Tom Waits Story: Life & Times Los Angeles Years. 21 Essential Locations
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- Опубликовано: 6 июл 2023
- Tom Waits. Documentary stories and locations in San Diego, Hollywood, LA, Silver Lake, Echo Park, Whittier and more. Quotes, homes, recording studios, diners, bars and cheap motels.
Proceeds from this video go to Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles. If you would like to donate please go to: bbbsla.org/
Thanks to:
Brad Elterman, The Single Fin, Napoleone's Pizza, Vivianne at Caffe Etc, Phil Stevenson.
Music Produced by: Tim P. 
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Not at all that familiar with Tom Waits so how this video came to my algorithm attention. However it piqued my interest and am glad it did. I enjoyed it.
Love it when that happens...
Well then I suggest listening to Closing Time, Rain Dogs, Alice, Blue Valentine and the rest too.
Fate.
Hey all! I've been REALLY looking forward to doing a piece on Tom Waits and I'm stoked to be finally putting it out. I hope you dig it!
I remember when I heard Ole 55 for the first time and particularly these
“Well my time went so quickly
I went lickety-splickly out to my old '55
As I drove away slowly, feeling so holy
God knows, I was feeling alive
And now the sun's coming up
I'm riding with Lady Luck, freeway cars and trucks
Stars beginning to fade, and I lead the parade
Just a-wishing I'd stayed a little longer
Lord, let me tell you that the feeling's getting stronger”
Great video. Didn’t know much about him. Very curious to learn more now. Extra points for Tim for taking the show on the road to San Diego.
I produced Concerts in College and booked Tom Waits at Santa Clara University in 1977. Great guy. Great show.
@@joshualeifer3335 It was a great excuse to go down there and hang out. Had an awesome time.
Coolest dang thing I’ve seen today 😌
I met Tom in 1999 at a gas station in Sebastopol CA, where he was living at the time. Drove an understated VW, had his signature hat on, coat and jeans. I said hi and he waived and nodded. Was exactly the type of reaction I knew he'd give. Very private individual. Sebastopol is uber liberal, quiet, tucked in the eastern edge of the northern California coastal ranges in the redwood empire. Just the kind of place you'd picture someone of Toms character would live. Love his music, been listening to it for decades, it was a sign for me to realize I moved to the right town, after my divorce.
Great story! Thanks!
That is such a cool story! I actually had a similar meeting with him back in the day at Duke's coffee shop. I nodded and he nodded back. I was barely aware of who he was at the time but looking back it was worth a thousand words.
Wow. I am a huge Tom Waits fan, and I was smiling and laughing the entire time I was watching this. It was soo cool to see all these places he referenced in his songs. Thanks for putting this out. Loved it.
I didn't know that you were a fan, Nephew. Nada hates when I blast him but it has to be done from time to time. Its a Parsky requirement.
My name is Martha. A friend made signing for the deaf videos while dancing to songs. She did one for me, to Tom’s song “Martha”, which was also my ex boyfriend’s fave song. It was such an honor. I adore Tom and his music. What a unique, talented human being. He did a love song with Bette Midler. It was so romantic. I forget what it’s called.
Martha, that is a wonderful story!
The narrator has a similar voice as Rick Beato!
Anyway, great video and best wishes to all decent Americans from Prague, Czech republic! 🇨🇿🍻🇺🇸
Happy Birthday Tom! I was born at a very young age...
This ties so many things together beautifully. Thank you. and thank you for putting the direct link to Big Brothers/Sisters LA for donations. Will do.
BBBSLA is very dear to my heart. Thank you so much!
Finding Tom Waits was a wonderful
Discovery. He and his music embodied
The soul of the fifties and the beats.
Everything seemed to come together,
Found Chas Bukowski, Rickee Lee and it all reinforced each other. Toms' persona
Was enetertaining but was suicidal and I'm glad he shook free. As an artist and musician he left his mark and is much
Appreciated. Thanks for filling in some
Personal history.
T
H
A
N
K
S
!
Tom waits has a unique way with words..singing is just something he does with the air he says..such a brilliant lyricist like no other..huge fan of him and kathleen..
Fantastic insight into Tom Waits, really enjoyed that, many thanks for what you do .
Thanks my man. Loved doing this one!
I believe you.
Nice one Tim. We saw him in Sydney in the late 70's at a theatre with worn out seats from the 1940's. Tom spent a lot of the night sitting in an old over stuffed lounge chair with a black and white TV under a moth eaten lamp stand. He'd roam over to a piano now and then all the time chain smoking. Just the best performance.
