Canyon Country Store

Much of the history of Los Angeles is in its canyons. There are secrets there, hidden by time and inaccessibility. Our canyon neighborhoods share an affinity for narrow streets, rendering them inhospitable to cars in a town built around driving.

Perhaps only practicality created these narrow streets. Moving dirt and leveling mountains is hard. And expensive. The change in terrain created a clear delineation between the city and the country.

Still, it played its part in fostering the bohemian ethos that has thrived in the canyons. Inaccessibility equals exclusivity, and exclusivity is cool because no one is invited. You just show up there. If you know, you know.

Benedict, Runyon, and Topanga Canyons all have their stories, but none is more identified with the L.A. vibe as Laurel Canyon. The neighborhoods of Laurel Canyon collect off of Laurel Canyon Boulevard, which begins at the tourist inflection point of Hollywood Boulevard, cuts through the Hollywood Hills, and, if you are a persistent driver, terminates in something Angelenos call The Valley.

The modern development of Laurel Canyon began with constructing of the 82-mile road in 1908. Developers purchased over 200 acres West of the road on Lookout Mountain and sold mountain cabins, crowned by the Lookout Mountain Inn at the summit. The Inn and most of the cabins were destroyed by fire ten years later, but Laurel Canyon would rebuild and reinvent itself. Hollywood stars flocked to the area for its privacy, but that didn't save Robert Mitchum from arrest for marijuana possession in 1948. Writers thrived there, too, and Raymond Chandler made Laurel Canyon the home of fictional LA detective Philip Marlow in The Long Goodbye.

By the 1960s, many of those former celebrity homes were dilapidated rental shacks that attracted the artists, writers, and musicians who would come to define the Canyon. There are varying accounts of who ignited the Laurel Canyon scene, but many accounts point to Frank Zappa renting one of the original mountain cabins at the corner of Laurel and Lookout Mountain as a possible catalyst.

Soon, the music that would define the L.A. '60s sound - coastal folk-rock - could be heard in the wilds of the Canyon late into the evening. The Mamas and The Papas, The Byrds, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, and Joni Mitchell found a home there.

Mitchell said of her home there: "When I first came out to L.A…ask anyone in Laurel Canyon where the craziest people live, and they'll say Lookout Mountain. So I bought a house on Lookout Mountain."

This Laurel Canyon music scene was immortalized to a new generation in the excellent novel and subsequent lukewarm series Daisy Jones and the Six. You should read the book.

Imagine a house party where a jam session breaks out, and the future members of Fleetwood Mac join in while Mama Cass sings a solo because it's her house. Cass’ house once belonged to Natalie Wood. After her death in 1974, she sold the house to Harry Nilsson (Everybody's Talking), who later leased it to Ringo Starr. Ringo had to flee a house fire there, losing a chunk of his Beatles memorabilia, but he and his guests survived. Six degrees of Laurel Canyon.

Perhaps so many artists made a home here because they could disappear into the depths of the canyon and reemerge as someone else.

Jim Morrison, the iconic Doors frontman, rented a house behind the Canyon Country Store off of Rothdell Trail, which Morrison called Love Street in his song of the same name. The Country Store was the main supply line for the Canyon inhabitants. Although the "city" was only blocks away, I imagine that going down the hill to resupply may have broken the spell cast by the place.

It is likely that every one of these icons popped into the Store at one time or another. It was the only place in the neighborhood for beer, wine, a pack of smokes, and a sandwich.

Around 1900, the area around Laurel Canyon and Kirkwood was primarily a hunting ground for deer, and the store's site held a hunting lodge that burned down in 1929. It was rebuilt using stones from an adjacent dry riverbed.

The Canyon Country Store still stands today. You can, and you should grab a sandwich with a side of outstanding potato salad and breathe it all in. An excellent Eater article on the place cautions you to come with "managed expectations," noting that the Country Store's pastrami sandwich is delicious, but it's not Langer's Deli. I guess that's true about most places we eat, but few have as much on offer to feed your soul as the Canyon Country Store.

Breakfast is a good bet; soak in the memorabilia and walk around Love Street. Then, stock up for a drive. Along with a solid cup of coffee, you’ll find the gooey, eggy breakfast sandwiches are a great way to begin your Laurel Canyon adventure.

You need to check out the Store while waiting for your order. There are photos of the Laurel Canyon icons and assorted memorabilia. There are the usual sundries but also unique offerings, including a British candy section. In an L.A. Times article, the Store's owner, Tommy Bina, explains, "I started carrying British candy in 1987 when this English guy kept coming in and asking if I could order it for him. He always dressed in flashy suits, so I thought he was a car salesman. Then I realized it was David Bowie."

The owner has his own Laurel Canyon story, which has been written about extensively, including the three days he employed Jennifer Aniston before she was Jennifer Aniston. He’s an immigrant, an American success, and a dedicated steward of our shared history. Bina hosts the Love Street Festival in June of each year to celebrate the sounds of the Canyon and the customers of the Store.

Just up the road from the Store is the famed Lookout Mountain neighborhood.

I knew a singer once who bought cases of Mexican mineral water and fireplace logs made with coffee grounds at the Store. "They smell ludicrously good.", she would say. She had a hard time carrying them up the 108 wooden steps to her studio on Lookout Mountain. She did it anyway. I imagine that sums up living in Laurel Canyon.

If you drive to the end of Lookout Mountain Road, it narrows and feels like a private road. If you keep going, you'll reach an overlook where the City splays out in all its glory. I drove up there at night with a friend who informed me that we needed to be careful; it was rumored that Russian gangsters and an assorted cast of unsavory folks occupied some of the gated homes on Lookout Mountain.

The soft edges and impromptu artistry of the Laurel Canyon scene later gave way to excess and paranoia, which culminated in 1981 with Wonderland Gang murders in the same neighborhood. The criminals were never convicted; the story is too much to tell here. Because Reading is Hard, watch the excellent Val Kilmer movie instead.

In the 90's, a music scene of sorts returned to Laurel Canyon. Deeper into the Canyon, up the road from Lookout Mountain, legendary music producer Rick Rubin purchased Errol Flynn's mansion to use as a music studio. Guns and Roses recorded November Rain there, and Jay-Z did 99 Problems. Dua Lipa did Houdini there in 2023, which she performed at the Grammys this year. So the beat goes on. Incidentally, Houdini's Mansion is just down the road from Rubin's studio.

The drive to the Valley from Hollywood along Laurel Canyon can be long and arduous. Do it anyway. Traversing the Los Angeles canyons is like teleportation. You've traveled through the golden age of Hollywood, jammed with Graham Nash, and climbed deeper into the Canyon. You can visit the Fitzpatrick-Leland House, a midcentury modern masterpiece, and then check out the Mulholland Overlook for a picture and snack on whatever you picked up at the Canyon Country Store before crossing the Los Angeles River into the Valley.

I drove to the Valley once for a hot dog, and a friend of mine had a shocked expression on his face.

"There are people here.", he said.

"What did you think?"

"I had only ever heard of the Valley. I've never seen it. People live here."

Yes, they do.

Canyon Country Store

2108 Laurel Canyon Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046

7 AM - 11 PM Most Days

(323) 654-8091