Los Angeles in History

Birth of Marilyn Monroe

Placed in the Los Angeles Orphans Home

Birth of Doors drummer John Densmore.

Birth of John Densmore

Birth of Doors guitarist Robby Krieger.

Appears on The Steve Allen Show and demonstrates experimental percussion by performing on a bicycle.

Founder Member of The Byrds

Founder Member of The Byrds

Founder Member of The Byrds

Founder Member of The Byrds

Completes his undergraduate education at UCLA, majoring in film

The Doors take their name from Huxley's book, itself echoing William Blake.

34 die during demonstrations at Watts, a black area of Los Angeles

Takes control of the Soul Giants, introduces his original compositions and renames the group the Mothers.

Joins The Doors after the first demo period.

The Byrds turn Dylan's Mr Tambourine Man into a folk-rock hit.

Joins Morrison and Manzarek in the emerging band.

Plays bass on the early Doors demo session.

Records a six-song demo at World Pacific Studios.

Forms Buffalo Springfield with Neil Young and becomes his major early songwriting counterpart.

Develops its live sound during a London Fog residency.

Signs with Verve Records after producer Tom Wilson sees the Mothers perform, leading to the name Mothers of Invention.

Begins a residency at the Whisky a Go Go.

Releases Freak Out! with the Mothers of Invention, an ambitious double album combining satire, rock and experimental composition.

Engineers early recordings that shape The Doors' studio sound.

Produces the first Doors album sessions.

Signs with Elektra Records after Los Angeles club exposure.

Improvises provocative lyrics during The End at the Whisky.

Writes the initial idea for Light My Fire.

Releases the debut album The Doors.

Releases Absolutely Free with the Mothers of Invention, expanding the group's mixture of satire and complex ensemble writing.

Releases the second album Strange Days.

Forms Bizarre Productions with manager Herb Cohen to gain greater control over recording and production projects.

Develops Celebration of the Lizard as ambitious stage material.

Releases We're Only in It for the Money, satirising contemporary counterculture and mainstream American society.

Releases Lumpy Gravy, an orchestral and tape-collage work credited as his first solo album.

Assassinated in a hotel after leaving a primary victory celebration

Assassinated in a hotel after leaving a primary victory celebration

Death of Robert F Kennedy

Releases Waiting for the Sun.

Performs a filmed concert at the Hollywood Bowl.

Releases Cruising with Ruben & the Jets, a deliberately stylised tribute to doo-wop and 1950s vocal-group music.

Founder Member of Crazy Horse

Founder Member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Disbands the original Mothers of Invention line-up after years of intensive touring and recording.

Co-founds Straight Records with Herb Cohen to release music by artists outside his own immediate recording projects.

Plays saxophone on Touch Me.

Records live performances at the Aquarius Theatre.

Releases The Soft Parade.

Records blues-oriented material for Morrison Hotel.

Represents blues influence on the band's 1970 sound.

Releases Burnt Weeny Sandwich, combining live material, studio editing, instrumental composition and doo-wop influences.

Releases Morrison Hotel.

Publicly alleges that the United States is fighting a secret tribal war in Laos

Releases Weasels Ripped My Flesh, assembling experimental studio and live performances from the Mothers.

Killed by a tear gas projectile during the National Chicano Moratorium

Helps organize the National Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War

Records material for Pearl shortly before her death

Dies of a heroin overdose in Los Angeles

Releases Chunga's Revenge, linking late Mothers material with the musical direction of his early 1970s bands.

Leaves the L.A. Woman sessions after rejecting the material.

Co-produces L.A. Woman with The Doors.

Plays bass during L.A. Woman sessions.

Records sessions for L.A. Woman, his final studio album with the band.

Adds rhythm guitar during L.A. Woman sessions.

Co-founds Eagles and brings strong country, bluegrass and folk influences to the early sound.

Co-founds Eagles and becomes one of the band's principal lead vocalists and songwriters.

Co-founds Eagles with Don Henley, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner in Los Angeles.

Co-founds Eagles as bassist and high-harmony vocalist in the original line-up.

