This site is to highlight all the great live music and music venues that can be found on the west (left) side of Los Angeles. This site is for the community that I’m honored to slowly become a part of here on the west side; that includes proprietors, musicians, the locals and other regulars at the venues I’ve visited. This is a site that hopes to capture unique moments in time where we can collectively say, “hey, I was there,” and in that be able to give whatever value that holds back to the community.
On the west side of the city, we don’t have any huge arenas. The closest we come to see national touring acts is perhaps at the Troubadour–which is actually closer to Hollywood than the beach.
So what does the west side have to offer live music lovers? OK, granted, a lot of mediocre to bad music, but, I would argue that is the case everywhere. But, i would also posit that perhaps because of the extra laid back attitudes of the residents this close to the ocean
and the relative isolation from the rest of Los Angeles (the traffic and lack of good public transportation to areas such as Hollywood, Silverlake and Echo Park are factors) that the music that thrives here are both equally familiar and strange (and sometimes outright bizzare). Cover bands have equal footing here with original and experimental fare.
The west side is home to KXLU—on the left side of the dial at 89.1FM. It is the only radio station in Los Angeles, that I am aware of (since I first tuned in in the early 1990s), that plays demos and self-produced music without the backing of any major label (or any label for that matter). The cache of a performer’s fame and radio play certainly to matter less here than an act’s musicianship and showmanship. At this time there is also a distinct lack of pretense here but such things come and go like the tide. What’s remains constant is the thirst for the music going public anywhere for good and entertaining live music.