Yao Su Rong (“姚蘇蓉“) is a Taiwanese singer and actress born on this day, 5 December, in 1946. Today she’s still best-known for her 1969 hit recording of “今天不回家” (“Today I Won’t Come Home”), the title track of a film of the same name. Her career was cut short at its peak by Kuomintang (KMT) authorities who revoked her license to entertain. Soon after she left to enjoy success in Hong Kong, and then Singapore (where she lives today).
Under the Japanese occupation of Taiwan (1895-1945), enka or, more broadly, ryūkōka was introduced to Tawain and with it, strains of western music like mambo, jazz, and country — albeit filtered through a Japanese sensibility. Many Taiwanese singers found pursued careers as enka singers in Japan. After the defeat of Japan in 1945, Taiwan became part of the Republic of China (ROC) — then engaged in a civil war with the Communist Party of China. After the defeat of the ROC, the KMT retreated to the island in 1949 and established a brutal, US-backed dictatorship. Under KMT rule, native Taiwanese culture was suppressed and Mandarin was promoted as the official language.
It took time for Mandarin-language pop to find favor with a mainstream Taiwanese. Along with artists like 謝雷 (Xie Lei) and his band, Lucky Trio, Yao began making inroads with music which drew upon enka, shidaiqu, and newer western sounds like beat and soul. Yao’s first records were released by Large World Records, a local Taiwanese label that primarily catered to American and Australian soldiers serving at military bases in Taiwan. Before Yao recorded for the label, they primarily released music by American and British artists like The Beatles, Skeeter Davis, The Supremes, and The Seeds (amongst others).
In 1967, Yao moved to Haishan Records. Like Large World, their early releases had been Taiwanese pressings of western releases, in the case of Haishan, releases by the likes of Dusty Springfield, Eddy Arnold, and Hank Williams (among others). By the second half of the 1960s, Haishan had begun releasing music by Hong Konger’s like 華怡保 (Ruby Wah) and 仙杜拉 (Sandra Lang), as well as Taiwanese acts like 于旋 (Yu Xuan) and The Phenix Sisters.
Yao’s first record at Haishan was composed by 李潔心 (Li Jie Xin), arranged by 林家慶 (Lin Jia Qing), but her collaborators over the next few years would be many — a fact which no doubt accounts for the stylistic variety of her large body of work. Some songs have cinematic, quasi-western strings and brass, others lean towards organ-driven rhythm & blues. All of it has the same sort of melodic, psychedelic funkiness that characterizes so much East Asian pop from that era — regardless of whether from Singapore, Korea, Japan, or elsewhere.
Yao sang in a clear, passionate voice that — along with her penchant for her misty-eyed performances — earned her the nickname, “the Queen of Tears.” One of her hits was a Mandarin-language cover of the Japanese song, “負心的人” (“Cruel-Hearted Lover”). Not everyone was a fan, however, and the nation’s long-misruling dictator, Chiang Kai-shek, did not approve of weeping popstars or the danger of sentimental ballads inflaming the passion of his subjects. More than 80 of Yao’s songs were thus banned.
In 1968, she released the first of two albums backed by Li Sheng Yang‘s band, The Telstar Combo. In 1969, she released the first of several collaborations with the aforementioned Taiwanese singer, 謝雷 (Xie Lei). On 18 August 1969, Yao performed for an audience in Kaohsiung. They cried out for requests, in particular, “今天不回家.” Yao initially apologized and refused, as the song was amongst those banned by the authorities. Eventually, however, she gave in. Authorities at the performance were not amused. Yao refused to provide a playlist or issue an apology and so her license to perform was revoked. Afterward, she moved to Hong Kong.
In 1970, Yao began recording for a Hong Kong label, 樂風. There, and that year, she released her first of several collaborations with various others, including 陳寶玲 (Chen Bao Ling), 與 蒋光超 (Jiang Guang Chao), 藍夢 (Lan Meng), 趙曉君 (Lily Chao), 青山 (Qing Shan), 奚秀蘭 (Stella Chee), 魏平澳 (Wei Ping Ao), 楊燕 (Yang Yan), and 張帝 (Zhang Di). Sorting out her discography is rather difficult due to its size, the multitude of re-releases, and my extremely remedial grasp of Chinese. I have, nevertheless, attempted to compile a fairly inclusive discography here of studio albums (although some are no doubt compilations and at least one, although attributed to Yao, features a handful of tracks sung by multiple artists).
Yao’s first album for a Singaporean label was released in 1973, and it’s around that time that she may’ve settled there. Most of her work after that was released on Singaporean labels (including a collaboration with the great Singaporean band, The Stylers, who often backed the great Lisa Wong (麗莎) and Lena Lim (林竹君)).
His Excellency Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek died in 1975, ushering in a period of democratic reform which culminated in the 1987 end of the White Terror — the then-longest period of martial law in world history (since surpassed by Syria). Today, Taiwan is easily among the most progressive and nations in Asia. Although Yao’s last album seems to have been released in 1978, she was still regularly performing live as late as 1980 — albeit never in Taiwan. In 1996, 今天不回家 was remade by Taiwanese director, Sylvia Chang. Yao’s recording of the title song was again featured. In 1998, the organizers of the Golden Horse Film Festival invited Yao to return to the island to perform. Yao declined. In 2007, the Jay Chou (周杰倫) film, 不能說的·秘密 (Secret), used another vintage Yao song, “情人的眼泪” (Lovers’ Tears). Apparently, Yao only became aware of this when informed by a relative in Chengdu whom she was visiting at the time of the film’s release.
Wherever you are, 姚蘇蓉, here’s wishing you a happy birthday!
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
I love the Doors. I think I really got into them when I was fourteen. Around that time I developed a love for pretty much any rock band with lots of keyboards (see also ? & the Mysterians and The Zombies). It was also when I was fourteen that I developed a crush on an older woman (well, a fifteen-year-old Doors fan). We shared a set of headphones from her Walkman and listened to the debut on the playground. When we visited Paris, she invited me to go to Père Lachaise to see Jim Morrison‘s grave but I turned her down. Probably out of shyness. Ten years later, I was living and Los Angeles. I used to routinely spend my work breaks with a motley assortment of stoners. The Doors were the only thing all of us could enjoy getting high too. For the record, I was also alright with the cholos’ preferences for Santana and Zapp & Roger but the Texas Jews wanted to listen to Phish and the like and that stuff is a musically-induced panic attack just waiting to happen.
Of course, I also have a thing for maps and because today is Day of the Doors in Los Angeles, I had the notion yesterday of making a Doors map of Los Angeles. It took a bit longer than I thought. Any additions or corrections are appreciated. Just leave a comment! I rushed a bit at the end because I need to head down to Morrison Hotel.
The Doors released eight studio albums during their eight-year existence. The roots of the Doors was a frat rock band called Rick & the Ravens, which had been around since 1961 and released three singles on Aura Records in 1965. The original line-up included Rick Manczarek (guitar), Jim Manczarek (organ and harmonica), Patrick Stonier (saxophone), Roland Biscaluz (bass), and Vince Thomas (drums). The Manczareks’ brother Ray Manczarek joined the line-up in 1962, provided a bit of piano and vocals — and dropping the “c” from the family name.
In July 1965, Ray and Jim Morrison ran into one another on Venice Beach. Morrison sang one of his compositions, “Moonlight Drive.” Manzarek was impressed and at a live performance with his band coaxed Morrison onstage at the Turkey Joint West (now Ye Olde King’s Head) for a cover of the garage rock staple, “Louie, Louie.”
Rick & the Ravens’ line-up underwent several changes. By September 1965, it included Jim, Ray, and Rick Manczarek; Morrison; Patricia Hansen (of Patty and the Esquires, bass), and John Densmore (drums). Densmore previously played in a band called the Psychedelic Rangers with Robby Krieger. After meeting Ray at a Transcendental Meditation lecture, he’d joined Rick & the Ravens in August 1965. On 2, this line-up of Rick & the Ravens entered World Pacific Studios and recorded demos of “Moonlight Drive“, “My Eyes Have Seen You“, “Hello, I Love You“, “Go Insane,” “End of the Night,” and “Summer’s Almost Gone.”
Disappointed in the lack of interest as well as the songs themselves, Rick and Jim quit the band. Morrison suggested changing their name to The Doors — taken from The Doors of Perception by English-Angeleno writer Aldous Huxley — who had himself taken the name from a line of William Blake‘s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. In October, they were joined by Robby Krieger. In December, Patty left and Ray added Fender Rhodes Piano Bass to his duties. From February to May 1966, the Doors had a residency (with “Rhonda Lane Exotic Dancer“) at the London Fog. It was there that Jim met his “cosmic mate,” Pamela Courson, an art student at Los Angeles City College.
In May, the Doors took up residency at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go. On the advice of Love‘s Arthur Lee, Elektra Records president Jac Holzman caught a performance on 10 August 1966. After catching a second performance with producer Paul A. Rothchild, the Doors were signed them to Elektra on 18 August. The Doors were fired from the Whiskey-A-Go-Go on 21 August after performing the Oedipal “The End.”
From 24 to 31 August 1966, the Doors recorded at Sunset Sound Recording Studios. They released their debut single, “Break On Through (To the Other Side)” b/w “End of the Night.” Although a radio staple now, it then only reached number 126 on the Billboard charts (although it placed higher in France, New Zealand, and the UK). The second single, also released in January of 1967, was the Robby Krieger composition “Light My Fire” b/w “The Crystal Ship.” It reached the top spot in the US (and France). Both were included on the self-titled debut, which was released on 4 January 1967 — the day that was proclaimed Day of the Doors fifty years later.
From May to August 1967, the band returned to Sunset Sound Recording Studios to record their second album, Strange Days. It followed, for the most part, the template established by the debut of an album’s worth of fairly short compositions followed by a longer, epic, this time “When the Music’s Over.” The title track was one of the first rock songs to incorporate the Moog synthesizer. The debut single, “People Are Strange” b/w “Unhappy Girl” was written by Morrison during a bout of depression following a walk in Laurel Canyon and only reached No. 12. The follow-up, another Krieger composition was “Love Me Two Times” b/w “Moonlight Drive,” which peaked at No. 25.
The Doors recorded most of their third album, Waiting for the Sun, in from January-May 1968 (“We Could Be So Good Together” had been recorded from May to August 1967). There were apparently tensions around the recording. The album’s epic, the 17-minute “Celebration of the Lizard King,” was rejected by producer Paul Rothchild. Morrison’s increasingly heavy drinking took a toll on his creativity whilst, at the same time, the band had by then exhausted their early repertoire of original songs. The first single, “Unknown Soldier” b/w “We Could Be So Good Together,” peaked at number 39. Nevertheless, its follow-up, “Hello, I Love You” b/w “Love Street” was their second US number one and the album was their only one to top the charts.
The Doors performed at the Hollywood Bowl on 5 July 1968. Footage was included in the Doors’ film, A Feast of Friends, released in 1970.
Later in 1968, the band re-entered the studio to work on The Soft Parade, on which the music revealed the band moving further away from their acid rock beginnings into jazz-inflected sunshine pop. The first single, released in December 1968, was Krieger’s “Touch Me” b/w “Wild Child.” It reached number three on the US charts. The Soft Parade was released 18 July 1969. It was followed by three more Krieger compositions, “Wishful, Sinful” b/w “Who Scared You,” “Tell All the People” b/w “Easy Ride,” and “Runnin’ Blue” b/w “Do It.” Morrison was less involved in the songwriting process than on previous albums, dealing as he was with legal issues, personal problems, as well as his poetry. That year he published two works of the latter, The Lords / Notes on Vision and The New Creatures. Morrison also acted in a 52-minute experimental film, HWY: An American Pastoral, filmed in the Mojave Desert and Los Angeles. It was also in 1969 that Morrison bought a fashion boutique, Themis, for his girlfriend Pamela Courson.
The Doors recorded most of Morrison Hotel from November 1969-January 1970 (“Indian Summer” had been recorded in August 1966). The orchestral arrangments and studio soloists of The Soft Parade were, for the most part, eschewed in favor of a stripped-down blues rock sound. Morrison, for his part, attempted to distance himself from his earlier Lizard King image, putting on weight, growing a beard, and retiring his leathers. He also contributed more to the songwriting process, writing or co-writing all of the songs. “You Make Me Real” b/w “Roadhouse Blues” peaked at number 50 on the US charts, although “Roadhouse Blues” would over time become an FM radio staple.
A live album, Absolutely Live, and a Christmas cash-in compilation, 13, were followed by the final studio album with Morrison, L.A. Woman. The band recorded the album at The Doors’ Workshop from December 1970-January 1971. It was recorded without Rothchild after he fell out with the group after asserting that one or more of the new songs sounded like “cocktail music.” It was subsequently co-produced by the band and longtime sound engineer Bruce Botnick. The first single, “Love Her Madly” b/w “(You Need Meat) Don’t Go No Further” (the B-side was the first to feature Manzarek on vocals). “Riders on the Storm” b/w “Changeling” was released in June 1971.
On 3 July 1971, Morrison died in Paris at the age of 27. No autopsy was performed but the cause of death was listed as heart failure. His body was discovered by his girlfriend, Pamela Courson. Morrison was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery.
The other Doors had begun work on a new album, which would be released as Other Voices, that June. They had hoped that Morrison would return from Paris to finish the album with them. After his unexpected death, the surviving members finished it as a trio. “Tightrope Ride” b/w “Variety is the Spice of Life” reached 71. Its follow-up, “Ships With Sails” b/w “In the Eye of the Sun” did not chart. The album, for its part, reached 31.
The surviving members of the Doors convened once again in the spring of 1972 to record Full Circle. Botnick departed from the Doors’ circle and was replaced by Henry Lewy. Full Circle was released on 15 August 1972 and peaked at number 68. Three singles were released: “The Mosquito” b/w “It Slipped My Mind,” “Get Up and Dance” b/w “Treetrunk,” and “The Piano Bird” b/w “Good Rockin’.” Not long after, Ray Manzarek let Densmore and Krieger know that he wasn’t interested in continuing the Doors and the band called it a day.
Jim Morrison’s partner, Pamela Courson, died of a heroin overdose on 25 April 1974 at the age of 27. She was living at the time in a Hancock Park apartment building with two roommates. Her cremated remains were interred at Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana.
In 1978, five years since their break-up and seven years since Morrison’s death, the surviving Doors re-convened to record music for AnAmerican Prayer. The spoken word vocals had been recorded by Jim Morrison in March 1969 and December 1970. The album was released on 17 November 1978. Prior to leaving for Paris, Morrison had reached out to Lalo Schifrin with the possibility of collaborating on the music. Rothchild denounced the album as “a rape of Jim Morrison.” It sold over a million copies. A year later, “The End” was prominently featured in Francis Ford Coppola‘s film, Apocalypse Now, introducing the Doors to the post-punk generation.
Ray Manzarek died in Rosenheim, Germany on 20 May 2013. He was 74 years old. John Densmore and Robby Kreiger are both alive and well and living in Los Angeles. Viva la Doors!
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
Over the years I’ve drawn maps, painted maps, and created digital maps. For the latter, I’ve most often used Google‘s My Maps program for several reasons. It’s relatively easy, looks relatively good, has pretty good functionality (e.g. links to websites and decent customization) and because Alphabet Inc. (Google’s parent company) is the fourth-largest company in the world — which leads me to believe, whether rightly or wrongly, that using their maps will positively affect my web traffic allowing more readers to hopefully enjoy my work. In the future, however, I may experiment with OpenStreetMap and GIS, both of which I learned of through MaptimeLA.
Google’s My Maps isn’t perfect, by any means. Their base maps include businesses I have no interest in (e.g. smog checks, locations of Jersey Mike’s Subs, &c), neighborhood names created by developers, and other features the digital cartographer isn’t allowed to remove. If a user clicks the transit option, the user sees only train lines, not bus routes — plus the price and availability of for-profit e-scooter and rid- hail options. There are rarely if ever street view options for walk streets, stair streets, trails, parks, or public stairways — or anywhere else the Google van can’t drive — because there’s no profit motive in mapping those amenities. Google is a for-profit company, though — part of a massive multinational corporation — and thus its primary purpose is not to enable users to make maps that enrich users’ lives but rather to make money through data-mining and advertising in order to enrich the board and shareholders of its corporate overlords. If one would prefer a non-profit, user-generated alternative, I recommend Mapillary(which I’ve contributed to with 360 cameras and my smartphone).
Another flaw, as I see it, with Google’s My Maps is that there’s no nice way to see them all on in one place. The user must log into My Maps, choose viewing and sorting options, and then scroll and wait for them to upload. When one has made as many maps as I have, trying to find a particular map is tedious and time-consuming — and so, I decided to put them all in one place — here, on my website.
I also am asked, sometimes, to make prints of my “map” available for sale. These requests almost never elucidate which of my more than 300 maps that I’ve made so far the requester is referring to. Almost all of the painted and drawn ones are available on all sorts of merchandise. Many are available as art prints — including some adapted from the digital versions (minus the smog checks and locations of Jersey Mike’s Subs). Check the link at the end of this piece and if you can’t find a map that you’re looking for, let me know in the comments and I’ll get back to you. And if you have any mapping requests, also let me know in the comments.
AFGHAN LOS ANGELES
A map of institutions operated by, catering to, or otherwise relevant to Angelenos of Afghan ethnicity or ancestry. The South Asian country of Afghanistan is a multi-ethnic society and Afghan ethnicities include Arab, Aymāq, Baloch, Brahui, Gujjar, Hazara, Nuristani, Pamiri, Pashai, Pashtun, Tajik, Turkmen, Uzbek, and others. However, the term “Afghan” is often used synonymously with Pashtuns of the region. This map originally appeared in “No Enclave — Exploring Afghan Los Angeles.”
AFRICAN RESTAURANTS OF LOS ANGELES
Los Angeles is or has been, home to a number of African Restaurants and markets. They’ve represented a number of Africa’s more than 3,000 ethnic groups and 55 or so countries. Represented cuisines include those of Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, and Tunisia. The map appeared on a piece, African Restaurants of Los Angeles.
ANAHEIM
Anaheim is the most populous city in Orange County — which is surprising to me after having visited it because it feels far less developed than its truly urban (but smaller) neighbor, the city of Santa Ana. In fact, to me, it feels less urban than Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, or Orange and more like a Garden Grove or Irvine — which is the only city with more area than Anaheim in the county. This map appears in California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Anaheim.
ANGELES FOREST (REGION)
A map of Los Angeles County‘s Angeles Forst region — the borders of which do not correspond with the entire Angeles National Forest — a forest located in the San Gabriel Mountains and Sierra Pelona Mountains which stretches across Los Angeles County from Santa Barbara County to San Bernardino County. The Angeles Forest region is, along with the Channel Islands, one of Los Angeles’s least-populated — both are home to fewer than 5,000 human residents. The map was made for California Fool’s Gold — An Angeles Forest Primer.
ANTELOPE VALLEY
There are several valleys in the western United States known as “Antelope Valley” — even though not one of them is home to any antelopes which are an animal native to Africa and Eurasia. In Los Angeles County, Antelope Valley refers to a region situated between the Tehachapi and the San Gabriel Mountains — the latter of which separates the valley from the Los Angeles Basin. Although mostly sparsely populated, the Antelope Valley contains within it the fifth and sixth most populous cities in Los Angeles County: Lancaster and Palmdale. This map appeared in California Fool’s Gold — An Antelope Valley Primer.
ARGENTINE LOS ANGELES
Although not amongst Los Angeles’s largest Latino populations, only New York City is home to a larger Argentine-American community. Their presence is evinced by numerous Argentine restaurants, tango academies, as well as several high-profiled actors and athletes. This map appeared in No Enclave — Exploring Argentine Los Angeles.
ASIA
Covering an area of 44,579,000 square kilometers and home to 4.4 billion people, Asia is both the Earth’s largest and most populous continent. It is, not surprisingly, highly diverse and this map is a map in progress of both widely recognized countries and almost completely unrecognized ones.
ASIAN BARS OF LOS ANGELES
Asia has produced many types of alcohol, including sake, soju, cheongju, choujiu, gouqi jiu,goryangju, huangjiu, kumis, makgeolli, meijiu,shōchū, and umsehu. It has also produced many types of drinking establishments such as booking clubs, hostess bars, izakayas, and themed pijiu wus. Asia and the South Pacific inspired the region’s kitschy tiki bars and Orientalist fantasy bars. Asian American entrepreneurs, too, have opened lounges, nightclubs, and tavernsthat cater primarily to Asian Americans. This map appeared in Swinging Doors –Asian Bars of Los Angeles.
ASIAN GARDENS OF LOS ANGELES
There are, no doubt, numerous formalized gardening styles that have developed in a continent as old, large, populous, and diverse as Asia. Within Los Angeles, there are numerous examples, mostly from the East Asian traditions of China, Japan, and Korea. This map appeared in Southland Parks — A Directory of Asian Gardens in Los Angeles.
