Freak Out! Hot Spots

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As advertised on the inside-right cover of early US copies of Freak Out! .

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The text reads:

"PLANNING ON VISITING L.A. THIS SUMMER? Send for your copy of the special map we have prepared for you; "FREAK-OUT HOT-SPOTS" shows how to get to Canters, Ben Frank's, Fred C. Dobbs, The Trip, The Whisky A-Go-Go, The Brave New World, It's Boss, Bido Lito's,[sic] and many more interesting places. Also shows where the heat has been busting frequently, with tips on safety in police-terror situations. Only $1.00 in magnificent color (mostly black) send to: FREAK MAP c/o MGM RECORDS, 1540 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10036. Hurry! This map has no commercial potential!"


Freak Out Hot Spots! Map (click to enlarge)


The Map's "FREAK OUT Hot Spots!" listed as:

  • #1 The Cinematheque 16 still happens on a psychedelic level with rare and interesting films from the Great Underground. Located at 8815-1/2 Sunset Bl. (657-6815).
  • #2 The Trip used to be the center of the Freak Scene. See it now: 8572 Sunset Blvd.
  • #3 Ben Franks used to be the place to go after the dancing stopped. The atomic blast denotes a bust (overall) by the L.A. heat. 8585 Sunset Blvd (phone 655-7410).
  • #4 Whisky a Go-Go still happens every night with top Pop Music Acts (and occasionally, lesser known fill-in groups like us). Yay, gang! Lotsa fun! 8901 Sunset Blvd (phone 652-4204).
  • #5 Gazzarri's still happens on a hard rock custom pompadour sport coat level. Don't miss it at 9039 W. Sunset Blvd. (phone 273-6606).
  • #6 The Troubadour gives you not only folk music, but folk-rock music, rock music itself, and other hybrids, all IN CONCERT. Stunning in its concept at 9083 Santa Monica Blvd (phone 276-6168).
  • #7 West L.A. Sheriff Station nestled in the heart of the outskirts of the fringe of where everything is happening, this moral arsenal provides shelter and sanctuary for that proud and magnificent beast we call THE WEST L.A. SHERIFF'S DEPUTY/servant & protector OR, more commonly, THE MAN. See the hapless trustees in their stenciled shirts washing HIS cars. Hear bold Aryan operatives rave about long hair freakos and the last John Birch meeting at 720 N. San Vincente Blvd (phone... only as a last resort if you have long hair or a beard 652-3525).
  • #8 Barney's Beanery is still there. It is a matter of opinion whether it is still (or ever was) HAPPENING. Fun to visit: 8447 W. Santa Monica Blvd (phone 654-9240).
  • #9 The Chez which used to be The Action which was the first place we worked when we emerged from the sticks and came to Hollywood is now High Class. A must: 8265 Santa Monica Blvd (phone 656-3576).
  • #10 P.J.'s is now, as it was, and always (most likely but I'll check it out for you a coupla times) will be, the greatest place in town to see Trini Lopez in action. Located at 8151 W. Santa Monica Blvd (phone 656-8000).
  • #11 The Sea Witch is one of the teenie-bopper (no offense, gang) IN SPOTS, featuring the new local bands in performance of psychedelic music b/w Cokes and Coffee... 8514 Sunset Blvd (phone 652-9160).
  • #12 FRED C. DOBBS Memorial Shrine... it used to be the best place to go to meet friends and dig the juke box until the heat blew it for us... or was it that bunch of outside idiots that started hanging around towards the end there, unable to maintain their coolness? The ruins are located at 8537 Sunset Blvd.
  • #13 IT'S BOSS is teenie-bopper heaven. You only have to be 15 to get in. Located at 8433 Sunset Blvd (phone 654-9900).
  • #14 Nikki's Too is a day-time spot with an outdoor thing where you can ingest surprisingly good hamburgers in the company of a lot of really creepy people who sit there next to you while you're eating and hope that somebody driving by owes them money so they can scream and yell at them and make a scene so the people walking by will notice that they're sitting there and how groovy their sunglasses are... 8355 Sunset Blvd (phone 656-9244).
  • #15 The Colonial West Model is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. My views, however, were not shared by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Sammy Davis Jr., or any of the other 18 million hippies who have made this their place to crash over the past few years. Conveniently located next to Nikki's Too at 8351 Sunset Blvd (phone for reservations 656-4120).
  • #16 The Stripcombers is HAPPENING for black leather jackets and motorcycle boots if that is your bag. Keen fun at 8301 Sunset Blvd (for pertinent information phone the West Hollywood Sheriff's Station).
  • #17 The Fifth Estate is one of those places that refuses to quit... even after a whole series of scenes with the heat, bravely situated at 8226 Sunset Blvd (phone 656-7673).
