Love Street: Jim Morrison’s House in Laurel Canyon

In Laurel Canyon near the former home of Jim Morrison and Pamela Courson two plaques name the area “Love Street” in recognition of the song he wrote while living there that immortalized the neighborhood.

The section of the lyrics that say “She lives on Love Street, Lingers long on Love Street.  She has a house and garden…” are in reference to Pamela Courson and the home they shared. The line “there’s this store where the creatures meet…” is in reference to the Canyon Country Store.

The Canyon Country Store in front of Morrison’s house is adorned with murals, peace sign stained glass windows and a wall of psychedelic graffiti.  As you approach the area, it’s as if time stood still.  It’s still the Summer of Love, the era when Laurel Canyon was Southern California’s answer to Haight-Ashbury.  It’s the time when some of the greatest legends in music were hanging out at the store and you half expect to see Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Frank Zappa, Mama Cass Elliot (who used to live under the store), Graham Nash or Jim Morrison himself come walking in the door.

Morrison and Courson were well known by patrons and employees at the store.  Not so much for their visits to the store as for their family fights.  When a fight would break out at the Morrison house, it wasn’t uncommon to see Jim’s clothing fly out the window, followed by his records and if it was a bad fight, by his books.  He treasured his books most of all.

Morrison lived in the Laurel Canyon home during the time he was writing Waiting for the Sun released in 1968 and The Soft Parade released in 1969. Love Street was the 2nd song on Waiting for the Sun.

Whether you are an Angeleno or someone visiting Los Angeles, visiting love street is a must.  The moment you spend stepping back in time to when a music and political revolution forever changed the direction of our nation… and the world is much more memorable than the typical LA tourist attractions.

To see the house, it’s located at 8021 Rothwell Trail.  Turn onto Laurel Canyon Blvd off of Sunset Blvd (between Laugh Factory and the Chateau Marmont) and drive about a mile up the road until you see the Canyon Country Store.  You can also just punch the store into Google Maps but beware, when you have to turn off of Laurel Canyon it will tell you to turn on a street by a different name.  You want to turn right on Kirkwood Street just before you get to the store.  You’ll see the cleaners and Morrison’s house right next door to it as soon as you make the turn.

Be sure to see our post on the location of the Morrison Hotel where the Door’s album by that name was photographed.

See photos after the break…

Apologies that we couldn’t use the song Love Street in the video.  It’s copyrighted.  We decided to choose music that was entirely different than Morrison’s to go with the video.  Many thanks to Josh Lippi & The Overtimers for the song St. Francis which is used in the video.  From the YouTube Music Library.  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnJoBJAmgihRWlyV5QgSujA

Produced by: Mark Stout Photography