Now that is a cool story! I've never gotten to see him play live, was a broke musician back in those days. I did however live at the Tropicana Motel for a month or so and used to see him in the public phone booth almost every day.
Loved him in Dracula flick, Gram Parsons
I used to hang in LA and go to Troub with friends in 70s
Wow, I really appreciate this. Always been a big Waits guy and following his staggering footsteps around Southern California was always something I thought would be fascinating. Big fan of RLJ as well.
It's funny. I was a teacher for 12 years but found it absolutely torturous. Now I drive a bus and have many times wondered about The Single Fin in Mission Beach because the 8 route goes right by it. Looked intriguing, like somebody's house turned into a restaurant. Never thought it might be one of Tom's old haunts. Looks a lot smaller from the outside.
I grew up in Chula Vista too but never went to Mission Beach except to cruise. We'd always go to Tug's or Mom's in Pacific Beach. We'd sometimes go to The Cannibal Club at the Catamaran but no further south on Mission. If I'd only known.
Fernwood Tonight was my introduction to Tom Waits, I was a big fan of the show. I really enjoyed his performance on the show, I loved his song, "The Piano Has Been Drinking," and the off-the-wall character he portrayed. Later, from time to time I'd hear one of his songs or see him in a bit part in a movie like, The Outsiders and Paradise Alley, he was on the Late Show with David Letterman many times and I came to appreciate him more as a singer/songwriter and actor. I really enjoyed this video; I learned some new things about Tom I didn't know, his childhood homelife and the fact that Rickie Lee Jones was once his girlfriend.
Fernwood was my introduction to his music too! I'd seen Tom around when I'd go to Duke's at the Tropicana but I had never heard him until Fernwood. I'd see Rickie Lee around town here and there. Besides being talented she was a pretty alluring young lady.
So nice to find this show…..💕
I’d rather have a hot lead enema!!! I laughed right off the couch!! Thanks for another pro level video.
Thanks man great video. I'm huge fan of Tom.
Thanks. I'm a big fan too so it was an absolute pleasure to make!
I began listening to Wait's music in 1973, when I was beginning college, and I was 20 years old. I didn't like it and I didn't get it. But I kept coming back to it, as I wanted to like it. It took a few years, and then one day it hit me, and I have been hooked, ever since.
That is an interesting story mainly because its like mine. I was aware of him for years but didn't get totally into it until later.
Amazing video!! I love the way you maneuver your way through any setting as you expertly narrate your story. Love the raw honesty and poetry of Mr. Waits. Your content is quality not quantity and that's why I look forward to your videos.💖💯
Thanks, I'm glad it resonates. I've always felt there's a lot to be learned from a 2 minute song...
Huge Tom Waits fan here - looking forward to this! Another well researched and presented historical biopic. Love the locations (esp early childhood), quotes and anecdotes. Thank you again.
Always good to hear from you. This video was among my 3 faves to make. I just love Tom!
Thank you thank you thank you❤
I LOVED making this vid so thank you!
This is fantastic. Thanks for the effort and result.
hi Tim 👋 thanks so much for sharing this & your adventures , it's great to see your videos again ,👍 Cheers from your friend in Southeastern Ontario Canada ✌️🇺🇸🎸🇨🇦✌️
Hey great peace on Tom. I worked at Platterpuss Records on Hollywood Blvd back in 70's early 80's and Mr. Waits and his old black Cadillac were regulars. He was quite an interesting character. He put out some great tunes those were the days!
That is too cool. Did he talk much or was he just shopping?
Tim he was kind of reclusive but when he did talk it was in that voice that smoked to many cigarettes. He was just up and coming struggling and broke. He did say he lived at Tropicana but he always looked like he lived in his car as it was full of stuff. He was always wearing the same clothes rather disheveled and mostly hung over but as I remember he was cool. My mom was good friends with his step mom Eda Waits although she was divorced from his dad. His dad was Frank Waits that taught at Belmont High in Hollywood. It was always a treat to see him pull up in the big black Cadillac and I will never forget that voice almost a growl!
Cool video , thanks Tim , We love Tom Waits . Some of his vocals sound like
Louis Armstrong as he's growling Hello Dolly .
