Thank you for the music
Recently a friend had the idea to go a concert in Lantaren-Venster in Rotterdam. The Leif de Leeuw Band was playing a tribute to the Allman brothers, a repetition of a tour they had being doing successfully for a while. My mate, a gifted guitarist in his own right, saw the concert for the third time. And yes, it was worth it. Unfortunately I did not bring a camera.
The Allman Brothers Band in May 1969. From left to right, (back) Duane Allman, Gregg Allman; (front) Butch Trucks, Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, and Jaimoe (Wikipedia, public domain)
I did not know much about the Allman brothers except their well-known hit “Rambling man” from 1973. The band was founded in 1969 by the brothers Duane and Gregg Allman. Dickey Betts played lead guitar and vocals and Berry Oakley was on bass. Remarkably enough the band had two drummers, Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson. A constellation, which even today, in the interpretation of the Leif de Leeuw band, leads to fascinating solos. Gregg Allman played keyboards and vocals. Nor did I know that, despite his short life, Duane Allman counted as number two of the world’s best guitar players for more that 30 years second only after Jimi Hendrix.
The Leif de Leeuw Band in Lanteren Venster in Rotterdam
Without exaggeration you can say that Leif de Leeuw and Sem Jansen on lead guitar guitar and vocals do a stunning job interpreting the play of Duane Allman and Dickey Betts. No wonder that Leif de Leeuw was voted best Blues Rock guitarist of the Benelux for 10 times in a row. Even better is that the sympathetic giant accompanies their show with anecdotes of the life of the Allman brothers.
Leif de Leeuw and Sem Jansen as Duane Allman and Dickey Betts
However, only Sem Jansen is able to imitate the unique vintage style of outlook of a 60’s band. When you look at their picture you see the typical counter culture style of a Southern Blues Rock band of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Long unkempt hair, mustaches, wrinkled jeans and worn out jackets, all crowned by battered hats. They were freaks. Another attribute of that style would be riding a bike, and then of course a Harley-Davidson. Of course without a helmet. You can very well imagine them zooming down the streets of their hometown Macon, Georgia, giving the bourgeois neighborhood the creeps.
Riding a bike on a freeway in the Valley
Already in 1960, at age 16, even before he owned his first guitar, Duane bought his first Harley Davidson 165 motorbike. He soon wrecked it and bought a guitar of his own. His brother had bought one earlier instead of a bike and they had fought about it.
Also girls rode bikes at the time... (without helmet)
Many of the visitors to the concert this evening are in their 60’s and try to do their best to look like they have been freaks like the Allman brothers in their youth. Not only a few sport long hair in ponytails or buns, some have managed to save their sumptuous beards regardless a career as dentist, manager or other professional. Many wear leather or denim jackets, some with harley davidson logo. Like in a club in an American downtown they have parked their bikes on the sidewalk in front of the entrance. Also my mate came on his bike.
Cruising down the Sunset Strip
When I arrived in Los Angeles in the mid of 1988 and started to tour the surroundings of Sunset boulevard and Venice beach I saw these cool guys leisurely cruising down the wide, palm-lined avenues on their bikes, cigarette between the lips, sunglasses instead of helmet, long hair blowing in the wind. And behind them on the passenger seat a young chick, usually beautiful and displaying a lot of nude flesh. I did not smoke, but I wouldn’t mind the young chick. I did not even own one of those enormous, gas-guzzling monstrosities of a car, which even in LA became less commonplace in the streets at the time. I owned a tiny Dodge Colt, which I parked humbly hidden in one of the side streets when I went to a concert or to my two favorite hangouts, the Cathouse in Hollywood on Tuesdays and the Loch Ness happy monster pub in Pasadena on Thursdays.
The latter was in the old town of Pasadena, at the time a number of blocks of typical brown-stone buildings on the border line between demolition and gentrification. Most were boarded up, empty and closed. There was nobody in the streets. There was nothing to do except a couple of seedy bars stinking of beer. Access to Loch Ness was from a dirty, usually empty parking lot in a back street.
Flier advertisment for Toe's Tavern with a comparison to other establishments
The interior was tiny with a long bar on the left. In the back were the toilets, which everybody tried to avoid to use. For men it the parking lot was a better choice. One of Loch Ness’ more fashionable competitor, Toe’s tavern, s addressing the surf crowd, exploited the state of the toilets in Loch Ness on their flier: “We have got more urinals than the Loch Ness”. They were discreet enough not to comment on the state of this urinal.
