Peace, Love and Topanga
Like San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, Southern California has Topanga, which some consider a throwback to hippie days, though its more fashionable moniker is “bohemian.” Tucked in the Santa Monica Mountains between Malibu and Los Angeles in an unincorporated area of L.A. County, famous musicians that have performed, lived or gotten inspiration in the hidden gem that seems slightly untouched by freeways and urban life nearby are Neil Young, Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys, Canned Heat, Spirit, Little Feat, Spanky and Our Gang, Taj Mahal, Emmylou Harris, Bob Denver, Neil Diamond, Etta James and Jim Morrison. Rumor has it that Morrison was inspired to write “Roadhouse Blues” about the drive up Topanga Canyon Boulevard.
It is fitting that Topanga Days festival on Memorial Weekend May 27-29, 2017 features bands such as Jefferson Starship (jeffersonstarship.net) formed in San Francisco in 1974 by Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Marty Balin, David Freiberg, Johny Barbata, Pete Sears, Craig Chaquico and Papa John Creach. If you miss Topanga Days, you can see Jefferson Starship (with original band member David Freiberg) in other California locales:
May 25 Belly Up Solana Beach, CA
May 26 Coach House Concert Hall San Juan Capistrano, CA
May 27 Topanga Days Topanga, CA
Jun 10 Cushing Memorial Amphitheater Mill Valley, CA
Jul 28 Cornerstone Berkeley, CA
Jul 29 Burbank Starlight Bowl Burbank, CA
