Is the sun setting on the Sunset Strip?

Fax machines.Pagers.

Eight-track tapes. The fabled Sunset Strip?L.A.’s cultural tastemaker hasn’t hit history’s dustbin just yet, but the storied Strip has seen far better days.Closed-up shops.

Dwindling foot traffic.A discernible lack of zeitgeist-grabbing moments.It’s the economy, stupid.

And the homeless crisis, crime and the fallout from COVID-19’s draconian lockdowns.Some factors are out of local leadership’s hands.Social media has made Gen Z less, well, social.

Drinking habits are drying up, too, at least among the young and beautiful.The pandemic impacted city hot spots across the country, with some locales still trying to repair the cultural damage.Pick a city, any city, and those economic uppercuts have left a mark.Closer to home, local business owners blame rising rental costs, societal shifts and inflation woes for the disappearing foot traffic and sense of unease.

It doesn’t help that you’ll drop $20 for an ordinary drink. Plus, the loss of local landmarks means fewer reasons to give the Strip a look-see.A single store packs endless memories.

A half dozen or so vanish, and it’s like a page in history has closed before our eyes.Think venues like Chin Chin; the former home of the Roxbury (The Pink Taco); and the planned closure of the Viper Room, once the city’s go-to place for rock legends like Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, The Ramones and Bruce Springsteen.This is a job for Spencer Pratt, perhaps, but the upstart candidate came in third after LA’s laborious vote count.Pratt focused on common sense concerns, including addressing the homeless crisis in a more pragmatic fashion, crime prevention and cleaner sidewalks.Those issues matter to business owners on the Strip, and an effective Mayor Pratt might have made progress on these fronts.Maybe.Now, it will be up to either Mayor Karen Bass or Councilmember Nithya Raman to reverse current trends.

They’ve done little to address those trend lines to date.The Sunset Strip still has his...