Venice · Sunset Strip · Hollywood · Downtown · Paris
A storm over Los Angeles. Each flash lights the band in another year.
A beach, a dive bar next to the Whisky, a garage turned studio, and five minutes in a hotel lobby while the clerk rode the lift. Then go and stand where it happened.
Venice Beach · Summer 1965
Two film students, a long way apart on the sand.
Morrison and Manzarek were both film students at UCLA, and first met at its film school.
A public beach and boardwalk, free to walk. The mural is on the boardwalk near Speedway and 18th Place.
Westwood, Los Angeles · 11 km from the beach as the crow flies
Morrison and Manzarek were both film students at UCLA, and first met at its film school. A Royce Hall programme is among the keepsakes boxed with the London Fog 1966 recordings.
A public university campus in Westwood, free to walk round. Royce Hall is at its heart.
Los Angeles
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Compare tours8901 Sunset Boulevard · May 1966 – August 1966
In May 1966 the Doors had a residency at the London Fog, a Sunset Strip dive bar a few steps from the Whisky. A fan, Nettie Peña, taped a set on a reel-to-reel: the earliest known recording of the band live.
Whisky a Go GoBooking card · The Doors
A blank card. Three stamps to come.
The Whisky opened on 15 January 1964 with a concert by Johnny Rivers. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gave it a historic landmark marker in 2006.
A working club, open from 6pm; book a show to go in. The London Fog was a few steps away.
8401 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood
The old Continental Hyatt House on the Sunset Strip, nicknamed the Riot House, where Morrison was reportedly thrown out for hanging off a balcony by his fingertips. The Whisky is further along Sunset.
Check ratesSunset Sound, 6650 Sunset Boulevard · 1966
The band needs a bass player.
Four tracks. Four and a half days.
The first album was recorded and mixed in four and a half days, on four-track.
Tutti Camarata, Walt Disney’s director of recording, founded the studio in 1958. The Doors made their first two albums here. Studio One had been a car repair garage. Its floor sloped towards the control room and the ceiling was about eight feet high.
The engineer Bruce Botnick recorded the Doors’ first five studio albums here. It is still a working studio, open 24 hours for sessions.
A working studio, not open to drop-in visitors. See it from Sunset Boulevard.
The Morrison Hotel, downtown Los Angeles · 1970
A low-rent, single-room hotel that opened in 1914. Ray Manzarek found it while driving round. Henry Diltz shot the cover of Morrison Hotel (Elektra, 1970) in the lobby, the band framed by the hotel’s hand-painted reverse-glass sign.
Henry Diltz’s photograph as printed in a 1970 Billboard advertisement. Public domain.
The lobby, 1246 South Hope Street. A clerk at the desk.
A fire-damaged shell, red-tagged by the city. Look from the pavement only; do not go in.
Santa Monica Boulevard and La Cienega · 1968–1972
8512 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood
This two-storey building was the centre of everything the Doors did from 1968 to 1972. They recorded the whole of L.A. Woman on the lower floor, which they called the Doors Workshop.
The microphone on the studio floor downstairs.
Today Tail o’ the Pup, a hot dog stand restored by the 1933 Group, stands in front.
Tail o’ the Pup serves hot dogs at the front. The building behind is not open; read the plaque from the pavement.
1005 N La Cienega Boulevard, West Hollywood · 80 m from the Workshop
Morrison’s main home from 1968 to 1970. Room 32 was his favourite.
Fans covered Room 32’s walls in writing; the owners painted over it from time to time, and the fans started again.
The motel has been closed and listed for lease since at least 2021. It is not one of West Hollywood’s designated historic resources, and there is no plaque.
Closed since at least 2021 and private property. See it from the street.
8447 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood · 260 m from the Workshop
Barney’s opened in 1927 on Route 66, now Santa Monica Boulevard. Morrison and Janis Joplin both drank here.
A plaque marks Morrison’s regular seat at the bar.
A working bar and restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard.
Hollywood and Laurel Canyon · 1968
5 July 1968
The Doors played the Bowl on 5 July 1968. The show was filmed and recorded for the film Feast of Friends.
It came out in 1987 as Live at the Hollywood Bowl, and again in 2012 as Live at the Bowl ’68, with unreleased tracks.
A working amphitheatre, the summer home of the LA Phil; go in for a concert.
1968
Morrison and the photographer Paul Ferrara chose the observatory for a 1968 photo shoot, as a nod to Rebel Without a Cause.
It opened to the public on 14 May 1935. A bust of James Dean stands on the west side of the grounds.
Free. Tuesday to Friday noon to 10pm, weekends 10am to 10pm; closed Mondays. Parking nearby is paid.
July 2018 · the Love Street marker
Morrison and Pamela Courson lived on Rothdell Trail. The street inspired the song Love Street. In July 2018 the City of Los Angeles gave the Doors a cultural marker for the song: the first it had given a band.
