Tropicana Motel

The Tropicana Motel
The Tropicana Motel, with Dukes Coffee Shop visible under its sign
General information
Status	Demolished
Type	Motel
Address	8585 Santa Monica Boulevard
Town or city	West Hollywood, California
Country	United States
Opened	1947
Closed	1987

The Tropicana Motel was a motel located at 8585 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California which was opened in 1947 and closed in 1987. Also called "The Trop", it became known for being a hub for rock and roll musicians and artists from the late 1960s onwards. ^[1] Cheap pricing, proximity to Elektra Sound Recorders and Sunset Strip drinking venues such as The Troubador ^[2] and Barney's Beanery made The Tropicana a popular stop for the burgeoning rock scene; it has been described as "the palm-trees-and-Astroturf answer to New York's Chelsea Hotel." ^{[3] [2]}

Ownership

The late 1940s constructed building was bought by Los Angeles Dodgers star pitcher, Sandy Koufax, in 1962. ^{[4] [5]} Koufax was the 4th owner and ran the motel to supplement his baseball salary during the offseason. Jerry Heiner and his partners then purchased The Trop in the late '60s. ^[3]

Design, features and amenities

The earliest building permit for the site is dated July, 1946. It lists the value of the two-story, 59-unit motel to be constructed as $95,000. ^[1] Koufax later advertised "74 luxurious air-conditioned rooms" at "popular prices". ^{[2] [6] [1]} The motel had a horseshoe shape. ^[2] The Tropicana’s pool was kidney bean-shaped and was later painted black “probably so they don’t have to clean it so often.” ^[7]

Originally a stopover for travelling salesmen from the mid-west, its proximity to the Sunset Strip soon attracted musicians and articles. The motel's most famous clients were the working rock bands that found the Tropicana inexpensive ($29.75 a night if guests stayed the week) and its proximity to recording studios convenient. ^{[1] [2]} A number of struggling bands lived in their cars in the motel's back parking lot (which the management was fully aware of). ^[7]

Photographer Brad Elterman said, "There was a lot of really good energy there. It had an interesting garden courtyard layout—no long dark hallways to get to your room." Elterman added, "There was one payphone booth and everyone worked it for incoming and outgoing calls. It was like an office." ^[3] William S. Burroughs wrote in Rolling Stone in 1980, “On the patio are rusty metal tables, deck chairs, palms and banana trees: a rundown Raymond Chandler set from the 1950s. One expects to find a dead man floating in the pool one morning.” ^[7]

In 1968 ^[3] the original Duke's Coffee Shop opened as The Tropicana's resident eatery. ^[8] With the Tropicana's scheduled demolition, Dukes relocated in late 1986 ^[1] to 8909 Sunset Boulevard. ^[9]

Notable guests

• The Alarm ^[10]
• The Beach Boys ^[7]
• Black Flag ^[11]
• Blondie ^[2]
• Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks later of Fleetwood Mac reportedly landed their recording contact for Buckingham Nicks in 1973 while staying at the motel. ^{[3] [7]}
• William S. Burroughs ^[1]
• The Clash ^[3]
• The Cramps ^[12]
• Joe Dallesandro ^[2]
• Alice Cooper ^[3]
• Dead Boys ^[7]
• The Dickies ^[7]
• The Doors - Jim Morrison lived at the Trop for three years during his glory days with The Doors. ^[7] Morrison then relocated around the corner to the Alta Cinega Motel. The Doors often breakfasted at Dukes, with The Doors Workshop nearby. ^[9] The group recorded its last album with Morrison, L.A. Woman, at its studio right across Santa Monica Boulevard from the motel. ^[7]
• Brad Elterman ^[3]
• The Germs ^[11]
• Richard Hell ^[13]
• Rickie Lee Jones ^[1] is said to have wrote Chuck E's in Love at the Trop on Tom Waits piano. ^[3]
• Janis Joplin ^[2]
• Led Zeppelin ^[2]
• Jenny Lens ^[3]
• Mamas and the Papas ^[2]
• Bob Marley ^[3]
• Martha and the Vandellas ^[7]
• Jim McGuinn ^[7]
• Van Morrison wrote “T.B. Sheets” and several other songs while staying at the Tropicana. ^[7]
• New York Dolls ^[2]
• Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark<
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ^[7]
• Poison (band) ^[14]
• Ramones - The band stayed at the trop while filming Rock 'n' Roll High School. ^[15] Linda Danielle later claims she and Joey Ramone fell in love in the Tropicana's car park when the band were in LA recording End of the Century. The band set up camp at the Trop on 1 May 1979 for the recording. The song Danny Says on the album references the room Joey Ramone was sharing with Arturo Vega; "Hanging out in 100b, watching Get Smart on tv." Danielle is believed to tbe subject of Joey's affection in the song. Danielle later left Joey to begin and relationship with and eventually marry band guitarist, Johnny Ramone. She has been known since as Linda Ramone. ^[16]
• Rockpile recorded the promo video here for their Nick Lowe fronted single, Cruel to Be Kind. ^{[17] [18] [2]}
• The Runaways ^[3]
• The Screamers ^[11]
• The Slits ^[19]
• Patti Smith ^[20]
• Bruce Springsteen ^[7]
• Sly Stone ^[2]
• The Stooges ^{[1] [2]}
• Tom Waits is reported in one articles as to have lived there from 1975 to 1979 moving ^[2] positioning his piano in his kitchen. ^{[21] [22]} Waits has been reported as without permission to have “enlarged” the door to move in his piano ^[1] and similarly "sawing off the draining board" to accommodate his ^[2] Steinway. Another article quotes an interview with Waits in which is he is alleged to remark, " whole like nine years I was there." ^[7]
• Andy Warhol
• Chuck E. Weiss ^[23]
• Frank Zappa ^[2]
• Warren Zevon lived here after being thrown out of the house by his wife ^[24]