Mercy (left) and the Merkettes playing in Loch Ness in 1990
Regular band on Thursdays in Loch Ness was Mercy and the Merkettes. The place was packed then, not least because of the attractive singer Diana. Everybody fancied to date her but to keep it safe the boyfriend always came along. During one of these nights in late 1988 I met a German guy who was about to leave and had to sell his stuff. He wanted to get rid of an 850 cc Yamaha 3 cylinder motorcycle. And he had an enormously attractive shadow following him. I was thrilled. We arranged to do a test ride the next evening.
View across the Caltech campus towards the San Gabriel mountains
The next evening Michael picked me up. He had only one helmet – for me, he did not needn’t any. The slopes of the San Bernadino mountains rise sharply just at the Pasadena city limit. The 10000 square kilometer monstrosity of the urbanized area of greater LA stops in a sudden line. Along the San Gabriel river valley winding route 39 climbs up the mountains through Angeles national forest along places with picturesque names like Azusa Wilderness, Morris reservoir, Burro Canyon, West fork waterfall, Upper bear creek and Crystal lake. I never had been on the back of a motorcycle before. The only bike I had ridden myself was a tourist moped with about half a pk on a Greek island. For my feeling Michael drove like a maniac. I was scared shitless.
Smoggy sunset over the San Gabriel mountains
Nevertheless we made it back safely. I went to the toilet, we had a couple of beer and I said I would think about it. After coming home I had a couple of more beers with my roommates Bruce and Amit. Both had a bike, but smaller. Yeah, they were eager to ride the big hog. To get into it I could swap bikes with one of theirs. That convinced me. The next day I bought the bike for 500 bucks, including helmet. The latter I still have ….
There was only a little problem. I did not have a motorcycle drivers license.
Flier for the band Saigon Saloon
Although they were Southerners from the East coast, the Allman brothers unsuccessfully tried to start their career in Los Angeles. Consequently, their first paid performance was in the College Discotheque in Macon, Georgia, on May 1st 1969. Their first home in Macon was called the Hippie Crash Pad. On May 31st they performed for the first time out of town as the support act for the Velvet Underground in Boston. During the year 1970 the band already played more than 300 gigs.
Flier for One pump and A Dump
This was the time of booze and psychedelic drugs and the members of the Allman Brothers Band had their share. In October 1971 Duane Allman and Berry Oakley checked into a rehabilitation clinic to get rid of their Heroin addiction. Duane Allman was just back from this holiday when he zoomed down Hillcrest Avenue in Macon on his Harley Davidson Sportster motorcycle on October 29, 1971. When a flatbed truck carrying a lumber crane stopped in an intersection he could only swerve sharply to the left. He hit something at the back of the truck and was thrown from the motorcycle. Both bike and driver bounced into the air and the bike landed on Allman. You can imagine the speed they had at the impact when you learn that the bike skidded on for almost another 30 m using his body as a toboggan. Hours later the world’s second best guitarist died in the hospital from his internal injuries at the age of 24.
Booklet issued by the DMV with the questions asked at theoretical driving exams (chinese version)
At the time getting the license to drive a motorcycle in California required 10 dollars and a thin booklet with a list of the multiple choice questions asked by the DMW (department of motor vehicles) during a theoretical exam. Passing the exam was the matter of half an hour of preparation. Afterwards I was provisionally allowed to ride my bike, but not at night, not on the freeway and not with a passenger. In the course of half a year I had to acquire sufficient practice to pass the practical exam.
Multiple choice exam sheet for the driving test
So for getting the chick onto the back of the bike I had to hurry up with getting the real license. I started with Amit’s 450 cc bike. After a couple of weeks I appeared for the practical exam. The examiner set up a couple of poles on the parking lot of the DMV. I had to ride an 8 loop in each direction around the poles. I passed without a problem and got my license. However, I still did not feel quite comfortable to go around town with my big bike and my mates were glad that they could continue using the big hog.
Me and my roomates at the entrance of one of the Caltech buildings
After some more weeks I changed to Bruce’s 650 cc bike. One of those invariably sunny and smoggy California afternoons I drove down a hollow lane in San Marino, another of these endless LA suburbs full of beautiful residential buildings with huge, manicured gardens. I was not very fast when I noticed a track of sand on the surface of the sloping road. I was on the sand before I could pull the brake. The bike started to slide sideways and it was my luck that my body decided to fly in the other direction before ending up sliding a couple of meters along the tarmac.
