Sad news spreads fast and stunningly
By Rick Orlov (Valley News - December 9, 1980)

The Sunset Strip was John Lennon's street. This is what Lennon understood and wrote his music for. Its gaudy bright lights, rock 'n' roll nightclubs and street people wandering in search of some meaning.

The word of Lennon's death spread rapidly through the half-deserted boulevard Monday night. Nearly everyone walking along the street or standing in line to enter a club knew of his death. But it was something hard for them to absorb. To many young fans, rock 'n' roll stars die in a flamboyant fashion from life in the fast lane----too much alcohol or too much drugs. Lennon, they say, is the first to die of violence.

Im../mediately after it was learned Lennon had been shot, gruesome comparisons began to be made between his death and that of other rock stars. One patron in front of the Whisky a Go Go had been listening to a special radio show honoring the work of Jim Morrison, whose body was discovered Dec. 8, 1971. Lennon gained his first fame with the Beatles in the 1960s. From iconoclast to rebel to a new wave of music, Lennon seemed to be at the forefront. To his fans, it was Lennon and the Beatles who represented the frustration and pain of growing up and learning to deal with a modern world.

Ray Sexton, manager of the Whisky, was moved over the shooting of Lennon. "The first concert I ever saw was the Beatles," he said. But he said he would not announce the news of Lennon's death to any of the patrons inside the club because he did not want it to be 'a downer'.

"Everyone knows, man," he said. "I don't have to tell anyone. You can feel it in the crowd, but I don't know what to do tonight." The Whisky was one place where Lennon came during both the high points and the low points of his career to seek solace from the pressures of being John Lennon. In front of a small bar named the Central, in the main Strip area, five tourists took pictures of one another with one noting, "It's time to rock 'n' roll for John Lennon."

Two blocks up the street at the popular Roxy club, co../median Michael Henderson went on with his comedy show , despite the anguish owner Mario Maglieri said he felt over Lennon's death. "It's like family," Maglieri said. "I lost one of my own; the man was the greatest." But Maglieri added he would not stop his planned show. "Everyone knows. They came here for our show," he said. "Lennon was everything. He was just the best."

Sexton, the manager of the Whisky, admitted he was baffled as to what he should do. "A lot of the waitresses are in tears. No one knows what to do. This is the first one we've really lost, we just don't know how to deal with it."

With word of the shooting, radio station KMET im../mediately interrupted its broadcast for special reports and calls from fans who remembered Lennon. The station began playing some of the best known songs Lennon had recorded as a way of showing tribute to the songwriter. Doug Weston, owner of the Troubador nightclub, called Lennon's killing "a sad and tragic ending" to the life "of a man who's career should have gone on for many, many years."

"He was a dynamic personality and a fine artist," Weston said. Action along the Strip never seemed to stop. Congested traffic, threats of fights and various street deals continue as they would like any other night. But at odd corners and walking along the street one could see some of those visibly moved by Lennon's death and holding on to each other to seek some comfort.