Ha! My kid imitates him when I put him on and it comes out sounding like Armstrong.
most excellent
Great post as usual. However, The Eagles' cover of "Ol' 55" was on "On The Border" not "Desperado". It has long been my favorite "Eagles" song. Yet, Tom Waits' original is better. I loved it when Bette Midler performed "Martha" on "Saturday Night Live". Keep up the great work!
whoops.
Tim...REALLY thanks for the ride.
Great job to found all those locations.
Great fan of Hank,Tom,and L.A.
Nice surprise!!! From Paris...
Thanks much. It was an incredibly fun video to make!
Listen to Tom Waits he rips your heart out holds it pulsating in his hand and shows it to you and before you plunge into oblivion he shoves it back in your chest and from there on the heartbeat of your life and soul is totally changed
cool.
Sure did dig it Tim another great video , I've always loved Tom , especially sword and Mule and he had the good sense to marry an Irish girl.
Right on, Seamus!
Awesome video! Very well structured with clear care for Tom and heavy research. Excited to check out your other videos!
Thanks much. I particularly loved making this one as Tom is one of my personal faves. Hope you like the others as well!
Waited all my life for this video. Thanks God somebody got it done nicely 🤛👏
I cant thank you enough for that video. Very informative. Joined so many dots.
He is such an amazing and interesting guy it made for a really fun and easy vid shoot. Thanks for the comment!
Wow, thanks so much for doing this. I’ve been a TW fan since the late 70s. I knew very little about him until now.
Thanks Tim ! Great Stuff as Always. Gotta Love Tom ! Step right Up ! Peace, Rudy
Thanks, Rudy. Peace to you my brother!
thank you.
yer welcome.
Just discovered your Channel and REALLY Dig it! Brilliant Narratives and such Captivating Back Stories🤙
I'm glad you like it and I'm glad you said so. Thanks!
It's starting to dawn on me how appropriate Rock Essentials is as a title for this channel. I'm starting to feel like what you're doing isn't just awesome and fun and funny and interesting and insightful, it's _essential._ When you drop a video, a lot of folks now _hop on it,_ like they're afraid it might disappear if they don't watch it fast enough. No one is doing what you are doing for the West Coast scene and the artists that occupied it and made it what it was, like you are. Kinda _essential._
That is really eloquent and I'm truly gratified that the vids have made an impact. I guess all I can really say is thank you for watching them. So thank you!
Came across this today. How wonderful. Thank you very much for the work you put into this. Tom remains a lifelong favorite.
Thanks much. Tom is also one of my faves and this vid was very special to make.
Tom has always been surrounded by brilliant musicians as well
Totally! I don't think anyone without pretty great chops would be able to keep up with him.
♥️ Your Tours Are Like A Great Book that you don't want to end. I often go back to past episodes. You are so literary in your narrative and are a great word smith. Thank You for all these! You bring Enlightenment and Joy. 🙌🙌🌅🌅
Just got home from a 2 hour ride back from filming and I'm kinda glad that chapter is over! Thanks for your cool comment, Ed. It is much appreciated!
Thanks for this, truly captured my attention. Brings me back to my yute
This is bloody great Tim! Keep 'm coming... Any chance of Little Feat and Los Lobos? 😁........please
Don't know about them but I do gots Gram Parsons on deck.
@@RockessentialTim cool
Loved this!!!! Great work!
Right on, thanks!
Tim, you're my go 2 guy!...
Your insight is impressive!
I wish my eyesight was half as impressive!
I'm 4 years younger than Waits. He was born in 1949 and I was born in 1953. In his lyrics and writings always seemed to make me think he was much older than myself. Seeing him with long hair, in that photo you posted was a shocker.
I have loved Tom Waits for a long time. He lived in San Diego? Wow! I have also loved Charles Bukowski! My friends and I used to hang out at Norm's! This was my neighborhood when I was young! Thanks for this!
I too was surprised to find out he lived in San Diego but I was really shocked that he was originally from Whittier. My daughter lives there now just up the street from where Tom grew up!
@@RockessentialTim Wow!
Really great video! Great job, wonderful!
Thanks for the cool comment!
Very interesting … thank you !
Thank you too!
First Tom Waits album I ever heard was Nighthawks at the Diner. I've been in love with his music ever since.
I saw Tom at the Wiltern during the Mule Variations Tour. I live in Whittier and was it was cool to see Uptown at the beginning of the video.🕺😎
I was at my grandson's junior high graduation that day and the Commencement ceremony was at Whittier High. Go Cardinals!
