---
product_id: 111283591
title: "Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops, and the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream"
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---

# Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops, and the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream

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desertcart.com: Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops, and the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream (Audible Audio Edition): David McGowan, Bill Fike, Headpress: Audible Books & Originals

Review: An eye-popping look at the LA music scene of the 1960's ... and more - I discovered this fascinating book in an oddly roundabout way. I became very interested in Cass Elliot (I just love her! She was a great singer, and one of the sweetest people and kind to a fault), read her biography, and started to notice that there were some strange and curious aspects to her early life after high school when she was in NY and Alexandria, Virginia (a place mentioned often in this book). Eventually, I heard that Michael Caine said he was introduced to Charles Manson (!) by Cass at a party in her home - in Laurel Canyon. Cass was famous for her parties and “non-judgmental” atmosphere (which I believe led to her very suspicious early death at 32 in 1974). Cass’s entourage was populated by a few notorious drug dealers and criminals. I branched out and started reading CHAOS by Tom O’Neill (highly recommended), and then this excellent overview of LA’s most interesting (notorious?) neighborhood. By the way, Cass lived on Woodrow Wilson Drive not far from Abigail Folger and Voytek Frykowski. Cass knew everyone, and everyone knew Cass … I found the section on Cass’s former bandmates, John and Michelle Phillips, to be very curious and eye-opening. In this breezy, relatively short book, the late Mr. McGowen gives us a series of facts about the musicians who curiously migrated, almost simultaneously, to the LA suburb of Laurel Canyon. We meet Frank Zappa, Lizard King Jim Morrison, members of the The Byrds, The Mamas and the Papas, Arthur Lee and Love, Dennis Wilson, David Crosby (approach with great caution), and many others, including famous actors dating back to the silent era. The book ends with a fascinating look at Harry Houdini and serial killer Rodney Alcala (who had strange links to Laurel Canyon celebrities). I won’t spoil the book, but I will give three takeaways: 1) The Laurel Canyon death list is staggering! These are not people who die peacefully in their sleep at a nice ripe old age. The murders, suicides, and strange demises of so many young stars (and their family members) are shocking when listed before you. I’m even more curious at how many regular folks wound up meeting a grim demise via Laurel Canyon. 2) The family backgrounds of so many of the Canyon celebrities involving the military industrial complex, elite bloodlines, diplomatic corps, and/or the occult, is mind boggling. What are the odds??? These links pop up so often, this gets to be an in-joke in the narrative. Off the top of my head I can list John Phillips, Jim Morrison, David Crosby (careful …), Gram Parsons, Stephen Stills, and Frank Zappa (a very strange man …) as hailing from prominent military families, or families with very elite bloodlines (Crosby and Parsons). 3) It’s well known that many of the famous Laurel Canyon musicians could not play or sing well at all. Many of the musicians playing on their famous albums are studio professionals like the famous Wreckin’ Crew. So, why did so many of these young men from elite or military backgrounds, decide to fall into the counterculture, grow their hair, pick up an instrument, and head to LA to wallow in debauchery on a Marquis de Sade size scale? It’s also curious that many of them had an initial batch of classic songs that established their legacy early, and almost none of them ever came close to equaling in quality. The book will often leave you scratching your head, or staring out into space thinking “what the …” Read it and you’ll never listen to many of those 1960’s and 70’s hits with quite the same reverence.
Review: In the Wonderland Zoo - A follower of the original "Inside the LC" webseries, I expected Weird Scenes to be that plus some additional material (and with greater narrative continuity). And if that were the case, I'd give the book 4 stars, no problem. But what we have is a quite beautiful book that deserves shelf-space between The Collected Works of Charles Fort and Thos. Pynchon's Inherent Vice. "Conspiracy literature" in a broad sense, but McGowan's sense of humor - and *story* - distinguishes him from many such writers/researchers. And, really, there is plenty for those of a non-conspiratorial bent to chew on: Weird Scenes functions as a Rock History - documenting a particular scene - with keen insights (such as the splitting up of the folk-rock movement). The Arthur Lee chapter alone is vital for anybody who ever, well, *loves* Love. And "Brianistas" will recognize the names Jack Rieley and Tandyn Almer -- Right-wing and/or intelligence connections? It would be far from the strangest thing to happen in the Beach Boys universe. And that's where McGowan gets his hooks in: there is so much thoroughly documented Weirdness associated with the L.A. music scene that it begs for at least the beginnings of a STRUCTURE. Those looking for a neat "the Illuminati/Space Lizards did it" type explanation will be disappointed: like Charles Fort, the author brings forth information and asks the questions that pretty much nobody has thought to ask. The book is filled with possible scenarios supported by hard fact: a speculative history because there's really no official history of all these people/events to measure it against (Graham Nash's recent memoir? he truly loved Joni, is still miffed at Neil, next slide *please* ..). Like the mysterious "factory" in P.K. Dick's A Maze of Death - or the monolith in 2001 - sits Laurel Canyon's Lookout Mountain Laboratory, a honest-to-god military facility in the heart of hippiedom. McGowan doesn't dwell too much on it, because it's one of those uncanny things that, once you hear, you never forget: it's the hum in the background when you discover that Frank Zappa learned much of his studio wizardry from a former missile engineer. There are some who will shake their heads at the last two chapters, one on Houdini's intelligence connections and the other on the Spook-ridden Copeland clan and the late 70's/80's music scene. I thought these worked remarkably well in terms of providing some outside-the-Canyon *context*. To wit, what if the 60's/70's Laurel Canyon scene was simply a concentrated form of Weirdness that can be shown to be at work in other places, at other times? Well, we as readers would want examples, naturally. The Houdini material is illustrative of the sometimes nexus of the Entertainment world and intelligence work. Coming at the end of the book, the author can stand back and let the reader make connections (a delight for any devout reader of Mysteries). For example, the story of a Dr. Crandon and leagues of "disappeared" children called to mind the CIA/"Finders" cult that was news, briefly, in 1987. Other readers, with a different store of experiences, will have other revelations. What makes Weird Scenes so rewarding is that it invites revisiting: the Mystery remains open ..

