Los Angeles’ Skirball Cultural Center is currently running Rock & Roll Billboards of the Sunset Strip, an exhibit that features photographs of the hand-painted billboards that dominated the streets of LA for nearly two decades. As they put it:
“…this exhibition brings to life a unique period in the history of rock & roll and the fabled Sunset Strip, whose nightclubs were the birthplace of rock & roll royalty. Photographer Robert Landau traces the billboard phenomenon from the breakthrough promotion for the debut album by the Doors in 1967 to the advent of MTV in the 1980s, which signaled the end of an era.”
Poor MTV. Ever the scapegoat of shifts in pop culture.
The exhibition is up through August 16 and, judging by the examples here, well worth seeing. You can see more shots on the exhibition page.
Skirball is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. near Manhattan Beach and open noon to 5PM Tuesday-Friday, 10AM-5PM on weekends, and closed Mondays.
