Slash Recalls Dressing in Drag, Getting Arrested on the Sunset Strip
As an icon of the Sunset Strip and its famous haunts (the Roxy, the Rainbow, the Whisky, etc.), Slash may have more tales than anyone about the famed street.
"I moved here when I was a kid, I was raised here, I've been a part of this neighborhood forever, I started playing guitar here, all of my bands were from here," this year's honoree at the Sunset Strip Music Festival tells Spinner. "I feel very much a part of this whole neighborhood."
Because he is a member of the community, the celebration, which will also see West Hollywood declare Aug. 26 "Slash Day," is very meaningful for him. "When I got the phone call, it totally took me by surprise," he says. "I was really flattered by that because it's such a major part of my whole being."
And what are some of his favorite stories about the Strip? "I used to have a fake ID and go to the Rainbow all the time with Steven [Adler] when I was 16 or 17 years old," he recalls. "One Tuesday night, Steven and I went to the Rainbow. Steven got in and [the bouncer] Steady -- he's been there forever, he's a fixture -- stops me. I'd gone through there a million times and he stopped me, looked at my ID and said, 'No, you can't come in here.' And I was floored. I was a little bit drunk anyway, so I went home."
"So, I dressed up in my mom's clothes -- put on a hat, wore one of her cool dresses, put makeup on and came back and parked up above Doheny and Sunset," he continues. "I was on a mission really, so it just didn't hit me what I was doing and just walked right in," he recalls. "I went in, looked for Steven, thinking, 'I'm gonna go pick up on Steven. This is gonna be the funniest thing.'"
There was
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