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Westchester California's Own Surf Band
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While the Beach Boys were honing their craft, a few miles up the road in Hawthorne, CA, another group was getting ready to burst onto the music scene in Westchester.
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Former site of Westchester Music; the Banner Carpet store was torn down to make way for The Parking Spot, at Sepulveda Boulevard and Manchester Parkway.
For years local residents relied on Westchester Music Store, located at Sepulveda Boulevard and Wil Rogers Street, to supply them with records and musical instruments. I actually still have several vinyl albums from the old music store, including The Beatles Rubber Soul, and Love, Forever Changes, to mention a few. I do not know what happened to the hundreds of '45's my brothers and sister bought there. Many local kids took music lessons there from a man called Mr. Ferguson, who gave clarinet lessons in a drafty cubicle above the Westchester Music Store. Two local kids, Mark Volman who went to Orville Wright Jr. High and Howard Kaylan who went to Airport Jr. High (now Hertz Rent-A-Car on Airport Boulevard), were taking music lessons there on the clarinet and saxophone.
Later at Westchester High School, A Capella Choir, which was conducted by Mr. Robert Wood, was formed. Mark was a first tenor, Howard a second tenor. (Wood was so influential that the duo later named a publishing company after him; Mr. Woods Music. It was quite a choir, and won all sorts of city competitions.
In 1963, Al Nichol, Howard Kaylan, and Chuck Portz had just changed the name of their novice surf combo from the Nightriders to the Crossfires. Mark Volman knew them from the Westchester High choir and joined the group (initially as a roadie). Also in the band were Don Murray from Inglewood High and Dale Walton. Dale was later replaced by Tom Stanton, who in turn, was later replaced by Jim Tucker. Ironically, their music was almost exclusively instrumental! Four guys from choir forming an instrumental band? Actually, it wasn't all that surprising. In 1962, the hardest dance music of the time evolved out of Dick Dale's concept of the Surfer Stomp, searing guitar solos over a pounding rhythm section. Nichol was one of the very best of the city's surf guitarist, and The Crossfires adapted their own, original versions of standards like "Money" and "What'd I Say."
Here they were, 15 year old kids, their fingers ripping away at their saxes, playing at fraternity parties, and being exposed to strangely devastating drinks like "Red Death," and all manner of mayhem. To rise to the occasion, and to keep the frat boys happy and paying them $200-a-night jobs (good money for 1962), the Crossfires adapted their own, original versions of standards like "Money" and "What'd I Say" that were laced with the well chosen obscenities that the UCLA party boys loved so much. An ill-timed rendition of those very same ditties at the Westchester Women's Club effectively banned the Crossfires from Westchester, for good.
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The Crossfires performing at the
King's Jewelry 37th Anniversary Grand Re-opening, 1963.
Except to true surf-music aficionados, The Crossfires, like so many surf bands of the period have fallen into obscurity. But this was no regular group of musicians. In 1964, the Beatles and the whole English Invasion took the United States by storm, and Mark and Howard put down their saxes, took up the vocals and the Crossfires dropped their entire repertoire of surf instrumentals and grew their hair long.
And the group became one of the greatest American bands of all times, with hits like Happy Together and You Know She'd Rather Be With Me.
You know them as, The Turtles.
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