ASIAN LOS ANGELES
You’d never know it from Hollywood films, media websites, or even most local writers, but Metro Los Angeles is the world’s great pan-Asian Metropolis. Asians comprise the most populous and fastest-growing racial minority in Los Angeles. Asian enclaves include Cambodia Town, Chinatown, Filipinotown, Koreatown, Little Bangladesh, Little Osaka, Little Saigon, Little Tokyo, and Thai Town. Los Angeles is home to the largest communities of Cambodian, Filipino, Korean, Taiwanese, Thai, and Vietnamese populations outside of their respective home countries. It is home to the nation’s largest communities of Indonesians, Japanese, and others.
ASIAN MALLS OF LOS ANGELES
With so many Asians in Los Angeles, there are naturally loads of shopping centers, strip malls, and shopping malls which cater primarily to Asian Americans. Far from soulless collections of the usual commercial suspects surrounded by vast seas of parking lot, they are often home to some of the best restaurants, multiplexes screening films you’re unlikely to see anywhere else, and chains unfamiliar to most. This map appears in Mini-Mallism — Los Angeles’s Asian Malls.
ASIAN STATUARY IN LOS ANGELES
In May 2016, I blogged every day about some aspect of Asian American culture for that year’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. I tried to cover all of the statues designed or sculpted by Asian or Asian American sculptors — or those honoring Asian and Asian American figures. I imagine I missed quite a few so consider it a work in progress. This map appears in Pan-Asian Metropolis — Asian Statuary in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles is widely recognized for its mural culture. As part of my 2016 effort to blog every day about a different aspect of Asian Angeleno culture for that year’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I wrote this piece, Pan-Asian Metropolis — Asian-American Murals in Los Angeles. It should be obvious that it’s nowhere near exhaustive, as I notice murals and street art made by Asian American artists all of the time. This map, of some of the best-known murals, appears in Pan-Asian Metropolis — Asian-American Murals in Los Angeles.
ASIAN-AMERICAN PUBLIC ART ON THE RAILS
Another very specific map made in 2016 for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, in which I attempted to map all of the Asian American-made art featured in local train stations and platforms. The map appears in Nobody Drives in LA — Asian-American Public Art on Public Transit.
ASIAN-AMERICAN PUBLIC SCULPTURE, MONUMENTS, AND MEMORIALS IN LOS ANGELES
The last of 2016’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month-related posts is of public sculpture, monuments, and memorials in Los Angeles created by Asian American artists and/or depicting Asian or Asian American culture and history. It appears in Pan-Asian Metropolis — Public Sculpture, Monuments, and Memorials in Los Angeles.
AUSTRALIAN LOS ANGELES
Australia is both a continent and a country. It has been inhabited by humans for an estimated 65,000 years. Dutch explorers named it New Holland in 1606. Today, immigrants account for 29% of its population. This map (with necessary updates and additions) will hopefully appear in a future edition of No Enclave.
The Beach Cities are a sub-region of the South Bay comprising the suburban, oceanfront cities of Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Redondo Beach. The Beach Cities are served by a mass transit agency called Beach Cities Transit. All three also have their own piers.
BEYOND THE MULTIPLEX: LOS ANGELES’S ART, DOLLER, DRIVE-IN, FOREIGN, OUTDOOR, REVIVAL, SECOND RUN, SMUT, AND OTHER CINEMAS
The lengthy, descriptive title of this map hopefully makes clear its subject. It appeared in several pieces:
A map of Black majority communities in Los Angeles County as of the 2010 census. Also included is Little Ethiopia, which whilst not black majority community, is notable for being Los Angeles’s only African enclave.
BOLIVIAN LOS ANGELES
Bolivia is a landlocked country that stretches from the Amazon to the Andes. The first settlers were likely the Aymara, who arrived some 2,500 years ago. Today, the Aymara are outnumbered by the Quechua, another Native American people. Los Angeles’s Bolivian American community is fairly large — outnumbered only by the communities in New York City and Washington, DC. That said, there are relatively few Bolivian businesses or institutions in the region. The map appears in No Enclave — Exploring Bolivian Los Angeles.
BRAZILIAN LOS ANGELES
This map appeared in No Enclave — Exploring Brazilian Los Angeles. An estimated 10,000 or so Brazilians live in Los Angeles. Approximately one third live in Palms or Culver City where, for decades, locals have referred to the area around Venice Boulevard as Little Brazil or Pequeno Brasil. This map appeared in No Enclave — Exploring Brazilian Los Angeles.
BRONZEVILLE
From roughly 1942-1946, during the incarceration of Japanese Americans in concentration camps, the vacated Little Tokyo neighborhood became a thriving black community known as Bronzeville. I attempted to map the historic locations of black businesses from the era and helped lead a walk an account of which appeared, along with this map, in Urban Rambles – Exploring Bronzeville with Maya and Michael.
BUNYA PINES IN THE SOUTHLAND
Bunya Pines (Araucaria bidwillii), are not actually pines. Araucaria do have characteristics in common with pines, though, including the fact that they’re evergreens and coniferous. They were briefly popular landscape choice although the massive cones make them better suited to cemeteries than to parks or residential communities. The map appeared in a piece about the most famous bunya in Los Angeles titled Those Useless Trees – El Pino Famoso.
BURMESE LOS ANGELES
Metro Los Angeles is home to an estimated 5,000 or so Burmese Americans. Their presence of evinced, in large part, by the numerous Burmese restaurants which have opened (and in an unfortunate number of cases, closed) in the region. This map appears in No Enclave — Exploring Burmese Los Angeles.
BUSAN – 부산시
In 2017, I visited Busan (부산시), South Korea‘s second-largest city. I was only there for a few days but it, more than Seoul, reminded me of Koreatown. In 1957, Busan adopted a division system with the creation of six “gu.” Today, Busan is divided into fifteen gu and one “gun.” I attempted to map them and a few of the places I visited. The map appears in Where Fools Fear To Tread — A Snapshot of Korea (Seoul and Busan).
THE CALIFORNIA CHANNEL ISLANDS
There are eight main islands in the Channel Islands archipelago. Their total human population is about 4,000 people, most of whom live on Santa Catalina Island. They are also home to at least 145 endemic species including the Channel Island Fox, which is believed to have rafted to the northern islands as many as 16,000 years ago. This map appears in California Fool’s Gold — A Channel Islands Primer.
CALIFORNIA FOOL’S GOLD
I began exploring and writing about my adventures in Southern California in 2007. I named my series California Fool’s Gold in homage to Huell Hower‘s much-missed television series, California’s Gold. This map, which highlights in red the communities I’ve explored, appears on the California Fool’s Gold page.
CANADIAN LOS ANGELES
In the vast diversity of Los Angeles, Canadians are mostly overlooked. There are, however, more Angelenos of Canadian origin than there are residents of 44,000, there are still more Canadians living in Los Angeles than there are in any town on Prince Edward Island, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, or Yukon. This map appeared in No Enclave — Exploring Canadian Los Angeles.
CENTRAL LOS ANGELES
A map of Central Los Angeles and the regions within it: Downtown, Hollywood, Mideast, and Midtown Los Angeles (and the neighborhoods within them).
As of 2010, there were 10,471 Chileans living in the Los Angeles area, making it the third-largest community of Chilean Americans after those of Miami and New York City. That same year, 126,810 Chilean Americans were counted by the census, with the largest number (24,006) living in California. This map appears in “No Enclave — Chilean Los Angeles.”
CITIES ADJACENT TO LOS ANGELES
There are 88 incorporated cities in Los Angeles County. Los Angeles dominates them all, of course, in terms of area and population. 31 cities share a border with the city of Los Angeles.
COLOMBIAN LOS ANGELES
Colombians are the largest group of South Americans living in the US. They are not especially prevalent in California, however, the Colombian American population of which is smaller than that of New York, Florida, and New Jersey. The local presence of Colombians is mostly evinced by the region’s Colombian restaurants as well as a few vendors of shapewear known as “fajas.” This map appears in No Enclave — Colombian Los Angeles.
COSTA RICAN LOS ANGELES
As of 2010, there were 11,371 Costa Ricans living in the Los Angeles area, making it the third-largest community of Costa Rican-Americans after those of Miami and New York City. There are, however, very few overt examples of their presence in Metro Los Angeles. This map will appear, in the future, in an edition of No Enclave.
CUBAN LOS ANGELES
As of 2010, the Los Angeles area had a population of 49,702 Cuban Americans, making the Los Angeles Cuban-American community the fourth largest in the country, behind those of Tampa, New York City, and Miami. Traditionally the community was centered in Echo Park and Silver Lake but today is quite diffuse. This map will appear, in the future, in an edition of No Enclave.
As of 2015, there were approximately 1.87 million people of Dominican descent in the US, making them the fifth-largest Hispanic group in the country. This map will appear, in the future, in an edition of No Enclave.
THE DOORS’ LOS ANGELES
The Doors were a rock band formed in Venice in 1965. The band took its name from the title of Aldous Huxley‘s The Doors of Perception, itself a reference to a poem by William Blake. After signing with Elektra Records, the Doors released their eponymous debut on 4 January 1967. 50 years later, on that date, Los Angeles City Council proclaimed that date the Day of the Doors. This map appeared in Happy Day of the Doors, Los Angeles.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES
A uniquely difficult region to map, as the neighborhoods within — especially the “districts,” tend to be rather amorphous. This map appears in California Fool’s Gold — A Downtown Primer.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES PEOPLE MOVER
Construction of the “Downtown Los Angeles Auxiliary Transit and Satellite Parking System” began in Downtown Los Angeles but was never completed. Today, the unfinished remnants are known as the Calvin S. Hamilton Pedway. If completed in its day, it would’ve likely been seen as a transit and mobility failure. If completed today, however, it would no doubt be a massive attraction in its own right. This map appears in Nobody Drives in LA — Exploring Downtown’s Calvin S. Hamilton Pedway.
EAST HOLLYWOOD
The East Hollywood community was annexed by Los Angeles in 1910, just a couple of weeks after the annexation of the town of Hollywood. Today it’s usually considered to be a sub-region of Hollywood and, as such, one comprised of several neighborhoods.
THE EASTSIDE
The Eastside doesn’t have an official definition and has meant different things to different Angelenos. To many, it refers to the communities east of Main Street (or the 110 Freeway) — especially those of South Los Angeles. To most, however, it refers to the communities east of the Los Angeles River. Since the 1970s, however, it has often been regarded as distinct from those eastside communities of Northeast Los Angeles. This map appears in California Fool’s Gold — An Eastside Primer.
ECUADORIAN LOS ANGELES
As of 2010, there were 23,118 Ecuadorians living in the Los Angeles area, making Los Angeles home to the third-largest community of Ecuadorian-Americans after those of Miami and New York City. This map will appear, in the future, in an edition of No Enclave.
ELYSIAN HEIGHTS
Elysian Heights is a neighborhood in Los Angeles’s Mideast region. Although its existence predates that of Echo Park, it is generally regarded as part of it. This map, currently in progress, will appear in a future California Fool’s Gold piece.
ELYSIAN PARK
A map of Elysian Park that also depicts both the park as well as the former communities of Bishop, La Loma, and Palo Verde — and the planned (but never built) community of Elysian Hills Heights. It appeared in Southland Parks — Elysian Park.
ENGLISH LOS ANGELES
I don’t remember where but I believe that I once read or heard that Santa Monica is the number one destination for English “expats” (the English, for whatever reason, are always “expats” and never immigrants). Although diminished, Santa Monica is sometimes referred to as “Little Britain.” This map appears in No Enclave — English Los Angeles.
ERITREAN LOS ANGELES
In 2015, there were 39,063 Eritrea-born Americans and 18,917 US-born Americans of Eritrean ancestry. California is the state with the largest number of Eritreans and growing communities exist in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland, Inglewood, and elsewhere. This map appears in No Enclave — Eritrean Los Angeles.
ETHNIC ENCLAVES OF LOS ANGELES (AND ORANGE)
Metro Los Angeles is, by many measures, the most diverse metropolitan area on Earth. This is a map of historic, emerging, recognized and unrecognized ethnic enclaves in Los Angeles. Of course, there are also many more ethnicities that don’t tend to settle in enclaves.
GLASGOW
Glasgow (Scots: Glesga; Scottish Gaelic: Glaschu) is the largest city in Scotland. Inhabitants of the city are referred to as “Glaswegians” and “Weegies”. Glasgow grew from a small rural settlement on the River Clyde to become the largest seaport in Britain, a major center of the Scottish Enlightenment, a hub of transatlantic trade with North America and the West Indies, and a major producer of top indie bands. This map appears in Where Angels Fear to Tread — A Snapshot of Glasgow.
THE HARBOR AREA
The Harbor Area (also known as the Harbor District or simply “the Harbor”) refers to the communities located on or near the San Pedro Bay. It is the site of both the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, which together forms the fifth-busiest port facility in the world and the busiest outside of East Asia. It is also home to the county’s second-most-populous city, Long Beach. This map appears in California Fool’s Gold — A Harbor Primer.
THE HISTORIC CORE
“Historic Core” was coined around 1990 to refer to the neighborhood of Downtown sometimes referred to as “Old Downtown.” It’s not the oldest part of Downtown, however, but was the area that thrived in the early decades of the 20th Century. This map appears in California Fool’s Gold — Exploring the Historic Core.
LOS ANGELES PUB CHAINS
After visiting the UK, where I experienced my first chain pub, I became curious as to whether or not the US ever had anything similar. When I learned that places like TGIFriday’s, Applebee’s, Chili’s &c were themselves pretty much pub chains — and one’s with histories as “fern bars” for singles, I became even more interested in these places to which I’d never until then paid much attention. This map appeared in “Swinging Doors — The Chain Pubs of Los Angeles.”
LOS ANGELES RIVER
The Los Angeles River flows 82 kilometers east across the San Fernando Valley and then south into the San Pedro Bay. Encouraged by the ease of my ride along the San Gabriel River, I attempted to ride its length in a day. However, whereas that river path passes unbroken through or along 25 cities and unincorporated communities, the Los Angeles River trail currently exists in twelve disconnected fragments between its source and halfway point… which is as far as I got in a day. This map appeared in “There It Is, Revitalize It — The Los Angeles River.”
LOS ANGELES SQUARES
n most cities, a square refers to a planned public space that usually hosts various public events, in other words a city square, market square, public square, town square, urban square, piazza, plaza, or town green. In Los Angeles, it means a beige sign over an intersection surrendered to the automobile. Since 2000, Los Angeles City Council has designated numerous intersections as “squares.” This map appeared in “Greater Streets — Los Angeles Squares, or When is a Square Not a Square?”
LOS ANGELES TRAIN PUB CRAWL
After a series of half-assed train pub crawls appeared in various listicle factories I decided to create a more serious, researched, and all-inclusive map of every izakaya, pub, piano bar, brewery, tasting rooms, leather bar, pijiu wu, gastropub, hotel bar, gasthaus, and taverns within easy walking distance of a train station. This map appeared in“Swinging Doors — Los Angeles Train Pub Crawl.”
LOS ANGELES WETLANDS
As a region dominated by hilly chaparral scrubland, Los Angeles experiences heavy seasonal rains during most winters. Historically, gravity and water conspired to form countless seasonal streams, rivers, marshes, lagoons, ponds, and other wetlands. Today, most waterways have been channelized in concrete or redirected into subterranean channels. Most of the wetlands have been drain and replaced with development. This map appeared in “There It Is, Revitalize It — The Southland’s Wetlands.”
LOS ANGELES WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
As of 2014, there were an estimated 5,129,169 women living in Los Angeles County — more than the entire population of 34 states and dependencies of the US. With a female density of roughly 2,697 women per square mile, Metro Los Angeles is more crowded with women than any other urban area in the country too. Here are a few places important to local women’s history. This map appeared in “Women’s History Month: 25 Women in Los Angeles History.”
LOS ANGELES’S ASIAN-AMERICAN SKYSCRAPERS
In 2016, for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I wrote a piece about the skyscrapers of Los Angeles designed by Asian-American skyscrapers. This map appeared in “High Rising — Los Angeles’s Asian-American Skyscrapers.”
LOS ANGELES’S BUDDHIST TEMPLES, HINDU TEMPLES, SIKH GURDWARAS, ASIAN-AMERICAN CHURCHES, &c.
All of the world’s religions with the most followers (i.e. Bahá’í, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism) originated in Asia — although I don’t think most folks characterize those born in the Middle East as “Asian regions.” In addition to Los Angeles’s Buddhist, Confucius, Hindu, Sikh, and Taoist temples, however, there are also Japanese Baptist Churches, Korean Presbyterian congregations, and places of worship for Chinese and Vietnamese Catholics. This map appeared in “Pan-Asian Metropolis — Los Angeles’s Asian Temples.”
LOS ANGELES’S EASTSIDE AND WESTSIDE
Athough there are twenty regions in Los Angeles, the main “rivalry” — if that’s not too strong a word, seems to be between the Eastside and Westside. Interestingly, most Westsiders have never seemingly been to the Eastside and, as they move east, make it abundantly clear that they don’t even know where or what it is. That’s why I made this map.
LOS ANGELES’S EMERGING AND UNOFFICIAL ENCLAVES
I reckon most Angelenos know of Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Saigon, Little Tokyo, and Thai Town. Perhaps, if they’re observant or at all clued in about their home, they also know of Cambodia Town, Filipinotown, Little Armenia, Little Bangladesh, Little Ethiopia, Little India, or Little Seoul. If they know their Los Angeles history, they know that there used to be a Frenchtown, Greek Town, Little Italy, and Sonoratown. How many folks, though, know about Little Arabia, Little Belize, Little Brazil, Little Britain, Little Mongolia, Little Odessa, Little Taipei, Oaxacatown, or Tehrangeles — none of which have been granted official recognition by the city? This map appears in “No Enclave — Emerging and Unofficial Ethnic Enclaves of Los Angeles.”
LOS ANGELES’S FRONTIER NEIGHBORHOODS
This is a map of Los Angeles neighborhoods located at the edge of city… frontier neighborhoods if you will.
LOS ANGELES’S HIDDEN WATERWAYS
Los Angeles is criss-crossed with rivers and streams. Historically, some were fed year round by springs whilst appeared with the arrival of the rainy season and dried up not long after its departure. Today, most are channelized into concrete washes or entombed underground in tunnels. The vast majority of this work was done by the folks at L.A. Creek Freak. I superimposed their map of waterways on my own map of Los Angeles neighborhoods and added a few minor details (mainly stream names in a few cases).
LOS ANGELES’S SOLITARY SUBURBAN LANDSCAPES
In the pre-NIMBY age, a tall building would occasionally rise up from the suburban floor like and loom over the single story landscape like Orthanc — the tower of Isengard. Then NIMBYs decided that neighborhood character didn’t just mean using economic segregation and car-centricity to keep out the poors and urbanists — but also preserving a two-story height limit so that no single-family houses will suffer the indignity of having a cooling shadow cast upon them. This map appears in “Highrising — Solitary Skyscrapers of Suburbia.”
MACARTHUR PARK
Even at its most sullied and neglected, MacArthur Park is one of Los Angeles’s greatest urban parks. It’s also one of the oldest, having begun as Westlake Park in 1886. This map of the park and nearby amenities appears in“Southland Parks — Visiting MacArthur Park.”
MAJOR CITIES OF THE INDIAN OCEAN
We humans tend to divide ourselves up, culturally speaking, into countries and continents — but for coastal peoples, it seems to me, there are shared ties to the oceans. The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world’s oceans, sharing borders with Africa, Asia, and Australia.
MAJOR CITIES OF THE PACIFIC
Three of the world’s four most populous nations have borders on the Pacific Ocean. As someone living in a city on the Pacific, I often feel like my city has closer ties places on the other side of the ocean (e.g. Manila, Honolulu, Seoul, Sydney, Taipei, and Tokyo) than it does those on the other side of the country (e.g. Atlantic City, Fort Lauderdale, Long Island, and the Jersey Shore).
MAJOR HUMAN SETTLEMENTS OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN
Not to make light of the worsening climate crisis, but as someone who can barely tolerate warm weather, I may at some point in my life have to move to the Arctic. Thus, I began researching cities (and smaller settlements) on the Arctic Coast, where the weather might still be cool enough for a few more years.
MALAYSIAN LOS ANGELES
According to the 2010 census, there were then 26,179 Americans of Malaysian background. California is home to the largest population. There are few overt indications of Malaysians presence in Los Angeles, however, outside of a handful of businesses located primarily in the San Gabriel Valley. This map appears “No Enclave — Exploring Malaysian Los Angeles.”
MAPPED BY PENDERSLEIGH & SONS CARTOGRAPHY
At some point it dawned on my that I should map the places that I’ve mapped… and explored. This map appears on the California Fool’s Gold homepage.
MAYA CIVILIZATION
I’ve been fascinated with the Maya at least since I was about seven years old and read Mystery of the Maya. Using iron-on crayons, I even made robe with decorated with drawings of Maya pyramids. In 2017, I finally visited the Riviera Maya and made this map, included in “Where Fools Fear to Tread — A Snapshot of Mexico (Tulum, Teotihuacan & Mexico City).”
