PHOTOS: LAUREL CANYON ROAD TRIP

Original 1967 Doors gig poster in the Canyon Country Store.

Across the road from the Canyon Country store.

Flower Power, 1967-style.

Cielo Drive, just down the hill from the scene of the infamous Tate murders.

The back side of the Canyon Country Store, as viewed from Jim Morrison's former home.

An L.A. vista.

Inside Room 105 of the Landmark Motor Hotel, scene of Janis Joplin's demise.

Jim Morrison's highly distinctive former house at Rothdell Trail, just behind the Canyon Country Store.

A rear view of Jim Morrison's old LC residence.

Weird Scenes inside the Canyon.

Memorabilia at the Country Store.

A side view of the Log Cabin site.

Site of the Log Cabin, Frank Zappa's former Laurel Canyon home.

Frank Zappa's former Log Cabin site, later inhabited by Eric Burdon of The Animals.

An alternative view of The Log Cabin, definitely a unique kind of place.

Atop Lookout Mountain.

The Lookout Mountain Laboratory, former covert military intelligence facility at the very top of the LC.

Lookout Mountain Laboratory, now occupied by Hollywood actor Jared Leto.

Outside the Canyon Country Store, a meeting-place hub for the counter-culture musicians of the late 60s. Note the cool map of the area.

Inside Room 105 of the Landmark Motor Hotel, and at the shrine to Janis Joplin created by fans in the room's closet.

The Viper Room live music venue, owned by Johnny Depp.

A Doors fan outside Jim Morrison's former residence.

Formerly 10050 Cielo Drive, the Tate/ Polanski residence. The house was demolished in 1994 and a new property rebuilt. It's now been renumbered 10066 Cielo Drive.

The driveway to the former Tate/ Polanski residence on Cielo Drive, home of the horrific Manson Murders in August 1969.

Greg sneaks into Room 105.

You tell me!

Time for lunch.

A road trip to the Hollywood Hills.

A panoramic view of the valley from up in the Hollywood Hills.

A lunch break with our host Shentale at Mel's Diner on the Sunset Strip.

Lunch at popular Mel's Diner on the Sunset Strip.

Across the road from the historic Canyon Country Store.

I had an absolutely awesome time running around Laurel Canyon, Sunset Strip and other Hollywood Hills neighbourhoods in LA with Greg Carlwood of The Higherside Chats fame, his girl Teresa and our host Shentale. We got to see many of the legendary locations immortalised in Dave McGowan’s groundbreaking ’Weird Scenes Inside The Canyon’ book, including the Lookout Mountain Laboratory, Frank Zappa’s Log Cabin residence, the Whisky-A-Go-Go Club on Sunset Boulevard, the site of the Manson Family/ Tate murders, the Canyon Country Store, Jim Morrison’s former residence behind it, and the very room at The Landmark Hotel in which Janis Joplin died, which now has a shrine in its closet. When you read about these you form an image in your mind of what they’ll all look like, and I have to say none of them appeared as expected. A mini video documentary of our escapades will be coming soon, In the meantime, here’s a selection of pics.