I took a rock ’n’ roll tour of West Hollywood, Los Angeles

Think you’ve done West Hollywood? I discovered two experiences that offer a fresh take on one of LA’s most historic areas.

Jonny is striding up Sunset Strip like a bat out of hell. Neatly tattooed, dressed in head-to-toe black and sporting a handsome lick of cropped grey hair, this former rocker’s reputation precedes him. 

We’ve only been in WeHo less than 72 hours, but Jonny D’Amico’s name keeps popping up. They tell us he’s a legend around here; crown him “the King of West Hollywood”. 

When he’s out and about, they say he looks like a man on a mission. “By the way, I walk fast and I talk fast,” says Jonny, as we scuttle to keep up, like young groupies on the scent of fresh fame. The former bassist for LA ’80s punk band Stalag 13 has been a fixture on the rock scene in West Hollywood for 30 years, in the latter stages working as the stage manager for bands such as Guns N’ Roses, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots and Mötley Crüe.

Jonny may have hung up his bass, but he still lives in West Hollywood with his wife and their rescue Aussie blue heeler, Bindi. He’s been hosting group and private Rock ’n Walk tours, of the Sunset Strip since 2017, recounting the history of West Hollywood and sharing all the gory details of this rock-and-roll playground, with stops at famous venues such as the Viper Room and the Roxy. Rich with musical kudos, cinematic history and luxury hotels, the city of West Hollywood is a thriving 4.9sq km pocket of LA, packed with 350 restaurants and bars, many of them frequented by A-listers ($90).

“I don’t know if you guys saw Morrissey sitting there?,” says Jonny of the former Smiths frontman as we exit Sunset Marquis hotel after meeting up. “That’s the type of place this is.”

Jonny D’Amico has been hosting group and private Rock ’n Walk tours of the Sunset Strip since 2017.

LA has no shortage of celebrity-themed tours, many of them cheesy, but this is fun and authentic. Jonny gets access to places that no one else does, and he tells it like it is. He’s the type of guy you randomly meet on a night out and stay up with until sunrise listening to stories. He knows the exact details of how River Phoenix died outside the Viper Room and what John Lennon and friends got up to in the dingy bunker of the cavernous Rainbow Room one night. “I even do midnight tours once in a while, and that gets out of hand,” says Jonny.

We’re on our way to Barney’s Beanery on Holloway Drive, a rustic bar where Quentin Tarantino apparently wrote Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. Once inside, Jonny shows us where Janis Joplin etched her name on a table before her untimely demise. I sit back and imagine what it would have been like during its heyday. Later we’ll visit Mystery Pier Books, which sells first editions to famous bookworms, and then shoot back tequila at the Rainbow Room. Having visited West Hollywood on two previous occasions, this is the first time I feel I’ve actually understood it. Jonny is a credible advocate. “West Hollywood has absolutely nothing to do with Hollywood. Never has, never will. West Hollywood is where you want to be in LA,” he says.

We stop at famous venues such as the Viper Room. 

He’s right, but there’s one place better. I’m sitting shotgun in a luxury seven-seater helicopter as Maverick Helicopters pilot Chris steers over the Santa Monica Pier towards the Pacific Ocean and banks left. We’re tracing Santa Monica Boulevard back towards West Hollywood and the Hollywood Hills beyond. On this aerial tour of the Hollywood sign, I see LA in a new light; a city that often feels so big and overwhelming is warm, cosy and compact from this perspective. As the sunset gilds the landscape in rose gold, I can make out LA’s most celebrated landmarks and boulevards. We’re flying over the hills now. Chris dips the chopper and points out Beyoncé and Jay Z’s mega-mansion below before we make our way towards the Hollywood sign for a bucket-list fly-by viewing (from $578).

Now soaring over the Hollywood Bowl and Dodger Stadium, we bank again to glide past the shimmering skyscrapers in Downtown LA. Chris has crafted the ultimate playlist for our heli tour and John Farnham’s The Voice is now playing through the headphones, a nod to the pilot’s year-long stint in Australia as a backpacker. We turn again and head in the direction of West Hollywood, where I can make out the landmark vertical billboard of The Mondrian hotel, where we’ve been staying the last few nights. This is one of most rock and rolls ways to see LA and West Hollywood. And considering the former company, it couldn’t be more fitting.

I’m sitting shotgun in a luxury seven-seater helicopter as Maverick Helicopters pilot Chris steers over the Santa Monica Pier towards the Pacific Ocean.

Best way to get to Los Angeles from Australia

Qantas flies direct to Los Angeles from Sydney, starting from $1271 return.

Best place to stay in West Hollywood

The Mondrian offers spacious One Bedroom Suites from $816 a night.

The writer travelled as a guest of Visit West Hollywood.

Originally published as I took a rock ’n’ roll tour of West Hollywood, Los Angeles