METRO RAPID BUS AND RAIL
If only bus-only lanes were possible for Metro’s Rapid Buses… then they’d be rapid in more than just name. What’s good enough for other city’s mass transit riders, however, is more than the mass transit riders of Los Angeles can reasonably expect and so we’re left to dream of a network of rapid bus transit lines that would transform this city. This map appeared in “Nobody Drives in LA — Get on the Rapid Bus.”
MID-CITY WITH MACHIKO
2017 was the tenth year of me writing about exploring Los Angeles. For that anniversary, I asked friends and readers to suggest walks and I thus undertook explorations with Machiko, Maya, Mayra, and Michael. I’d previously undertaken one with a neighbor named Marvin. The fact that all of my partners were Asian Americans whose given names started with “m” was a strange coincidence. At the time, Machiko lived in Mid-City (more “m”s) and this map appeared in “Urban Rambles — Exploring Mid-City with Machiko.”
MIDEAST LOS ANGELES (THE MIDEAST SIDE)
Mideast Los Angeles — or MELA if you’re into that whole brevity thing — is a region of Los Angeles located between Midtown, the Eastside, and Northeast Los Angeles (NELA). It contains within it the neighborhoods of Angeleno Heights, Echo Park, Elysian Heights, Franklin Hills, Frogtown, Los Feliz, Pico-Union, Silver Lake, Victor Heights, and Westlake — as well as two of the city’s best-known parks, Elysian and Griffith. This map appears in “California Fool’s Gold — A Mideast Side Primer.”
MIDTOWN LOS ANGELES
Midtown Los Angeles is a region of Los Angeles. It contains within it well-known sub-regions such as Mid-City, Mid-City West, Mid-Wilshire, Wilshire Center as well as many micro-neighborhoods, the names of which are unrecognizable to most Angelenos living outside of them. This map appears in “California Fool’s Gold — A Midtown Primer.”
The Moreton Bay fig (Ficus macrophylla), like many of the Southland’s urban trees, is an Australian immigrant (see also eucalyptus, carrotwood, bottlebrush, river red gum, bunya pine, and Australian willow). But, unlike those other Antipodean imports, several Moreton Bay figs have risen to the ranks of celebrity. Such is the case of the Aoyama Tree in Little Tokyo. This map appears in “Those Useless Trees — The Aoyama Tree.”
NEPALI SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (नेपाली लस एन्जलस)
As of 2010, there were only 6,231 Nepali Americans living in California. However, Nepalis then comprised the fastest growing population of South Asians, due in large part to the Nepalese Civil War. There is a small but notable Nepali presence in Los Angeles. This map was included in “No Enclave — Exploring Nepali Los Angeles.”
NEWPORT BEACH
Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries but today is used primarily for recreation. I explored it for California Fool’s Gold in 2019. This map appears in “California Fools Gold — Exploring Newport Beach.”
NICARAGUAN LOS ANGELES
As of 2010, there were 348,202 Americans of Nicaraguan descent in the US. Most live in either Florida or California. In the latter, most live in either the San Francisco Bay or Metro Los Angeles. This map will appear in a future edition of No Enclave.
NIGERIAN LOS ANGELES
Home to nearly 200 million residents, Nigeria is the most-populous country in Africa. Nigerian Americans also comprise the largest percentage of African American immigrants. The largest number of Nigerian Americans live in Texas, followed by Maryland, New York, and California. This map appears in “No Enclave — Exploring Nigerian Los Angeles.”
NORTH ASIA
North Asia is is a massive sub-region of Asia. Approximately 13,100,000 square kilometers, it is home to only 33 million or so residents — just .74% of Asia’s population. For such a large region — roughly 1.5 times the size of Brazil — it’s one of the least discussed regions in the planet. For that and for other reasons, it fascinates me. This map appears in “Unrecognized Nations: North Asia.”
NORTH ORANGE COUNTY
Orange County is, when divided into regions, most often split simply into North and South Orange County. Whereas South Orange County is largely comprised of mostly-white, recently-built, red-tile roofed, master-planned gated communities; North Orange County is largely characterized by post-World War II suburbs that are home to a diverse population of Latinos, Vietnamese, Koreans, Arabs, and others. This map appears in “California Fool’s Gold — A North Orange County Primer.”
NORTH ORANGE COUNTY AND THE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY
North Orange County and the San Gabriel Valley are neighboring regions supposedly separated by a political border but with much in common demographically, geographically, and culturally. I would imagine that the average resident of La Habra has more in common with the average resident of La Habra Heights than they do someone in Laguna Beach (or than the resident of La Habra Heights has with the typical resident of Malibu). I made this map in the style of 18th century Chinese cartographer, Mo Yi-tong, to challenge views of the regions through this recontextualization.
NORTHEAST LOS ANGELES
Northeast Los Angeles is a region of Los Angeles that is contains within it the first three communities to be annexed by Los Angeles: Garvanza, Highland Park, and Sycamore Grove. In 1922, the communities of Hermon, York Valley, and part of Annandale agreed to join the Greater Highland Park Association. Other communities in the region include Cypress Park, Eagle Rock, Glassell Park, Montecito Heights, and Monterey Hills. This map appears in “California Fool’s Gold — A Northeast Los Angeles Primer.”
NORTHWEST LOS ANGELES
Perhaps no regional identity has moved as far from its original location as has that of Northwest Los Angeles. When Northwest Los Angeles Improvement Association began meeting, around 1894, the northwest corner of Los Angeles was still located at the corner of FountainAvenue and Hoover Street. The Improvement Association on the edge of Downtown, though, near the intersection of Montreal and Sand —a corner long ago obliterated by the construction of the interchange of the 110 and 101 freeways. Since the 1940s, it the moniker has more often been applied to the region in the northwestern-most corner of Los Angeles County, including the third largest city in the county, Santa Clarita, and small hamlets like Three Points, Pine Store, and Gorman. This map appears in “California Fool’s Gold — A Northwest Los Angeles County Primer.”
OLD SCHOOL NEW ORLEANS HIP-HOP
I’m a big fan of old school New Orleans hip-hop. That’s why I wrote about Big Boy, Cash Money, Mobo, No Limit, Parkway Pumpin’, Take Fo’, Tombstone, Untouchable, bounce music, sissy rappers, and more. I may go back and add this map to some of those pieces.
OLDEST SURVIVING RESTAURANTS IN LOS ANGELES
From the 1880s to the 1980s, these are the oldest restaurants in Metro Los Angeles that are still in operation (and a few that aren’t). This map appeared in “Los Angeles’s Oldest Surviving Restaurants.”
ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITIES
There are 3,007 counties and 135 county equivalents (i.e. parishes, organized boroughs, census areas, independent cities, and the District of Columbia). Home to over three million people, Orange County is the sixth-most populous such region in the US. From 1850-1889, what’s now Orange County was part of Los Angeles County. Today it remains part of the Metro Los Angeles urban area.
Los Angeles is home to a large population of Pakistani-Americans, second in size only to the New York-New Jersey area, but the population is fairly diffuse and there is no Little Pakistan, official or unofficial. This map appeared in “No Enclave — Exploring Pakistani Los Angeles.”
PALMS, LOS ANGELES
Palms is a neighborhood that founded as an agricultural and vacation community in 1886. Today it’s mostly comprised of apartment buildings, crisscrossed with commercial corridors, and the most densely populated community on the Westside. This map appeared in “California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Palms.”
PANAMANIAN LOS ANGELES
As of the 2010 census, there were 165,456 Americans of Panamanian descent. With a population of 17,768, California follows Florida and New York in population numbers. With a population of 6,353, Metro Los Angeles has the fourth-most populous Panamanian American population. This map will appear in a future edition of No Enclave.
PASADENA
Pasadena is the ninth-most populous city in Los Angeles County and the 40th-most populous largest city in California. Incorporated in 1886, it’s one of the oldest cities in Los Angeles County. Home to Caltech, Pasadena City College, Fuller Theological Seminary, ArtCenter College of Design, Laemmle’s Playhouse 7, the Pasadena Playhouse, the Norton Simon Museum, and the USC Pacific Asia Museum — among other attractions — it’s a center of culture and learning in the region. This map, showing Pasadena’s neighborhoods, appeared in “California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Pasadena, The Crown City of Roses.”
As of 2018, there were 628,603 Americans of Peruvian descent. California has the second-largest population, after Florida. Metro Los Angeles is home to roughly 48,380. This map will appear in a future edition of No Enclave.
PUEBLO OF LOS ANGELES (1781 BOUNDARIES WITH CONTEMPORARY NEIGHBORHOODS)
From 1781 until 1869, Los Angeles was a perfect square. Last year and this, pedestrian advocacy group Los Angeles Walks has been leading walks to and from each of the four corners. At the time of writing, one walk (from the northeast corner to the northwest) remains. After I complete it, I’ll probably include his map in an edition of Nobody Drives in LA.
PUERTO RICAN LOS ANGELES
Puerto Ricans are not particularly numerous in California, where they encompass roughly half a percent of the state’s total Latino population. 29.5% of the state’s population live in Metro Los Angeles and this map will likely be included in a future edition of No Enclave.
REGIONS OF LOS ANGELES
Unlike most large cities, there are no official regional designations in Los Angeles. Paris has its arrondissements, New York City its boroughs, Busan and Seoul have gu (구), Taipei has qū (區), St. Louis and New Orleans both have wards, Mexico City has municipios, and on. I’ve nevertheless attempted here to map the colloquially recognized regions of the county. This map appeared in“Los Angeles Linguistics Part 2: Regional Differences.”
RIVERSIDE
Riverside is a city in, and the county seat of, Riverside County. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire — the birthplace of the California citrus industry. It’s home to the University of California, Riverside, the Fox Performing Arts Center, Riverside Metropolitan Museum, the California Museum of Photography, and other attractions which make it one of the most desirable communities in the Inland Empire.
SALVADORAN LOS ANGELES
Metro Los Angeles is home to the largest population of Salvadorans outside of El Salvador, the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. Salvadorans comprise the second-largest Latino population in Metro Los Angeles as well as the second-largest foreign-born population. This map appeared in “No Enclave — Exploring Salvadoran Los Angeles.”
SAMOAN LOS ANGELES
Samoan-Americans are the second largest group of Pacific Islanders in the US, after Hawaiians. The largest population on the US mainland live in Los Angeles, home as of 2010 to roughly 54,000. Evidence of their presence is reflected in the existence of their churches, restaurants, and organizations. This map appeared in“No Enclave — Exploring Samoan Los Angeles.”
SAN DIEGO NEIGHBORHOODS
San Diego is the second-most populous city in California, the eighth-most populous in the US, the fifteenth-most populous in North America, and (as of 2018), the 135th-most populous in the world. The ancestors of the indigenous Kumeyaay are widely believed to have first settled the area some 12,000 years ago. I’ve thus far explored little of it, though, and so made this neighborhood map in order to inform myself and to incentivize exploration. This map appeared in “California Fool’s Gold — A San Diego Neighborhoods Primer.”
THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY
The San Fernando Valley — although one of several valleys in Los Angeles County (e.g. Antelope, Conejo, Crescenta, Hungry, Leona, Peace, Pomona, San Gabriel, and Santa Clarita) is nearly always referred to simply as the Valley. I would argue that it’s a much more urban, vibrant, diverse, cultured, and interesting place than most non-Valley-residing Angelenos are aware. This map appeared in “California Fool’s Gold — A San Fernando Valley Primer.”
THE SAN GABRIEL RIVER
The San Gabriel River flows 93 kilometers from a confluence in the San Gabriel Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. Along its banks, there’s a well-maintained bicycle path which I rode down one day. This map appeared in “There It Is, Revitalize It — The San Gabriel River.”
THE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY
The San Gabriel Valley is a fascinating yet largely overlooked suburban valley of Los Angeles County. It’s a cluster of largely Latino (mostly Mexican) and Pan-Asian communities (mostly Chinese, Hong Konger, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Korean, and Japanese). This map appeared in “California Fool’s Gold — A San Gabriel Valley Primer.”
SAN PEDRO
San Pedro is a Harbor District neighborhood located on the San Pedro Bay. It’s one of my favorite neighborhoods in Los Angeles as it’s walkable, working-class, home to numerous attractions, and quite unlike the stereotypical Southern California coastal community. This map appeared in “California Fool’s Gold — Exploring San Pedro.”
SANDBERG
Sandberg is the name of a small community that arose in the Sierra Pelona Mountains around Norwegian immigrant Harald Sandberg‘s Sandberg’s Summit Hotel. The hotel was used for various purposes after Sandberg’s death until it burnt to the ground. Today there’s almost nothing left of Sandberg except some ruins and a faded plaque. This map appeared in “California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Sandberg.”
SANTA CLARITA
Santa Clarita is now the third-most-populous city in Los Angeles County. It was only incorporated as a city in 1987, through the union of four unincorporated communities: Canyon Country, Newhall,Saugus, and Valencia. As such, it lacks the centrality of a traditional city and is often characterized instead as a “boomburb.”
SANTA CRUZ ISLAND (LIMUW)
With an area of 249.952 km2, Santa Cruz Island is the largest island in California. The Chumash lived there for more than 10,000 years and knew it as Limuw (“place of the sea”). I visited the island during a heatwave in 2018 with the good folks of Maptime LA. This map appears in California Fool’s Gold – Exploring Santa Cruz Island.
SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS (LOS ANGELES COUNTY)
The Santa Monica Mountains are a coastal mountain range paralleling the Pacific Ocean. The name also applies to the westernmost region of Los Angeles County, a region that includes the communities of Agoura Hills, Cornell, Hidden Hills, Malibu, Monte Nido, Saratoga Hills, and Topanga. This map appeared in “California Fool’s Gold — A Santa Monica Mountains Primer.”
SEOUL – 서울
In 2017, I visited Seoul (서울), officially the Seoul Special Metropolitan City — the capital of and largest city in South Korea. The Seoul Capital Area is home to roughly half of South Korea’s population. This map appears in Where Fools Fear To Tread — A Snapshot of Korea (Seoul and Busan).
SILVER LAKE STAIRS
I was commissioned to make a map of Silver Lake’s stairs by the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council. They only wanted public stairways and stair streets but I also included walk streets for the online version. I’ll probably expand this map, eventually, to include other neighborhoods.
The South Bay refers to the southern end of the Santa Monica Bay and the communities located on and near it. Definitions of what constitutes the South Bay vary although nearly all include the Beach Cities and the communities of Palos Verdes peninsula. This map appears in California Fool’s Gold — A South Bay Primer.
SOUTH LOS ANGELES (SITES AND ATTRACTIONS)
I need to clean up this map of South Los Angeles (Sites and Attractions)… perhaps update it, too.
SOUTH LOS ANGELES’S EASTSIDE
No region of Los Angeles is likely defined with as much disagreement as the Eastside. To some, it refers to all (or just some) of the communities east of the Los Angeles River. To others, it includes parts of Midtown, East Hollywood, and Mideast Los Angeles. To those in South Los Angeles, it usually refers to the communities east of the 110 (and before its construction, Main Street). This map appears in California Fool’s Gold — A South Los Angeles Eastside Primer.
SOUTH LOS ANGELES’S WESTSIDE
Definitions vary but before the construction of Harbor Freeway, many folks in South Los Angeles used to describe the communities west of Main Street and east of the South Bay as being the Westside. There’s an unspoken implication, I believe, that in doing so they are referring to the Westside of South Los Angeles and don’t regard, say, West Athens are belonging to the same region as, say, Westwood. This map appears in California Fool’s Gold — A South Los Angeles Westside Primer.
SOUTH ORANGE COUNTY
South Orange County is generally regarded as being divided from North Orange County by California State Route 55 and Newport Avenue. In contrast to North Orange County, it is less densely-populated and dominated by master-planned communities. This map appears in California Fool’s Gold — A South Orange County Primer.
SOUTHEAST LOS ANGELES
Southeast Los Angeles is a region of Los Angeles County located between North Orange County, the San Gabriel Valley, and the Eastside of South Los Angeles. It is often referred to as the “Gateway Cities,” although that is a generic term used in several other counties and which, in Los Angeles, also includes parts of the Harbor and South Los Angeles. This map appears in California Fool’s Gold — A Southeast Los Angeles Primer.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Southern California is a geographic and cultural region that is roughly the same size as Bangladesh, Nepal, Tajikistan, and Greece. It is home to roughly 22,423,000 people. Its climates include alpine, chaparral, and desert.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NIGHT MARKETS
Night Markets are popular in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and in Southeast Asian cities with large populations of ethnic Chinese like Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. With Los Angeles being the world’s great Pan-Asian Metropolis, it’s no wonder that they’ve taken hold here. This map appears in Pan-Asian Metropolis — Southern California Night Markets.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAIL AND FERRY
A map of passenger rail networks and ferry service routes for Southern California. Just for fun, I also included novelty trolleys, live steamers, model railroads, and restaurants located inside of old train cars. This map appears in Nobody Drives in LA — Los Angeles Train Map.
SOUTHLAND THEATER
Metro Los Angeles is home to a large number of theaters and theater companies. On any night, one can experience any number of live theater performances from big-budget musicals to no-budget experimental theater; original works, repertory classics, stand-up comedy, drag revues, performance art, puppetry, noh, opera, kabuki, magic shows, &c.
SRI LANKAN LOS ANGELES
There were 45,159 Sri Lankans living in the US in 2010 and it was only in the 1990s that substantial numbers began arriving, mostly fleeing the Sri Lankan Civil War and mostly settling in and around New York City, central New Jersey, and the Los Angeles metropolitan areas. This map appears in “No Enclave — Exploring Sri Lankan Los Angeles.”
TOP 100 LOS ANGELES ATTRACTIONS (EXCLUDING CENTRAL LOS ANGELES AND THE WESTSIDE)
Most local listiclers, advertorial hacks, and other uninspired chroniclers of Los Angeles culture would have readers believe that there’s nothing worth visiting in Los Angeles that isn’t in Central Los Angeles or the Westside. I made this map as a corrective. It appears in Top 100 Los Angeles Attractions (not in Central Los Angeles or the Westside).
UNINCORPORATED LOS ANGELES COUNTY
There are 88 incorporated cities in Los Angeles County. There are also numerous unincorporated communities. Some, like Three Points, are incredibly obscure and home to a handful of residents. Others, like East Los Angeles, are home to more than 100,000 residents.
UYGHUR LOS ANGELES
Uyghurs are an Asian people who mostly live in the Chinese province of Xinjiang, which most view as their homeland. There are significant diasporic populations in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, and Russia. The US also has a small population, most of whom live in either the Washington, DC or Los Angeles metropolitan areas. This map appears in No Enclave — Exploring Uyghur Los Angeles.
VALLEY BOULEVARD
Valley Boulevard is the San Gabriel Valley’s main thoroughfare, its backbone; what Wilshire is to Midtown, Crenshaw is to South Los Angeles’s Westside, or Ventura Boulevard is to the San Fernando Valley. In 2016, I began walking the length of the street in segments with a dog named Dooley. By 2017, we had walked roughly half of its 45-kilometer length. Sadly, Dooley died before we began exploring the eastern half. This map appears in Greater Streets — Exploring Valley Boulevard.
VEGETARIAN ASIAN RESTAURANTS
Asia is home to some of the most vegetarian-friendly countries in the world, including India, Taiwan, and Israel. Metro Los Angeles, meanwhile, is the capital of pan-Asianism. Naturally, there are many — and have bee many more — vegetarian Asian restaurants of various sorts. This map appears in Pan-Asian Metropolis — Vegetarian Asian Restaurants in Los Angeles.
VEGETARIAN LOS ANGELES
Americans eat more meat, per capita, than any other people in the world. On the other hand, California is home to more vegetarian and vegan restaurants than any other state. Southern California has a particularly strong tradition of vegetarian and veganism that stretches back at least to the 1870s. This map appears in the piece, Vegetarian and Vegan Los Angeles.
THE VERDUGOS
The Verdugos is a region of Los Angeles County that includes most of the areas in and around the Verdugo Mountains and Crescenta Valley. An exception is the city of Burbank, which although partly located in the Verdugo Mountains, is almost universally recognized as being associated with the San Fernando Valley. This map appears in California Fool’s Gold — A Verdugos Primer.
VIETNAMESE LOS ANGELES
Metro Los Angeles is home to the largest Vietnamese community outside of Los Angeles. North Orange County, home to roughly two-thirds of that community, is home of the nation’s oldest and largest Little Saigon. This map appears in No Enclave — Exploring Vietnamese Los Angeles.
WEHO PICKUP
The WeHo PickUp is West Hollywood‘s free and fun nighttime shuttle. Although it’s primarily used to convey clubgoers to various venues, there are also quite a few architectural, artistic, and attractions of other sorts along the route. This map appears in Nobody Drives in LA — Exploring Along the WeHo PickUp Line.
