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1712 North Crescent Heights: Dennis Hopper Photographs 1962-1968

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These intriguing images, which range from sun-drenched to claustrophobic, have a dreamy quality, like a silent film. The photographs capture a graciously Bohemian culture that foreshadowed 1960's counterculture, and they faintly hint at the stylish decadence of 1920's Hollywood. They depict a time when the western regions of Los Angeles were both urbane and pastoral--a time when a starlet such as Tuesday Weld could feel comfortable driving on city streets in an open convertible--a time before personal style had degraded to the level of shaved heads, jauntily oriented baseball caps, and lapses in grooming. In photo number 120, the "Sunset Strip Riot" at Pandora's Box kicks off the 1960's upheavals that would be precisely defined by Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider just three years later. This photo is shot at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights, just down the road from the Hopper residence. In the background of the photo, behind the street action, is the site of The Garden of Alla, demolished 7 years previously, and perhaps the most prominent meeting place for the graciously Bohemian Hollywood crowd of the 1920's.