Wonderland Avenue: Tales of Glamour and Excess

by Danny Sugerman, Ralph Steadman (Illustrator)

Excessive, scandalous, comic, cautionary and horrifying, it chronicles the 60s dream gone-to-rot and the early life of a Hollywood Wild Child who was just brilliant at being bad.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Memoir, Autobiography, Biography Memoir, Drugs

480 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1989

About the author

Daniel Stephen Sugerman (aka Danny) was the second manager of the Los Angeles based rock band The Doors, and wrote several books about Jim Morrison and The Doors.

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderland Avenue was my favorite book as a teenager and I really, really wanted to be the Gen X version of Danny Sugerman, a goal I never came anywhere close to achieving because I was a geeky poor kid from Appalachian Ohio.

Present day me, having long since given up my quest to become The Lizard Queen, re-read this book for a “book you wish you could read for the first time again” reading challenge prompt. It'd been two decades since I'd last read Wonderland Avenue and I was really afraid that the magic of Sugerman's memoir wouldn't hold up for me now that I'm on the other side of 40. But … it kind of mostly did?

I mean, yeah, now that I'm a middle aged woman I can look back and see that idolizing Sugerman was kind of silly. After all, this memoir is pretty much a cautionary tale as to why you shouldn't idolize rebellious drug addicts. And I was absolutely horrified by all of the statutory rape that Sugerman committed. And I mostly skimmed over Morrison's philosophical ramblings. And I noticed all of the racist language for the first time. And I cringed every time someone drove while intoxicated. And, really, Sugerman was kind of just an ass to everyone he claimed to care about.

But still. This is a really good memoir, even if it's not exactly a happy one. Sugerman did a fantastic job of chronicling his descent into addiction. And if you're at all interested in The Doors and/or the rock n' roll lifestyle of the 60s and 70s, this is one of the best accounts out there.

And now for the end-of-review public service announcement:

"Shooting speed isn't that smart. Shooting speed kills geese. If you shoot a goose full of speed that goose is gonna swim in circles forever." - Jim Morrison (in No One Here Gets Out Alive, another great book by Sugerman)

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread, 2021: I've been struggling to get my reading mojo back, so I've been picking some books to re-read. One of them was Danny Sugerman's memoir about meeting his rock idols (The Doors and Iggy Pop), landing a plum job as post-Doors Ray Manzarek's manager which included a house on Wonderland Avenue in Laurel Canyon (the same street where the John Holmes-related Four on the Floor murders would occur a few years later), and managing to piss it all away with a walloping heroin addiction. And all before he turned 21.

With re-read and age, I still appreciate the late Sugerman's candor but man, is he an asshole. He's 20, has a 15 year old girlfriend, is instrumental in getting her hooked on heroin along with him, only for her to OD—pregnant—while he's in rehab. It's worse knowing he did a similar thing with his wife, Fawn Hall (see below), but with crack the second time.

Very entertaining, but also bloviating and if not fabricated at points then at least exaggerated. However, this book is very, very, very good at making you never want to try heroin.

Original review below
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Danny Sugerman quite simply wrote one of the best books ever about drug addiction. He had a friendship with Jim Morrison in his formative years (and claims to have later had sex with Morrison's widow-which, kind of discomfiting that.) He also managed the career of Iggy Pop during some of his worst excesses and was friends with people ranging from Ray Manzarek to Mackenzie Phillips. You'll have more sympathy for Mackenzie and her troubles of late, if you don't already, when you read the story of Sugerman resuscitating her after an OD while driving down the freeway. Somewhere in this timeframe, Sugarman also developed a massive heroin habit and came very close to dying as a result. Not everyone in the story is so lucky.

Sugerman is a great, if occasionally overwrought and self-aggrandizing, raconteur and this book is full of interesting, occasionally hilarious and occasionally horrifying tales. It also is more effective at dissuading you from drug use than an infinite number of anti-drug commercials. By all accounts, Sugerman stayed clean after the trip to rehab that ended this book. He died a few years ago after a long battle with lung cancer.