THE WESTSIDE
The Westside is a region of Los Angeles County. Definitions of what constitutes the Westside vary although a poll of Angelenos found that most consider its eastern border to be formed by La Cienega Boulevard. This map appears in California Fool’s Gold — A Westside Primer.
WESTWOOD
Westwood is a neighborhood in Los Angeles’s Westside region. It’s best known for being the home of the University of California, Los Angeles — although there are many other attractions worth visiting. This map appears in California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Westwood.
Maps of Ancient African Cities, Brightwell’s Los Angeles, Elysian Park’s Kite Hill, International Language Schools, Livable Los Angeles, Lizard City, Los Angeles Pocket Parks, Los Angeles Railway, Oldest Bars in Los Angeles, Swinging Doors Bar Map – Early Houses.
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
As of 2018, Latinos comprised an estimated 47.7% of Los Angeles’s population. 75% of Latino Angelenos were of Mexican ancestry. Salvadorans comprised about 8% of Latino Angelenos. Guatemaltecos comprised about 5% of the Latino Angeleno population. Los Angeles is, additionally, home to the largest populations of Mexicans, Salvadorans, and Guatemaltecos outside of their respective homelands.
I’d wager that many Angelenos subconsciously think of Latino as being synonymous with people with roots in Mexico or Central America. There are, however, 33 countries and dependencies in Latin America, and representatives of all are likely living within Metro Los Angeles. One such people, Cuban Angelenos, were estimated to number approximately 39,793 in 2017. The 2010 census counted 49,702 Cubans living in the greater Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metropolitan area. Both figures mean that Los Angeles home to the fourth-largest Cuban American population after Miami, New York City, and Tampa.
Cuban Americans are the third most numerous Latino people in the US and California is home to the second-largest state-wide population after that of Florida (home to roughly 70% of the nation’s population). Today most Cubans have some combination of African, European, and/or indigenous ancestry. Asian ancestry is also fairly common — especially Chinese — but also Filipino, Japanese, and Vietnamese.
Cuba was settled by humans at least as early as the 4th millennium BCE. The oldest known archeological site in Cuba dates from approximately 3100 BCE. The Guanajatabeyare believed to be the island’s indigenous humans. The Ciboneyand Taíno — both Arawak peoples — arrived from the Caribbean islands to the south and initially settled in Cuba’s eastern end.
The Spanish arrived in 1492 and conquered the island. Indigenous Cubans were enslaved and forced to work on sugar and tobacco plantations. After the indigenous population was mostly decimated and absorbed through intermarriage, attention was turned to Africa and ultimately, over a million Africans were abducted and forced into slavery on the island until 1867. In the 19th century, more than 100,000 Chinese were recruited to work on the plantations under harsh conditions.
A series of rebellions in the 19th century failed to dislodge the Spanish. Ultimately, it was their defeat in the Spanish–American War which led to Spain’s withdrawal from the island. In 1898, the USS Maine (ACR-1) sank in Havana Harborfollowing a mysterious explosion that killed 260 American seamen. Whether or not it was a false flag operation, which many still believe, it provided the pretext for the US to attack Spain. As a result, the US expanded its empire extensively establishing military occupations in the Philippines and Cuba. In 1902, Cuba formally gained independence.
CUBAN MUSIC IN LOS ANGELES
The music of Cuba includes many genres, several of which are quite popular in Los Angeles and, to a degree, throughout the country. It seems to me that Cuban music is — of all Latin American music — more likely to be appreciated by non-Latinos than the music of other Latin American cultures. When I first moved to Los Angeles, I occasionally took my lunch breaks at fast-casual Mexican chains like Baja Fresh and Green Burrito. Inevitably, the speakers would play Cuban, and never the Mexican or Tejano music that would seem, on the surface, to be more appropriate. When I find myself in such restaurants now, I make a point of cocking my ear toward the kitchen, where more often than not I can hear the cooks listening to either banda or cumbia.
One Cuban genre, bolero (filin), originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century, where it emerged out of the trova tradition. In the 1910s, bolero’s popularity spread to Puerto Rico and Mexico, where it was picked up by composers like Agustín Lara and María Grever. In the 1930s and ’40s, bolero spread throughout Latin America and Southern California, where one can still hear it being performed live at some Mexican restaurants.
A small sample of enthusiastic local media coverage of the 1950s mambo craze.
Mambo was pioneered by the charangaArcaño y sus Maravillas in the late 1930s and later popularized in the big band style byPérez Prado. In the late-1940s, following the earlier beguine, tango, rumba, and samba crazes; mambo became the latest Latino music-and-dance craze to hit the US, thanks in large part to Pérez Prado, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodríguez. In the mid-1950s, Americans and others fell for the chachachá,— a slower style of mambo. In the 1970s, Cuban music was influential in the development of salsa.
In 1997, the musical group Buena Vista Social Club released their debut album, produced by American guitarist Ry Cooder, a collection of pre-revolutionary style Cuban music. It was an enormous international success. Its success was compounded when Wim Wenders released a documentary, also titled Buena Vista Social Club. The success of both sparked a craze for more traditional Cuban music although, not surprisingly, not so much popular contemporary Cuban enjoyed by young Cubans like reggaeton, hip-hop, pop, or rock.
Repressive, American-backed military dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown during the Cuban Revolution, led by Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz, and Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Fidel quickly proved as uninterested in democracy as his predecessor and ruled the island as a repressive one-party state until his death in 2016. Some democratic reforms have been introduced in recent years and the UK-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) now ranks Cuba 142 out of 167 countries — just above Afghanistan. The US, for the record, has moved in the other direction in recent years, sliding down to 25, just below Estonia.
CUBANS AMERICANS AND ANGELENOS
The first Cuban Americans lived in La Florida, the Spanish land province established in 1513 and governed by the Captaincy General of Cuba after its establishment in 1607. St. Augustine was established by Pedro Menéndez de Avilésin 1565 and was colonized by hundreds of Spanish-Cuban soldiers and their families.
Mapa de Cuba y La Florida, 1591
In the 19th century, significant numbers of Cubans migrated to New Orleans, New York City, Key West, and Tampa. A mass exodus followed the conclusion of the Cuban Revolution, in 1959 and continued into 1962. Another mass exodus took place from 1965 until 1973. The former lead to the Cubanization of Westchester, the latter of Hialeah — both in the Miami metropolitan area. That Cubans favored Florida was natural, not only because the two are separated by a mere 169 kilometers.
Los Angeles, on the other hand, is about 3,600 kilometers west by northwest. Still, between 1961 and ’66, some 14,000 some Cubans exiled settled there, most aided in doing so with government assistance. Many were former members of Cuba’s bourgeoisie and naturally, many opened businesses. One such entrepreneur, Sotero Machin opened a jewelry store in Echo Park called Alamar, and a travel agency, Cubamar. Other Cuban-owned businesses included Guiro Records, Havana Travel, La Economica, Mena’s Toys, and two newspapers: 20 de Mayo — a newspaper that published from 1969 until 2008 — and La Voz Libre — launched in 1981. Cubans formed organizations like Abdala, Alpha 66, and the Cuban Assistance League. In 1980, some 135,000 Cubans arrived in the US, with some settling in Los Angeles. Having departed Cuba from the Port of Mariel, they were nicknamed Marielitos. Among them were freed criminals and many established Cuban Americans viewed them with, at the very least, a degree of mistrust.
Alpha 66 fundraiser
CUBAN RESTAURANTS IN LOS ANGELES
Many Cubans opened restaurants. Among the first were Gigi’s Café Cubano, which
Rosa Porto at Porto’s Bakery
opened in Filipinotown in 1968; El Colmao, which opened in Pico Heights in 1969; and El Rincon Criollo, established in Culver City — also in 1969. The Madrid, which opened around 1971 in Echo Park, was a de facto community center. La Cubana Café, in Glendale‘s Mariposa neighborhood, was founded in 1973. Silver Lake‘s Café Tropical opened in 1975. The famed Cuban Bakery chain,Porto’s Bakery & Café, also began in Silver Lake, in 1976. Ramón Calderón opened what’s likely the oldest Cuban Restaurant in Orange County, Felix Continental Cafe, in 1979 (in the city of Orange). Orlando Garcia opened the first location of the local Cuban chain, Versailles, in Palms in 1981. Nightclub and restaurant El Floridita opened in Central Hollywood in 1987. El Cochinito opened in Silver Lake in 1988. In 2015, Caroline Lafaurie opened the world’s first vegan Cuban restaurant, Equelecuá Cuban Vegan Café in Inglewood. It has since relocated to Pasadena‘s Playhouse District. Evanice Holz has since joined them on the cruelty-free quest, offering vegan Cuban food at Señoreata, atRow DTLA‘s Smorgasburg.
Now-closed Cuban restaurants and no-longer-operational restaurants and food trucks include Cuba De Oro Restaurant,El Rincon Cubano, La Caridad Restaurant, Mayra’s Authentic Cuban and Caribbean, ¡No Jodas!,Tony Cubano’s Café, and Xiomara on Melrose.
Other Cuban emigres, like sculptor Sergio López-Mesa, continued to work in the arts.
Civil engineer Carlos Sebastian Lorente & sculptor Sergio López-Mesa installing José Martí Monument 1976. | Cuban California Archive USC Libraries Special Collections
He designed the bust of poet José Julián Martí Pérez found in USC‘s Doheny Memorial Library — home of the Boeckmann Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies. López-Mesa also designed the bust found in Echo Park’s José Martí Plaza and Monument, that installed in the park in 1976 by a Cuban American arts and culture group called Patronato José Martí.
In Los Angeles County, Cubans originally favored the Mideast Los Angeles neighborhoods of Echo Park, Silver Lake, Elysian Heights, and Filipinotown. In 1961, a Los Angeles Times reporter covered the plot of 38 Cuban American members of the Echo Park Lions Club to overthrow Castro. The following year, a Cuban club was established at Echo Park’s St. Athansius Episcopal Church, offering English classes to its members.
Although some referred to the stretch of Cuban businesses along Sunset Boulevard as “Little Havana,” the enclave was never formally recognized and after its brief heyday, most of the area’s Cuban Americans left the area in favor of neighboring suburbs like Glendale in the Verdugos; Burbank in the San Fernando Valley; Inglewood and Torrance in the South Bay; Long Beach in the Harbor District; Culver City on the Westside; and Huntington Park, South Gate, and Downey in Southeast Los Angeles. The annual Presencia Cubana (aka Echo Park Cuban Festival), launched in 1993, moved downtown, to El Pueblo, where it became the Cuban American Music Festival.
Cuban festivals and organizations are rare in Los Angeles today. In the past, there was a Cuban festival in Long Beach — the L.A. Cuban Festival. There’s still, as far as I know, an annual one in San Dimas — Mi Son Cubano Festival/Southern California Cuban Festival. The only active Cuban Angeleno organizations of which I’m aware are two Facebook groups: Cuban Heritage L.A. and Cubans In L.A.
CUBAN ANGELENOS
There are several prominent Cuban Americans who at least at one time or another were also Angelenos, including:
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
Pendersleigh & Sons Cartography’s ink and oil paint map of Los Angeles County
Hello Angelenos! Are you generally happy with the direction Los Angeles is going? Do you like the thrill of living paycheck-to-paycheck, juggling part-time work with side gig hustles, and watching rent climb faster than your wages? Are you content with the growing number of unhoused Angelenos and the criminalization of poverty? Are you pleased by the prioritization of gridlock-producing, people (and city) killing private automobiles over effective, efficient, sustainable active and modern mass transit? Does it gladden you that, after decades of improvements in air quality, you find yourself coughing and getting ill more often than you used to?
If your answer is “yes,” to all of the above — then you should vote for the incumbents because by all indications they will continue the direction in which we’re moving. That’s what the Los Angeles Timeseditorial board endorsed. I’m honestly baffled by their logic. Perhaps they’re consoled by the current government’s penchant for progressive speech so much that they don’t notice that we’re not just maintaining the status quo but actively sliding backwards. If not, you should, in the words of an angry Joe Biden, “go vote for someone else.”
Chances are you don’t vote in local elections. You should. You have MUCH more power to effect change at a local level than you do at a national one. Our president, after all, is not elected by you but rather by 538 electors — none of whom you know. I don’t blame you. It’s often difficult to get to a polling place on election day whilst the polls are still open and the local media would forever prefer to focus their attention on slebs (they’re slebs), sports (some teams won, some teams lost), traffic (it’s bad), and weather (it’s probably sunny and hotter than it was last year).
This year is different. It’s the first year that city elections will take place on the same day as the general elections. Most Angelenos are registered Democrats and many vote for incumbents because they are nearly always themselves Democrats and they vote straight party. However, those running against them this time are nearly all Democrats and in nearly every case, grass roots progressives vastly preferable to the developer-backed Neo-liberal corporatist Democrats they are running against. There are, in some races, several candidates who are vastly preferable to the incumbents. The good news is, if a Los Angeles City Council candidate doesn’t get 50% of the vote, there’s a run-off election — so you can comfortably vote your conscience instead of trying to calculate how best to defeat the incumbent.
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
Back when I worked at Amoeba Music, I wrote posts about all-female bands from the 1910s-1950s, all-female bands of the 1960s, and all-female bands of the 1970s. This year, for Women’s History Month, I had what I thought was the bright idea to combine them into one piece and update them. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Many people found suddenly themselves in possession of a surplus of free time. Others, myself included, have been beaten and battered by our jobs and — although I count myself lucky not to have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2, it has meant that I did not have time to complete this commemoration and celebration of the overlooked contributions of all-female bands. If I’m completely honest — I may also have underestimated just how many all-female bands there have been. I knew that the number grew in the 1980s — which is why I stopped at the 1970s before.
Anyway, here then is the directory, presented “in progress.” One of the nice things about writing online is that the writer can make changes, corrections, and additions that print publishers can not. Apologies to the many all-female bands currently left of or listed without details. Please bear with me as I update it as time permits.
One note before I continue. By “all-female bands,” I’m referring to bands comprised — at least at one point of their career — entirely of female musicians. This is different than “girl groups” which generally refers to musical assemblages of female singers backed by male musicians and singing, almost always, songs composed for them by men. I’m a fan of both all-female bands and girl groups, however, and both are included — alongside female composers, female solo performers, and female-fronted bands on this playlist to which you may wish to listen whilst consulting this directory.
As always, I encourage you to leave corrections and additions in the comment section. Happy Women’s History Month!
A BANDA DA LOBA
A LOVELY DAY FOR BLOODSHED
A-BOMB
AAPS
ABANDON YOUR TUTU
THE ABBIE HOFFMAN SOCIETY
ABDUCTEE S.D.
ABIERTAS HASTA EL AMANECER
ABJECTS
ABORN
ABRASIVE RELATIONS
ABSENTMINDEDNESS
ABSINTHE
THE ACCIDENTALS
THE ACCOLADE
ACD BAND
THE ACE OF CUPS
The Ace of Cups were formed in San Francisco, California in 1967 by Mary Gannon (bass), Marla Hunt (organ, piano), Denise Kaufman (guitar, harmonica), Mary Ellen Simpson (lead guitar), and Diane Vitalich (drums). All had played music for some time and Kaufman had previously-fronted the all-female Denise and Company. After several line-up changes, including the addition of male members, the band broke up in 1972.
ACEPHALA
THE ACES
LAS ACEVEDO
ACHILLES
ACLAHAYRADAHZEH
ACT IV
Act IV were a Long Island band comprised of Missy Wolcott (keyboards/bass, Peg Porter (guitar/bass), Sandy Klee-Phillips (drums), and Fran DiCicco (keyboards/bass) where were inspired to form a band in 1966 after witnessing a concert by Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs. They later (after a line-up shuffle) became the second version of a pre-existing all-female band, The Enchanted Forest.
ADDICTED2FICTION
ADHARA
ADICKDID
LAS ADORABLES
No information available!
ADRIAN AND THE SICKNESS
ADULT MOM
ADVAETA
ADVERT
ADWAITH
AEGIS
AELLA
AENYGMIST
AEVAL
A-FATI (AKA AMOR FATI)
AFFLATUS
THE AFFECTIVES
あふりらんぽ
THE AFTER LASHES
AFTERMATH
THE AFTERMATH
AGATHA [Italy]
AGATHA [USA]
A-GEN 53
THE A-LINES
AGENT RIBBONS
AGGI DOM
AGHAST
ジ・アジナーズ
AGNELA
THE AGONY
AGONY AUNT
AGORAPHOBIA
AHORCATE
AIAS
AIRES ALTOS
AISHA AND THE ASTRONAUTS
AIVERY
AJAH UK
AKA
THE AKABANE VULGARS ON STRONG BYPASS
赤い公園
AKASU
アカシジア
AKB48
LAS AKELAS
Las Akelas were aPortugueseYe-Ye band who released “Ratones de Belen” b/w“Campanas a ritmo.”
AKIABANE
AKKA
AKRATAS
AKUÃ
THE ALBANY PIANO TRIO
ALBION
THE ALCOHOLYS
ALDIOUS
ALICE AND THE LOVERS
ALICE IN DIXIELAND
ALIEN SHE
ALISON’S BIRTHDAY
ALIVE!
THE ALL GIRL BAND
THE ALL-GIRL BOYS
THE ALL-GIRL BOYS CHOIR
ALL GIRL SUMMER FUN BAND
THE ALL GIRL TOPLESS GROUP
The All Girl Topless Band formed in 1967 and accompanied comedian Godfrey Cambridge at the Aladdin Hotel. They were said to be talented musicians but with the members’ names not appearing anywhere I can find, the fact that they played top-free was presumably the primary draw.
ALL GIRLS ARSON CLUB
ALL OUR EXES LIVE IN TEXAS
ALLISON
ALLUN
ALMOST ANYWHERE
ALOE
ALOHA BENNETS
ALREADY YOURS
ALSTRO MERRY
ALTERNACHICKS
ALY & AJ
AM SQUARE
AMADEUS
AMALA
AMALGAMA
AMANDA X
AMANITAS
アマイト
AMATHYST
AMAVO
AMAZON BLU
LES AMAZONES
LES AMAZONES DE GUINEÉ
AMAZOBIES
AMAZON MOLLIES
AMAZON MOLLY
AMAZULU
AMBER ASYLUM
AMBER SKY
AMBER E LE GATTE
AMERICAN GIRLS
AMERICAN HALO
AMERICAN SUN
AMERICA’S SWEETHEART
AMERICO
LE AMICHE
LAS AMIGAS DE NADIE
AMIINA
AMNESEA
AMOR ELEFANTE
AMOR FATI
THE AMORETTES
AMPARITO
THE AMPPEZ
AMPEX ROCK
AMTRACK
AMURIANS
AMY AND THE ANGELS
AMY KLEIN AND THE BLUE STAR BAND
アナアキイズ
THE ANABOLICS
ANACAONA
ANADOREI
ANATOMIE BOUSCULAIRE
ANARCHICKS
ANATOMY OF HER
ANARCHY STONE
ANASHI
AND THE KIDS
ANDARKAN
ANCIENT WING
AND REASONS
ANDRÉS LAST CHANGE
ANDROIDS OF MU
THE ANDROGYNY
LAS ÁÑEZ
ANGEL
ANGEL OF DANGER
ANGEL DUST
ANGEL & THE SAVAGE GIRL
ANGELE
ANGELS
ANGEL’IN HEAVY SYRUP
ANGELIC-ANGELICA
THE ANGELETTES
ANGELICA
THE ANGELIQUES
Goteborg, Sweden’s The Angeliques was formed in 1965 by Linda Nowitt on guitar and vocals, Irene Svensson on bass, and Titti Thysell and keyboard and vocals. They released two singles in 1968, “Jag Ska Mala Hela Världen Lilla Mamma” b/w “Tre Sma Flickor” and “Sunshine Boy” b/w “You’re Easy To Love.” They disbanded in 1971. Nowitt and Thysell both moved to Malta, and then to Spain, and then Geneve. Nowitt later moved to the US.
ANGELUS
ANGHELL
THE ANGORAS
ANGRY BUKOWSKI
ANGELES CAÍDOS
THE ANGRY DRAGONS
THE ANGRY DAISIES
ANGRY PUDDING
ANIMAL SLAVES
ANIMAL MOTHER
ANMLPLNET
ANNA/KATE
ANNAMARIA
THE ANNA THOMPSONS
ANNABELLE
ANNABELLE TRASH
ANNE BONNY
ANOMY
THE ANOMOLIES
ANOTHER PERFECT CRIME
ANPHETAMINA C
ANSWER
ANTI-CORPOS
ANTI-SEX
THE ANTI-QUEENS
ANTI SCRUNTI FACTION
ANTIGENESI
ANTIDOTUM
ANTIGONE RISINGANTOINETTES
THE ANTOINETTES
AOA BLACKAPEL BAND
APHASIA
APHRODITE
APOCALIPSTICK
APOFENIAAPOSTASIS
APPLESTHE APPLESAPPLE BETTY
APPLE VIPER
APPLEWOOD ROAD
THE APPLICATORSTHE APRONS
APRONS
ジ アプリコッツ
THE AQUANETTAS
ARAÑAZO
ARAUNE
ARBES
ARBOGA TEENAGE RIOT
ARCANE LORE
AREA 7
ARIA JUNIOR
아리밴드
ARIEL
Ariel was formed in 1967 by Anne Bowen, Pamela Brandt, Helen Hooke, Gretchen Pfeifer and Beverly Rodgers in Northampton, Massachusetts. They disbanded in 1970 and Brandt, Bowen and Hooke went on to re-form in 1974 as The Deadly Nightshade.