  • #18 PANDORA'S BOX is another teenie-bop underground stronghold... a defiant little island at the top of the strip with a picket fence around it and cops and ingenue freakos and lots of atmosphere, but tiny. Try sitting at Frascati's across the street and watching the heat surround the place while the kids scramble for cover. Keen fun. Located at 8118 Sunset Blvd (phone 656-9192).
  • #19 GEE GEE'S was a scene until it was mysteriously forced out of business. It is, at this moment, for rent... 8100 Sunset Blvd., next to Schwab's drug store, across the street from Ah Fong's and Greenblatts Deli.
  • #20 The Ash Grove features ETHNIC ETHNICAL ETHNOCENTRIC Folque Musique... I remember when Bud Travis used to work there and Ed Pearl used to do Ethnopolitical Greasing for the newly founded cabaret at the Idyllwild Folk Freak Sanctuary in 1958, Before Hal Zeiger invented the HOOTENANNY. Check it out at 8162 Melrose Ave (phone 653-2070).
  • #21 VITO'S STUDIO & store & cult HQ & sanctuary & genetic laboratory which is REALLY THE PLACE TO SEE is located at 303 N. Laurel (the bomb blasts tells us that the status quo agents have made it known that they are checking Vito out)
  • #22 Canters Fairfax Restaurant is THE TOP FREAKO WATERING HOLE AND SOCIAL HQ, scene of more blatant Gestapo practices than the peaceful natives care to recollect, it is a good place to go as soon as you arrive in town. If a black bus (or two) pulls up in front and you see your fellows, brethren and kinfolk being loaded into them (as if it were off to Auschwitz), do not flip out. Do something constructive: something positive... unfortunately, I'm not allowed to offer any suggestions, except to say, perhaps, that the silverware is cheap and easy to replace. You may cautiously approach it at 419 N. Fairfax (safer to phone 651-2030) Canters is across the street from the Kazoo (See #69).
  • #23 The Blue Grotto coffee house used to be nice and quiet until it got busted in the middle of the night. Meet and talk with the survivors at 1010 N. Fairfax.
  • #24 CARL'S HOUSE is where Carl lives. It wouldn't be right to give EVERYBODY the address... he would never get any sleep, poor fella.
  • #25 SITE OF A GIGANTIC & FESTIVE BUST wherein much brutality and authoritarian B.S. was perpetrated with the result that all parties involved served a lot of DEAD TIME (time before trial) and got acquitted (causing them great physical and mental discomfort & status loss).
  • #27 THE BRAVE NEW WORLD is a very IN sort of late-teen Freak spot. Visit 1644 N. Cherokee, near M'Goos on Hollywood Blvd.
  • #28 The Omnibus is a coffee house next door to the WILD THING at 1835 Cahuenga (phone 462-0473).
  • #29 The Red Velvet is HQ for the plastic & pompadour set with lotsa hard rock & blue-eyed soul to TURN YOU ON, BABY. Located at 6507 Sunset Blvd (466-0861).
  • #30 BIDO LIDO'S (formerly Cosmo Alley, one of our beloved manager's old coffee houses) is another underground teen-freako hot spot that launched the group LOVE "into orbit in the top pop hit charts with many smash numbers" (some of them performed on their employers). The Bido Lido's ain't quite the same... but still sort of happening & atmospheric at 1608 N. Cosmo St.
  • #31 The Haunted House is fulla go-go & snappy ensembles & hair-dos & a genuine fire-breathing bandstand. Must be seen to be believed at 6315 Hollywood Blvd.
  • #32 The Hollywood Ranch Market never closes and is a good place to see some REAL FREAKS. 1248 N. Vine (phone 464-0156).
  • #35 THE TROPICANA MOTEL is groupies' paradise... that's where most of the touring groups who play the Whisky a Go-Go stay when they hit town, as well as many members of active local groups like The Doors and The Byrds. Located at 8585 Santa Monica Blvd (phone 652-5720).
  • #69 (by request) THE LOS ANGELES FREE PRESS OFFICE, cognoscenti HQ, beacon of truth, champion of teen & otherwise justice, nice people, and more at 5903 Melrose Avenue. You would be wise to subscribe immediately upon arrival to town or you will never really know what's going on... socially or politically. THEY ALSO SELL BOOKS, MAGAZINES, BUMPERSTICKERS & BUTTONS THAT WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH & HAVE STATUS at 424-1/2 Fairfax, across from Canter's, #22. Behold the enclosed subscription blank.

Notes

Original 1966 issues of the map were blank on the reverse. A second print had the graphics from Absolutely Free printed on the back. Included in Los Angeles Free Press #121 (November 1966). A smaller version was available to buy from stores on Sunset Strip. There are numerous reproductions circulating. After the initial run the advertisement was removed and a blank space left on the cover.

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