ETA: I was extremely wrong when I originally wrote this about Sugerman staying sober. He relapsed after a trip overseas, developed a crack habit, and got his wife (who happened to be Fawn Hall. Yes, that Fawn Hall) smoking crack as well. They both ended up in rehab.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I owe this book some fanmail. It is a wonderland of uncut emotion. Did it make me want to take drugs? Maybe. Right up until the point where it didn't. It made me want to stick to my guns. It made me want to live for something bigger than me. There is nothing abstract about this book. There is no compromise. And that's who Danny is. We get to know and love him through his singleminded pursuit of his rock 'n' roll dream. For him, there just never was another option. How cool is that? How vintage is that kind of dedication? His adoration of Jim Morrison as an older brother figure, his discovery of a safe haven within the maniacal world of music and drugs, and the path of fate down which his life rolls are related with a wit so sharp and observations so universal, you will nod out loud in agreement.

Describing his adolescence and young adulthood, tucked under the hypnotic leathery wing of the music industry before it even knew how big it was, his book embodies a time that will never be repeated. It makes all of us, even those of us who weren't born until decades later, feel a terrible nostalgia for it.

[RB Love · Rating 2 out of 5]

While interesting and chock full of some delicious rock and roll excess stories, not to mention Sugarman's Cameron Crowe-like rise as a publicist as a teenager - Sugarman is also a little annoying and it is all about him. Highlights about Iggy Pop. Ultimately, I remember tossing the hardcover out of the second story window of my bedroom directly into the trash cans in the alleyway when I was done with it.

[Alex Ankarr · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the funniest books ever written, right up there with K.M. Peyton's 'Downhill All The Way' and Gene Kemp's permanent Classic of Funny, 'No Place Like'. (Mucho aggro!)

It's not just funny - it's a whole lot of other things as well, emotional and inspiring and rebellious and smart amongst them.

But it is so damn funny that that's always the first thing that springs to mind.

Plus Iggy Pop staggering around a canyon in a dress and platform heels, coming down off the substances in the early hours of the morning, and demanding to be TREATED LIKE A LADY!, is not something you want to miss.

And I even forgot to mention the pipebomb down the school toilets! READER, I WEPT!!! And not at all for the same reason I wept while reading Toshikazu Kawaguchi's sadly gorgeous moodpiece 'Before the Coffee Gets Cold'. No, dear reader: but because, if funny could kill, this book would need a health warning.

[Jinny Chung · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think about my childhood. A lot. I think about all the television shows I watched, the books I read, the embarrassingly detailed drawings I drew of people, and all of the mildly gross substances I touched indoors and out just for the experience of doing something -- but it all seems goddamn boring every time I revisit this memoir.

Look, I couldn't care any less about Jim Morrison or The Doors. I don't find anything about him or the band appealing. But EVERYTHING about Morrison and the band spoke to pre-teen Danny Sugerman. The Doors may mean nothing to me, but passionate little weirdo kids that take a nerd-level interest in something make me resent being born with a working range of emotions.

Every time I pick up this book, I'm abruptly reminded that Sugerman didn't write it in present tense. His writing is so gushing and enthusiastic, as if even the most minute detail of a non-crucial event is pivotal to the memoir as a whole. Even as a grown-ass man, he wrote with the urgency and excitement of a kid who's just come home from a field trip gone awry.

So read this, because twelve-year-old YOU didn't get to cruise down Sunset Boulevard with rock stars. (The best part is, in reading this, you can dive right into every thrilling, terrifying, hilarious and just downright f*cked-up moment with Sugerman -- but from the thankfully tepid comfort of your actual mundane life.)

"I almost ran head first into Jim Morrison who was heading up the stairs. 'How come every time I see you, you're running off with something that belongs to me?' I just looked at him, thinking he was nuts, and probably dangerous too. He felt dangerous. He was still in his black leather pants but with a pea coat, collar up. His hair was the longest I'd ever seen. And as much as I was embarrassed to admit it, he was beautiful. His eyes were like green stones. He looked dangerous. He looked like a crazy angel. I was nervous. But I'd be damned if I let him know it."

