Pandora’s Box — Sunset Strip Riots — For What It’s Worth
What is Pandora Box? It was a nightclub & Coffee Shop for the underage crowd to hang out and listen to music. A group of businesses got together to have a 10 pm curfew for the under-twenty-one crowd because they felt it was disrupting their business.
It was located at 8111 Sunset Strip, where many celebrities such as Caesar & Cleo, now known as Sonny & Cher, got started as a popular place to perform. Other acts who performed here ranged from the Beach Boys, the Byrds, and Stephen Sills.
In 1967, the hit single by Buffalo Springfield’s 1967, “For What It’s Worth (Stop, Hey, What’s That Sound)” was written by group member Stephen Stills in response to the riots around Pandora’s Box said, “Riot is a ridiculous name, it was a funeral for Pandora’s Box, but it looks like a revolution.”
Residents and business owners in the district had encouraged the passage of a strict 10:00 pm curfew and loitering law to reduce the traffic congestion and disturbances resulting from crowds of young club patrons. It is perceived by the young, local rock…