Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Grand Central Station

After Gino's shut down, a new club in downtown Long Beach opened up called Grand Central Station. The actual mod/ska nights came under various names, but one of the first names for it I believe was Soul Kitchen.


soul kitchen


Funny how they depict someone wearing Adidas Samba trainers in the little doodle. Those were the only sneakers scenesters could and would wear that actually went well with the get-up. Although the flyer only advertised '60s soul, this place also played ska and reggae. As with Gino's, the mods and rudies/skins alternated shifts on the dance floor as the DJ switched between soul and ska/reggae. Eventually, they opened up a second room in the club exclusively for the reggae crowd, which was absolute heaven. No more waiting!

I just found some old 110 negatives which I was able to scan on my Epson negative scanner. Amongst these, I found two pictures of my mates and I taken in the Vons parking lot across the street from the club. These were taken in 1988, when the three of us were full-fledged trad skin'eds...the Levi's sheepskin coats were the trad hallmark in those days. I know the pics are kinda small; you can click on 'em and see much larger versions on Flickr.


skins gcs


skins gcs2


I can't believe how long it's been. Those really were the days.

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