Brian Roettinger
A typographic narrative of important places that formed L.A. punk from the late '70s to the early '80s.
By FAMILY
Brian Roettinger is an L.A.-based designer. He was nominated for a Grammy for his album design for No Age's Nouns.
When people think of the origins of punk the two places that inevitably come to mind are London and New York. For me, Los Angeles should come first. Not because I live here, but because of the influence of its D.I.Y. culture on the rest of world. Those L.A. punks were poor kids, art school kids, girls and queers. It wasn't until the early '80s when kids started coming from Fullerton and Orange County, and saw X and the Germs and went back home saying they were punks -- when they'd just been jocks. That's when punk became macho, fights broke out at shows and the beginnings of hardcore arose, spelling the end of the scene. There's a lot of similarities between that early punk scene and the L.A. scene today, with the rise of D.I.Y. venues like The Smell, and the fact that many people here want to play music just to play music, without commercial aspirations. This map is not meant to be comprehensive. Representing these spots typographically reduces them back to their true form. It's direct, and there's no room for nostalgia for me -- it's way before my time.
Family Bookstore Takes Us to L.A.
When people think of the origins of punk the two places that inevitably come to mind are London and New York. For me, Los Angeles should come first. Not because I live here, but because of the influence of its D.I.Y. culture on the rest of world. Those L.A. punks were poor kids, art school kids, girls and queers. It wasn't until the early '80s when kids started coming from Fullerton and Orange County, and saw X and the Germs and went back home saying they were punks -- when they'd just been jocks. That's when punk became macho, fights broke out at shows and the beginnings of hardcore arose, spelling the end of the scene. There's a lot of similarities between that early punk scene and the L.A. scene today, with the rise of D.I.Y. venues like The Smell, and the fact that many people here want to play music just to play music, without commercial aspirations. This map is not meant to be comprehensive. Representing these spots typographically reduces them back to their true form. It's direct, and there's no room for nostalgia for me -- it's way before my time.
Family Bookstore Takes Us to L.A.
Your Comment