An original 1967 Doors window card for the L.A. band’s concert on November 25, 1967 at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.

This Doors 1967 Wash. D.C. show poster was actually printed on two different stocks… one on paper, shown here in this video, and also on cardboard.

You can tell with just a glance that this copy of the Doors Wash. D.C. street poster was the one struck on paper. The giveaway is the horizontal crease which runs though the middle of it (including the Doors logo).

In distinguishing the two, the paper product could be referred to as a Doors Washington Hilton window poster, whereas the stiffer, heavier cardboard one was used more as an outdoors fence poster.

Bright orange Day-Glo coloring is the most striking feature of this Doors Wash. D.C. placard, making it really jump out at you from across the room – or even further away.

My trivia tidbit of the day for this Doors Washington Hilton ticket poster is as follows: Jim Morrison’s brother and mother supposedly attended this show together! That’s what the books say.

You can tell who designed this lovely Doors Washington D.C. tour poster from the small credits at the bottom… you have the initials DWB, which stand for artist Dail W. Beeghly, and then you have his company name, Creative Signs.

I’m so taken with Dail Beeghly (note the odd spelling) as an artist – as demonstrated here by his Doors 1967 Wash. D.C. event poster – that I’ve actually done a separate video blog just on his poster artwork.

Beeghly drew the band members’ faces at the top of his Doors 1967 Wash. D.C poster, and he’s been known to do that for many others, from Janis Joplin to Bob Dylan. It’s nice psychedelic imagery of Jim Morrison, Robbie Krieger, John Densmore and Ray Manzarek.

Because Beeghly’s psychedelic wording tapers down and shrinks near the bottom and might be hard to make out, here is the entire text, just as it reads on his Doors Wash. D.C. broadside:

Durwood C. Settles Presents (in huge orange letters) THE DOORS

(And then the psychedelic lettering kicks in): Appearing In Person – International Ballroom – Washington Hilton Hotel – Connecticut Avenue & T Street; Northwest Washington D.C.

Saturday Evening, November 25, 1967, 8:00 P.M. – Thanksgiving Week-End – All Seats $4.00 In Advance – $4.50 At Door

Tickets On Sale Now At: all Montgomery Ward stores – all Giant Music Centers – Learmont Records, Georgetown – Talbert Ticket Agency – Williard Hotel – Soul Shack, 1221 G St. N.W. – King Records, Alexandria (Virginia) – Yonder’s Wall, 3320 M St. NW.

One of the most important design elements of this Doors Washington Hilton window display is the way in which The Doors’ 1967 logo – in bright Day-Glo orange – so dominates the center of the poster.

I like the way Beeghly chose to inform potential customers that the concert took place over “Thanksgiving week-end” on this Doors Wash. D.C. telephone-pole poster. Tickets probably went on sale around Halloween and concluded right after Thanksgiving, so maybe he chose his orange coloring with pumpkins in mind!

I’m usually ambivalent about the year appearing on my concert posters, but in this case, I really dig the way “67” is given as part of the date on this Doors Washington D.C. show placard. I suppose that’s because 1967 was the year the Doors exploded onto the scene with “Light My Fire.”

It’s kind of neat when an old concert poster gives ticket locations that are both familiar national names and local, funky places. In the case of this Doors 1967 Wash. D.C. billboard, the long-out-of-business Montgomery Wards definitely falls in the former category.

I also like the cultural variety of locations selling tickets, as shown on this Doors Washington Hilton in-person poster. You have ticket agencies, a head shop, record stores of course, department stores and even a hotel. Boy, they really wanted to move those ducats!

Dail Beeghly worked with concert promoter Durwood Settles quite a lot in the late ’60s; this Doors Washington D.C. concert placard was not the only occasion. In my video blog, I show you another stellar example of their work together on a poster.

It’s always important to me which albums & singles are current with any poster I blog, and in the instance of this Doors Wash. D.C. appearance poster, it’s pretty strong: the band’s sophomore LP, Strange Days, had been in stores for only about a month.

As a matter of fact, the group was near their performing peak at the time of this Doors 1967 Wash. D.C. tour placard. A newspaper review from the following night’s concert used terms like “mesmerizing” and “an unequivocal success” in describing their show. I think I’d say the same about this poster!

I’ll go on the record right here as saying this Doors 1967 Wash. D.C. sign is perhaps my favorite Doors concert poster ever made. I really think it’s that striking… plus, it’s 1967, their rookie year.

I would’ve liked it just a tiny bit more if this Doors Washington D.C. concert announcement had the name of the night’s opening act: The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, a very talented group of musicians whose career was just starting out.

So it’s with extra pleasure that this Doors Washington Hilton concert poster is meticulously gone through by me, collector Pete Howard (and guess what – I bought the Doors’ first album in 1967!). I can be reached via pete@postercentral.com or 805-540-0020.  And I will gladly pay TOP DOLLAR, NO QUESTION for this poster on either paper or cardboard.

To view a few other psychedelic concert poster gems from the era, just skip to this page right here on my Web site: http://www.postercentral.com/psychedelic.htm