Otis's stance on civil rights frequently
jeopardized his career. An anonymous letter complaining about one of his Sentinel columns illustrates the kind of
reactions his activism provoked. It read:
Dear Johnny
Ignoramus Otis,
Why don't you
stick with stupid rock and roll music and stop trying to solve the "race
problem." There is no race problem here and radicals like you keep trying
to stir up trouble so you can have something to write about. ... the government
should take you and all your civil rights idiot friends and send you all to
Berlin and put you on the front line. Then the Germans can take care of you
mongrels the same way they took care of the Jews.
Otis devoted a 1962 column to a contrast
between the Cinnamon Cinder nightclub on Sunset Strip, one of the city's most
popular rock 'n' roll clubs, and the Peppermint Stick in Sherman Oaks. The
Cinnamon Cinder pretended to be a private membership club in order to keep out
Blacks. When whites came to the door they were signed up for club membership
instantly, but when Blacks appeared they were turned away because they did not have
membership cards. The Peppermint Stick, on the other hand, welcomed youths of
all races. The police left the Cinnamon Cinder alone but routinely harassed
the Peppermint Stick. He proposed that the activist Congress of Racial Equality broaden
its repertoire from sit-ins at lunch counters and conduct a
"twist-in" at the Cinnamon Cinder.