"During second period, Physical Education, the class was sitting cross-legged listening to somebody from the drug rehab house, Synanon, lecture us about the dangers of drugs. A guy with a shaved head was telling us about how marijuana led to harder drugs, about how he first started with grass and ended up with the hard stuff. A guy from the police department was with him. They passed out three joints for us to pass around and look at. They travelled through all sixty-five of us. When the dope was turned back in, the cop counted an extra three joints. Out of nowhere I felt an undeniable, overwhelming tug of longing, loneliness, an impending sense of doom. As the laughter died down, I became conscious of a vaguely familiar sound. Through the din of the class noise, a plane droned somewhere overhead. I looked at my watch. It was 10:30. Jim had taken off for Paris exactly fifteen minutes ago."

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars -- Danny Sugerman was young, wealthy, poorly supervised, had a personality prone to obsession and no self-control. So certainly nothing bad could happen when he put himself under the tutelage of the Doors and then Iggy Pop, right? I kept thinking to myself, "When Jim Morrison is the voice of reason and moderation in your life...whoo boy."

I read most of this book while sick in bed with the flu, so in a strange moment of synchronicity, I was shivering, sweat-soaked and disgusting with virus, while the subject of this book was shivering, sweat-soaked and disgusting with junkiedom.

[Rob Dunford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best book I've ever read

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's written from the hip, talky, autobiography, edgy (for the early 90's), and if you've just read Scar Tissue, then you gotta read this.

In a way its very cliche. Another book about being a junkie in the rock biz. At times, I had to shake my head in disgust at its excess. But it's par for the course when you're dealing with the excesses of the 1970's. I had read Daniel Sugarmen's biography of Jim Morrrison in No One Here Gets Out Alive, when I was 17 and into that, so I had always wondered who was this guy.

And if you're an old Iggy Pop fan, and want a little side gossip about Iggy, this is your book, for Danny managed Iggy's career after the Stooges.

It's sort of sad. Danny makes peace with himself, yet he only died a few years ago. No, this is not a "spoiler" for the book is over ten years old.

And the narcissism is over the top with this man. Just a warning. He loses his mentor, Jim Morrison, then he whines about not having a job? He pretty much is responsible for Tiff's suicide, yet me can't really be bothered with it because he's too busy drying out in an expensive clinic his dad paid for? That part of this autobiograpy is rather disgusting.

[Marti · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Neil Strauss' book "The Dirt" on Motley Crue (terrible band, great book, also set in LA), I thought those guys won the award for excess. However, they were close to 30 before they hit rock bottom (after one particularly nasty incident where Vince Neil drove a motorcycle into a nightclub and had no recollection of it). That incident now seems trivial; after all Danny Sugerman was given a week to live at age twenty-one. I would hope that no one would seek to emulate him even if certain parts were laugh out loud funny (and of course this was on my morning commute). Although he was forced to clean up his act in the end, I say he should have been dead by about page 150. Highly recommended. It makes Hunter S. Thompson look like a Buddhist Monk.

[Marcello · Rating 3 out of 5]

Operazione ai limiti del truffaldino della casa editrice italiana, che per rendere il prodotto appetibile al mercato nostrano ha aggiunto un sottotitolo che non solo è assente nella versione originale (Il mondo dei Doors: una vera saga rock) ma che soprattutto non c'entra col contenuto del libro. Danny Sugerman, tra l'altro scomparso per un tumore nel 2005, racconta la sua vita fino alla pubblicazione del libro (1989), in cui l'incontro con Morrison e la frequentazione con la sua band, di cui dopo la morte del cantante divenne anche manager, costituisce una parte, vista ovviamente attraverso il suo punto di vista. Bisogna sempre tenere in considerazione che Sugarman aveva 12 anni quando conobbe Jim e 16 e mezzo quando Morrison morì, per cui ogni cosa va presa molto con le pinze, come si suol dire ... Forse la vera protagonista della storia è la dipendenza dell'autore con la droga, che rischiava di fargli terminare l'esistenza ben prima di quanto poi avvenuto. Molti episodi sembrano un po' esagerati, anche se in quegli anni e in quell'ambiente c'era gente che viveva davvero sopra le righe, tra cui Iggy Pop (un pazzo scatenato, secondo le testimonianze di Sugerman).