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An eye-popping look at the LA music scene of the 1960's ... and more
*by J***O on September 9, 2022*

I discovered this fascinating book in an oddly roundabout way. I became very interested in Cass Elliot (I just love her! She was a great singer, and one of the sweetest people and kind to a fault), read her biography, and started to notice that there were some strange and curious aspects to her early life after high school when she was in NY and Alexandria, Virginia (a place mentioned often in this book). Eventually, I heard that Michael Caine said he was introduced to Charles Manson (!) by Cass at a party in her home - in Laurel Canyon. Cass was famous for her parties and “non-judgmental” atmosphere (which I believe led to her very suspicious early death at 32 in 1974). Cass’s entourage was populated by a few notorious drug dealers and criminals. I branched out and started reading CHAOS by Tom O’Neill (highly recommended), and then this excellent overview of LA’s most interesting (notorious?) neighborhood. By the way, Cass lived on Woodrow Wilson Drive not far from Abigail Folger and Voytek Frykowski. Cass knew everyone, and everyone knew Cass … I found the section on Cass’s former bandmates, John and Michelle Phillips, to be very curious and eye-opening. In this breezy, relatively short book, the late Mr. McGowen gives us a series of facts about the musicians who curiously migrated, almost simultaneously, to the LA suburb of Laurel Canyon. We meet Frank Zappa, Lizard King Jim Morrison, members of the The Byrds, The Mamas and the Papas, Arthur Lee and Love, Dennis Wilson, David Crosby (approach with great caution), and many others, including famous actors dating back to the silent era. The book ends with a fascinating look at Harry Houdini and serial killer Rodney Alcala (who had strange links to Laurel Canyon celebrities). I won’t spoil the book, but I will give three takeaways: 1) The Laurel Canyon death list is staggering! These are not people who die peacefully in their sleep at a nice ripe old age. The murders, suicides, and strange demises of so many young stars (and their family members) are shocking when listed before you. I’m even more curious at how many regular folks wound up meeting a grim demise via Laurel Canyon. 2) The family backgrounds of so many of the Canyon celebrities involving the military industrial complex, elite bloodlines, diplomatic corps, and/or the occult, is mind boggling. What are the odds??? These links pop up so often, this gets to be an in-joke in the narrative. Off the top of my head I can list John Phillips, Jim Morrison, David Crosby (careful …), Gram Parsons, Stephen Stills, and Frank Zappa (a very strange man …) as hailing from prominent military families, or families with very elite bloodlines (Crosby and Parsons). 3) It’s well known that many of the famous Laurel Canyon musicians could not play or sing well at all. Many of the musicians playing on their famous albums are studio professionals like the famous Wreckin’ Crew. So, why did so many of these young men from elite or military backgrounds, decide to fall into the counterculture, grow their hair, pick up an instrument, and head to LA to wallow in debauchery on a Marquis de Sade size scale? It’s also curious that many of them had an initial batch of classic songs that established their legacy early, and almost none of them ever came close to equaling in quality. The book will often leave you scratching your head, or staring out into space thinking “what the …” Read it and you’ll never listen to many of those 1960’s and 70’s hits with quite the same reverence.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ In the Wonderland Zoo
*by C***S on June 14, 2014*