Typical avenue in Pasadena leading towards the San Gebriel mountains
With my black leather jacket, blue jeans, mustache and long hair I hope I had a certain resemblance to the outlook of the Allman gang of the time. With the little difference that I wore a helmet when I fell from the bike. There was a little bleeding bruise on the back of my right hand. The blue jeans were undamaged but underneath was a tiny scald which needed weeks to heal and the scar stayed visible for decades. The leather jacket prevented me from having more wounds. The right shoulder was chafed and had a couple of little holes. I still have it. My vintage loving teenage daughter found it cool enough to wear it until recently when it finally fell apart. It even traveled back with her to the US. Imagine what would have happened to the skin of the scarcely dressed chick on the passenger seat, if there would have been one….
Freeway intersection flyover in Los Angeles
Bruce’s bike had a few scratches and the right mirror was broken. He did not mind. I bought him a new mirror and thought it would be best when I wreck my own bike next time. And it turned out that it was an advantage to have a big heavy motorcycle. There is a lot of wind on the many high freeway flyovers in Los Angeles. When you pass a big vehicle the wind tries to blow you to the side. Then it helps when you have a bit more weight.
Cathouse membership card, 1989
Now it was the time to replace the Dodge Colt by the motorbike for my Tuesday visits to the Cathouse. Crazy enough the place still exists. As a building, 6231 Argyle Avenue, just a block from Hollywood’s walk of fame. It is “Permanently closed”. You find the following headlines on Google: “The Cathouse Hollywood was the rock and metal version of New York City's famed decadent discotheque, Studio 54.” (rocksandy.rocks)”; ”Riki Rachtman's World Famous Cathouse Hollywood was a part of rock history and a music and fashion culture that defined The Los Angeles rock scene.” (cathousehollywood.com); “the Cathouse was a unique standout in a once-in-a-lifetime scene from 1986 to 1993” ….
Cathouse flier for their christmas party 1989
At the time it was a discotheque playing rock music. It was just open on Tuesday nights and as usual in California last call was at 1 am. When there was a long line at the entrance they expected that a celebrity would turn up. No idea how these people got to know about it. I am not an expert in celebrities but I saw David Bowie and Alice Cooper there. Sometimes the line was full of attractive girls. Then the rumor had spread that somebody was looking for groupies to come along for a tour. They always want female groupies….
Harley parking only
There always was a line of motorcycles parked neatly next to each other right in front of the entrance. But when I got there it turned out that mine was not welcome. Harley parking only. I had to go and park the bike where I previously had left my humble car. I had to realize that for getting the chick I probably had bought the wrong bike.
Street music in Hollywood
Not only Hollywood, the entire LA area was full of music at the time. And probably still is. Every Thursday the LA weekly was waiting in a pile at the entrance of institutions like the serious Caltech library to be picked up for free. It was and still is the definitive source of information for news, music, movies, restaurants, reviews, and events in Los Angeles. Altogether it had the size of a weekend edition of a renowned European newspaper. Many pages were filled with announcements of live music. I only knew very few of the bands. Since internet did not exist it was a kind of gamble what it would be. Some of the bands were unknown when we saw them but came to fame later on like Texas, Do Remi or A flock of Seagulls.
Street music in Hollywood
Frequently the setting was an experience in itself. Each of the communities forming Greater LA and Orange county seem to have their venue. There was the Irvine meadows amphitheater, the Pacific Amphitheater, the Greek theater, the Universal amphitheater, Long Beach Arena, Great Western Forum or the Los Angeles coliseum. In my view the most atmospheric is the Hollywood bowl. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright after an antique amphitheater into a park like setting its acoustics are brilliant. Guests bring their coolers and have their picnic while listening to mostly classical music. Although it is close to the 101 freeway there are no disturbing other sounds.
Concert in the Hollywood Bowl before sunset
Like many of the other big venues the Hollywood bowl is open air. Ticketmaster indicated “Rain or shine” on the tickets to show that the event will take place even when it is pouring. However, it is true: it never rains in Southern California. In my two years in LA there was only one day of a bit of reluctant drizzle. There is nothing comparable to a classical concert in the Hollywood bowl at sunset on a balmy Los Angeles summer evening, with a bottle of cold white wine from the cool box and your choice of snacks.
