The Masque is the granddaddy of all punk rock clubs in Los Angeles, probably the first devoted to the scene and definitely the best preserved one. This short doc is from an abandoned series on lost punk rock clubs - I've got a ton more footage but every other classic venue is gone now or worse, a rebranded bar.
Obviously this works best for people already familiar with the bands and the history, but I think everyone can appreciate the art and the history on the walls. It wasn't a fad.
I fucked up one tag - and a great one. I don't know how, just looked through the viewfinder wrong and cropped out the top of it on accident. Not to mention I was spazzing out by just being there and didn't think straight. This is the full tag:
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| Photograph copyright Michael Yampolsky, all rights reserved |
Love it so much - crazy how timely it still is. The photo is by Michael Yampolsky, who was on the ground at The Masque in the 70s and took tons of vital photos, many of which are in Mullen's book (see below). This pic is from 1997, when he snuck back into the basement. It's a great series of color photos, which you can see
right here. It's a freaking perfect reference point, right in between 1977, when the club opened, and today in the summer of 2012. This door is exactly the same, but lots of the smaller walls gone now.
For the history of the club pick up
Live at the Masque: Nightmare in Punk Alley. It's compiled and edited by the king of the Masque himself Brendan Mullen, along with Roger Gastman,
put out by Gingko Press. Funny, smart writing and insanely cool photos. The late, great Mullen is pretty humble about being the first punk rock club in L.A., but this was it.
There are a few videos of Masque shows out there:
The Weirdos playing in 77 - part of a punk doc that looks amazing - Mullen is at the very end
and...of course...The Screamers
Much thanks to KK Barrett, Dan Monick, Luis Farfan, Billy Luther.
- Speedway Randy
