David Geffen: How the Brooklyn Kid Became a Billion-Dollar Magnate

David Geffen Happened

There was no doubt that Geffen’s impact was felt throughout the music industry, especially on the West Coast. It was a wake-up call for any big wigs who were growing lazy and smug. “If you want to talk about what happened to the L.A. scene in the first half of the 1970s, you can sum it up with one name,” says David Anderle. “David Geffen happened.”

Linda Ronstadt photographed leaning on the front window of an old car

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

But by the end of the decade, the industry in the West started to shift. By 1979, when Linda Ronstadt moved to New York, Los Angeles was starting to lose its appeal. It didn’t take too long for L.A. to go from new and hot to old and lame.