bob gruen

For my fellow rock ‘n’ roll photographers, Henry Diltz’s Morrison Hotel Gallery in the guitar heaven district of Hollywood is a literal walk-in text book. A must visit for anyone who shoots bands or poses for photos. The walls are filled with the actual photographs that transformed rock stars into icons. Diltz himself is a photographer of legendary proportions—Woodstock and Morrison Hotel among others—and the gallery maintains a constantly revolving rotation of photos hung on the walls with an occasional special exhibit.

Currently on the east wall of the gallery is an exhibit of Bob Gruen’s career. Gruen is probably best known as John Lennon’s personal photographer during his NYC years, but he was also one of the great photographers for magazines such as CREEM and Rock Scene during the ’70s and ’80s. His exhibit—which until this past week took over the whole gallery includes photos of classics like Led Zeppelin, the Stones and the Who plus originators of punk like the New York Dolls (In Hollywood!) and the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, the Clash and Blondie. (Damn—Debbie Harry was hot!) There’s also some great Bowies, Iggys and a teenage Joan Jett looking like a badass in a hotel room. The Sid Vicious shots are laugh-out-loud funny and tragic at the same time.

The gallery is open seven days a week, and I’ve walked through this exhibit (which opened on Oct. 11 and closes on Nov. 2) four times already. Each time I walk through the gallery I become a better photographer for it. These photographers are the Davincis and Michaelangelos of rock ‘n’ roll photojournalism. You can even purchase these limited print photos, and they never charge admission which is AWESOME! The gallery was kind enough to send me some of my favorite photos currently on exhibit, and if you like these, or you just like rock ‘n’ roll in general, you should make a special trip while the exhibit is still on display.

bob gruen

New York Doll’s on Sunset in front of Fredrick’s of Hollywood

bob gruen

Sid Vicious reading Mad Magazine on a airport transportation bus in Dallas

WWW.MORRISONHOTELGALLERY.COM. 7517 W. SUNSET BLVD PHONE:323-874-2068