77 Sunset Strip is a US television series first broadcast in the late 1950s & early 1960s. The action revolves around a firm of private detectives called Bailey & Spencer (Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Roger Smith respectively). Stu Bailey and Jeff Spencer have an office at 77 Sunset Strip; they could operate their business from any location of their choosing, but a lot of the action takes place next door at Dino's, the restaurant then owned in real-life by Dean Martin.

Dean Martin's restaurant was located at 8524 Sunset Boulevard, in a section known locally as The Strip in L.A., or internationally as Sunset Strip, between Crescent Heights Boulevard and Doheny Drive in West Hollywood

The series regularly features shots of Dean Martin's restaurant next door; the character of Gerald Lloyd Kookson III or Kookie as he is better known is the car park attendant at Dino's. Kookie is played by Edd Byrnes, his character in the series is a wise-cracking beatnik, wanna-be private-eye who loves Rock & Roll, and is seen constantly combing his hair. Kookie became a hugely successful character with his jazzland slang terminology including: piling up the z's (sleeping), a dark seven (a depressing week) and the ginchiest (the greatest).

Edd Bynes' Kookie character became very popular and started to overshadow the the lead characters, so much so, that Edd demanded that he be given a more prominent role. After a break of a few months from the series, he returned with his character now a member of the Bailey and Spencer firm of detectives.

77 Sunset Strip was created by Roy Huggins and is based on a 1958 Warner Brothers feature film entitled, Girl on the Run. The series is produced by Warner Brothers and originally aired on ABC (American Broadcasting Company) in the US from 1958 until 1964, there are 206 episodes in total, plus a pilot which aired in 1957. The series was a huge success in the United States and in many other countries including the UK.

Because of the success of 77 Sunset Strip, Warner Brothers went on to produce similar detective series: Bourbon Street Beat set in New Orleans, Hawaiian Eye in Hawaii and Surfside Six in Miami, and it was not uncommon to see characters from one show appearing in one of the others.

 

Listen to the theme tune and intro