A follower of the original "Inside the LC" webseries, I expected Weird Scenes to be that plus some additional material (and with greater narrative continuity). And if that were the case, I'd give the book 4 stars, no problem. But what we have is a quite beautiful book that deserves shelf-space between The Collected Works of Charles Fort and Thos. Pynchon's Inherent Vice. "Conspiracy literature" in a broad sense, but McGowan's sense of humor - and *story* - distinguishes him from many such writers/researchers. And, really, there is plenty for those of a non-conspiratorial bent to chew on: Weird Scenes functions as a Rock History - documenting a particular scene - with keen insights (such as the splitting up of the folk-rock movement). The Arthur Lee chapter alone is vital for anybody who ever, well, *loves* Love. And "Brianistas" will recognize the names Jack Rieley and Tandyn Almer -- Right-wing and/or intelligence connections? It would be far from the strangest thing to happen in the Beach Boys universe. And that's where McGowan gets his hooks in: there is so much thoroughly documented Weirdness associated with the L.A. music scene that it begs for at least the beginnings of a STRUCTURE. Those looking for a neat "the Illuminati/Space Lizards did it" type explanation will be disappointed: like Charles Fort, the author brings forth information and asks the questions that pretty much nobody has thought to ask. The book is filled with possible scenarios supported by hard fact: a speculative history because there's really no official history of all these people/events to measure it against (Graham Nash's recent memoir? he truly loved Joni, is still miffed at Neil, next slide *please* ..). Like the mysterious "factory" in P.K. Dick's A Maze of Death - or the monolith in 2001 - sits Laurel Canyon's Lookout Mountain Laboratory, a honest-to-god military facility in the heart of hippiedom. McGowan doesn't dwell too much on it, because it's one of those uncanny things that, once you hear, you never forget: it's the hum in the background when you discover that Frank Zappa learned much of his studio wizardry from a former missile engineer. There are some who will shake their heads at the last two chapters, one on Houdini's intelligence connections and the other on the Spook-ridden Copeland clan and the late 70's/80's music scene. I thought these worked remarkably well in terms of providing some outside-the-Canyon *context*. To wit, what if the 60's/70's Laurel Canyon scene was simply a concentrated form of Weirdness that can be shown to be at work in other places, at other times? Well, we as readers would want examples, naturally. The Houdini material is illustrative of the sometimes nexus of the Entertainment world and intelligence work. Coming at the end of the book, the author can stand back and let the reader make connections (a delight for any devout reader of Mysteries). For example, the story of a Dr. Crandon and leagues of "disappeared" children called to mind the CIA/"Finders" cult that was news, briefly, in 1987. Other readers, with a different store of experiences, will have other revelations. What makes Weird Scenes so rewarding is that it invites revisiting: the Mystery remains open ..

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review
*by R***. on June 5, 2014*

Dave McGowan's research into the wicked world of 1960s counterculture's biggest acts is both revealing and extremely compelling to read. It's myth-shattering and eye opening. Highly recommended!

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*Last updated: 2026-03-02*