Sex, clubs & rock'n'roll! As plastic as you want us to be... The Hollywood Monsters website was launched in March of 1999. This was a strange time for both the internet, and the Los Angeles nightclub and music scene. Only about 30% of the U.S. population had internet access at the time, but usage was growing at an alarming rate. Social networks didn't exist as we know them today- it would still be years before MySpace came along. Los Angeles was experiencing a glam/punk/rock resurgence and the nightlife was raging! It was the perfect storm about to happen...
I originally conceived the site as an online continuation of Galaxina. After realizing my funding limitations, I changed the direction of the site to become more of an alternative community and lifestyle guide to Los Angeles. I posted listings for nightclubs and shows, and started networking with club promoters to see if they were interested in participating. Most of them didn't have websites and were happy to receive the promotion. I saw an ad in the LA Weekly and made a cold call to Dayle Gloria that would change everything. We set up a meeting at her apartment and instantly hit it off, forming a friendship and mutually beneficial cross-promotion relationship with each other. I would promote Dayle's clubs and she would use Hollywood Monsters as her official website for Scream and her other club nights. Dayle introduced me to bands and club promoters by the dozens, and as time went on, Hollywood Monsters continued to grow and grow. Apollo Staar's scandalous 'Rock + Roll Rehab' column was added to the site and once the 'Rants' guestbook went up, the synergy between the two really heated things up!
There was no avoiding it! The scene was on fire, and so was Hollywood Monsters... The web address started showing up on club and band flyers, CD inserts, magazine ads and more. It was shameless self-promotion for the masses and it took on a life of its own. We had arrived! I threw a big one-year anniversary party (three months late, but it was still a good excuse to throw a party) and I was making plans to take it much further. I created a solid business plan and started graphically 'annihilating' the site with the intention of ultimately destroying it so a new site could be re-birthed. Somewhere around the middle of 2001, the scene started changing. Some of the more notorious clubs were fizzling out and, in my opinion, the events of September 11th put the final nail in the coffin that literally killed the scene. People just stopped going out. I was having a difficult time securing the funding I needed- nobody with money seemed to understand the power of the internet or what I was doing at the time. In late 2002, I went through some personal hardships of my own. I was left with no choice other than to pull the plug, despite having already started working on a new site. It was a grand and special time while it lasted! Hollywood Monsters welcomed over one million visitors throughout its 4-year run.
SLUG Magazine Interview by Son of Damian
Galaxina / Hollywood Monsters
New Times Freek Show Column by Jim Freek
Forbidden Zone Mention
Hollywood Monsters One-Year Anniversary
Coolgrrrls Column by Kastle Waserman
H.O.R.N.Y. Pages by Coyote Shivers
Hollywood Monsters Commemorative Merchandise
In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Hollywood Monsters, I have created commemorative merchandise that is now available in my Redbubble and Zazzle shops! There are three designs in four colors, and over 50 products to choose from. Check it out!
Rock + Roll Rehab by Apollo Staar
Got the rock and roll disease? Apollo Staar has your cure! This booklet contains every single Rock+Roll Re-hab column featured on the Hollywood Monsters website.
Rants - The Hollywood Monsters Guestbook
The Hollywood Monsters guestbook went through several different phases- some I built, while others were embedded through third-party services. The guestbook was often a place of drama, scandal, trolling, shameless self-promotion, and people still figuring out the internet. Some of the posts were deleted. Some of them were lost in transition. I have compiled this 58-page booklet from the screenshots that do still exist.
Hollywood Monsters Music & Video Channel
Bubble - Video Montage
Texas Terri Bomb! - One Hit Wonder!
Dragstrip 66 "Frockumentary Featurette"
JET68 superqueen
"It's like the internet 'TV Guide' to the L.A. rock scene- the main artery pumping into everything that's worthwhile and happening."
- Dayle Gloria (Scream)
"Finally! A fuckin' website that I can use to go find some ass in Hollywood. Yeah, baby!"
- Taime Downe (The Newlydeads, Faster Pussycat, Pretty Ugly Club)
"Hollywood Monsters is info for the informed, who's who, and who wants to be where the clubs are the hottest!
Fashion is not flannels and sex is any position."
- Tricia La Belle (Bar Sinister)
"Hollywood Monsters is the best and easiest to use night life locator in the City of Angels... Every cool club and band is listed in it's monthly calendar, and I don't get that yucky newsprint all over my fingers."
- Reverend Dan (Music for Nimrods - KXLU 88.9 FM)
Original Hollywood Monsters Logo
I did this on my computer in 1997. It wasn't until two years later that the site was launched.
Flyers! Flyers! Flyers!
Ya gotta get the info somehow!
Hollywood Monsters Logo Revised
Hollywood Monsters - Version 1.0
This was the first Hollywood Monsters website.
GALAXINA
A Tribute To Galaxina
First Hollywood Monsters Flyer
Maryilyn Manson Pospones Tour
The Creatures Rock The House of Blues
Love & Rockets Announce Band Break-up
The version most visitors would be familiar with...
Cherry Finds A New Club To Call Home
Hollywood Monsters Flyer
Absynthe
Absynthe Flyer
Sublime Chaos
A plug from Australia!
H.O.R.N.Y. Pages
H.O.R.N.Y. Pages Ads
Music Connection Magazine
I sent this out as an email attachment. My Gramps was always very supportive- and very funny!
LA Weekly Scream Ads
Bar Sinister