"In a tiny office converted into a mini-studio just off of Sunset, my buddy Jason Evigan and I _ brand new writers _ were beating ourselves up, struggling to write a decent idea that would impress David Guetta, who was working two rooms down the hall.
"After hours of complete failure, we finally we had a breakthrough and I ran down the hall to grab Mr. Guetta. I said, 'If you don't like this, then I should just quit music.'
"That week we wrote two No. 1 songs for him _ 'Dangerous' and 'Lovers on the Sun' _ in that tiny room, and I ended up featuring on both songs. The power of Sunset, oh boy, it's no joke."
_Sam Martin, songwriter with David Guetta, the Chainsmokers, Maroon 5, Jason Derulo, One Direction and others.
"This might sound kinda cheesy, but I go to the Rainbow Room all the time. It's kind of a nostalgia thing, I guess, but also it's just fun to go with friends and family. Last time I was there the people that work there gave me tickets to Quiet Riot.
"Every time I hear some rock song like 'Sweet Child O' Mine' or something, it always reminds me of driving down Sunset at golden hour.
"It's one of the best things when I think of L.A.: Crammed in with a bunch of friends in a tiny Honda Civic cruising down Sunset, you know?"
_Arrow DeWilde, singer of ascendant L.A. rock band Starcrawler
"For a kid who grew up in L.A., Sunset Boulevard has always been at the center of my musical upbringing and career. I saw so many, many bands growing up on Sunset _ from the Beastie Boys at the Palladium to Beck at the Whisky.
"As a musician starting out you hadn't earned your stripes unless you had played every club on the Sunset Strip, from the not so great early days of my musical career having to pay to play at the Whisky with my college band to my first headline gig at the Viper Room.
"Later with Fitz & the Tantrums, selling out the Palladium was a real benchmark moment for me, having gone to see so many of my heroes on that stage.
_Michael "Fitz" Fitzpatrick, Fitz & the Tantrums
"I have a song on my new album oddly enough called 'Sunset Blvd' and it's simply about me driving an old sports car down Sunset all the way from Echo Park west to the ocean, which I do quite a bit late at night when the roads are clear.
"The song says, 'Way out on that precious boulevard/ I can be weightless, timeless.'
"It's a special road and it does invoke these feelings. Be it the curves of Bel-Air or the Strip, I have many memories of Sunset. In fact, the first J.W. solo show was on Sunset at the old Roxbury. I was playing in the pub part downstairs while Ministry played upstairs.
"I never played the Whisky, but I think I have paid my Viper Room dues, way way ... back. That precious boulevard is a part of me and my music."
_Jonathan Wilson