ARINCO GANG
アリソネ
ARK ROYAL
ARKANSAS
ARLONG
ARMANDO GRESCA
ARMY OF SKANKS
AROARAH
ARS NOVA
ART SCHOOL JOCKS
THE ARTTABLE
ARTEMIS
ARVEN
ARXX
ASAGRAUM
THE ASEXXXUALS
ASFICCIO
ASHELIN
ASHES ARISE
ASHLEIGH FLNN & THE RIVETERS
ASHMADIA
ASK ALICE
THE ASKEW SISTERS
ASPERSORES
ASS MACHINE
L’ASSASSINS
THE ASSAULT
ASTARTE
ASTARON
ASTRAL WITCH
ASTRO★BABYS
ASTURIA QUARTET
ASURA
ATAQUE DE PÁNICO
ATHAMÉ
ATOMIC
THE ATOMICS
ATOMIC BLONDE
ATOMIC PINK
ATOMIC SAVANTS
ATOMICA
ATRANSIA
AT17
ATTACK OF THE 50FT WOMAN
DIE ÄTZTUSSIS
Die Ätztussis were an anarcho-punk band from the Kreuzberg section of West Berlin, active at least as early as 1979 when they played the Antifaschistischen Festival. The members were Cordula (vocals), Kiki (bass), Menusch (guitar), and Petra (drums).
AUDREY
AUNTY PANTY
AU REVOIR SIMONE
AUDIO LETER
ÁUREAS
AUSTRA
AUTOCLAVE
AUTONERVOUS
AVEDIS
AVENUE D
AVE LUNA
AVERY
AWAKEN
AXE GIRL
AXIDENTAL ENCOUNTERS
AXIRRIPUNK
AYE NAKO
AZAZEL
AZURE RAY
‘B’ GIRLS
‘B’ Girls in 1977 (source: Rodney Bowes)
Cynthia Ross, Lucasta Rochas, Marcy Saddy, and Rhonda Ross formed ‘B’ Girls in Toronto in 1977. Although they recorded a handful of demos, they only released one single, “Fun At The Beach,” on BOMP! in 1979. Roaches was replaced by Xenia Holiday before they broke up in 1981 or ’82. A collection of their recordings were released as Who Says Girls Can’t Rock in 1997.
B.I.T.C.H.
B-VIOLET
BAA RAM EWE
BABA YAGA
BABE EGAN AND HER HOLLYWOOD RED HEADS
Babe Egan was born in 1897. She was a talented violinist and formed Babe Egan and her Hollywood Red Heads in 1924. They disbanded in 1933. Egan died in 1966.
BABE LORDS
BABE PUNCH
BABES IN TOYLAND
Бабслэй
BABY ALIVE
BABY DOLLS
THE BABY DOLLZ
BABY FIRE
BABY GUTSY
BABY IN VAIN
BABY LIZZ
BABY MACHINE
BABY MONOXIDE
BABY QUEENS
THE BABY SEALS
BABY SHAKES
BABYSITTER
BABYLON HOWL
BACEPROT
ばちへび
THE BACK BAND
BACK BY MIDNITE
BACKSTAB
BACK STAGE PASSBACKFLIPANNIE
BACKSTAGE QUEENS
BACON POPPER
BACTERIA RIDDEN SISTER
BAD BANANA
BAD CANDY
BAD CANOES
BAD COP BAD COP
BAD HABITS
BAD HAIR DAY
BAD HONEY
BAD KITTY
BAD IDEA
THE BAD IDEAS
BAD SKIN
BAD TUNA EXPERIENCE
BAMOUT
BAGGAGE
BAGAKAOS
BAIT BAG
BAKE SALE
BAKTERIEN KAVALKADE
爆弾幸気圧
BALA
THE BALLERINAS
BALLGAGGER
BAM!BAM!THE BAM BAMS
LE BAMINE CATTIVE
BAMBOLE DI PEZZA
BANDA DOLORIS
A BANDA DA LOBATHE BANDETTES
BAND-MAID
THE BANDANAS
BANDINTEXAS
BAND STRIPER
BANDIT
BANDITAS
THE BANGLES
The Bangles formed as The Colours in Los Angeles in 1981. The original members were Susanna Hoffs (vocals, guitar), Vicki Peterson (guitar, vocals), Debbi Peterson (drums, vocals), and Annette Zilinskas (bass). After learning of another band called The Bangs, they changed their name to The Bangles. During their commercial heyday, they had hits with “Manic Monday” and “Walk Like an Egyptian” (both 1986), “Hazy Shade of Winter” (1987), “In Your Room” (1989), and “Eternal Flame” (1989). They disbanded in 1989 but re-formed in 1998 and remain active today.
BANG BANG
BANGS
BANJAX
BÁRBARA
BARBARA BAND
BARBARIETTES
BARBARIANCHERRY
BARBARS
BARBARELLA
THE BARBARELLAS
BARBARIETTES
BARBED WIRE DOLLS
BARBE-Q-BARBIES
THE BARBIE ARMY
BARBIE KILLED KEN
BARBEE KILLED KENN
바버렛츠
BARBITCH
THE BAREKNUCKLE BETTIES
BARELY HUMAN
BARLOWGIRL
THE BARNABY’S
BARREN GIRLS
BAROQUE
BAS JAN
BASH BROTHERS
BASKERY
BASOFIAS
BASSICK BITCHES
BATALA WASHINGTON
BAT FANGS
BAT FANCY
BAT VOMIT
BATSWING SALOON
BATTY
BATTERSHELL
BATTLEAXX
BAZOOKA!
BAZOOKA BOPPERS
B.B. BOMB
THE BB GUNS
BEACH ENVY
BEACHES
THE BEACHES
THE BEANIES
ヒゲと味噌汁
THE BEARDS
BEASTHEAD
THE BEAT-CHICS
The Beat-Chics were a short-lived attempt to cash in on the success of The Beatles. They released one single for Decca in November 1964, a cover of Bill Haley & His Comets‘ “Skinny Minnie” b/w “Now I Know,” the B-side apparently a composition of lead singer Maire “Moy” Page.
THE BEAT GIRSL
BEAT UP BETTY
LES BEATLETTES
Les Beatlettes were formed in 1964 in Montreal and comprised of Denise Payette (singer), Claudette Faubert (lead guitar), Claire Fugere (guitar), Helene Duguay (bass guitar) and Mimi Jourdan (drums). They released a cover of Les Classels‘ “Ton amour a changé ma vie.” They broke up after Faubert and Jourdain died in a car accident.
BEATRIX PLAYERS
BEAU
BEAUTY & THE BEATS
BEAUTY PAGEANT
BEAUTY PAGEANTS
BEAUTY SLEEP
BEAVERETTE
BEAVER SLAP
BEBE K’ROCHE
BeBe K’Roche were formed in Berkeley by Jake Lampert, Pamela “Tiik” Pollet, Peggy Mitchell, and Virginia Rubino in 1973. They released one single, “Hoodoo’d,” and an eponymous LP in 1976 on Los Angeles’s Olivia Records.
비밥
ベッド・イン
BEEN THERE DONE THAT
BEETHOVEN’S 5TH
Beethoven’s 5th formed in 1966 in South Florida. The members of the band were Gloria, Marla, Polly, Rocky, and Lesley Kluchin (second from left), who supplied me with this image.
BEFORE I SLEEP
THE BE GOOD TANYAS
BEHI
BEHIND YOU WITH KNIVES
BEIßPONY
BELABORIS
BELE BELE RHYTHM COLLECTIVE
BELLATRIX
THE BELLA BOMBS
BELLA & THE BOTTOM FEEDERS
BE’LA DONA
THE BELLADONNAS & THE TEMPS
BELLA FICA
BELLA MONDO
BELLA TROMBA
BELLENDEN KER
THE BELLES
The Belles were from Miami, Florida. The members included May Perez (guitar), Debbie Teaver (rhythm guitar), Marina Perez (bass), and Pam Kent (drums). In 1966 they recorded cover versions of “Sleep Walk” and “La Bamba.” Their second single, “Melvin,” was a gender-swap cover of Them‘s Gloria.
Berkeley Women’s Music Collective were comprised of Debbie Lempke, Jake Lampert, Nancy Henderson, Nancy Vogl, and Susann Shanbaum. Lampert later went on to play in the all-female BeBe K’Roche. Henderson left the band to become a physical education instructor before they recorded Berkeley Women’s Music Collective (1976) and Tryin’ To Survive (1978).
BERLIN BRIDES
BERRIES
THE BERYL BOOKER TRIO
BERTHA LUTZ
BESSERBITCH
BEST FRIENDS
BEST FRIENDS FOREVER [MINNEAPOLIS]
BEST FRIENDS FOREVER [NEW YORK CITY]
BEST PRAXIS
BESTFRIEND GRRLFRIEND
BESTTIAS
BETTIE AFTER MIDNIGHT
BETTY
BETTY BECKY
BETTY BLOWTORCH
BETTY BOOP
BETTY BLUE
BETTY GLOOPS
BETTY AND THE WEREWOLVES
BEVERLY
BEVERLY KILLS
BEWITCHED BY THE MOON
BEYOND THE DAWN
BEYOND PINK
BHANG REVIVAL
ツンデレロックンピース
BI TYRANT
BIEN FANG
BIESTIG
B(IF)TEK
BIG BAD GINA
BIG DYKE ENERGY
BIG JOANIEBIG LIPS
THE BIG MOON
BIG MOUTH
BIG NILS
BIG RED BALL
BIG SISTER
BIG SKY MOUNTAIN
BIG TROUBLE
BIG WORDS
BIGMAMA SHOCKIN’ 3
BIGFATBIG
THE BIGGS
BIKINI CONTEST
BIKINI KILL
Bikini Kill formed in Olympia, Washington in October 1990. The original line-up consisted of Kathleen Hanna (vocals), Billy Karren (guitar), Kathi Wilcox (bass), and Tobi Vail (drums). They were pioneers in the riot grrrl movement and released their debut cassette, Revolution Girl Style Now!, in 1991. They released two-full length albums, Pussy Whipped (1993) and Reject All American (1996) before disbanding in 1997. Vail played in several bands before, during, and after her stint with Bikini Kill, including Spider and the Webs, The Old Haunts, The Go Team, Some Velvet Sidewalk, and The Frumpies. Kathi Wilcox recorded an album with The Casual Dots. Billy Karren played in Ghost Mom. Kathleen Hanna recorded with Julie Ruin (originally a solo project) and Le Tigre. Bikini Kill reunited for tours in 2019 and 2020 with Erica Dawn Lyle replacing Billy Karren and thus making Bikini Kill an all-female band.
LA BILIS NEGRA
빌리카터
ビリ→部
BIMBAMBOOM
BINKY
BINOMIO NÓMADA
BIONIC FINGER
BIRD
BIRDEATSBABY
BIRTHA
LE BIRRETTE
BIRU BABY
BISK8
BITCH
Bitch were from the Chicago area and were comprised of Donna Agresti (drums), Donna Kirkendall (bass), Gerre Edinger (guitar), Lorrie Kountz (guitar), and Nancy Davis (vocals). They were active from the late 1970s until at least 1981.
BITCH ALERT
BITCH AND ANIMAL
BITCH BOYS
BITCH BRICKS
BITCH FALCON
BITCH HUNT
BITCH MOVES
BITCH SCOOL
BITCH THEME
BITCHCAT
BITCHCOCK
BITCHCRAFT
THE BITCHFITS
LOS BITCHOS
BITCHSLAP [AUSTRALIA]
BITCHSLAP [SWEDEN]
BITCHSPAWN
THE BITCHWAVES
BITCHY HEART KILLERS
BITE ME
BITTER BOOTS
THE BITTERSWEETS/THE BITTER SWEETS
The Bittersweets hailed from Cleveland, Ohio and were comprised of Judi Rodgers (vocals/guitar), Louie Dula (drums), Marilyn Rodgers Green (keyboards), Penny Cash (bass), and Rosi Hollo (guitar). Their debut, “The Hurtin’ Kind” b/w “Summertime,” was released on Tema in 1965. The same year they released “What a Lonely Way to Start the Summertime” b/w “Mark My Words” (as The Bitter Sweets) on Cameo.
THE BLACK BELLES
BLACK CANDY
THE BLACK CATS/THE WOOPS
In 1965, Laila Larsson (vocals/bass), Lisbeth Regner (guitar), Mary-Ann Micha (guitar), and Agneta Engstrom (drums) formed The Black Cats in Malmo, Sweden. After re-naming themselves The Woops, they cut “Why” which was included on a various artists EP. After disbanding, Engstrom continued to make music.
BLACK CANDY
BLACK CLOUD
BLACK DAISY
BLACK DIARY
BLACK DRESSES
BLACK GOLD BUFFALO
BLACK HAWK
BLACK KETTLE
BLACK MARIE
BLACK NAZARENE
BLACK PALACE
THE BLACK SHEEP
BLACK VIOLETTES
BLACK WIDOWS
BLACKBYRD
BLACKDUST
BLACKJACK BANDIT
BLACKLAB
BLACKMAMBA
BLACKOUT
THE BLACKOUTS
BLACKTHORN
BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT
BLACKY
BLADIES
BLAIR WITCH
BLAME SALLY
BLANCHE CALLOWAY
Another all-female band of note was led by Blanche Calloway, the older sister of Cab Calloway. In 1921 she’d become the first woman to lead any band, the otherwise-all-male Joy Boys. As a bandleader who was both black and female in the early 20th century, she battled both racism and sexism. That band broke up in 1938 and she formed an all-female band in 1940 which, somewhat shockingly, I can’t find the name of anywhere. She retired in 1944. In the 1950s she managed a nightclub in DC. In the 1960s, she worked as DJ in Miami, Florida. She died in 1978 from breast cancer.
BLANK SYMBOL
BLARE BITCH PROJECT
BLASFEMIA
BLASHROCK
BLAST ONES
BLAXY GIRLS
BLEACH
BLEACHED
BLEECH
BLEEDING ON WEDNESDAY
BLESSED NOISE
BLINDNESS
東京稲妻
BLIZZARD BABIES
BLKKATHY
BLÓM
THE BLONDES
THE BLOODS
BLOOD CAVE
BLOOD HORSES
BLOODSISTER
BLOOD SUNDAE
BLOODSWEEP
BLOODY BENDERS
BLOODY MARY [Austria]
BLOODY MARY [Brazil]
BLOODY MARY [USA]
BLOODY REJECTS
BLONDEWICH
BLOOM TWINS
THE BLOW
BLOW UP BETTY
THE BLOWDRIERS
The Blowdriers were an all-female punk band from the San Francisco Bay area who recorded the song, “Berkeley Farms” which was included on the 1993 compilation Killed By Death #13.
BLOWDRYER
BLOWFLIES
Blowfies formed near Holstebro, Denmark in 1967. The members were Jyette Enghol, Lillian, and Lizzy (family names unkown).
BLÜ SHORTS
BLUE CLUTCH
THE BLUE MINKIES
BLUE MONDAY
BLUE ROSE
BLUE RUIN
BLUE SHEEP
THE BLUE UP?
THE BLUE VIOLETS
THE BLUEBONNETS
BLUEFFECT
BLUEVISION
THE BLUNT STITCHES
THE BLUSH FOUNDATION
BLYSTEX
BO-PEEP
BOAT SHOW
THE BOBBYTEENS
BOBSLED
Восьмая Марта
BODHRANS AND BINLIDS
BODY TYPE
THE BODYSNATCHERS
Two-Tone ska group The Bodysnatchers formed in London in 1979 and were comprised of Miranda Joyce (alto saxophone), Nicky Summers (bass), Penny Leyton (keyboards), Rhoda Dakar (vocals), Sarah-Jane Owen (lead guitar), and Stella Barker (rhythm guitar). In 1980 they released “Let’s Do Rock Steady.”
BOG WITCH
BOKATEADEPONI
BOLERO LAVA
THE BOMB
BOMBING ANGELS
THE BOMBETTES
BOMBON
BOMBSHELL
BOMBSHELLS
THE BOMBSHELLS [1960s]
The Bombshells formed in Houston, Texas. In 1966 they released “Treat Him Right,” which I think was a gender-shifting version of Roy Head‘s “Treat Her Right.”
THE BOMBSHELLS [2010s]
BONEDUST
BONES APART
BOND
BONDAGE
BONES UK
BONES APART
BONES OF A FEATHER
BONECAS DE TRAPO
BONNIE DOOM
BONSAI KITTENS
Вольная Стая
BOOBY TRAP
THE BOOM BOOM CHICKS
THE BOONARAAAS!!!
BOOTLEG
BOOTLEG BETTY
THE BOOTY OLYMPICS
BORAX
BORBORYGMUS
午前3時と退屈
BORN TO HATE
THE BOSWELL SISTERS
BOTCHED FAIRYTALE
BOTTOM
BOUDICCA
BOUND & GAGGED
BOW TO EACH OTHER
BOWS & TIES
THE BOXCAR LILIES
BOY
BOYS
THE BOYS
BOYS BOYS
BOYS IN STILETTOS
BOYE
THE BOYETTES
BOYGENIUS
THE BOY SCOUTZ
BOYSKOUT
BOY SPIT
BOYS ARE TOYS
BOYS OF THE HOLE
BOYTOY
BRAAGAS
BRABRABRA
BRACELETTES
BRAIN’S ALL GONE
BRAINERDS
BRANDY
BRASH
THE BRASSIERES
BRATAKUS
BRATMOBILE
BRATS
DIE BRAUT HAUT INS AUGE
BRAVE IRENE
BRAY ME
BRAZEN
BRAZEN HUSSIES
BRAZILIAN WAX
BREAKING COLTS
BREAK IT UP
THE BREAK MAIDS
BREAK THE SENSES
BREAKFAST MUFF
BREAKUP HAIRCUT
BRENDA’S FRIEND
BRIDE OF NO NO
BRIDIE JACKSON & THE ARBOUR
BRIDEAR
BRIEF AWAKENING
BRIGITTE BARDO
BRIGHT COLORS
BRIGHT GIRLS
Debbie Trethaway (drums), Jane Boston (harmonica), Jen Green (rhythm guitar), Jude Winter (electric piano), Rose Yates (bass), Susy Taylor (vocals), and Tasha Fairbanks (saxophone) formed Devil’s Dykes in Brighton in 1977. The band changed their name to Bright Girls in 1980 and their song “Hidden From History” was included in the compilation Vaultage 80: A Vinyl Chapter (1980). They stopped performing in 1990.
BRISK EYES
BRISTOL WOMEN’S MUSIC COLLECTIVE
The Bristol Women’s Music Collective formed around 1978. They were the subject of the short documentary, In Our Own Time (1981), produced by Women in Moving Pictures (WIMPS).
BRITTA
THE BROADS
BROADBAND (NASHVILLE)
BROADBAND (NYC)
BROADZILLA
BROKEN HYMENS
BROKEN LINGERIE
BRONCO BUSTERS
THE BROOD
BROOM CLOSET
BROSEPHINE
BRUISE GRETEL
BRUISE PRISTINE
BRUISE VIOLET
THE BRUISES
LAS BRUJAS
BRUTALLY BLUNT
BRUTALISTAS
BRYONY
BUBBY GIRL
BUCK
THE BUDGET GIRLS
BUFFALO GALS
THE BUFFYS
BUGEYE
BULIMIA
BU*LI
BULLETPROOF STOCKINGS
BULLY
BULL DYKE SLUT MILITIA
BÜMFLAP
JANE BUNNET AND MAQUEQUE
BUNNY FIVE COAT
THE BUNNIES
BUNNIES ON STRIKE
BURKA BAND
BURNING WITCHES
BURN THE EMPIRE
THE BURNS SISTERS
BURNING BRASS
BUSH TETRAS
BUSHTIT
BUTANNA
BUTCHER BIRDS
THE BUTCHIES
LE BUTCHERETTES
BUTTERCUP
THE BUTTERFLIES
The Butterflies were formed in 1965 in Roskilde, Denmark. The founding members were Kate Sievert on vocals and rhythm guitar, Gitte Christensen on lead guitar, Anne Thorboe on bass, and Karin Borre on drums. The drummer left and was replaced by Mette Jensen in 1966. In 1968 they released “Vores Skore Sommerhus” b/w “Kom-Kom.” They toured in Sweden, Norway, and the Faeroe Islands.
