![]() ![]() Though I drove maybe 30 miles in three days, the tiny streets and hidden, shady folds make the canyons feel far more vast and intricate. ![]() These roads set the parameters of the canyons, which are, geologically speaking, former streambeds that cut through the Santa Monica Mountains, the camel's hump that divides the city from the valley. I limited my explorations to the terrain between Mulholland Drive to the north and Sunset Boulevard to the south. ![]() And on a recent visit from New York City I spent a few days driving through Laurel and its nearby canyon cousins. That era may have ended when canyon ladies like Mitchell came "wrapped in songs and gypsy shawls" and found true love with shaggy, starry-eyed guitarists, but the canyon retains a special unbuttoned magic. Sure, some of our classmates' parents were becoming known as artists - Ed Kienholz and Carole King - but it was only later that I came to understand that the canyon was undergoing a burst of creativity that would someday be likened to San Francisco's Haight in the 1950's or, with some exaggeration, Paris in the 1920's.Ī place of great natural beauty, central in Los Angeles though also hidden and highly quirky, the canyon attracted such now-legendary rockers as Frank Zappa, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, John Mayall ( Blues from Laurel Canyon), Mama Cass, Graham Nash ( Our House), and Joni Mitchell, who lived, loved, partied, composed, and sang their hearts out in cottages and bungalows in the snaky streets off Kirkwood and Lookout. When I was growing up in the 1960's, Laurel Canyon was simply "the canyon." It was where my brothers and I climbed steep streets on our bikes and built forts in the eucalyptus-scented hills. Apparently, some drivers, upon seeing the phantom carriage suddenly appear, would slam on their brakes or swerve to avoid hitting it, resulting in a collision with other vehicles.From left: Outside of the Canyon Country Store musician Joni Mitchell in her house in 1968: Mulholland Drive.ĥ1 DRIVING: On a tour through the twisting canyons of Los Angeles, Michael Frank looks for traces of the area's rock 'n' roll past, and finds its cool bohemian culture lives on. Upon further research, I also learned that this apparition was said to be responsible for a number of traffic accidents at the intersection of Laurel Canyon and Lookout Mountain Road. However, I later discovered that other people had also witnessed the same thing at the very same location. The silent apparition lasted for only a second or two before vanishing into thin air, and at the time I thought I had simply imagined it due to the fact that I was extremely tired and my eyes were strained from hours of card readings. It was at that moment that I spotted an old-fashioned carriage pulled by two white horses racing madly down Lookout Mountain Road toward the intersection. I reached the bottom of Lookout Mountain and then turned left onto Laurel Canyon Boulevard. I packed my tarot cards, got into my car, and began heading home. It turned out to be quite a festive event, lasting for about six hours and attended by actress Fairuza Balk and many other people who worked in the entertainment industry. In the summer of 2000, I was hired to do tarot readings for a birthday party at a house on Lookout Mountain Road. ![]() It is an area of frequent ghost sightings. Up in the Hollywood hills, above the hustle and bustle of the city and not far from the allegedly haunted ruins of Harry Houdini’s old burned-out mansion, lies the intersection of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Lookout Mountain Road. ![]()
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