This book is a detailed oral history of early San Pedro punk, from 1977 to 1985, told through countless interviews with artists, locals, and fans, all of who lived there or lived through it. The ensuing history is introduced with a short story told by Gary Jacobelly (of the band Peer Group) about his ventures around the United States in search of this new punk movement, a search for expression, me
aning, and friendship. The following chapters include interviews and firsthand stories straight from the mouths of San Pedro locals, who describe, in exciting and nostalgic prose, the origins of their interests in punk rock, their involvements, their favorite stories, their adventures, their friendships, their definitions, and the largely mainstream misunderstandings and challenges they faced as a part of this original movement. This book is as much a story of overcoming as it is a book about music, friendship, and history of a standout culture — a story that has never been told firsthand and in completeness before. Among its storytellers, Joe Nolte (the Last) narrates detailed accounts of the early Hermosa Beach and South Bay punk scene from its birth in 1977 through its height in the late 1970s and early ’80s. The history details the pioneering days of San Pedro's first punk band, the Reactionaries, who later gave rise to the historical and sought-after South Bay art-punk band the Minutemen. This narrative includes one chapter on the first punk gig in San Pedro (February 17, 1979) that included various up-and-coming South Bay bands: Black Flag (second official gig), Descendents (first gig), the Reactionaries (first gig), the Alley Cats and the Plugz. With the formation and the innovative, expressive sounds of the Minutemen and Saccharine Trust in 1980, the history of the Los Angeles South Bay would never be the same as these bands pioneered the trail of highly original and creative bands and artists. Largely remaining in the shadow of the Minutemen, many of these bands (Slivers, Peer Group, Plebs, etc.) music scene--their quirky but expressive tunes didn't fit in with the prevailing hardcore or rock scenes of the time. These bands were different. They didn't sound like anybody else, and except for those few outsiders who lived and breathed the South Bay scene, these bands were considered too artsy, too cerebral, and too experimental for widespread acceptance. These were the bands who were ahead of their time. The Minutemen are the central topic and focus of this book. They are the band that then put (and still put) San Pedro on the musical map, and they were undoubtedly the anchor of this new San Pedro punk scene. This book chronicles all six years of the Minutemen's existence in full detail from the beginning (1980) to their end (1985), including a definitive chapter on their record label, New Alliance. The book also contains chapters describing the history of the early San Pedro clubs, theatres, bars, and haunts, including Capones, Strand Cinema, Star Theatre/The Union and Dancing Waters. These locales were frequented mostly by punks from the South Bay, and almost never by the people from the greater L.A. or Hollywood music scenes. The Pedro scene was often overshadowed, forgotten, and dismissed because it was just “too far.”
The book also covers outlying South Bay neighborhood venues of the early years (the Fleetwood, the Barn, the Centrexx) and various crucial out of town incidents (Longshoremen Memorial Hall Riot) and occurrences (Wilson Park gigs). Other chapters cover unique memories of Harbor College, D. Boon's fanzine: The Prole, Ivica's New Wave Salon, Black Flag at San Pedro High School, the Fishermen's Fiesta, the art scene in San Pedro, and an intense and moving chapter about South Bay hardcore punk. The end of the narrative includes individual chapters about Minutemen players D. Boon, Mike Watt and George Hurley, and the catastrophic passing of the brilliant D. The tragic death of D. Boon stole the wind from the scene and was the catalyst to send the artists, friends, and fans on their separate paths into or out of the glittering L.A. A NOTE TO READERS: This story of music, art, and community in the South Bay area of Los Angeles is not necessarily to be read chronologically. Instead, the story draws from a rich history of artists and community members who describe not just what happened, but how it happened, how the characters involved felt, what they loved and what they hated, their joys and sorrows alike. We hope that this book gives the reader a sense of discussing the events of the day with old friends. We want you, the reader, to be a part of the history of the San Pedro music and art scene, and not merely to observe it. Thus, we have added individual chapters to discuss bands, clubs and other people, places and things relevant and unique to the story and the history of this humble port town. We hope this adds depth and color to the story of the town of San Pedro. Although we are interested in the rich history of the underground Los Angeles music scene as a whole, we have chosen to focus on San Pedro as a part of our own history, to share a unique story we feel has not yet been written. Therefore, the vast majority of interviews, stories, places and events are based in San Pedro, a blue-collar beach community housing the vast Port of Los Angeles. San Pedro is currently an annexed neighborhood of Los Angeles, yet, with 25 miles of freeway to downtown L.A., San Pedro was, and is to this day, a distinct yet somewhat provincial community of its own. Locales and events not based in San Pedro are noted in the text. Perhaps this will help the reader feel more at home as, through the course of this book, you venture out and return back to our bustling urban beach town of San Pedro, California.