BUTTERFLY
BUTTERSCOTCH GRIM
BUTTERSPRITES
BUZZ CULT
水樂
C.O.W. 牛
THE C-3’S
THE C U NEXT TUESDAYS
CABBAGE
CABRONA
CACADOU LOOK
CÁCORY
CADALLACA
CADETTE
ザ・喫茶店
CAKE LIFE
CALAISA
LES CALAMITÉS
CALAMITY
CALAMITY JANE [Netherlands]
CALAMITY JANE [USA/COUNTRY]
CALAMITY JANE [USA/ROCK]
THE CALATAWAYS
CALICO THE BAND
CALIFORNIA SUPER STAR
CALL CAT
CALL ME DOXY
CALL ME SPINSTER
CALLA
CALVARIO
CAMIN
CAMP COPE
CANAILLE
CANDACE
CANDY
CANDY 500
CANDY APPLE
CANDY ASS
THE CANDY BAND
キャンディホリック
CANDY PANIC ATTACK
CANDYFLOSS
CANDYSUCK
CANNIBAL GIRLS
CANSEI DE SER SEXY
CANTER SEMPER
CANYON SPREE
THE CAPRICORNS
CAPRICE
CARAMBOLAGE
Neue Deutsche Welle group Carambolage were formed in 1979 by Angie Olbrich, Britta Neander, Elfie-Esther Steitz, and Janett Lemmen. They released an eponymous album in 1980 and Eilzustellung-Exprès in 1982.
CARAMEL
CARASENE
CARBON BLACK
CARE BEARS ON FIRE
CARIBE GIRLS
CARMELAS
CARMONAS
CARNAL KNOWLEDGE
CARNIVAL PROZAC DREAMS
D’ CARNÍVORAS
THE CARNYS
CAROLYN’S FINGERS
CARRIE INCOGNITA
THE CARTER SISTERS
CASH
LAS CASICASIOTONE
CASO PERDIDO
THE CASSETTEZ
CAST IRON FAIRIES
CASTRATOR
THE CASTRATORS
The Castrators were an all-female punk band with Angela Risner, Tessa Pollit (guitar) — who went on to join The Slits as bassist — and Budgie, who apparently was NOT the Budgie of The Slits. They were profiled by News of The World in 1977 for a piece on female punks.
CASTRATION SQUAD
THE CASUAL DOTS
CAT APOSTROPHE
CAT BEAR TREE
CAT FANCY!
猫まっしぐら
CAT VENOM
CAT VET
CATALLISE
CATASTROPHE
CATATONIC LYDIA
CATBEAR
THE CATCH
CATCHING MOONS
CATENA
CATFIGHT
CATFIGHT!
CATHARSIS [Peru]
CATHOLIC GIRLS
THE CATHOLIC GIRLS
CATILLINÁRIAS
CATPUKE
CATS CRADLE
CATSPAW
CATSUIT
CATTY STITS
CAUTION
THE CAVE GIRLS
THE CAVE WOMEN
CAVEBOY
CAVEGURLS
CAYETANA
CCWD
CEBE BARNES BAND
CELLULITE STAR
CERULEAN 3
C4
CHAI
CHALK CIRCLE
CHAMBERS
THE CHANGE
CHAOS CHAOS
CHARADES
チャラン・ポ・ランタン
CHARISMA
No information available!
CHARISMA.COM
CHARLA FANTASMA
LE CHARLESTON
CHARLIE’S ANGELS
CHARISMATIC MEGAFAUNA
CHARLOTTE MATOU UM CARA
CHARLY’S ANGELS
CHARM BAGS
CHARMPIT
CHÂROGNE
CHASING LOVELY
CHASING VELVET
CHASTITY BELT
CHATTERBOX
チャットモンチー
CHE-A
CHEAP PERFUME
CHEAP THRILLS
CHECKMATE!
CHEEKY (Long Island)
CHEEKY (Brooklyn)
THE CHEEKYS
CHEERBLEEDERS
CHEERBLEEDERZ
CHEESECAKE
CHEETAH WHORES
CHEETARARAH
CHEETAS
Cheetas formed in Copenhagen in 1964 — a trio of Kiri Henning (drums), Marianne Wrona (guitar), Marianne Hall Frederiksen (later Christensen) (guitar) 1965. They later added Anette Kjeldsen on bass. In 1965 the performed with The Kinks and Peter Belli & Les Rivals. Cheetas disbanded in 1966. Wrona went on to perform in the all-female bands Girls Group and TheCrazy Women and passed away in 1979. Hall went on to play with Queens, The Ladybirds, Girls Group, Søsterrock, Amazonerne, Band Yt, Kræm og Krümmel, and Mariannes Partyband.
CHELSEA HOTEL
CHELSEA ON FIRE
CHELSY
CHEMICAL PEEL
CHEMTRAILS
CHENILLE SISTERS
CHERISH THE LADIES
CHERRI BOMB
CHERRY & THE LADIES
チェリーボムキャンディーズ
THE CHERRY BOMBERS
CHERRY BOOM
CHERRY DEBAUCHERY
CHERRY LIPS
CHERRY OVERDRIVE
CHERRY POP
CHERRYBOMB
CHERRYHEARTS
CHERRYLIPS
THE CHERRYPOPS
CHERYM
CHI-PIG
CHICAS DEL SOL
LAS CHIC’S/LAS CHICK’S
In 1967 Mexico‘s Las Chic’s they released “La Muneca Dice No” (a Spanish-language cover of Michel Polnareff‘s “La Poupée qui fait non”). Their producer, Carmen Circi, was female too.
THE CHICAGO WOMEN’S LIBERATION ROCK BAND
The Chicago Women’s Liberation Rock Band teamed with The New Haven Woman’s Liberation Rock Band and released Mountain Moving Day on Rounder in 1972. Their side included the songs “Secretary,”“Ain’t Gonna Marry,”“Papa (Don’t Lay That Shit on Me),” and “Mountain Moving Day.”
LAS CHICAS DEL CAN
LAS CHICAS FUGITIVAS
CHICAS DEL ROCK
LAS CHICAS DEL TANGO
CHICK FLICK
THE CHICKS
The Chicks were an Irish band active from 1997-1999. Their members were Annie Tierney (guitar), Isabel Reyes-Feeney (vocals and bass), and Lucy Clarke (drums).
The Chips were a Chicago band whose different line-ups included Darn Pasterik, Sheri Hartman, Aleat Maciejewski, Klayre Hartmann, Charlotte O’Neill, and Donna Smolak. Their first single, “Break It Gently” b/w “Mixed-Up, Shook-Up Girl,” was released on Philips in 1968. Their follow-up, “When You Hold Me Baby” b/w “Dream With Your Eyes Wide Open,” was recorded for ABC Records and written by Sheri Hartman. O’Neill and Smolak still perform in a band called Straight Ethyl (with Judy Selman of the all-female band, The Same)
CHIQUITA Y CHATARRA
CHIRI TO CHIRI SISTERS
CHIROL
新・チロリン
CHIX-PACK
THE CHLOES
CHOCO
CHOCOMATES
CHOKE COCOI
CHOKING ON BLEACH
CHONDRIA
THE CHOO CHOO TRAINS
CHOOSEY MOJO BEES
CHOP CHOP
CHOPPER CHICKS
CHORAL HEARSE
THE CHOSEN
CHRISTI
CHROMA
CHRONIC FUZZ
THE CHUBBIES
CHUMICHURRRIS
CHUPACABRA SISTERS
CIBO MATTO
THE CIMMATS
The Cimmats formed in Lahti, Finland in 1963. In 1964 they performed on that country’s Me Nuoret. The band was comprised of Ulla Laakkonen (guitar), Aila Toikkanen (guitar), Onerva “One” Niemelainen (bass), Arja Salminen (drums) and several singers including Leena Huovila, Ulla Juutilainen, and finally Pipsa Poykko. They disbanded in 1967.
CINICA
CINIKAS
CIOCCOLATO FONDENTE
CIRCUS TREES
CITY OF CARS
CIVET
THE CIVILIANS
CLAIOMH SOLAIS
CLAIRE’S DIARY
DAS CLAMPS
THE CLAMS
CLAMBAKE
CLANDESTINAS
CLAPPERCLAW
Clapperclaw were a London-based theatrical group comprised of Caroline John, Rae Levy, Rix Pyke, and one other member. They were active from around 1978 who performed feminist, socialist satirical music hall on instruments ranging from accordion, banjo, clarinet, guitar, mandolin, pianos, recorders, spoons, triangle, and whistles.
CLARA BOW
CLARA DE VRIES AND HER JAZZLADIES
In 1935 in the Netherlands, tenor saxophonist Clara de Vries formed Clara de Vries and Her Jazzladies. In the early 1930s, de Vries had been a member of Leo Selinsky‘s Blue Jazz Ladies.
CLEA AND MCLEOD
THE CLEOPATRAS
THE CLICKS
CLIEИT
CLIMBING POETREE
CLINAH
THE CLINGER SISTERS
The Clinger Sisters (later The Clingers) were Debra Clinger, Jeanette Clinger, Leesa Clinger, Melody Clinger, Patsy Clinger, and Peggy Clinger. They first performed together when the sisters were in grade school and performed on Andy Williams‘s television show before becoming regular guests on Danny Kaye‘s show, the Smothers Brothers Show, the Glen Campbell Good Time Hour, and many other television programs.
In 1969 they teamed up with Kim Fowley and Michael Lloyd and released a version of The Easybeats‘ “Gonna Have a Good Time.” Peggy Clinger eventually became a songwriter, Debra became an actress, Leesa pursued a solo career. In the 1990s, those three Clingers reunited and they perform songs with Mormon themes. In 2013 they were the subjects of a documentary titled The Clinger Sisters: The First Girls of Rock & Roll.
CLINICAL TRIALS
CLITO
Clito were an Italian punk band formed around 1978 in Milan. They were comprised of Elettra Sax (saxophone), Klara Lux (drums), Norma Loid (guitar), Olivia Gintonic (bass), and Ruby Scass (vocals). Their songs “Giangol” and “Se La Vita E’ Faticosa” were later included on the compilation Italian Records called The Singles 7” Collection (1980-1984) (2013).
THE CLITERINAS
CLOACA
THE CLOCKWORK DOLLS
CLOSER
CLOUT
CLOVENHOOF
CLOVER HONEY
CNIDARI
COACH SAID NOT TO
COAGVLA
COALTOWN DIXIE
COASTING
THE COATHANGERS
眼镜蛇
COBRA KILLER
COBRA KISSES
COCHINA
LAS COCHINAS
COCHINAS LOCAS
COCKPIT [Los Angeles]
COCKPIT [San Francisco]
COCKTAIL SLIPPERS
COCOROSIE
コイノオトシゴ
COLD COLD HEARTS
COLETTE & THE BANDITS
LES COLETTES
COLLECTRESS
COLOR CHAOS
THE COLOR GUARD
七彩☆GLITTER
COLORNOISE
COLOUR ME KACEY
COLOUR ME WEDNESDAY
COMA CAT
カムジック
COMING UP ROSES
COMMON LANGUAGE
COMPACT PUSSYCAT
COMPOSITE
COMPOUND 3
コンセントピックス
LAS CONCHAS SIN MAR
LAS CONCHUDAS
CONCRETE BONES
CONDENADA
CONETRAUMA
LA CONQUISTA
CONTRADICTIONS
CONTENTIONS
CONQUER DIVIDE
CONQUER THE MARTIANS
CONSTANTINE
THE CONTINENTAL CO-ETS
The Continental Co-ets formed in Fulda, Minnesota in 1963 and were comprised of Nancy Hofmann (bass), Mary Jo Hofmann, VickiSteinman (drums), Carol Goins (guitar), and Carolyn Behr (guitar). They released only one single on IGL in 1965,“I Don’t Love You No More,” b/w “Melody of Junk”; (the A-side was written by Goins and the B-side was a group effort) followed by “Let’s Live for the Present” (Goins again) b/w “Ebb Tide” which was released by Get Hip Recordings in 1994! They gained a bit of a following in Canada and the Upper Midwest before disbanding in 1967.
CONTRAIL
THE CONTRACTIONS
CONTENTIOUS
CONTORTURE
THE COON CREEK GIRLS
All-female bands weren’t limited to the jazz genre. The Girls of the Golden West, comprised of just two members (one on guitar) aren’t what most people think of as a “band” but are worth mentioning as pioneers in the Western genre. In 1937, Lily May Ledford, Rosie Ledford, Esther Koehler, Evelyn Lange, and Minnie Ledford formed the all-female, hillbilly string band, The Coon Creek Girls in Cincinnati, Ohio.
COPING SKILLS
THE COQUETTES
CORA
CORAL SEATHE
CORNER GIRLS
THE CONRSHED SISTERS
THE CORN SISTERS
CORPUS CHRISTIE
CORRESPONDENCES
THE CORRS
CORTINA WHIPLASH
COSMOS [1980s]
COSMOS [1990s]
THE COTARD DELUSION
COUCH
THE COUNT BACKWARDS
COUPLESKATE
COURAGE MY LOVE
THE COURTESANS
COURTNEY HATE
THE COURTNEYS
COURT YARD HOUNDS
THE COUNTRY SISTERS
COVERGIRL
THE COVER-UPS
COWBOY CRUSH
COWBOY’S NIGHTMARE
THEE COZMIK ELEKTRAS
CRABAPPLE
THE CRAYONETTES
CRACK FOXES
CRACKED UP
CRAP CORPS
CRATER
狂ったバナナ
CRAZY ROCKET FUEL
THECRAZY WOMEN (aka THE SUNNY GIRLS aka THE FUNNY GIRLS)
The Crazy Women formed in Viby, Denmark in 1967 as The Sunny Girls, but changed their name to The Crazy Women when they became aware of the pre-existing Danish band with the same name. Guitarist Marianne Wrona had previously played in the all-female Cheetas and Girls Group. The other members were Judith Østergaard Andersen (guitar), Inge Lice “Nice” Glymov (bass), and Susanne Wergeland (drums). Their repertoire included “Carrie Ann,” “Gimme Some Lovin’,” “Hey Joe,” “I’m a Believer,” “Little Bit of Soul,” and “You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling,” all of which they recorded.
Upon discovering that Wrona was suffering from real mental health issues, the crew again changed their name, this time to The Funny Girls. Wrona was soon replaced by Lissi Dam Ottosen and then, in 1969, Gitte Svensson. As a trio of Ostergaard, Glymov, Werge, the Funny Girls continued until 1970, after with Glymov and Ostergaard toured with Michael Julin‘s Maniacs.
CRAZY XXX GIRLFRIEND
CREA
THE CREAKIES
CREEP
CREEPY CRAWLIE
LAS CRÈME BRÛLÉE
CRÈME BLUSH
CREW SCUMRASK
CRIA CUERVOS
THE CRICKETTES
THE CRIMPLENES
CRIMSON
CRIMSON APPLE
CRIMSON WAVE
CROOKED BANGS
CROSS
CROSS STITCH
CROTCH HONEY
CROWD
CRUCIAL FEATURES
CRUCIFIED BARBARA
CRUEL SPORT
THE CRUMPETS
CRUNCH
CRUSADE
CRUSH
CRUSHER
CRYING BLUE SKY
CYNTHIA SAYER’S WOMEN OF THE WORLD JAZZ BAND
CRYOT GIRL
THE CRYPTICS
CRYPTIC STREET
CRYPTOBEBELEM
CUARTA XUSTA
CUB
CUBE滋賀
CUCKOO’S NEST WOMEN’S CEILIDH BAND
LAS CULEBRAS
LAS CUERO NEGRO
CUNTASTROPHY
CUNTS WITH ATTITUDE
CURDLE
CURRLS
THE CURSE
The Curse were formed in Toronto in 1977. The band was comprised of Dr. Bourque (bass, backing vocals), Mickey Skin (vocals), Patzy Poizon (drums, backing vocals), and Trixie Danger (guitar, backing vocals). They released the single “Shoeshine Boy” b/w “The Killer Bees” in 1978.
THE CURSE [1990s]
THE CURSE [2010s]
LAS CURVETTES
THE CUT OUTS
THE CUTIES
CUTLERI
CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
CVNTPVNT
CYANEED
CYBELE
CYBER ANGEL
CYNTHIA
CYPHER IN THE SNOW
CZECH FROGS
D’LADY ROCK
D’PONIS REBUILD
DADA STUNT GIRL
DADDY ISSUES
DADDY’S DOLLS
THE DADDYO’S
THE DAGENHAM GIRL PIPERS
DAGGER
DAHN ‘N’ AHT
DAISY CHAIN
DAISY DUKE
DAISY GRENADES
DAKH DAUGHTERS
DAKOTA
DALA
THE DALLYS
LAS DAMAS DE HIERRO
DAMAS ROCK
DAME
DAME FATE
THE DAMES [Australia]
THE DAMES [USA]
DAMAGED ANGELS
DAMAS DO ROQUE
DAMN BROADS
DÄMONIK
DAMPFKAPPELLE
DAMSEL
DAMSEL TRASH
DAMZEL
DANA IMMANUEL & THE STOLEN BAND
ダンスクレオパトラ
THE DANDY GIRLS
The Dandy Girls formed in Hønefoss, Norway in 1964. The founding members were Inger Thragerthon (vocals/lead guitar/clarinet/saxophone), Marit Hurum (rhythm guitar/vocals/saxophone), Anne Skotland (vocals/bass/flute), and Torill Bakken (drums/vocals). Tragethon departed in 1967 and was replaced by Rosemarie Eggli and Gaby Tauber (vocals/tambourine/trombone/keyboards). They released two singles in 1966, “To You” b/w “Anne Scott” and “Heitan Og Hatan” b/w “Rim-Timme-Tim” and the same year appeared in a film, Broder Gabrielsen. After touring in countries such as Germany, Iran, Italy, and Switzerland (as well as Norway), the Dandy Girls called it a day in 1969.
DANGEROUS BIRDS
DANGER*CAKES
DANGER GANG
DANGER GENS
DANMUSH
DANSO KEY
DARA PUSPITA
Dara Puspita formed in Surabaya, Indonesia in 1964. The band consisted of Titiek Adji Rachman (lead guitar), Susy Nander (drums), Lies Adji Rachman (rhythm guitar), and Titiek Hamzah (bass). The band faced hostility from the oppressive Sukarno regime, which viewed rock music as an unwanted Western influence on Indonesia, and they responded by relocating to Thailand. After the collapse of the Sukarno regime, Dara Puspita released Jang Pertama in 1966. Three more LPs followed before they disbanded in 1972.
DARK BEACH
DARK EYED DREAMERS
DARK FAIR
THE DARK SHADOWS
DARKNESS FALLS
DARLINE
DARLEENS
DARLINGS OF RHYTHM
THE DARLING SAXOPHONE FOUR AKA THE FOUR HARMONY MAIDS
The Darling Saxophone Four (also spelled Darling Saxaphone Four) were an all-female saxophone quartet managed by Eva Darling. Like the Schuster Sisters, they played and endorsed Conn horns. A 1920 advertisement for C.G. Conn Ltd showed both Arthur Pryor and the foursome and called the latter, “A quartet of talented and charming young ladies who appear in high-class vaudeville and concert with four of the latest Conn Ltd. Saxophones of which they are justly proud.” Supposedly they also performed as theFour Harmony Maids.
THE DARTS
DATE STUFF
DATING MYSELF
DATURA
THE DAUGHTERS OF BLUEGRASS
THE DAUGHTERS OF EVE
The Daughters of Eve formed in Chicago in 1965, assembled and managed by Carl Bonafede who was also managing The Buckinghams. Judy Johnson (lead guitar, vocals), Marsha Tomal (organ, guitar, vocals), Andy Levin (bass) and a girl named Connie (drums) who was quickly replaced by Debi Pomeroy. Their first single was “Hey Lover” b/w “Stand By Me” in 1996 on U.S.A. Records. In 1967 they released “Symphony of My Soul” b/w “Help Me Boy” and “Don’t Waste My Time” b/w “He Cried,” the latter on Spectra Sound. Their final single, “Social Tragedy” b/w “A Thousand Stars” was released on Cadet in 1968.
The Deadly Nightshade formed in Northampton in 1972 and were comprised of Anne Bowen (rhythm guitar), Helen Hooke (lead guitar, fiddle), and Pamela Robin Brandt (bass). They released two records, The Deadly Nightshade (1975) and F&W (1976).
DEADPANZIES
DEADLY SEVEN
DEADLY VIPER ASSASSINS
DEAF CHONKY
DEAP VALLY
DEAR EVERYONE
THE DEAR JANES
DEATH AURORA
DEATH BY TAMPON
DEATH CLOUD
DEATH DEVIL
DEATH MAZE
DEATH OF AUGUST
DEATH OF THE MAIDEN
DEATH PROOF
DEATHBIRD
DEATHLINE
DEBBIE DOWNER
DEBBIE DOWNERS
DEBBIE ROCKT!
DEBORAH
THE DEBS
THE DEBUTANTE HOUR
THE DEBUTANTES [1920s]
Violinist Harry Waiman also directed an all-female band in the 1920s, The Debutantes.
