Thousands Flock to Street Festival Saturday

The fourth bustled with an energetic buzz Saturday, paying tribute to local fame and deep roots in music history. 

Headlined by Sunset Strip-born , more than 70 shows took place at the , , and the pair of outdoor stages bookending the stretch of street between Doheny Drive and San Vincente Avenue. 

The 4-year-old festival, which began on Thursday, saw spurts of growth in 2011, organizers said. 

“As we’ve seen every year, the festival has gotten bigger and become more important to LA,” said Nic Adler, owner of the Roxy Theatre and co-producer of the Sunset Strip Music Festival. Final attendance estimates have not yet been released.

The festival also served up a flavor of West Hollywood itself to a broad audience. Before a performance by New York-based duo Matt and Kim at the east stage, Mayor John Duran came up to greet hundreds of festival-goers assembled in front of the stage. 

“Welcome to West Hollywood, where the women are strong and the men are pretty,” Duran said to loud cheers. 

Hollywood resident Justin Dana has come every year since the festival launched in 2008 — mainly for the food trucks.

His favorite vendor on wheels?   

“Greasy Wiener, no doubt about it,” Dana said, gesturing to the mustard-yellow vehicle parked behind him. A number of food trucks were lined up in the center of the street between the two outdoor stages.

Dana said he has seen the festival become steadily more organized each year.

“They’ve got it down,” Dana said.

He also appreciated the local flavor of the festival. Hollywood and West Hollywood have deep roots in the music scene, he said.

Bringing the rock back to the Strip is the formative idea behind the festival’s roots, Adler said.  

“It’s always been a very vibrant place, but I think it’s a reintroduction to a lot of people, a new generation,” Adler said, glancing around at the droves of people walking through the street.

He’d seen a lot of smiling faces, Adler said. And music discovery — hearing people finding new bands, which is one of his favorite parts. The set list has only grown in recent years.

“Everything is just slowly and organically becoming more of a festival,” Adler said.

Local businesses along the Strip also had doors wide open to the public, something Jason Stephan, a superintendent of the restaurant Cleo at Hollywood and Vine, noticed.

“It’s great that it’s bringing people out and getting businesses involved in music,” Stephan said. “Everyone is contributing.”

The festival offered perks to residents of the Sunset Strip — most notably an essentially free ticket. Residents living near the Sunset Boulevard street closure could purchase two General Admission tickets to the street festival on Saturday in exchange for a $5 donation per ticket benefitting 's Education Through Music program.

“I love where I live,” said Juliette Espinoza, a resident of Larrabee Street, clutching a Vitamin Water handed to her moments earlier.

Her friend from Long Beach, Matt Reimers, was also excited about the location. He has made a point of walking major thoroughfares  — from New York’s Balboa Park for Earthy Day to New Years’ celebrations in Paris and Amsterdam.

Now, Reimers can check the Sunset Strip off his list, he said.

The Strip itself proved to be as much of an attraction to visitors as the bands themselves. New Jersey’s Sharon Manzoa and her 18-year-old daughter Sara incorporated the festival into a Los Angeles vacation that also included visits to the Grammy Museum and Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

The location also reeled in festival-goers from Scandinavia and South America, said volunteer Brian Welch. He talked to people who traveled thousands of miles “just because it’s the Sunset Strip.”

Building connections was an underlying theme of the day. Welch, who works for the Alzheimer’s Association on Wilshire Boulevard and whose boyfriend lives in West Hollywood, worked for metal bands Extreme and Cheap Trick in the 1970s and '80s.

He remembers the Strip as a must-stop tour destination, which included hanging out in the Roxy Theater, the Rainbow and Whiskey A Go-Go. The festival brings back the sense of the Strip as deeply important to the music scene.

“It’s full circle to me,” Welch said.

The show held symbolic importance for fans of Mötley Crüe. The band played the Roxy Theatre and Whisky A Go-Go in its early days and was the featured guest Saturday night at the festival for its contributions to the Sunset Strip music scene.  

“It’s natural 30 years later that we honor them,” Adler said.

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