Works in the Los Angeles country-rock scene before becoming a founding member of Eagles.

Plays drums behind Linda Ronstadt before joining Frey, Leadon and Meisner in Eagles.

Works with Linda Ronstadt and connects with musicians who soon form Eagles.

Joins the group of musicians around Linda Ronstadt that leads to the formation of Eagles.

Releases L.A. Woman.

Participates in the burglary of psychiatrist Lewis Fielding's office as White House operatives search for information that could discredit Pentagon Papers source Daniel Ellsberg.

Hunt's first assignment for the White House (Special Investigations Unit) was a covert operation to break into the Los Angeles office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist, Dr. Lewis J. Fielding. In July 1971, Fielding had refused an FBI request for psychiatric data on Ellsberg. Hunt and Liddy cased the building in late August. The burglary, on September 3, 1971, was not detected, but no Ellsberg files were found

Hunt's first assignment for the White House (Special Investigations Unit) was a covert operation to break into the Los Angeles office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist, Dr. Lewis J. Fielding. In July 1971, Fielding had refused an FBI request for psychiatric data on Ellsberg. Hunt and Liddy cased the building in late August. The burglary, on September 3, 1971, was not detected, but no Ellsberg files were found

Hunt's first assignment for the White House (Special Investigations Unit) was a covert operation to break into the Los Angeles office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist, Dr. Lewis J. Fielding. In July 1971, Fielding had refused an FBI request for psychiatric data on Ellsberg. Hunt and Liddy cased the building in late August. The burglary, on September 3, 1971, was not detected, but no Ellsberg files were found

Hunt's first assignment for the White House (Special Investigations Unit) was a covert operation to break into the Los Angeles office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist, Dr. Lewis J. Fielding. In July 1971, Fielding had refused an FBI request for psychiatric data on Ellsberg. Hunt and Liddy cased the building in late August. The burglary, on September 3, 1971, was not detected, but no Ellsberg files were found

Releases the 200 Motels film and soundtrack, combining orchestral writing, rock performance, satire and surreal filmmaking.

Releases Other Voices without Morrison.

Releases Just Another Band from L.A., documenting the Flo and Eddie-era Mothers in live performance.

Releases Waka/Jawaka, emphasizing large-scale jazz-rock arrangements while recovering from the previous year's injuries.

Releases Full Circle without Morrison.

Releases The Grand Wazoo, extending his large-ensemble jazz-rock and orchestral approach.

The Doors cease activity as a recording group.

Launches DiscReet Records with Herb Cohen under a new distribution arrangement with Warner Bros.

During the Ellsberg prosecution, receives disclosure that White House operatives had burglarized Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office, widening concern about administration misconduct.

The federal case against Ellsberg and Anthony Russo is dismissed after government misconduct, including illegal evidence gathering connected with the Fielding break-in, is exposed.

Federal records show Hunt was received in Los Angeles under a writ while Watergate-related legal proceedings and investigations continued.

Releases Over-Nite Sensation, combining intricate ensemble playing with more direct rock songs and satirical lyrics.

Records a celebrated series of concerts at the Roxy Theatre that later supplies material for several official releases.

Releases Apostrophe ('), one of the most commercially successful albums of his career.

Releases Roxy & Elsewhere, combining live performances with extensive studio editing and overdubbing.

Releases Bongo Fury with Captain Beefheart, combining studio material with recordings from their joint tour.

Releases One Size Fits All, featuring complex compositions performed by one of his most technically accomplished touring bands.

Releases Zoot Allures, including extended guitar work and a more stripped-down studio sound.

Establishes Zappa Records after disputes with Warner Bros. and earlier business arrangements.

Joins Genesis as touring guitarist and bassist, becoming a long-term stage collaborator.

Studio Tan is released, including the extended narrative composition The Adventures of Greggery Peccary.

Helps assemble An American Prayer from Morrison poetry.

Releases music around Morrison poetry recordings.

Releases Joe's Garage Act I, beginning a satirical rock narrative about music, censorship and social control.