A private house on a private street. Named here, never mapped.
Père Lachaise, Paris 20e · 1971
Morrison is buried at Père Lachaise, said to be the most visited cemetery in the world.
The plaque reads James Douglas Morrison, 1943–1971. His father put up the stone in the 1990s. People come every day and leave flowers. The grave is watched all the time to stop damage.
Entry is free, every day of the year. Drinking, picnics, and loud music or instruments without permission are not allowed; be discreet during funerals.
Plan a visit: pick a day
Pick a day for the opening hours.
Free, every day. Until 5 November: weekdays 8am–6pm, Saturdays from 8.30am, Sundays from 9am. Winter closing is 5.30pm. No alcohol, picnics or loud music.
In 1971 Morrison shared a third-floor flat at 17 rue Beautreillis, between Saint-Paul and the Bastille, with Pamela Courson. He died that year, aged 27. The building is private and not open to the public.
Paris 20e
Live marketplace results for guided visits of the cemetery. Entry itself is free; a guide helps you find your way round it.
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Compare tours11 places you can visit. The house on Rothdell Trail and the flat on rue Beautreillis are private and not on the map.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public beach and boardwalk, free to walk. The mural is on the boardwalk near Speedway and 18th Place.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public university campus in Westwood, free to walk round. Royce Hall is at its heart.
Ocean Front Walk, Venice
Morrison and Ray Manzarek had both studied at UCLA’s film school. They met again by chance on the beach at Venice in the summer of 1965.
A public beach and boardwalk, free to walk. The mural is on the boardwalk near Speedway and 18th Place.
Westwood, Los Angeles
Morrison and Manzarek were both film students at UCLA, and first met at its film school.
A public university campus in Westwood, free to walk round. Royce Hall is at its heart.
Stay
The old Riot House, on Sunset Boulevard.
8401 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood
The old Continental Hyatt House on the Sunset Strip, nicknamed the Riot House, where Morrison was reportedly thrown out for hanging off a balcony by his fingertips. The Whisky is further along Sunset.
Check ratesGo there
Rock history tours of Los Angeles, and guided walks in Père Lachaise.
Los Angeles
Live marketplace results for Doors and Sunset Strip rock history tours. Check each itinerary for the stops you want.
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Compare toursParis 20e
Live marketplace results for guided visits of the cemetery. Entry itself is free; a guide helps you find your way round it.
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Compare toursWhat’s on
The club still books bands most nights.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
Three original 1960s posters from our store, two memoirs by the band and three records tied to these places.
An original 1967 Fillmore poster with art by Bonnie MacLean. 14 × 21.4 in, rolled, mint.
In stock
View posterAn original 1967 Avalon Ballroom poster with art by Victor Moscoso. 14 × 20 in, rolled, mint.
In stock
View posterAn original 1969 poster with art by Randy Tuten. 14 × 21 in, rolled, mint.
In stock
View posterRay Manzarek
Manzarek’s own account, from the beach at Venice onwards.
Find the bookJohn Densmore
The drummer’s memoir of the band.
Find the bookThe Doors · LP, Elektra EKS-74007, 1967
The first album, recorded and mixed in four and a half days at Sunset Sound.
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Find a copyThe Doors · LP, Elektra EKS-75007, 1970
The cover shot in five minutes on Hope Street; the back at the Hard Rock Cafe.
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Find a copyThe Doors · LP, Elektra EKS-75011, 1971
Recorded downstairs at the Workshop on Santa Monica Boulevard.
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Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
13 of 13 places · 15 of 15 Moments
Ocean Front Walk, Venice
They meet again by chance on Venice Beach.
Rip Cronk paints Morrison on the boardwalk.
Westwood, Los Angeles
Morrison and Manzarek meet as UCLA film students.
8901 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood
A residency at a dive bar next door to the Whisky, taped by a fan.
Elektra signs them; days later the Whisky lets them go.
6650 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood
The first album, recorded and mixed on four-track.
8447 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood
8512 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood
L.A. Woman is recorded downstairs; the vocals in the bathroom.
1005 N La Cienega Boulevard, West Hollywood
Morrison makes the motel his main home.
2301 N Highland Avenue, Hollywood
The Hollywood Bowl show, filmed for Feast of Friends.
2800 E Observatory Road, Los Feliz
Paul Ferrara photographs Morrison at the observatory.
Laurel Canyon
Los Angeles gives a band a song marker for the first time.
1246 S Hope Street, downtown Los Angeles
The clerk steps into the lift; the band run in; one roll.
Fire guts the Morrison Hotel.
16 rue du Repos, Paris 20e
Morrison is buried in Paris.
The Marais, Paris 4e
Morrison and Pamela Courson take a flat in Paris.
