Billboards across LA in the 1970’s and 1980’s, especially those on Sunset Boulevard were bold, brash icons in the sky – The Strip skyline  an ever changing gallery (apart from the Marlboro Man, a 70 foot cowboy puffing away  – it was there for 17 years before being formally removed.)

On show were  strong symbols of consumer culture and  pop iconography from music and movies of the day. Rock stars were Giants in stature and quite literally up with the Gods. The graphics and designs towered over and compelled you to look up.

Photographer Robert Landau grew up in Los Angeles in the 1960s and snapped them, he has now  done a great  book: Rock ‘n’ Roll Billboards of the Sunset Strip  which has some superb shots.  I was pleased to find several I vividly remember,  like  David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs gig at Universal Amphitheatre  or ELO’s flying saucer and of course Beatles Abbey Road cover (skyline not leafy London but sunshine of California)

Another photographer who lived near the strip and took slides is Larry Jandro – he has been transposing them from slide  and putting them up on a Flickr account.  Looking at some of these I am reminded how outrageous some of them were, I don’t know if advertising standards would deem them acceptable now? Here are some of Larry’s snaps, see the full album here.