Tom Waits is ONE of ONE. A truly unique artist, and someone who deserves his accolades, even though he probably couldn't care less about it. Being an L.A. native, I know most of those places, but had no idea that they were once Waits' hangout/business/muses. Great video
Would've given anything to have been a fly on the wall during one of his sessions...
One of your best, many thanks
Thanks, Rick!
EXCELLENT
Another excellent video, 👏
Thanks my man!
Phenomenal tour, thank you.
Thanks. I love Tom so it was my total pleasure.
I was surprised Wait's grew up in California,....as his music imagery, always conjured up (in my mind) seedier, black & white, city life. California was and continues to be a sunny place, devoid of gloomy days, and skies greyed by industrial pollution. I guess Wait's was a night dweller. The noir lifestyle & moody-ness fades in the daylight.
Yeah i usually think of new york or Chicago with much of his early work, and though i may sometimes here California, it wasn't until the second half of hos career that then hos sound often steps out of the big cities and i hear rural settings, backwoods bbqs and dark deadly swamps
Seeing the references makes the songs better
Great piece on one of my all-time favorites! I lived in East Hollywood in the latter part of his tenure their, so it was nice to tour the very changed neighborhood we shared. Thanks for this👍😎
My favorite part of the shoot was the former Sewers of Paris club on Cosmos St. It later became a rock club I'd go to once in awhile, I think it was called the gas light or gas lamp. Very dark and mysterious. Waits would have loved it!
Wow....I love Tom - when I discovered him I was instantly hooked....the first song that I ever heard was Poncho's Lament and after that I was an instant appreciator....thanks for the great video.
Another excellent story from a master storyteller!
1981-1983 Tom and Kathleen were my neighbors - in an upstairs Victorian house duplex complex in rear of 129 - 137 N. Union Ave, ( near Beverly BLVD), - (owned by Charles & Planaria Knill) 2 blocks south of Traveler Cafe on Temple Ave. The filming of "In the Neighborhood" was filmed in the Alley between Union Ave and Burlington, Ave.( the stretch between Beverly and W Court Street) -we had a neighbor who collected Studebakers. I watched being filmed one Tuesday morning at 9AM . The whole Victoria complex where we resided once housed nuns at the adjacent Catholic Church 1946- 1976 - when I moved in - Whole complex was leveled in 2008, and became a parking lot for Iglesia ni Christo Church next door. Tom was composing "One from the Heart" at that time. - Steve Conrad VGUITARFORUMS
Wow, that is incredible and thanks for sharing! I must say, I've lived in LA most of my life and had never more than passed through Little Filipino Town. Maybe its gentrified since then but I found it to be pretty damn charming.
Awesome series love it !
Right on, thanks!
THANK YOU
Right on. Love Tom and loved making this vid. BTW: As far as I know the closest he ever came to living in Westwood was at The Tropicana in West Hollywood.
Great vid and story - thx!
Right on, thanks.
GREAT episode! I love Tom Waits.
LOVE how you walk into places like a King!! Great work!!
These keep getting better and better. This was wonderful. About to watch for the 3rd time. So much information here that you really do need to watch this several times. It’s also nice to walk though the past to when America still had a thriving culture and arts scene.
Well you know I love to hear that, especially about watching it more than once! My fave part of shooting was the Navy guys doing the cadence. It has nothing to do with the Tom Waits but I couldn't resist putting it in.
A really enjoyable tour of Tom Waits life and times. Thanks Tim.
Thanks much. Believe me, it was totally my pleasure to shoot this one.
Been to Canters. Hair looking good bro. I’ve come up with a new Philosophy for us older guys. Never be older than 69. I’m now an immature senior and promise never to act my age ( old man )
Thanks, Garry. I need a haircut bad!
we are gonna miss him when he goes to his next big show
FINALLY.........excellent video......thank you.....now im trying to remember the play i saw him in one night
I lived at the Tropicana when I first moved to LA in 77. I used to see him there all the time at Duke's. He was in the phone booth a lot!
Lordy, Tim, you always manage to do it...I spent w-a-y too much time in many of those same places...just several years after Tom had become, well, Tom. Great job as always. Used to hear Chuck E. at the lounge at Canter's, and seeing your end shot of Canter's dining room -- with that god-awful grapevine ceiling! -- brought back a lot of memories of nights spent there tripping on blotter and just staring at the ceiling, not eating the blintzes. "The large print giveth and the small print taketh away..." TW
Ha! I hadn't been to Canter's for a decade before I went in and shot and I thought exactly the same thing. There were still the usuals in the Kibitz Room but it was too dark to shoot in there.