Closure and demolition

The property was purchased by a partnership headed by developer Yehuda Naftali. The motel finally closed in late September 1987 after Naftali won permission from West Hollywood to construct a $20-million complex of motel rooms and retail shops. Demolished began in October 1987 to be replaced by a 178 unit Ramada Inn. “I think it’s a shame. I think they should have gone and got it made a historic landmark, or something, ‘cause it was,” said Richard Miller, Duke's maitre d’hotel. ^[1]

References

1. "Page From Rock ‘n’ Roll History Falls Prey to Wrecking Crews" latimes.com Robert W Stewart, 19 October 1987
2. "Scandal, Sleaze and Punk Rock: Inside the Tropicana Motel" anothermag.com Hannah Lack, 5 April 2016
3. "The Tropicana Motel’s Totally Rocking Heyday" lamag.com Alison Martino, 12 October 2015
4. "The Tropicana Motel - Former Location" rockandrollroadmap.com
5. "How Sandy Koufax’s Motel Helped Lead to Baseball’s Big-Money Era" nytimes.com Michael Beschloss, 30 May 2014
6. "Sandy Koufax once owned a glorious motel" nbcsports.com Craig Calcaterra, 30 May 2014
7. "Tropicana Was the Quintessential Rock ‘n’ Roll Motel" patch.com Bob Bishop, 24 November 2016
8. "Looking Back at Sandy Koufax's Rock & Roll Tropicana Motel" curbed.com Bianca Barragan 3 June 2014
9. "tropicana motel" popturf.com Pete Nice
10. "WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA - 1987: Welsh rock group, The Alarm, pose by a swimming pool during a 1987 West Hollywood, California, photo portrait session at the Tropicana Motel." gettyimages.es
11. "BLACK FLAG: ANATOMY OF A LAWSUIT BY KEITH MORRIS (AS TOLD TO LEGS MCNEIL)" legsville.com 2022
12. "he Cramps outside Tropicana Motel, West Hollywood" instagram.com 2025
13. "A hammered Richard Hell by the Tropicana Motel pool in West Hollywood, as captured by Chris Stein of Blondie" songssmiths.wordpress.com/ 30 January 2021
14. "Decade of Decadence: A Timeline of the Eighties Sunset Strip" rollingstone.com Richard Bienstock, 23 October 2015
15. "take A LOOK INSIDE RAMONES MUSEUM" remonesmuseum.com
16. "Touring the Ramones Museum Show with the Woman Who Loved Two Ramones" vanityfair.com Bryn Lovitt, 14 April 2016
17. "Nick Lowe "Cruel To Be Kind," 1979 promo video. Featuring footage of Lowe's wedding to his first wife Carlene Carter, it was filmed at the Tropicana Motel, West Hollywood." x.com
18. "WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA - 1979: Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds (l-r), members of the rock group "Rockpile," pose during a 1979 West Hollywood, California, interview at the famed Tropicana Motel on Santa Monica Boulevard" gettyimages.es
19. "The Slits, Tropicana Motel, Hollywood, California, 1980" instagram.com
20. "Patti Smith and band at The Tropicana Motel in West Hollywood, CA 1977" gettyimages.es
21. "L.A.’s Greatest Gigs" lmu.edu 7 December 2016
22. "Music: Tom Waits: Barroom Balladeer" time.com 28 November 1977
23. "Chuck E. Weiss, Songwriter and Fixture of L.A. Music Scene, Dies at 76" variety.com Ellise Shafer, 21 July 2021
24. "Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel" losangelesexplorersguild.com