Laurel Canyon, with its bohemian flair and refuge for rock legends, is the perfect place to visit

Cruising Mulholland Drive at night, it seems like you’re driving on top of the world. This may be because the glimmering lights of the Valley below are the only distinguishable stellar forms after the smog covers the actual stars.

Continue far enough up the road and you’ll reach Laurel Canyon, a bohemian artist’s refuge now fortressed with fences and fortune. But it wasn’t always like that.

The canyon used to be home to the fenceless hippies of the 1960s ““ not just any hapless, hairy old hippies, but talented ones who would become household names. The Doors’ (and UCLA’s) Jim Morrison; the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; Joni Mitchell; Frank Zappa; the Mamas and the Papas; and many others spent the greater part of their musical careers in the canyon.

The landscape inspired Joni Mitchell’s “Ladies of the Canyon” and her love interest Graham Nash’s “Our House,” with lyrics containing common hippie motifs of cats and flowers and sunshine that represent the easy life they were trying to get back to.

The music of the canyon is softer and simpler compared to the harsher, complicated sounds of city life below. The songs of strange birds unheard on the streets of Los Angeles below provide a peaceful natural soundtrack to get you in a canyon state of mind.

Laurel Canyon continues to inspire and bring together musicians young and old, as Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and the band Dawes have collaborated with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Benmont Tench and the Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson.

Alexander Gallagher-Soltes, a DJ and visual effects coordinator, has been living in the canyon for eight years, and he said it is not uncommon to hear echoes of jam sessions throughout the day.

According to Gallagher-Soltes, the canyon is a place where no one will tell you to turn down your music, no matter what time of day ““ instead, the residents are more likely to show up with their own instruments and jam. The hippie spirit of the canyon is still alive.

Even walking down the road, strangers have said hello to me and given me very detailed directions with a smile and a wave, something that rarely happens down on the streets of Hollywood (unless they want me to buy a CD). It seems the fortress of porches and automatic gates does not restrain basic human friendliness.

While walking his dog, Gallagher-Soltes has met many neighbors who shared with him their history and appreciation of Laurel Canyon. He remembers encountering one longtime inhabitant who reminisced about the Doors jamming naked on their front patio.

In a neighborhood with such a strange and fascinating history, it’s no wonder that the residents want to keep the historical sites of the canyon intact. But many houses have been either burned down or been demolished, despite community backlash. The scenery around the ghost landmarks alone merits a visit.

Frank Zappa’s burned-down log cabin on the northwest corner of Lookout Mountain Avenue and Laurel Canyon Boulevard was re-erected but now is fenced off. Morrison’s house was recently remodeled. It stands behind the Country Store, a landmark of history that is to this day still visited by the likes of Mick Jagger, who buys his imported British Kit Kats there.

Whether you came to UCLA for the academics, the celebrities or the sun, while you’re here you might as well get out of Westwood and take a walk on the wild side of Los Angeles. Even if you’re not into cats and flowers and sunshine, Laurel Canyon provides a serene retreat from the stress of the city and a chance to experience rock and roll, past and present.