Broadcasting and Music on the Hill

Broadcasting and Music on the Hill. Part of the “Memory Necklace”. The Hilltop Star Room, also known as the Hilltop Cafe, was once an entertainment icon on “The Hill.” The building, located just in front of this panel, was the old carriage house from the Denni Mansion property, hauled across the street by the Richfield Oil Company (ca. 1921). The structure was modified and expanded to suit its new use, surviving the oil boom and intervening years. The Hilltop Star Room was considered a swank restaurant, featuring live music, a dance floor and the great view across Long Beach to San Pedro. Eventually the club went out of business and the building was demolished., The Hilltop Cafe site, now a pocket park called “Sunset View Park,” is part of a system of parks and walkways found on the hill. The vista point below features the “Suncatcher” art piece, comprising four black columns and a glass mosaic set in concrete pacing that depicts a portion of the solar system. The three outside columns catch the sun to mark the solar equinox and solstice, producing a shadow that strikes the central obelisk., Signal Hill was once home to “The Jazz Knob”, FM 97.9, the first all jazz radio station in the world. Broadcasting from a small two-room outpost at the top of “The Hill” began in 1956 and continued until 1968. Station founder, Al “Sleepy” Stein, a Ph.D. in linguistics, pioneered live radio performances from local jazz clubs “The Lighthouse” and “The Strollers Club.” Upgraded from its original 100 to 79,000 watts, “The Knob” could be heard from San Diego to San Francisco. DJ hosts included famed jazz personalities Johnny Otis, Pat Henry, Howard Lucraft, and Chuck Niles. “The Hill” is still identified with the jazz scene. The transmitter for KKJZ, one of the nation’s premier jazz stations, broadcasting from Cal State Long Beach, is located here on “The Hill” near where KNOB once broadcast.