During the 1960s and ‘70s, the who’s who of the music industry – folk musicians, psychedelic rock stars, country singers, and pop groups alike – were all basking in the goodness of Laurel Canyon. The mountainous neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills was idyllic – some might say magical – world in which a group of friends gathered and grew to become some of the best-known artists of the 20th century. We’re talking about artists like Joni Mitchell, The Eagles, Jim Morrison, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash, all living within walking distance of one another.
Joni Mitchell at home on Lookout Mountain Avenue, in Laurel Canyon, September 1970. Source: vanityfair.com
Yes, looking back now, it seems like a paradise that people would pay an arm and a leg for just to get a glimpse of what it was like. But the Laurel Canyon music scene – just like the California sound that they made famous – was actually quite a mellow episode in the history of music. But as relaxed as it was, it is, nonetheless, a time and place worth exploring.