THE DEBUTANTES [1960s]
The Debutantes were formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1964 by then 14-year-old singer Jan McClellan who recruited Lynn Hawkins (rhythm guitar) and Diane Abray (drums) to join her. Although they went through numerous line-up changes, they remained all-female throughout their existence. They recorded McClellan’s composition, “A New Love Today” on Lucky Eleven in 1966. They appeared several times on CKLW-TV’s Swingin’ Time and toured extensively before breaking up in 1969 after a grueling four-month tour of Asia.
DECIBELLE
DECIBELLES
DEEP TAN
DEEPTHROAT
DEFINE WEIRD
DEFUSE
DEIMOS
DEKADENCIA
DEKTOS
DEL CIELO
DELICATA
DELICATE VOMIT
DELINEADAS
DELERIA
DELLA MAE
THE DELPHINES
DELTA DART
DELTA HOTEL
THE DELTA SISTERS
DELIRIUM CORDIS
THE DELTONES
DEMENCIA PRE MENSTRUAL
DEMENTIAE
DEMENZIAS
DEMOLEDORA
DEMOLITION GIRL AND THE STRAWBERRY BOYS
DEMON DOLLS
DEMONOMACY
電気キャンディ
DENTAL DAMES
DENY IT
THE DEPARTED
DEPTFORD BEACH BABES
DERKÉTA
DEREK WHEELER
DESENSITISED
DESENTERRADAS
DESERT SHARKS
DESTINY 3000
DESTRUCTIVE DAISY
DESTROSE
DESTROY WHITE BABY DOLLS
DESTRUYE Y HUYE
LAS DESNORTADAS
DETACHDOLLS
DETROIT7
DEUTSCHER ABSCHAUM
DEUX FURIEUSES
DEVASTADORAS
DEVIL CATS
DEVIL KIT
DEVIL’S DYKES
DEVILS IN THE SKY
DEVILES TEEF
THE DEVOTCHKAS
DEZURIK SISTERS
DIACATORCE
AS DIABATZ
THE DIABOLIKS
DIALUCK
DIAMOND CLAW
DIANAS
DIANE
DIANTHUS
DIAVOL STRÂIN
DICK JOHNSON
DICKLESS
DIE CHEERLEADER
DIESEL ANN
DIET PILL
DIGNIDAD Y RESISTENCIA
THE DINETTES
The Dinettes formed in San Diego as The Cockpits in 1978 who, after a couple of line-up changes, coalesced around Cindy Brisco (drums), Doriot Negrette (vocals), Irene Liberatore-Dolan (drums), Joyce Rooks (guitar, vocals), Lisa Aston Emerson (guitar), and Sue Ferguson (keyboards) as The Dinettes. They released “Poison” b/w “T.V.” in 1979.
DINOSOUL
LAS DIRCES
THE DIRRTY SHOW
DIRTY [Brazil]
DIRTY [UK]
THE DIRTY BURDS
DIRTY DENIM
DIRTY EXCUSE
THE DIRTY FAIRIES
DIRTY GIRLS BAND
DIRTY JEANS
DIRTY MARY
DIRTY MOUTH
DIRTY PANTIES
DIRTY VIRGINS
DIRTRUCKS
DIRTYGIRL
DISAPPEAR FEAR
DISBAND
DISCO NAP
DISCO VOLANTE
DISH PIT
THE DISHES
THE DISHRAGS
The Dishrags were a Vancouver-based punk band comprised of Dale Powers (bass), Jade Blade (née Jill Bain, guitars), Scout Fairlane (drums), and Sue MacGillivray. Powers had apparently been a member of The Miamis. In 1979 they released a single, “Past Is Past” b/w “Love Is Shit (It’s Goodbye)” and “Tormented” on short-lived Seattle-based label, Modern Records. A follow-up, “Death In The Family” and “Beware Of Dog” b/w “All The Pain Written” was apparently self-released (despite the RCA Victor logo) in 1980. Soon after, Powers, Fairlane, and Jade Blade went on to form Snow Geese with Phil Smith and Dishrags producer, Bill Napier-Hemy. Fairlane later played in Blanche Whitman. Jade Blade much later formed the duo Volumizer with Napier-Hemy. A compilation of The Dishrags’ recordings from 1978-1980 was compiled and released as Love/Hate by Other Peoples Music in 1997.
DISPLAYED
DISQUALIA
DISTRACT
THE DITTY BOPS
THE DIVA JAZZ ORCHESTRA
DIVA SCARLET
THE DIVAS
DIVAHAR
DIVAKOLLECKTIV
DIVERSIA
DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE
DIVINA BANDA
THE DIVINE FLUXUS
DIVINE MAGGEES
DIVORCE
DIXIE CHICKS
Дочки-Матери
DOG PARTY
DOGS DON’T LIKE TECHNO
DOGJAW
DOIDIVINAS
ザ・ドクロズ
DOLL FIGHT!
DOLL PARTS
DOLL SKIN
DOLL SQUAD [Sweden]
DOLL SQUAD [USA – Georgia]
DOLLFACE
THE DOLLFINS
DOLLHOUSE
DOLLHOUSE RIOTS
DOLLIE DEMI
DOLLS [Japan]
DOLLS [UK]
THE DOLLS [Poland]
THE DOLLS [USA, 2000s]
THE DOLLS [USA, 2010s]
DOLL$BOXX
DOLLSQUAD [USA – Washington]
DOLLSQUAD
DOLLY MIXTURE
Dolly Mixture were formed in 1978 by Debsey Wykes (bass, piano, vocals), Hester Smith (drums, vocals), and Rachel Bor (guitar, cello, vocals) in Cambridge. After releasing three singles in three years they released the limited edition Demonstration Tapes in 1983. Wykes and Smith went on to form Coming Up Roses and Bor performed with Fruit Machine. Wykes later performed with Saint Etienne and later, Birdie.
THE DOLLY SHAKES
DOLORATA
DOLORES HAZE
DOLOR INFAME
DOLORIS
DOMINATRIX
DONA MARIA
DONE WITH DOLLS
DONNAMORTA
DONTCANDJ
THE DONNAS
DOODSWENS
DOPPELBANGER
LE DOPPIEPUNTE
DORAMAAR
DOREC A BELLE
DORJA
DORMITORY EFFECT
DOROTHY [Hungary]
DOROTHY [UK]
DOROTHY & THE VAMPIRES
Dorothy & the Vampires were a five-piece rock band from Singapore whose members included Connie Fong (guitar), Rebecca Fong (guitar), Gladys Ang, Cynthia Fong (drums), and Dorothy Sin (vocals). They formed in 1964 under the leadership of mentor/songwriter Harry Martinez. Their first single was the moody “Han Yu Qu.” Their second single was an instrumental, performed without their vocalist, and thus credited simply to The Vampires. They stopped playing together around 1969.
DOUBBLE TROUBBLE
DOUBLE FEATURE CREATURES
DOUBLE PUSSY CLIT FUCK
THE DOUBLECLICKS
DOUGHNUTS
THE DOWNPIPERS
The Downpipers were from Kongens Lyngby, Denmark and formed in 1966. The members were Sys Ammentorp (guitar), Charlotte Bentsen (bass), Inge Eriksen (guitar), and Birgit Rasmussen (drums). Ammentorp and Bentsen later went on to play in Girls Group.
DOXA
DRACENA
DRAFT KING
DRAGSTERBARBIE
DRAIN S.T.H.
DRAKAMA
DRAMA
DRAMA DOLLS
DRAMA QUEEN
DRAWING DOWN THE MOON
DREAM BITCHES
DREAM CAN
DREAM NAILS
DREAM PHONE
DREAM WIFE
DREAMING DEAD
DREAMSWELL
DREAMTRYBE
DRELLA
DREGS
DRINK ME PRETTY
THE DRIVE
DRIVEN STEEL
1501-1600…
EDNA CROUDSON’S RHYTHM GIRLS
Yorkshire, England‘s Edna Croudson‘s Rhythm Girls, an all-female sextet, existed at least as early as 1928. In 1929 their most famous member, Ivy Benson, joined after she was discovered by Henry Croudson, a cinema organist in a Leeds theater. She played with the Rhythm Girls until 1935 and subsequently went on to lead several all-female groups.
Electra were formed in Suffolk in 1979 by Celia Tordoff (congas) Gill Alexander (bass), Lizzie Scott (piano, bass, guitar, vocals), Lizzy Smith (guitar, lead vocals), Margi Stevenson (vocals, percussion), Nicolette Vine (vocals), and Rachel Perry (piano, bass, guitar). In 1986, Smith, Stevenson, Perry, and Paddy Tanton (vocals) formed The Lizzy Smith Band, which continued until 1993.
11 AFTER
EMILY SWAY AND THE SHUFFLE SISTERS
No information available!
EMILY’S SASSY LIME
Emily’s Sassy Lime was the first all Asian-American rock band, comprised of Wendy and Amy Yao, and Emily Ryan. They formed in 1993 and in 1995 they released their album Desperate, Scared But Not Social andappeared in the video for The PeeChees‘ “Mad Doctor.” They broke up in 1997 after which the Yao sisters continued making music and Emily Ryan starred in the film, Scumrock. Fliers for their shows were featured in the Orange County Museum of Art‘s Alien She exhibition in 2015. In 2016, a fanzine “focused on writings and artwork by and about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders” was launched, titled named Would Be Saboteurs Take Heed after one of Emily’s Sassy Lime’s songs.
ERASE ERRATA
Erase Errata formed in Oakland in 1999. They were comprised of Jenny Hoyston (vocals), Sara Jaffe (guitar), Ellie Erickson (bass), and Bianca Sparta (drums). They toured with Le Tigre and Melt Banana before releasing their debut, Other Animals (2001). It was followed by At Crystal Palace (2003). In 2004, Jaffe left the band and Hoyston switched to guitar. Archie McKay briefly assumed vocal duties before Hoyston resumed her role as singer whilst continuing to play guitar in the band which continued as a trio. They released Nightlife (2006) and Lost Weekend (2015).
ETTY LAU FARRELL
THE ENCHANTED FOREST
The Enchanted Forest formed around 1966 in New York. The group was comprised of Judy Hunter (keyboards), Carol Hunter (guitar/bass/vocals), Laurie Stanton (tambourine/vocals), Sanna Groseth (bass/vocals), and Sally Halbert (drums). They scored a contract with Amy and released “You’re Never Gonna Get My Lovin’” b/w a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne” on in January, 1968. A review of one of their performances at Le Hibou in Ottawa mentions that their repertoire also drew from the Beatles and the Stones. Several of their songs were products of the partnership of Mort Schuman and Kenny Lynch, who replaced all of the original members for another version of the band after their stint in Canada. After disbanding Hunter went on to join Neil Diamond’s band.
The second line-up of Enchanted Forest consist of Missy Wolcott (keyboards/bass), Peg Porter (lead guitar/bass), Sandy Klee-Phillips (drums), and Fran DiCicco (keyboards/bass) – who’d previously played together in Act IV, another all-female New York (Long Island this time) band that had formed in 1966. Porter soon left the band and was replaced by Marilyn Pollack. In 1969 they released two singles on Variations – both with “The Word Is Love” as the A-side (The B-sides were “Cold Winds” and “I’m Not That Kind of Girl”). In 1970 they backed Tiny Tim for a tour that included a performance of The Ed Sullivan Show. They broke up the same year and Wolcott continued with another all-female band, The Maiden Voyage.
AN EXPERIMENT ON A BIRD IN THE AIR PUMP
DIE EXPLOSIVEN
FABIANA & PAULA CHÁVEZ
THE FAIR SECT
The Fair Sect were likely New Zealand‘s first all-female rock group, forming as they did in Auckland in 1965. The band members were Linda Williams (guitar/organ/vocals), Faye Reid (guitar/vocals), Val Tapene (bass/vocals), and Norma Stacey (drums/lead vocals). The released their debut single, “Kimberley” b/w “Never Again,” in 1966.
When Stacey moved to the front of the band, male member Ian MacIntosh was briefly brought on board and during his short stint with the band they were renamed The Fair Sect Plus One, who so-billed released “I Love How You Love Me” b/w “Mohair Sam.” In 1968 both Stacey and McIntosh left the band and were replaced by Gaylene Aro and Pat Rewai, respectively.
Rewai was replaced by Jenny Parkinson, who sang on 1968’s “High Flying Bird” b/w “Big Spender.” Parkinson was replaced by Mary Bradfield and in 1969 they released “Rattler” b/w “Bye, Bye Baby,” which had been recorded with Rewai on lead vocals a year earlier. They relocated to Australia in 1970. Williams left and was replaced by June Littin and Bradfield left and was replaced by Kaye Wolfgramm. This line-up, with Faye Reid as the only original member, lasted until 1972.
Wolfgramm next appeared singing in the band Cruise Lane. Gray resurfaced in Noazark. Littin co-authored Maria Dallas’s “Pinocchio,” a Kiwi chart-topper in 1970.
FANNY
Pinay sisters June Millington and Jean Millington moved to Sacramento, California from Manila in 1961. In high school they formed, with Addie Lee (guitar) and Brie Brandt (drums) the all-female cover band The Svelts. Brandt was replaced by Alice de Buhr and they played one gig in Los Angeles in 1969 as Wild Honey before changing their name to Fanny. In 1970 they were joined by Nickey Barclay (vocals, keyboards) and the first line-up released the eponymous Fanny (1970), followed by Charity Ball (1971), and Fanny Hill (1972). In 1973, June Millington and Alice de Buhr were replaced by Patti Quatro (guitar, ex-The Pleasure Seekers) and Brie Brandt, who returned to the fold to play drums. After the release of Mother’s Pride (1973) and Rock and Roll Survivors (1974), Fanny disbanded in 1975 — by which time Cam Davis had taken over drums. Rhino compiled Fanny’s first four albums with live recordings, outtakes, and promotional material in the box set First Time in a Long Time.
After they disbanded, the Millington’s formed a new line-up of Fanny which quickly morphed into the LA All-Stars. June Millington moved into music production and later co-founded the Institute for the Musical Arts in Bodega, California. Jean later worked as an herbalist although she and June revived Fanny to release Play Like a Girl in 2011. Patti Quatro went on to work as a session musician, Brie Brandt (now Brie Howard-Darling) has worked as a session musician with many performers and in the 1980s formed American Girls.
THE FATIMAS
The Fatimas were a California band who released “Sandstorm” b/w “The Hoochy Coo” on Original Sound in 1967.
FEEBEEZ
Feebeez apparently cut one single, “Walk Away” b/w “Season Come,” on Albuquerque‘s Stange Records — owned by Edward Stange Jr., apparently his daughter was the band’s drummer.
THE FEMALE BEATLES
The Female Beatles seem to have formed in Long Island, New York around 1964 and were managed by the Jolly Joyce Agency. Their drummer had earlier been in a band with a pre-stardom Lou Reed. One of the members was apparently named Rosann del Prete.
FEMININE COMPLEX/THE PIVOTS
In 1966, at Maplewood High School in Nashville, Tennessee, Mindy Dalton (guitar, vocals), Judi Griffith (tambourine, vocals), Lana Napier (drums), and Jean Williams (bass) formed The Pivots – the nickname for the high school basketball team for which all of them played. In 1967 they added Pame Stephens (keyboards) and changed their name to The Feminine Complex. In 1968 they signed to Athena Records and recorded their debut, Livin’ Love. They broke up in 1969.
THE FEMININE TOUCH
The Feminine Touch were formed around 1965 in Winnipeg, Canada. Vocals were handled by Dalannah Gail. Shortly after forming they opened for The Monkees and on many more occasions, for a great Canadian band, The Guess Who. After disbanding, Gail went on to sing with The Colored Rain. Now known as Dalannah Gail Bowen, the singer continues to perform.
The Feminist Improvising Group (FIG) formed in 1977. Their ranks included Angèle Veltmeijer (flute, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone), Annemarie Roelofs (trombone, violin), Cathy Williams (keyboards), Corinne Liensol (trumpet), Françoise Dupety (alto saxophone, guitar), Frankie Armstrong (vocals), Georgie Born (cello, bass guitar), Irène Schweizer (piano, drums), Lindsay Cooper (bassoon, oboe, soprano saxophone), Maggie Nicols (vocals), and Sally Potter (vocals, alto saxophone). They released an eponymous album in 1979 before disbanding in 1982.
54 NUDE HONEYS
LES FILLES
Les Filles formed in Odense, Denmark in 1964. The members were Jette Andersen (drums), Lisbeth Nielsen (bass), Margit Nelleman Andersen (guitar), and Kirsten Pedersen (guitar). After their disbandment, Margit Nelleman Andersen went on to perform in the Danish band, The Ladybirds.
The Flatbackers formed in the UK in 1978 and were Julie Usher (lead guitar, vocals), Lucy Dray (bass, vocals), and Lyn Monk (drums, percussion, backing vocals). They released three singles, “Pumping Iron,”“Buzzz Going Round,” and “Serenade Of Love” in 1980 and 1981. They disbanded in 1981.
DIE FLYING LESBIANS
Die Flying Lesbians were formed in Germany in 1974 and included Cäcilia Rentmeister (piano, synthesizer, harmonica, vocals), Christel Wachowski (guitar, percussion), Danielle de Baat (guitar, bass, vocals), Gigi (Christa) Lansch (percussion), and Monika Jaeckel (drums, percussion). They released a self-titled album in 1975.
THE FONDETTES
The Fondettes were another attempted all-female Beatles cash-ins, albeit in this particular case, a trio of American high school girls who recorded one song, “The Beatles are in Town,” on a split single which they shared with Johnny Hartsman, which was rather curiously released by Arhoolie Records in 1964.
40 WATTS
4GAZM
404ERROR
406
4 NON BLONDES
4 Non Blondes formed in San Francisco in 1989. The original line-up was Christa Hillhouse (bass), Shaunna Hall (guitar), Wanda Day (drums), and Linda Perry (vocals, guitar). Hall was replaced by Roger Rocha and Day was replaced by Dawn Richardson before the release of their only album, 1992’s Bigger, Better, Faster, More! They had a major hit with their second single, 1993’s “What’s Up?” It proved to be their only hit, with six subsequent singles failing to ignite. Perry left in 1994 to launch a career as a solo artist and songwriter, not long after which the remaining members disbanded.
THE **** LOVERS
THE 14TH ARMY WAC BAND
THE FREUDIAN SLIPS
The Freudian Slips formed in Palo Alto, California in 1965. The members — Wendy Haas, Gayle Hayden, Mimi Bluford, Lynda Walnum, and Teda Bracci (drums) — were all then students at Woodside High School. The played locally, especially at The Ark in Sausalito.
After disbanding in 1967, Bracci went on to join the Los Angeles cast of Hair. In 2007 she released an album, Teda Bracci. Haas went on to perform and record with Santana and Azteca, among others. Hayden joined the New York cast of Hair and more recently performed in Portland‘s Big Mama Gayle and Her Sugar Daddies.
GALAXY
Galaxy were a heavy psych/space rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida by Frenzi Fabbri (guitar), Miss Gunner Powell (drums), Pepper Leonardi (bass), and Space Mama Geiger (keyboards). They released Day Without the Sun in 1976.
LES GAMINES
Montreal‘s Les Gamines were comprised of Jo-Ann Barette-Lecouteur (drums), Danny Landriault (guitar), Lison Talbot (guitar), and Mychele Montreuil (vocals). They released one single, “Je reviendrai” b/w “Vis ta vie mon gars” on Sonore in 1968.
GIRLS
Girls were a Japanese five-piece comprised of Gill, Lena, Llia, Rita, and Sadie. They released the albums, Noraneko (野良猫) (1977), Punky Kiss (1977), and Girls (1978).
GIRLS GROUP
Girls Group were formed in Copenhagen in 1966 by Marianne Wrona (guitar), Hanne Mattson (guitar), and Pia Wrona (drums). In 1967 the Wrona sisters quit the group (Marianne next appeared in The Crazy Women) and were replaced by Sys Ammentorp and Charlotte Bentsen – both formerly of The Downpipers. They split up in 1968
GIRLSCHOOL
Girlschoolare a British Heavy Metal band which formed in 1978. Their roots go back to Wandsworth where in 1975 Dinah ‘Enid’ Williams (bass, vocals), Kim McAuliffe (rhythm guitar, vocals), and Tina Gayle (drums) formed Painted Lady. In 1978, McAuliffe, Williams, Denise Dufort (drums), and Kelly Johnson (lead guitar) changed their name to Girlschool and released their first single, “Take It All Away.” They still perform to this day, with McAuliffe, Williams, Dufort, and Jackie Chambers (lead guitar, backing vocals).
GLORIA GAYE
Gloria Gaye (born Marjorie Newman) led several all-female line-ups in her Gloria Gaye and her Glamour Girls Band, which at various points was also billed as Gloria Gaye and her All Ladies Orchestra, Gloria Gaye All Girls Band, and Sweet Music and Hot Rhythm. One member was Gracie Cole, who later played in Ivy Benson’s all-female band before forming her own.
