Those, in turn, provide a lead in to the different east and west coast music scenes that emerged around 1965 and '66. The Lovin' Spoonful were one of the leading folk-rock acts to emerge from the east coast coffee house scene that also gave us the likes of Simon & Garfunkel, their successors failed to hit the same heights.
Two other strands emerged from the same environment. One was the warped folkie boho axis that delivered The Holy Modal Rounders and The Fugs while the other morphed into a wave of 'new Dylans' that was the basis of the subsequent singer-songwriter movement. One might question labelling a group of artists as diverse as James Taylor, Janis Ian, Laura Nyro, Bruce Springsteen and the inimitable Loudon Wainwright III as a movement. Common origins, similar impulses and external perceptions and expectations provide an explanation.
And hype. Never forget the hype.
On the west coast, The Byrds and The Mamas & The Papas represented different strands. Having escaped from the east coast coffee house scene via the Virgin Islands on their way west, John Phillips and crew hit the top of the charts and ensconced themselves as pop royalty. TV appearances were as important as live gigs in getting the message out. Hanging out in the canyons of Los Angeles, their successors provided another strand of the singer-songwriter wave.
Elsewhere, in the clubs around Sunset Strip, the post-Byrds folk-rockers (Love, Buffalo Springfield and their successors) along with The Doors were looming on the edge of stardom. Los Angeles was the centre of a sprawling metropolis that drew people in and based its prosperity on population and industry. The good times had arrived with the Second World War's war effort and stayed on through the switch to consumer goods rather than tanks, fighters and bombers.
Los Angeles was somewhere you went to be noticed or 'discovered'. Further up the west coast, San Francisco was somewhere you went to escape.