Those Were The Days

Scooterville, Scooterville.

2009-09-30T16:32:00.001-07:00

Scooterville was a hotspot for scenesters back in the day. Although I never ventured "behind the orange curtain" to get there (they were in Anaheim, CA), I sure did have a bunch of flyers with their name on it. Here's a few good ones:

I know, it's been forever since I've been here. But I'm back. =)

Grand Central Station

2009-03-25T17:59:00.001-07:00

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.

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.

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

The Soul Shack.

2009-03-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

I've just discovered an old stash of Mod/Ska fliers from over 20 years ago. Although I didn't find the entire collection, I still found some great ones to reminisce over. They were totally brittle and kinda moldy from being stored in a garage with a leaky roof.

These Soul Shack / Gino's fliers are quite possibly amongst the very first fliers I picked up when I got into the scene, and an outstanding icon of my whole experience. This had to be the perfect way to start this blog. My memory is totally fading...I'd thought lately that this club happened on Fridays instead of Saturdays. Nevertheless, it was the place to be back in the day.

Here's a few more:

That Daffy Duck is a pretty random element to the flier. And I wonder why the club was labeled as "Gino's II?"