Releases Joe's Garage Acts II & III, completing the three-part rock opera begun earlier that year.

Orchestral Favorites is released, documenting his work with a large orchestral ensemble.

Releases Sheik Yerbouti, a commercially successful double album combining live recordings with extensive studio overdubs.

Sleep Dirt is released, presenting instrumental and composed material from sessions originally intended for larger projects.

Death of John Wayne, age 72

The early incarnation of the band goes through a number of members, including Dave Mustaine and Ron McGovney

The early incarnation of the band goes through a number of members, including Dave Mustaine and Ron McGovney

Releases Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar, focusing almost entirely on edited and improvised guitar solos.

Releases Tinseltown Rebellion, mixing live material, new songs and criticism of the contemporary music business.

Releases You Are What You Is, combining dense studio production with satire of politics, religion and popular culture.

Metallica is formed by guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield and Danish-born drummer Lars Ulrich, after both had placed classified advertisements in the publication The Recycler about forming a band

Metallica is formed by guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield and Danish-born drummer Lars Ulrich, after both had placed classified advertisements in the publication The Recycler about forming a band

Releases Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch, including the unexpectedly successful Valley Girl.

Releases The Man from Utopia, combining studio tracks with heavily edited live performances.

Winner of the 400 meters hurdles Gold Medal

Releases Francesco Zappa, using the Synclavier to perform works by the eighteenth-century composer Francesco Zappa.

Releases Them or Us, combining rock songs, instrumentals and extended guitar-oriented material.

Releases Thing-Fish, an ambitious theatrical album built around political satire and recurring characters.

Releases Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention, incorporating material connected with his anti-censorship campaign.

Releases Does Humor Belong in Music?, a live album documenting performances from his 1984 tour.

Releases Jazz from Hell, a largely instrumental album centered on Synclavier composition and guitar performance.

Releases Broadway the Hard Way, drawing on the 1988 tour and satirising contemporary American politics and public figures.

Receives the Golden Globe Cecil B DeMille Award for career contribution to entertainment.

Releases Guitar, a double album assembled from improvised solos recorded during concerts in the early and mid-1980s.

Begins the archival live series You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore with its first multi-disc volume.

Releases the second You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore volume, centered on the 1974 Helsinki concerts.

Releases the third volume of You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, continuing his curated live archive.

Releases Make a Jazz Noise Here, another live collection assembled from the musically wide-ranging 1988 tour.

Releases a live album drawn from the 1988 tour, emphasizing the versatility of his final touring ensemble.

Releases the fourth volume of his extensive archival live-performance series.

Directs the biographical film The Doors.

Stars as Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's film The Doors.

Actress Lee Remick (55) dies in Los Angeles of cancer

Releases Playground Psychotics, documenting the 1971 Mothers line-up through live performances and spoken material.

Releases the fifth archival live volume, combining early Mothers recordings with performances from later bands.

Releases the sixth and final volume issued during his lifetime in the You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore series.

Releases Ahead of Their Time, documenting a 1968 Mothers of Invention performance at London's Royal Festival Hall.

Releases The Yellow Shark, featuring Ensemble Modern performances and becoming the final album issued during his lifetime.

Wins Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards for Unforgiven.

Receives the Irving G Thalberg Memorial Award for lifetime achievement as a film producer.

Receives the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award.

Receives a Producers Guild lifetime achievement honor for work in motion pictures.

Wins the Oscar for Things Have Changed.

Reunites with Robby Krieger for a touring project.

Tours with Manzarek in a revived Doors-related project.

Receives Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director for Mystic River.

Death of Ronald Reagan

Wins Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards for Million Dollar Baby.

Receives a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Receives Academy Award nominations connected with Letters from Iwo Jima.

Death of John Michael Crichton

Receives a Best Picture nomination as producer of American Sniper.

Death of actor Chadwick Boseman.

Receives major awards attention for portraying Bob Dylan.

Wins Album of the Year for Cowboy Carter.

Wins Best Actor for The Brutalist.

Wins Best Actress for Anora.

Anora wins Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

Leads the Dodgers to the World Series title.