Before a concert in the Greek theater
But the bands who never made it and played in dilapidated buildings in worn out neighborhoods were not less of an experience. Once we went to a gig in a neighborhood ready for demolition somewhere around east LA. The street lined with huge empty, dark brick blocks had only a few street lamps barely able to bring some light into the smoggy gloom. There were no cars at the curbs. When we parked my humble colt a black man walked up to us and recommended to park the car right under one of the streetlights. I followed his advice and he offered politely to wash my car for five dollars while we were in the concert. I thought it wise to give him the five bucks and my car, usually covered with the dust accumulated by driving on unpaved desert tracks, was never as clean again when we came back. And undamaged. We were among the few guests listening to a noisy indie band in an empty former department store on the ground floor of an abandoned building.
Concert in the Greek theater, I do not remember which band it was
One night we went with a British friend and his Indian wife to the show of Nusrah Fateh Ali Khan, the “greatest living exponent of Quawwali”. It was in a very intimate setting in a beautiful art deco mansion. He started tuning his instrument. After a while I got a bit bored. The instrument looked complicated, but it took very long to tune it. Couldn’t he have done the tuning before the concert started? Eventually, after the better part of an hour, he stopped. People started applauding. It had been the first set. After the show I bought a CD, as an apology. I still have to listen to it.
CD cover and leaflet of Nusrah Fateh Ali Khan, the “greatest living exponent of Quawwali”
I had met the Indian girl one Sunday afternoon in a cafe in Hollywood. It was packed. After arrival I heard that Keith Richards was supposed to show up. The girl walked up to us. It was her friends birthday. She asked me whether I would be available as her present to her friend. The friend was born in Croatia, clever and beautiful. I was thrilled but she never became the chick on the passenger seat. Keith Richards never showed up that afternoon either, for all I know.
Collection of 1989 concert tickets
For the gigs of really famous people you had to be fast getting tickets, even in Los Angeles. I managed to see Bruce Springsteen, Randy Newman, Jethro Tull, The Greatful Dead, Don Henley, New Order, Elton John, Stevie Ray Vaughan and many others. The latter died in a helicopter crash soon after I heard him in the Greek theater. He was only 35 years old.
Announcement of the show of the Who in the Los Angeles Coliseum
At the time I did not take any pictures at concerts and my memory is bad. So most of the gigs have slipped from my mind. At the time you had to go and buy or pick up the tickets somewhere, so there always was a paper copy. By chance I have found back some of the ticketmaster paper tickets in a box. A concert which will always stay in my mind was the 25th anniversary tour of the Who in the Los Angeles Coliseum on Saturday, August 26th 1989. The coliseum fits 77500 guests. It was sold out to the last spot. Support act were “Guns and Roses”, at the time a new band and local LA heroes.
Flier for a Hollywood club
A huge stage was set up for the Who. The four chaps of Guns & Roses looked absolutely forlorn on the stage during their performance. In the middle they had installed a little smoke generator which sent a tiny trace of smoke into the still night sky, as clear as an LA night sky can get. I still don’t know whether the helicopter hovering above was there as part of the show or just to observe the nervous crowd or to record the performance. The contrast couldn’t have been greater when the Who came up. The show was as bombastic as their music.
Flier for the New Year celebration of the Cathouse
I never saw the Allman brothers. The band had reunited in 1989 and, like the Who, started for a summer tour to celebrate their 20th anniversary. As far as a reunion was possible. Berry Oakley had been suffering from the death of his friend Duane in 1971. He drank excessively, heavily consumed drugs, and was losing weight quickly. On November 11, 1972 he rode his Harley Davidson down a sharp right bend of Napier Avenue at Macon, three blocks away from where Duane Allman had his accident, in high spirits. He accidentally crossed the road’s center line and collided with a city bus rounding the bend from the opposite direction. After first striking the front and then the back of the bus, Oakley was thrown from his motorcycle and struck his head. He declined medical treatment after the accident and caught a ride home. Three hours later he was rushed to the hospital, delirious and in pain. He died of cerebral swelling caused by a fractured skull. The world’s 46th best bass player died at the same age as Duane Allman, 24 years old.
Harley's parked in the street across a Hollywood restaurant
Today, of the original six members of the Allman brothers, only 81 year old drummer Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson is still alive. Dickie Betts died in 2024, age 80, Butt Trucks in 2017 at age 69, the same year and age as Gregg Allman. During his life Gregg was married 7 times. Between 1975 and 1979 the sunny singer Cher was one of his wives.
Leaflet for a Hollywood club
When you look at the fliers of the time, you notice how sexist some of them are. Women are reduced to “Psycho Bitches”, scarcely dressed sexy symbols to escort moribund tough guys with long hair, beards, black sunglasses and hats. However, in contrast to the commercials the majority in the rock joints were men at the time, most of them normal without these attributes. Still, everybody was dressed in black.
