The L.A. Musical History Tour
Dead Man's Curve #1
Sunset, west from Groverton, across from Drake Stadium
This should be a bet-settler. Everyone in L.A. seems to have his or her
own idea of where
the curve described in the 1964 Jan and Dean song "Dead man's Curve"
is located, but no
one knows better than the song's co-writers, Dean Torrence, Roger Christian,
and Jan
Berry (fourth writer Brian Wilson wasn't queried), who all agree on that
this is the spot.
In January of 1961, comedian Mel Blanc suffered a near-fatal car crash here,
which
spurred the city to regrade the curve-so in fact, Dead Man's Curve doesn't
really exist
anymore.
(Incidentally, the fatal Ernie Kovacs car crash in 1962 occurred on a straight
stretch of
Santa Monica Boulevard southwest of the Beverly Hills Hotel.)