Great video. I love Tom and know his stories and songs pretty well. All those places like Canters and Troubadour are familiar. The burrito place too is one I’ve been to but never realized it’s holiness. Tom lived a fairly black and white style existence in the Technicolor 70’s. Old cars, old clothes and old haunts. It rubbed off on his tunes and thank the gods he saw beyond Laurel Canyon. Like Bukowski, he found the beautiful in the most mundane details. It’s a pleasure to witness and there was never a better name than the Sewers of Paris. Why that went away with gentrification I’ll never understand.
Well said and all too true my friend!
Those places still have a vibe about them. You have a sense of history. Thanks for a great video.
Right on, thanks!
I wondered when you’d get to canter’s.
Having grown up, gone to high school, and worked in that area I also am very familiar with that part of the Fairfax area - the free press book store, the newspaper nest, Aron’s records etc. More than once I saw Tom walking up/down Fairfax with a guitar playing, singing, smoking and shaking his head. A real treat for someone who knew and appreciated who he was.
I saved the best for last! I used to work right across the street at Damiano's Pizza for a brief time.
Hes the bomb
Bravo dude
Tanks
Excellent Tim!
Hello Tim, I love your stuff - a great Sunday afternoon for me is kicking back and watching some of your videos....thank you.
Best comment of the day. Thank you!
Most definitely, Tom Waits is the coolest. I was so happy to see him live with Les Claypool on stand up bass. It was a key moment in my life!!
That had to be pretty great. Did Les get to go off and take a crazy solo?
@RockessentialTim no, he never did.I was waiting for him to do so but It was very professional of Claypool to play all the parts as is.
@@gregsvlogshow Les is a pretty damn cool guy himself!
@@RockessentialTim true
Man if I had all of the gas that my friends and I "wasted" cruising Whitter Blvd. back in the 70's. I would be set for gas for a loong time. My youth I miss it so much.
My wife's entire family is from Whittier and now my daughter lives there. It hasn't changed all that much.
@@RockessentialTim That's cool .They say you can't go home again. Well that's not really true , you can go home just don't expect it to be like it was when you left it. I still have some family and friends that live in Orange County, CA. They tell me it's different in some places and others for whatever reason it's pretty much the same as it was when I left there in June of 1988. Man that's 35 years ago where did it go.?
That was loads of fun, thanks so much!
Great episode!
Just made my Saturday. ❤
And you just made mine!
Walkin’ Spanish down the hall, baby. 😊
God, I love these videos.
Very cool. Thank you.
Wonderful travelogue, great fun. Thank you!
Really good. Thanks for the link, Carlos!
I enjoyed the TW's Cali retrospective and learned many new things about my favorite anti-hero.
How can anyone not love this guy?
This was ridiculously good.
Very good !
Another fabulous one Tim, thanks so much !
LOVED doing this one. Thanks!
this was faaaaantastic. loves it. very well done and to the point. thank you.
Been waiting for this one, and it was soooo worth the wait. Loved it. You covered a lot of new neighborhoods--as did Tom. Never heard about TW being a fan of Bukowski, but it makes perfect sense. Thanks Tim! I'm sending this to all TW fans!
Thanks my man, it is appreciated. I had a lot of fun making this one especially cuz it gave me an excuse to go down and hang in San Diego for a day!
Hi Tim love this installment .......i love Tom Waits since the late 1970s esp his early years as an L.A. singer songwriter. Thanks once again for the travelog
Right with you on that. I like his later stuff too. He hasn't put anything out for a number of years, I think his acting career took the forefront.
YES!!! NOW YOU'RE TALKING! Thanks, Tim! I really like your videos and I'm sure I'm gonna LOVE this one! Greetings from Sweden! LET'S GO!
I hope it lives up to the hype!
Very informative content as always, Tim. I enjoy seeing and hearing about the old recording studios (Record Plant, Wally Heider's, Gold Star, I.D. Sound, etc.) and I especially enjoyed your Maynard G. Krebs reference. That fits Tom Waits like a glove. Well done and keep it up -- your efforts are much appreciated by all of us who grew up during the 1960s / 1970s.
Thanks, Jon. I'd love to go exploring with my camera inside some of these studios but they are very well guarded and don't like people like me coming in there. I don't get it but there is still an air of exclusivity around most of the remaining ones.