the Pittsburgh-based band, “Eddie and the Otters,” which opened for the Ramones at The Decade years ago.
The Decade was “the” nightclub in Pittsburgh in my day (and the decade after). They all played at The Decade:
Bruce Springsteen, Arrowsmith
The Police (with lead singer, Sting), U2
Cyndi Lauper, Stevie Ray Vaughn
Bon Jovi, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Now here’s the thing. As of 1996, the Ramones were gone. Over, done.
But Eddie and the Otters performed its farewell concert only a month ago (May, 2022). The great ones last!
Back in the day when Eddie and the Otters were opening at The Decade and could stand
Just last month, when they sat.
Anyway, when I arrived to the Tropicana at 8585 Santa Monica Boulevard, it wasn’t there! Damn it!
It seems that in 1988 somebody had the idea to tear it down and replace it with the Ramada Plaza West Hollywood Hotel and Suites.
As I’ve said before: and some people think my ideas are stupid!?
I took a photo, found elsewhere to pee, limped back home, and sat the rest of the day like an aging member of Eddie and the Otters.
Oh, and those of you looking for a Sally photo, here you go.