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although he is a big part of the Doors' story, it's Sugerman's side of the story that I find more interesting. He started working for the Doors when he was a teenager and ended up as a manager of sorts.

What you get through his eyes is the music and the music business via his eyes. He sucked in the drugs as one sucks in air before they go underwater. Which means he got into drugs way too much, but nevertheless he has one thing that helps - he could write really well. Some parts I just want to hide my eyes, but it is his sense of humor that takes the reader as his partner in a sense, and you are going through a wild ride.

The drug aspect is not the thing that hooks me to the book, but more of the world of the Sunset Strip.... which I guess means drugs but besides that there is Iggy Pop, and he's a great character in the book. Rock n' roll essential reading matter.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Danny Sugerman’s book will probably attract Jim Morrison fans for its juicy gossip on the legendary singer, and they won’t be disappointed. Sugerman worked at The Doors business office when the band was at the peak of their career.

Personally I enjoyed the book more when a drugged-out Sugerman managed an even more drugged-out Iggy Pop (if such a task was possible!) during the glitter-era early Seventies. His accounts of the Sunset Strip scene back then are absolutely truthful. I was there and the book took me back in time. Great stuff, Danny! RIP

[Liz Estrada · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am actually giving this a 4 and 1/2 star rating since the beginning for me was a bit boring, though having finished the book I see it's relevance to the second half of the book, and IMHO could have been summed up quicker. Having said that, once the author Danny Sugarman got to the part where he met The Doors, at a much too young age of 13, this book was un-put-downable!

It seems like Sugarman, who also wrote the great Jim Morrison bio "No One Here Gets Out Alive ( which, BTW, I read while my father lay dying in an ICU ward-total coincidence but obviously foreboding- and I admit not in good taste), was born with a kind of "mad" gene and total lack of self control and his growing up years didn't help in the matter. His appetite for endless partying and ultimate self destruction is summed up best in Jack Kerouac's beat novel, On the Road, where he so aptly wrote: "...mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be destroyed, mad to be saved, desirous of everything. .." It seems Danny was on a quest for all these things and of approval (of the wrong kind); on a quest for self discovery and a bit lost at such a young and impressionable age. Having lacked good role models while growing up he sought them where he could find them: in the hedonistic world of 60's and 70's rock -n- roll, not the best place for a kid to be hanging around.

This totally reminded me of Trainspotting and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas rolled into one, but pumped up quite a few notches. The extent of his drug use just boggles the mind! Endless parties with speedballs, ludes, uppers, downers, acid...you name it, but constantly heroine being at the center of this tilt-a-world. At first it seems fun and harmless, just part of being in the whirlwind of the music world of the time. Some parts just make you want to join in the party and be there, mingling with the "pantheon of rock Gods. As a reader, there is a part of you that envies him and you "nod" (pun intended) in approval.

But as laugh out loud funny as some parts may be, as you keep reading you find yourself feeling like you are in the midst of, not a party, but a train wreck, no longer laughing or having fun, but awed, baffled, shocked and ultimately disgusted at just how low someone can go for a fix.
How he did not die at 21, with an enlarged heart, two types of hepatitis, malnourshment and God knows what else, is a miracle in and of itself. Sadly he did die at 50 of heart failure, a fairly young age to die, but just amazed he even made it that far even if he had stayed sober since, considering all the damage that had already been done to his body.
If anyone is thinking of doing heroine or becoming a junkie, read this book first...it will scare you straight.
In the end it is a sad quixotic rock tale of the consequences of delving into the mad world of drug addiction no hands barred. Oh...and I am sure hanging out with Jim Morrison, Iggy Pop and Makenzie Phillips sure didn't help.

[Merle]

The Moral of the Story: don’t, under any circumstances, do heroin… but reading about people who do/did is sometimes allowed.

