Sunset Boulevard and Rock Innovation: 1966 and 1967
Sunset Over Sunset is a future web based project detailing the history of Sunset Boulevard. I worked as an urban historian to develop the contents of it. This project is based on the photography of the Boulevard by Ed Ruscha, taken over several decades. Me and my fellow interns documented the residents and businesses of Sunset Boulevard through city directories, census data, newspapers, and more. We also worked on individual case studies relevant to Sunset, which could be an in depth view of a location throughout time, features on Sunset such as billboards or palm trees, or any other story about Sunset we wanted to tell. My case study is about a specific time period, just 2 years, 1966 and 1967, and 3 albums released in those years that were connected to the boulevard. The Doors' self-titled album, Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys, and Freak Out by The Mothers of Invention are great albums, but in one way or another, they are also historical records related to Sunset. This music paints a broader picture of the culture of Sunset and Hollywood within that timeframe, and also how music tied to this one street is responsible for international musical innovation. The legacy of this road lives through these albums, through Ed Ruscha's photography, and through the buildings and residents of the past and today.
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