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Rocky Road From Classic Rock to Progessive to hip hop to today's hot new tunes! |
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Rocky Road From Classic Rock to Progessive to hip hop to today's hot new tunes! |
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Amid turmoil, UC Santa Cruz opened in 1965. When I was there in 1990, UCSC was commemorating its 25th anniversary. We loved hearing Petula Clark's "Downtown," which was a hit in 1965. My roommate Josh was originally from somewhere on Long Island. He said that, when songwriter Tony Hatch came up with "Downtown," he was actually staying near Central Park, went to Broadway, and visited Times Square. He was not in Manhattan.
Some of my friends, neighbors, relatives, and coworkers went to UC Irvine, which, like UCSC, opened in 1965. Irvine is a "planned community," closer to urban areas than Santa Cruz. Who knows? Maybe "Downtown" was well-liked, not just in 1965, but thereafter.
Growing up here in San Francisco, we did not think of the Financial District (above) as "downtown."
Rather, Union Square was thought of as "downtown." In 1986, while we were in high school, Lori's Diner opened on Powell near Ellis. In 1993, they opened the current location (above), on Sutter and Powell. There, the little tabletop jukeboxes often had Petula Clark's "Downtown."
While still noodling with what would become "Downtown," Hatch actually had The Drifters in mind. When it came time for Clark to record it, supposedly, guitarists Vic Flick (James Bond) and Jimmy Page (future Led Zeppelin) had some parts.
-Lummy The Loch Monster
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Topic - Petula Clark, "Downtown" - Luminator 16:21:44 03/01/25 (0)
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