Sunset Strip Teen Riots 1966

The Sunset Strip Teen Riots, also known as the 1966 Hippie Riots or the Riot on Sunset Strip, pitted police against teenage mobs on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, California.

In 1966, Hollywood residents and business owners had supported the passage of a 10:00 PM under-18 curfew and loitering laws to reduce problems stemming from hordes of teenage psychedelic rock club goers.

Young L.A. rock music fans thought the restrictive curfew to be an infringement on their civil rights.

A Hollywood revolution was quickly organized through word of mouth and flyers distributed in every club along Sunset Boulevard.

As well, the hippie counterculture saw the November 8, 1966 election of conservative Governor-elect Ronald Reagan as a call to revolution in the streets of California against the establishment.

On Saturday night, November 12, 1966, a boulevard full of protesters, including Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson, demonstrated against police brutality in an infamous clash with cops that resulted in mass arrests.

The following video shows the tension and confusion that ensued on that Saturday night in November '66.

1966 SUNSET STRIP RIOTS