At the behest of business owners and residents, in 1966 the Los Angeles City Council imposed nightly curfews intended to curtail the growing "nuisance" of hippie antiwar protests.

[4] Furthermore, annoyed residents and business owners in the district had encouraged the passage of strict (10 p.m.) curfew and loitering laws to reduce the traffic congestion resulting from crowds of young club patrons.

[2] Hours before the protest one of L.A.'s rock 'n' roll radio stations announced there would be a rally at Pandora's Box, a club facing forced closure and demolition at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights, and cautioned people to tread carefully.

[6] That evening, as many as 1,000 youthful demonstrators, including such celebrities as Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda (who was handcuffed by police), erupted in protest against the perceived repressive enforcement of these recently invoked curfew laws.

[4] In this light, Bob Gibson, manager of the Byrds and the Mamas and the Papas reflected: "If you had to put your finger on an event that was a barometer of the tide turning, it would probably be the Sunset Strip riots.