In July 1965, On Venice Beach, One Encounter Changed The Doors Forever

The Doors are one of the most adored, controversial, and successful bands of their day, releasing nine albums, racking up two No. 1 singles, and selling millions upon millions of albums. But it is hard to say if that would've happened if one chance encounter between two of the band's members, former college classmates Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek, didn't take place on Venice Beach in July 1965. In a moment that changed the Doors forever, Morrison and Manzarek had a conversation that would ultimately inspire them to join musical forces. 

Long before he became a rock 'n' roll star, Manzarek studied classical piano. Morrison, meanwhile, began writing poetry and lyrics when he was a child. However, when it came time to go to college, they both decided to pursue a degree in a totally different creative lane. Manzarek and Morrison went to UCLA's film school, and they were friendly when they were students — and Morrison would even go watch Manzarek's band at the time play. When the former college classmates ran into each other in the bohemian beach town a few months after graduation, something clicked, and once their journey began, music would never be the same.

Jim Morrison earned a bachelor's degree from UCLA's film school and Ray Manzarek earned a master's. After graduation, Morrison was looking to get his film career off the ground by moving to New York, hoping to meet and work with the experimental filmmaker Jonas Mekas. But the move never happened; Morrison stayed put in Southern California and lived on the rooftop of a former classmate on Venice Beach.

Manzarek, who grew up in Chicago, also stayed in Southern California, and he was playing in the band Rick & The Ravens with his brothers, handling piano and singing duties. During one of their shows, Morrison, who was in the audience, jumped up on the stage on a whim and belted out a rousing rendition of "Louie, Louie" — and it left an impression on Manzarek. However, the ball wouldn't really start rolling until Morrison and Manzarek reunited on Venice Beach in July of 1965; Manzarek was under the impression that Morrison was in New York at the time.

So, Manzarek and the "Waiting for the Sun" singer began talking about what they'd been up to since graduation. That's when Morrison told Manzarek that he'd been focused on his songwriting, so Manzarek asked him to sing something. Morrison then started singing some of the lyrics to "Moonlight Drive," a song that lives on the Doors' second LP "Strange Days." "I said: 'That's it.' I'd never heard lyrics to a rock song like that before," Manzarek once told Eye Magazine (via the Doors' website). "We talked a while before we decided to get a group together and make a million dollars." 

After Jim Morrison's impromptu beach performance, Ray Manzarek asked him to join Rick & The Ravens, which Morrison eventually accepted. But Manzarek's brothers ended up leaving the band, so Manzarek brought in drummer John Densmore, who he met in meditation class. Then later, Manzarek recruited guitarist Robby Krieger, who he also met in meditation class, and with that the Doors' lineup was officially complete. But they wouldn't change their name to the Doors until October 1965.

At some point, after those initial rehearsals, a demo tape was created, and the four-man band swung for the fences by trying to secure a record deal, but they kept striking out. "We hit everyone in town, all the labels were in L.A. and got rejected by everyone," wrote Manzarek in his 1998 memoir, "Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors." "Capitol, RCA, Liberty, Dunhill, Decca, Reprise. They all said no. I was shocked."

But everything would change for the group after Arthur Lee, of the L.A. rock band Love, told Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman to watch the Doors perform at the Whisky a Go Go, the famed Los Angeles music venue where the Doors played as a house band beginning in May 1966. Holzman ended up signing the Doors to Elektra, and they started working on their now-classic debut album at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood. So in the end, we should all be thankful that Morrison didn't hightail it to New York after all and instead decided to go to the beach on that day in 1965.