Leaflet for a Hollywood club
One night in Toe’s Tavern I met a guy and his sister Kerry who seemed to be a suitable chick. In her little bungalow she designed her own fashionable underwear which she sold to expensive boutiques in Westwood and Hollywood. In her daily life she drove a vintage Dodge pick-up truck and let her blue jeans talk. On a date she wore black, a black head-band and elegant tip-less black gloves. Everywhere you arrived with her she was an eye-turner. I had a lovely Valentine's dinner with her. However, since she did not want to ride on the back of the bike I took her out in my dirty little Colt Inside a subtle smell of campfire smoke and beer. I don’t think that made a big impression….
Enjoying sunday afternoon in Venice Beach
Her brother asked me to come along to a party he was invited to. The party was in a condominium of little houses grouped around a pool in Altadena. The crowd was best described as the surf-punk type. Everybody was dressed in black, short hair, no beard. There was only one girl. In my colorful Hawaii beach shirt and white summer trousers I felt a bit out of place, to say it mildly. The only girl present, also dressed in black, seemed to have a similar feeling. She was leaning at a table and nobody seemed to be interested in a chat with her. We had a nice conversation when suddenly a guy appeared at my side and shouted at me. Before I even could reply something hit me the head and I went to floor. The brother and a couple of his mates guided me to my car and I got out of there.
Buying sunglasses in Venice Beach
Later he told me that the guy who had attacked me was the boy-friend of the girl I was talking to. He had organized the party since she was about to move to some place far away. Everybody, except of myself, knew that he was sickly jealous. That’s why all the others had left her alone. Everybody regretted what had happened. Well, I guess, sometimes shit happens.
Business as usual on the freeway
Finally the motorcycle came out handy. I met a nice girl working as a gold smith in San Diego. Driving between LA and San Diego on Friday and Sunday afternoons and evenings was a nightmare. Traffic usually was stuck solid both on interstate 5 and 15. With a motorcycle you could pass through between the immobile lanes of jammed cars. It was not fast and you had to be careful, but it was steady going. And the cops were usually stuck too.
Who is steering?
It took a bit of adaptation to get used to the strictness of the California traffic regulations. A four way stop was meant to stop, a solid yellow line was meant to not be crossed, a speed limit was a defined number without possibility to extrapolation. At least the parking tickets were not a problem for a motorcycle.
4 way stop intersection
A British friend got a ticket when he briefly rode without his tank cap on the freeway. He had accidentally left it on the pump at the gas station. One day I made just a flying stop at a four way stop intersection somewhere in a residential area in Hollywood. The crossing street could be overlooked for a long stretch. After I had passed the intersection I suddenly had a cop behind me. I had no idea where he came from. In such a case you better stop, put your hands on the dashboard and wait quietly until he is at your window, hands at the gun in its holster. When he tells you to get out, you put your hands on the top of the car so that he can investigate for weapons. He gave me a ticket for passing a stop sign without stopping. While he checked my license and wrote the ticket one of his mates pulled up next to us. He smiled at me: “He always does that”, he said, “he hides in the hedge because he knows everybody passes through here without a real stop since the visibility is so good...”
One Sunday afternoon I drove on a virtually empty road in the virtual empty and flat semi-desert of the Antelope valley. Except of a little trace of dust of somebody driving in the distance on a gravel road the whole view was horizon only. Except of this slow car in front of me, driving even slower than the 55 mph speed limit prevailing at the time on most roads in California. There was a double yellow line and I decided to pass anyway since there obviously was nobody else around.
A couple of miles further on, the cop was behind me. After he had written the ticket for passing across a double yellow line he pointed at his binoculars. He had been in the dust-cloud raising car on the gravel road. He was friendly. He could have given me a ticket for speeding as well, he said….
California driving license
For each violation committed in California you get points. With five points you lost your license. With the license you not only loose the permit to drive but also your identity. With my nonchalant European way of driving I soon was at 3 points. As such I was entitled to participate in an approved 8-hour road safety course for a price of 22 dollars. Successful participation, which included not much more than watching an endless succession of videos showing fatal accidents, reduced your score by one point. In the course of a couple of months I adjusted to the local rules and no more points were accumulating.
