In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Sunset Strip folk/rock/counterculture era, join photographer Robert Landau for a trip down memory lane through a slideshow of his historic billboard images, along with colorful stories about their history.

In the late 1960s, Landau was a kid with his first camera, living a block off the Strip.  He noticed that the billboards, hand-finished by highly trained commercial painters, had a short life span, and would routinely be changed to advertise new albums and artists.  He began shooting color transparencies of these one-of-a-kind pop culture urban artworks so he could have slideshows for friends who wouldn’t otherwise get to see them. Decades later, Landau rediscovered his Kodachromes , which ended up being the most extensive collection of photographs to document this remarkable Sunset Strip phenomenon. Inspired, he interviewed the artists, record producers, and designers who brought the billboards to life, lending fresh insight to the culture of the day.  It’s all chronicled in Landau’s book Rock ‘N’ Roll Billboards of the Sunset Strip (Angel City Press).

In conjunction with a public art exhibit consisting of 10 large format versions of Robert Landau's photos; this talk is presented by the City of West Hollywood through Weho Arts and WeHo Reads (www.weho.org/arts) as part of  'There's Something Happening Here...' a year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the counterculture era on the Sunset Strip. For more information on the exhibits and events, a downloadable brochure and map of historic locations, and links to music, books, and film, please visit www.bit.ly/SunsetStrip66.

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Contact:  Michael Che, Economic Development and Cultural Affairs Coordinator

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