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Derby Brown on Vine. Chesne in Beverly. Tower records at sunset. And now there may be another note in the long, sad line of vanished Hollywood landmarks: the Canyon Country Store on the corner of Laurel Canyon and Lookout Mountain Boulevard.
The disgraceful hippie haunts of the 1960s and 1970s – Cass Elliot slept downstairs and immortalized by Jim Morrison as “the shop where creatures met” on “Love Street” – have been sold, the Rambling Reporter has confirmed. Even more shocking is that there are rumors that the new owners are planning to turn the store into a liquor store.
Co-owner Tommy Pena raised the alarm in early February, posting an Insta video in which he claimed his partners sold the store “without my knowledge or consent.” He went on to say that he did not know the new owners or their “intentions,” but acknowledged speculation that major changes were coming, including to the building itself. “This is not okay,” he said. “If you are interested in the Canyon Country Store and its history, come see me and show your support.”
Rampling had already stopped by, but instead of finding Pina behind the counter, we met another co-owner, David Shamsa, who offered his version of what happened between making pastrami sandwiches and Cadbury chips (they started stocking them after David Bowie kept asking for them).
According to Shamsa, 82, he and three other investors — including Pena’s deceased brother, who left his 10 percent stake to Tommy — bought the place in 1982, and did their best to keep its bohemian feel intact by not making major changes (except for adding a coffee cart in the courtyard in 2000). But after overseeing the store for 44 years, Shamsa and two other partners — one 82 and the other 92 — want to sell the place and retire. Pena, in his 60s, is the only one who wants to continue.
“If he wanted to buy it himself, he could have done that,” Shamsa says, denying that Bina was aware of the sale. “He didn’t have the money.”
As for the future of the property, Shamsa suggests not believing everything you hear, calling the liquor store rumors “nonsense.”
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Also in the Rampling Reporter:
inside Vanity galleryThe new Oscars and why you weren’t invited.
how Titanic Producers have broken all kinds of rules by turning to social media to finance the potential Broadway musical.
The mystery presented by Oscar Sean Penn to Zielinski has been solved.
This story appeared in the March 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe.