[Dierregi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mislead by the title and by some of the reviews, I bought this book expecting to read about Sugerman getting mixed up with the excesses of The Doors and Iggy Pop while working as their manager. Instead, I got an autobiographic, tedious tale about a junkie who used to know famous musicians.

Readers should be warned that in this sloppily written book, rock'n'roll is relegated to the background. The story is strictly autobiographical about Sugerman, a rich teenager with daddy issues who got obsessed by Jim Morrison. The fact that Morrison was a singer seems almost coincidental. He could have been an actor or any other charismatic performer.

The first 200 pages are about lazy student Sugerman getting in trouble with dad (and stepdad) because of his obsession with Jim Morrison. A series of quarrels between Sugerman and his "dads" are described down to every excruciatingly irrelevant detail. Obviously Sugerman is always the wise guy and everybody else the asshole. Nothing could be screaming out louder "daddy issues" than Sugerman's hero worship for Morrison. but Sugerman actually needed a psychiatrist spelling it out for him far too many years (and pages) later.

The remaining 200 pages are about Sugerman getting stoned with all possible kinds of drugs - especially heroine - both to overcome Morrison's death and because getting wasted seemed to be the only thing he liked. Throughout the mayhem of these years, Sugerman interest in music always seemed superficial, even if he acted as Ray Manzarek's manager for a while. Actually, it is hard to believe that Manzarek trusted such an irresponsible dopehead to manage his career, but these are facts.

Sugerman narrates his (and girlfriend Tiffany) fall into obsessive drug abuse in far too many details. The description of their life in squalor and filth, waiting for the next fix is enough to provoke a reaction of bulimic disgust to drugs. Advertised as tales of glamour and excesses, the most glamour one gets is Iggy Pop pissing in the dishes of people eating in a fancy restaurant, which is not my idea of glamour.

But despite its sordid content, I could have put up with it if at least the book was well written. Unfortunately, this is just the diary of a troubled young man, written in a pedestrian style, over-repetitive and lacking any humour whatsoever. The fact that the book got positive remarks is disturbing and puzzling, even though "this is the best book I read" can hardly count as a well-articulated review.

[Lisa]

Danny Sugerman definitely had a very unique writing style. I wouldn't say it's great writing but it feels personal and has a strong voice. This book is Danny Sugerman's memoirs about his drug addiction, which occurred while he worked for The Doors, later becoming their second manager. He was also Iggy Pop's manager. Danny's love for music comes across in his writing but you can see how the drug addiction took over his life. Particularly when Danny believes his vinyl collection has been stolen and his girlfriend tells him that he pawned his collection and spent all the money (I believe it was $800) on a drug binge. He was so far gone that he can't remember any of it.

Definitely worth reading for the passages regarding Jim Morrison. He comes across as a higher being, the way Danny wrote about him. It's obvious that Jim Morrison had a huge effect on Danny's life.

This book is also a great anti-drug read. One of the better books on addiction that I've read. It's brutally honest and a bit bleak at times. Think "A Million Little Pieces" meets "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". (Note: "A Million Little Pieces is my favourite novel on addiction, lies and all.)

[Nigel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the writer's bouts of self-aggrandisement in this book irritating, and found myself wondering what the rock stars that he liked to associate himself with honestly thought of him. To summarise, kid gets into drugs, meets rock stars, takes more drugs, goes downhill, meets more rock stars, takes more drugs, nearly dies, cleans up his act, finds a sympathetic publisher. I did enjoy the sections that documented the excesses of Iggy Pop in the 70s though (hence the three stars).

[Daylight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having been obsessed with Jim Morrison in my high school years, this was a must-read. And even though Morrison is only seldom seen in this memoir, it doesn't matter. The main character is heroin and the journey it takes Mr. Sugerman on. So damn good. Have probably read this 6 times. And have searched the Laurel Canyon area for the specific house on Wonderland Avenue that he writes about.

Just brilliant.

[William Gougeon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for perspective on the life of a Hollywood hotshot in the 60’s and all the glamour and excess that comes along with it, yet in some comforting way, very relatable. Anybody that uses addictive substances (all of us have our own) could benefit from the insight we gain from Danny Sugarman and his relationship with drugs. Truly a great book for anybody who loves rock, pop culture, drugs, and philosophy.