Certificate for passing an approved 8-hour road safety course
That did not mean that the law was not watching me. One night the three of us were caught jay walking across a street in Venice beach. The parking lot was right across the street from the pub so why walk to the next ped crossing instead. Of course a cop was watching us and pulled up next to us. We were required to show our ID cards. I always carried my European driving license with me as well. He looked at me, at the license, at me again. I showed him where my name was, that it was a valid license. He did not believe me, asked for a valid California ID. I said, I am a visitor, I don’t have one. The word anger was written in his face. Then he fined the others 20 $ each. To me he said: “I know you. I will get you and then you won’t get away…“. One of my best “friends” added that it would be unjust to fine him and not me, since he had a valid license…. But I got away.
Motorcycle registration sheet
One night, after an evening in the Cathouse, I wanted to have a brief look at the experiment which I had running in the laboratory. I drove the motorbike right up to the entrance of the chemistry building long after midnight. When I left, I had to ride on the sidewalk for about 10 m to get back on the street without a bump. Promptly a cop pulled up next to me. I had a helmet on. First he pointed his flashlight into my eyes. Then I had to walk in a line on the edge of the curb for some meters. That is to test whether you are drunk. Then he let me go. He did not give me a fine.
Paying parking fees in the 1980ies
In a certain way I kind of understand the guys. Being a cop is a dangerous job in a country where the majority wears a gun on a permanent basis. It is safer to shoot first than be dead. After they have figured out that you didn’t have the intention to kill them they are usually friendly. And writing a little ticket for a traffic violation is less dangerous than going after drug dealers in East LA.
Riding a motorcycle in Pasadena
I had a great time in California and for a while I thought about staying for good. In a year I drove 50000 miles with the little Colt and about 5000 with the motorcycle. In the trunk of the car I had my camping equipment and a cooler ready. On Friday evenings I went to the supermarket, bought a couple of steaks, ham, eggs, cans of veggies and beer, filled the cooler with ice and went off for the weekend. There were Friday nights when I drove 700 miles to Canyonlands in Utah and the same distance back on Sunday. Several times I spent a whole night to drive down into the tip of Baja California in Mexico just to come back during the night on Sunday, easily driving 2000 miles just for a weekend. At the end of my assignment there were few national or state parks in the American West which I did not know.
Hollywood
However, working as a gold smith my girl got 5 days of paid vacation a year and 5 paid sickness days. As an exchange student at a university you have quite some freedom which is lost when you are employed like anybody else. With a bleeding heart I decided to leave. I finally managed to sell the car. For the motorcycle I managed to get back the 500 $ I paid for it, but then while keeping the helmet.
Mural in Hollywood
After all these adventures I love to come back to the US and in particular to California regularly to visit old friends. I had not been to Pasadena for more than 30 years when I returned last winter.
Mural in Hollywood
As usual, the weather in Pasadena was perfect. Blue sky, balmy and without the summer heat. The old town had been entirely rebuilt in the 1990’ies after I had left. The historic buildings now house fancy shops and restaurants. The big empty parking lot, where the entrance to the Loch Ness used to be, is now a big parking structure.
Police bikes parked in Old town Pasadena 2025
When you enter Hayes Aly, which is a dead end from the narrow Kendall Aly, you end up in the old town pub. Once you are inside little has changed from the times when it still was called the Noch Ness. Maybe it is even darker inside than it used to be. They still have life music and the toilets, well let’s forget that topic…. . The band playing that night looked like a young copy of the Allman brothers. Hair like Jesus and beards. The music, post punk grunge stuff, compensated in noise what it lacked in virtuosity. However, outside the former entrance is a little courtyard where you find a pleasant patio to enjoy your drinks. Maybe that is how the people felt in th 1960’ies when the Allman brothers started.
Band in the Old town Pub 2025
After I had returned home I thought about getting a motorcycle license. It turned out that I only needed the evidence that I rode a motorcycle for a year - the California driver license - and that I had ridden a motorcycle at home for half a year. By chance I was living in the house of a friend who owned a bike and wrote me a certificate that I had used it for the required time. That way I got the license, which would have cost me lots of money by taking driving lessons, for 10 $ and a bit of bureaucracy.
View of downtown LA from Hollywood
However, nothing is comparable to ride a bike under a permanently blue sky on endless empty roads in the open landscape of the American West. I never bought my own bike. Cramped and overpopulated central-Europe is not a suitable place for it. The noise only disturbs other peoples peace. And then I don’t even want to have about the weather. The newly acquired license was only useful once when I rented a motorcycle for a day out with a friend.
Hollywood street life
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