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

would make a great 2-3 season tv show.

[crothwell00 · Rating 3 out of 5]

what an asshole

[Melanie Ullrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know how this book missed my radar as a teen when I was devouring any book about 1960s debauchery, but I'm glad I did. This book is tricky. In the mind of a teenager, I'm sure the gritty parts of this book would be lost to the dreamy recklessness of being under the wings of such rebel icons as Jim Morrison AND Iggy Pop. As an adult however, the selfishness of such excess had me rolling my eyes in frustration. Sugerman found a way to foster some true emotions out of me in the end though. The dedication "to all of us who, by not wanting to grow up at all, have grown up too fast" hit me extra hard. This is definitely one of my top books now!

[Ari Lola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very intresting read, got the book recommended by my mom :) Definitely recommend for anyonw intrested in the history of rockmusic. No need to be a doors fan or anything.

[Jake B. Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great look into one of the best bands ever!

[Carly Cumming · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book. Thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish.

[Wayne Purvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I've read in a long time. it's one of my all time favourites. A must read for any Doors or Iggy Pop fan. I almost feel jealous of the relationship Danny Surgarman had with Jim Morrison. Very hard to put down. A real page turner. It's going to be hard to find a book to fill the void that Wonderland Avenue has left

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eerie unsettling read. If Brett Easton Ellis' Less than Zero was rewritten as non-fiction, it would come out like this account by the former road manager of The Doors. This book picks it up from Sugerman's earlier biography of Jim Morrison with Jerry Hopkins entitled "No One Gets Out of Here Alive". Sugerman's hero worship of the Lizard King was so intense that he finished his earlier book with a rant about how Morrison might have been some higher kind of divine or diabolical power. Wonderland Avenue segues into a reckless life of dissolution, drugs, depravity ... fast cars roaring through canyons above the City of Lights, mounds of coke chopped in back rooms of Hollywood nightclubs, Iggy Pop trashing his home in the hills, doing anything for your dealer ... real gut wrenching stuff. Not long ago I read that Sugerman had married the infamous Fawn Hall, the secretary to Oliver North (the renegade from the Iran-Contra scandal) and introduced her to crack cocaine and heroin. This is not covered in the book. As far as the writing, the best feature might be the details that Sugerman purportedly recalls (or imagines) the chronicle the extent of his descent. The first page starts with a meeting with a doctor who predicts that Danny will be dead within 5 days whether he quits heroin or not. The book reverts back to the end of the Doors and traces how far he falls. While Sugerman is not a musician (hence his account is not as engaging as David Crosby's autobiography "Long Time Gone"), his drug intake probably rivals that of any rock star. He left Fawn a widow in 2005. To Live and Die in L. A.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Take Trainspotting and set it in Beverley Hills and you have the descent of a young rich kid into oblivion with a soundtrack by the Doors. It was difficult to feel sympathy for the author. He had it all, and increasingly it all seemed to land in his lap while, for reasons that are still difficult to understand after five hundred pages, he snorted, injected and swallowed his way to the bottom. How low can you go when on drugs? The book paints a pretty horrific picture of how it looks, feels and lives to be a heroin addict. While initially it brings heavenly relief, it soon controls your life and the explanation of why it's known as having the "monkey on your back" brings life to a phrase that otherwise I wouldn't have understood. It was an interesting read, but the original hagiography of Jim Morrison was hard to take and I never really related to Sugarman and his life of getting it given to him without even trying.

[Bob Schnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! How is it I have never read this book before? Classic memoir of life in the fast lane with Jim Morrison, Iggy Pop and the whole Hollywood rock & roll scene as major players. Danny Sugerman should not have lived to tell this tale, but he did and it's a whopper of excess in all areas. I laughed out loud in public so often during some chapters I had to stop reading or wet myself. There are painful, sickening chapters as well because a like lived in this manner has to have some consequences. This would be a great companion piece with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, if your sanity can take the strain.