Other bands were lead by women. Ada Leonard and Her All-American Girl Orchestra were the first all-female band signed by the USO. Joy “Queen of the Trumpet” Cayler‘s all-female Joy Cayler Orchestra formed in Denver, Colorado in 1940. Other female-led bands of the era included Sharon Rogers All-Girl Band, Frances Grey’s Queens of Swing, The Pollyanna Syncopators, Jean Parks and Her All-Girl Band, Nita King and Her Queens of Rhythm, Betty McGuire’s Sub-Debs, The Darlings of Rhythm, Rita Rio and Her All Girl-Orchestra, Viola Smith and the Coquettes, and The Marilyn Merle All-Girl Orchestra.
THE GO-GO’S
The Go-Go’s, 1979 (source: David Ferguson)
The Go-Go’s were formed in Los Angeles in 1978 by Belinda Carlisle (vocals), Elissa Bello (drums), Jane Wiedlin (guitar, vocals), and Margot Olavarria (bass). Although initially punk, they found fame as a pop band in the 1980s. Wiedlin released several solo albums, as did Carlisle and Gina Shock, who early on replaced drummer Bello.
GOLDIE & THE GINGERBREADS
Goldie & the Gingerbreads were formed in 1962 by Ginger Bianco, Margo Lewis, and Goldie Zelkowitz. After a 1962 tour with Chubby Checker, they added guitarist/singer Carol MacDonald. They were the first all-female band to sign to a major label, first to Decca in 1963 and then Atlantic in 1964. Their single, “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat,” reached #25 in the UK. The recorded seven other singles through 1967 before breaking up.
GRACIE COLE AND HER ORCHESTRA
Gracie Cole was born in County Durham but moved, when two-years-old, with the rest of her family to Yorkshire where her dad sought work in the mines. From her flugelhorn-playing father, she learned to play music and when she was fifteen she began appearing on Manchester radio, performing the cornet with Foden’s Motorworks’ and Fairey Aviation’s bands. A eighteen she joined the all-female Gloria Gaye’s Glamour Girls. She later joined Ivy Benson’s also all-female band, with whom she played for five years. In 1951 she married trombonist Bill Geldard. After a stint playing lead trumpet in an integrated band, The Squadronaires formed the all-female Gracie Cole and her Orchestra, which performed from 1952 until 1956. In the 1960s and ‘70s, she continued to lead bands before retiring. She passed away in 2006.
THE GROWN-UPS
LES GUERRIERES
Montreal’s Les Guerrières formed in 1965 when Fugere, formerly of Les Beatlettes, joined Murielle Bougie, Diane Gouin (bass), Solange Dessailly (keyboards) and Monique Geoffrion (drums). They disbanded in 1966.
1/2 MAD POET
HAPPY COATS/TOKYO HAPPY COATS
Tokyo Happy Coats were comprised of sisters Eiko, Keiko, Shoko, Tomiko and Ruriko Hakomori, who between them played more than 26 instruments. They existed at least as early as 1964 when they may still’ve simply been known as The Happy Coats. They appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1966. They released two LPs on King Records in the early 1970s.
THE HEARBY
The Hearby included Jill DeMarco and Kathy Penland. DeMarco later joined The Oxfords. In 1967 they released DeMarco’s “The Harm I Do (By Being Me)” b/w Penland’s “Make You Dream” on Union Jac.
THE HEARTBEATS/THE HEART BEATS
The Heartbeats (sometimes “The Heart Beats“) were an all-female band, formed in Lubbock, Texas in 1966. They were led by Linda Sanders (drummer/vocals) who was joined by younger sister Debbie Sanders (guitar), Debbie McMillan (bass), and Jeannie Foster (guitar/keyboards), who initially met one another in a music class when all were pre-teens. They were managed by the Sanders family’s matriarch, Jeanne Sanders. They gained attention in 1968 when they appeared on Happening Now and won a battle of the bands with their version of The Outsiders‘ “Time Won’t Let Me.” Their mother subsequently turned down an offer to sign with ABC Records because she wanted them to stay in school. They recorded a cover of Mouse & the Traps‘ “Crying Inside” at Robin Hood Brian’s Studio in Tyler, Texas which became their biggest hit. They played regionally until the 1980s.
HELEN LEWIS AND HER ALL-GIRL JAZZ SYNCOPATORS
Helen Lewis and Her All-Girl Jazz Syncopators formed sometime around 1923. Around 1925 they filmed and released a Phonofilm. I’m not sure when Helen Lewis lead the Harmony Queens (pictured above). Despite the significance of their pioneering status, there seems to be surprisingly little documentation of them, as well as many of their all-female peers.
DIE HETÄREN
THE HONEY BEATS/THE HONEYBEATS
The Honeybeats formed after Italian-born Marta Cion met a female folk trio in Munich and convinced them to form a four-piece with her. They found their lead singer, Daisy Winters, busking in Birmingham and released the German-language “Frag’ Nicht Soviel” b/w “Vergiss Es Nie” on Metronome in 1966. Winters was replaced with a Scottish singer, Norma Green, and released the Italian-language “Di Piu’, Di Piu’, Di Piu'” b/w “Fa Un Po Quello Che Vuoi” on Ricordi International in 1968.
THE HUMMINGBIRDS
When the American band called The Ladybirds (below) went on tour, San Francisco promoter Davey Rosenberg started another all-female topless band, The Hummingbirds, to fill the vacancy left by the band at Tipsy’s in North Beach. Both bands appeared, members uncredited by name, in The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield. Their membership included Angel Cecilia Walker, better known as Satan’s Angel, a famous dancer who played bass on covers of Beatles and Stones songs.
THE ID/THE HAIREM/SHE
Sacramento sisters Nancy and Sally Ross (later Sally Ross-Moore) formed The Id in 1964, with Nancy handling guitar and songwriting and younger sister Sall on organ and bass. In 1965 they added Karen Cochie on rhythm guitar, Piper Minas on guitar, and Kathy Pennison on drums. After a name change to The Hairem, the band recorded a set of what were apparently demos. In 1967, the Ross sisters were joined by a new line-up comprised of Kathy Rice on guitar, Ginny Revis on drums, and Karen Luther on keyboards and the new line-up was christened She. Revis was soon replaced by Gayle Lee and Rice by Janis Volkoff. Lee was replaced in 1969 by Reesha Scarborough. In 1970, She released their only single, “Boy Little Boy” b/w “Outta Reach” on Culver City‘s Kent Records. Luther left the band in 1970 and the Ross sisters, Volkoff, and Scarborough called it a day in 1971.
Although they only released one single during their career, in 1999 a nineteen-track compilation of songs by She and The Hairem was released by Big Beat Records, titledShe Wants a Piece of You. Other compilations and appearances on compilations have followed.
THE INGENUES
The Ingenues formed in 1925 in Chicago. They headlined the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927 and toured North America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania and South America before disbanding in 1937.
THE INTRICATE BLEND
The Intricate Blend recorded one single, “Door Knob” b/w “Insane (The Jungle),” in 1969 at Norman Petty Studios but it was never released.
LES INTRIGANTES
Les Intrigrantes hailed from Quebec and were comprised of Diane Gallichand (guitar), Carole Boutin (guitar), Claire Gallichand (bass), and Ginette Douville (drums). They released songs including “Le Seuil du Soleil,” “Sans Toi,” and “Goodbye Baby.” They were active from 1965 until 1968.
IRA RAY HUTTON AND HER MELODEARS
Ira Ray Hutton was born Odessa Cowen around 1916 in Illinois. She formed Ira Ray Hutton and Her Melodears in 1934. They recorded a few sides for Victor and Vocalion and appeared in the Paramountfilm, The Big Broadcast of 1936. In 1940, she broke up the band and formed an all-male one which she also led. In 1950, she formed another all-female band. She died in Ventura, California from complications resulting from diabetes in 1984.
ISIS
Isis formed in New York City in 1973. Their ranks included Barbara Cobb (bass), Carol MacDonald (vocals, guitar), Ellen Seeling (trumpet), Edith Dankowitz (saxophone, flute, clarinet), Faith Fusillo (guitar), Ginger Bianco (drums, percussion), Jeanie Fineberg (saxophone, flute, piccolo), Lauren Draper (trumpet, vocals), Lolly Bienenfield (trombone, vocals), Lynx (saxophone, guitar), Margo Lewis (keyboards), Nydia “Liberty” Mata (percussion), Renate Ferrer (guitar), Suzi Ghezzi (guitar), Stella Bass (bass, vocals), and Vivian Stoll (drums, vibraphone). They released three albums, Isis (1974), Ain’t No Backin’ Up Now (1975), and Breaking Through (1977).
IVY BENSON AND HER ALL GIRL ORCHESTRA
Benson was born in Yorkshire in 1913 and began playing piano when she was five. A child prodigy, she entertained as Baby Benson at working men’s clubs in the north. At nine she played on the BBC program, Children’s Hour. Her father, a musician in the Leeds Symphony Orchestra, ultimately taught here several instruments although she favored clarinet and saxophone. Around 1929 she joined Edna Croudson’s Rhythm Girls, with whom she played until 1935. In 1939 she went on to lead Ivy Benson and Her All Girls Band. The band was also billed, over the years, as Ivy Benson’s “Rhythm Girls,” “Ladies Orchestra. The band was finally referred to as Ivy Benson’s “Showband,” ironically as a result of the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act. Some members of her band, including Gracie Cole and Lena Kidd, later led their own all-female bands.
Jam Today were formed in 1976 in Peckham, UK. Over the course of several line-ups their ranks included Alison Rayner (bass), Angele Veltmeijer (saxophone, flute), Barbara Stretch (vocals), Corinne Liensol, Deirdre Cartright (guitar), Diana Wood (vocals, alto saxophone), Fran Rayner, Frankie Green (drums), Jackie Crew (drums), Joey (vocals), Josefina Cupido (percussion, vocals), Josie Mitten (keyboards, vocals), Julia Dawkins (saxophone, flute), Laka Daisical (vocals, keyboards), Nicki Francis (saxophone, flute), Sarah Greaves Baker (trumpet), Terry Hunt (guitar), and Vicky Aspinall (violin). They (when the band was comprised of Crew, Dawkins, Hunt, Rayner, and Stretch) only got around to releasing one EP, Stereotyping, in 1981.
KANDEGGINA GANG
Kandeggina Gang, which included Jo Squillo, was a punk band that formed in Milan in 1979. They released one single, “Sono captive” b/w “Orrore” before disbanding in 1981.
DIE KATAPULT
THE KIM SISTERS
The Kim Sisters formed in South Korea but spent most of there career and enjoyed most of their success in the US. The three were actually half-sisters — Sue (Sook-ja), Aija (Ai-ja), and Mia (Minja) Kim were the daughters of classical conductor Kim Hae-song and singerLee Nan-young and Mia’s father was musician Lee Bong-ryong. They began performing western pop music in 1953 before transitioning into rock ‘n’ roll, which they were exposed to by American GIs. They began playing in Las Vegas in 1959 at the Thunderbird Hotel which led to performances on the Ed Sullivan Show — where they ultimately appeared at least 22 times.
KLEENEX
Kleenex formed in Zurich in 1978 with a line-up of Klaudia Schiff (bass, vocals), Lislot Ha (drums), Marlene Marder (guitar), and Regula Sing (vocals). Initially, Kleenex were assisted by Rudolph Dietrich and Gogi Düggelbach of Nasal Boys (I smell a theme here) but the core of the band was always female, revolving around the duo of Ha and Schiff. Sing (nee Ramona Carlier) left to join The Mo-Dettes and was replaced by Chrigle Freund, who was subsequently replaced by Astrid Spirit. In 1979, faced with legal action from the popular American manufacturer of snot rags, Kleenex changed their name to LiLiPUT, and no legal threat ensued from the estate of Jonathan Swift. After their dissolution, Marder wrote the book, Kleenex/LiLiPUT – Das Tagebuch der Gitarristin Marlene Marder and the band’s output was collected and released by Kill Rock Starsas LiLiPUT.
THE KLITZ
The Klitz formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1978 and were comprised of Amy Gassner (bass), Gail Elise Clifton (vocals), Lesa Aldridge (guitar), and Marcia Clifton (drums). They recorded “Couldn’t Be Bothered,”“Two Chords,” “Hard Up,” and a cover of Alex Chilton’s “Hook or Crook” before disbanding.
KLYMAXX
Klymaxx were a Los Angeles funk band that formed in 1979. The members were Bernadette Cooper (drums, vocals), Cheryl Cooley (guitar, vocals), Joyce “Fenderella” Irby (bass, vocals), Lorena Porter Shelby (vocals), Lynn Malsby (keyboards), and Robbin Grider (synthesizers, guitar). Their first big hit was 1984’s Meeting In The Ladies Room.
L.A. WITCH
ラララ
ラララare a trio from Sendai, Japan comprised of 小又 さやか (vocals, guitar), 渡辺 美穂 (bass, backing vocals), and 真藤 誠 (drums).
THE LADYBIRDS (DENMARK)
Although the American band The Ladybirds were often billed as “the world’s first and only all-girl topless band” (which begs the question, were there mixed-gender topless bands before?) there was, in fact, another band called The Ladybirds which also often played topless around the same time. The Danish band formed around 1968 (there was also a vocal trio called The Ladybirds who sang on the Benny Hill Show) and included Margit Nellemann Andersen, who’d earlier played in the all-female Les Filles. The other members were Puk Birgit Petersen, Lonni Andersen, and Michelle Beauvais. They were managed by Pierre Beauvais, formerly of The Strangers.
Later line-ups included Pia Thurland, Hanne Mattson, and Marianne Hall Frederiksen (formerly of the all-female Cheetas). In 1968 they naturally opened for The New Yardbirds at Roskilde. They performed as far away as Bristol, England in 1973.
THE LADYBIRDS (US)
The Ladybirds supposedly formed in New Jersey. Although Jim Morrison often performed top-free with The Doors, The Ladybirds were hassled for doing the same. They found more receptive audiences out west in Las Vegas, at Tipsy’s in San Francisco, the Blue Bunny Club in Hollywood. They were managed at various points by Voss Boreta (husband of topless dancer Yvonne D’Angers and manager of topless dancer, Carol Doda) andprofessional golfer Raymond Floyd. According to Dick Boyd’s book, Broadway North Beach, The Golden Years – A Saloon Keeper’s Tales, they originally simply pretended to play instruments but ultimately learned to play them and even toured as far away as Quebec (at Chez Paree).
THE LADYBUGS
The Ladybugs were assembled for the television series Petticoat Junction and were comprised of actresses Jeannine Riley, Pat Woodell, Linda Kaye Henning, and Sheila James. Two days before they performed their gender-tweaked version of The Beatles’ “I Saw Him Standing There” and “I’ll Be Your Ladybug If You’ll Be My Beatle” on that television series, they performed the former on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. I’m not sure whether or not they actually played their instruments or were a completely fictional performing act.
Lavender Jane were comprised of Alix Dobkin, Kay Gardner, and Patches Attom. They released Lavender Jane Loves Women in 1975. Dobkin went on to form Alix Dobkin Featuring the Lesbian Power Authority who released Living With Lesbians in 1976 and she released the solo, Alix, in 1980. Gardner released several solo albums before dying in 2002.
LENA KIDD QUARTET
At thirteen-years-old, Eleanor Kidd learned to play accordion from the great Jimmy Shand – her father was the drummer in Shand’s band at the time. In 1945, at the age of 21, she’d joined the Ivy Benson Band and stayed with them until 1953, at which point she joined the all-female Gracie Cole orchestra. Lena Kidd formed the all-female Lena Kidd Quartet in 1956, in Leven, Scotland. They later expanded into the Lena Kidd Seven. In 1970 she married trumpeter Ray Willis. After his passing in 1978, she moved back to Fife where she remained until her death in 2003.
LIL-HARDIN’S ALL-GIRL BAND
Lil Harden Armstrong was born Lillian Hardin in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1898. She played in several jazz groups in New Orleans and Chicago before joining King Oliver‘s Creole Jazz Band in the 1920s. In 1924, she married King Oliver’s second cornetist, Louis Armstrong. In 1931, after she learned of an extramarital affair, she divorced and sued him. In the 1930s she formed Lil-Hardin’s All-Girl Band, which performed regularly on the NBC radio network. From the 1940s on she worked primarily as a solo pianist. She died on 27 August 1971.
THE LIVERBIRDS
The Liverbirds were a beat combo formed in 1963 in Liverpool, UK by Valerie Gell (vocals/guitar), Mary McGlory (vocals/bass), Sylvia Saunders (drums), Irene Green (vocals), and Sheila McGlory (guitar). The latter two soon left and were replaced by just one member, Pamela Birch (vocals/guitar). As with many of their beat peers, they achieved some success in Hamburg, Germany — their cover of Bo Diddley’s “Diddley Daddy” reached #5 on the German charts. They released two albums, Star-Club Show 4 (1965) and More Of The Liverbirds (1966), both on Star-Club Records. They broke up in 1968 after a tour to Japan and all but Saunders settled in Germany permanently.
THE LONDON WOMEN’S LIBERATION ROCK BAND
The London Women’s Liberation Rock Band (source: Women’s Liberation Music Archive)
The London Women’s Liberation Rock Band were formed in 1972 by Alaine (guitar), Angele Veltmeijer (vocals and flute), Eleanor Thorneycroft (bass guitar), Frankie Green (drums), and Hazel Twort (vocals, keyboard).
LONGSTOCKING
L7
L7 is a heavy rock band that formed in Echo Park in 1985. Their initial line-up included Suzi Gardner (vocals, guitar), Donita Sparks (vocals, guitar), Jennifer Finch (bass, vocals), and Anne Anderson (drums). Anderson was later replaced by Dee Plakas (drums, vocals) for what many consider to be their classic line-up. Their single, “Pretend We’re Dead” was a major hit in 1992. In 1994, the band appeared in John Waters‘s film Serial Mom as Camel Lips. After disbanding in 2001, the classic line-up reunited in 2014 and continues to perform. A documentary about the band, Pretend We’re Dead, premiered in 2016.
MAIDEN VOYAGE
Maiden Voyage were Hetsilla Sharkey (flute, saxophone, keyboards), Leslie LaRonga (drums), Missy Wolcott (bass, keyboards, banjo), Nancy Pollock (guitar, trumpet, trombone), and Terry Sausville (keyboards, flute, trumpet). They released In New York in 1974.
MAK LES SOEURS
MAK Les Soeurs were a trio comprised of Agneta Wigforss, Margareta Hamrefors, and Karin Hamrefors – all three of whom played guitar and sang. The trio had first met in Mölndal, Sweden before heading to Gothenburg for school and often played at a club called Rondos. They signed with Cupol Records and released their first single, “Mitt Liv” b/w “Forlat Mig,” in 1966. They ultimately released ten singles over the next three years and disbanded in the early 1970s.
THE MAM’SELLES
A trio known as The Mam’selles released one album of covers, It’s A “Bubble Gum World,”on Bison Records in 1969. I’m not sure who were the members and whether or not they were a full-fledged group or just a vocal group with backing. I would guess the former, if only because the playing on the LP is far too rudimentary to have been the work of session musicians.
MANDY AND THE GIRLFRIENDS
Mandy and the Girlfriends were from Hull, where they formed in 1965. Mandy was Mandy Smith, who’d previously played in Mandy and the Moonrakers with her brother. Mandy’s girlfriends were Hilary Morgan (drums), Lesley Saxil-Neilson (bass), Karen Baker (guitar), Lynda Harrison (vocals), and Margaret Wedgner (guitar). Baker quit the group and was replaced by Merle Pryor. After playing locally and in London (where they shared a bill with The Animals) they relocated to West Germany in 1967. There they entertained troops and released an eponymous album on that country’s Kerston Records. After Morgan left the group in 1968, the remaining members went their separate ways. Harrison pursued a solo career and Wedgner and Pryor formed a duo called The Honeys and later, Sugar and Spice.
THE MASCARAS
The Mascaras were an obscure punk group that existed around 1977, when they Tony Wilson’s So It Goes.
水玉消防団
水玉消防団 formed in Tokyo in 1979. Members included 天鼓 (guitar, vocals), カムラ (bass), 可夜 (piano, electric piano, organ), まなこ (guitar), and 宮本 (drums). They released Otome no Inori wa Da Da Da (1981) and 満天に赤い花びら (1985) before disbanding in 1988.
MO-DETTES
Mo-dettesformed in London in 1979 — originally as The Bomberettes. They included Jane Crockford (bass), June Kingston (drums, vocals), Kate Korus (guitar), and Ramona Carlier (vocals). The one album wonders released the optimistically-titles The Story So Far in 1980. Melissa Ritter replaced Korus in 1981 and Sue Slack replaced Carlier in 1982, shortly before they disbanded.
THE MOD 4
The Mod 4, from Aledo, Illinois, released two singles at Davenport, Iowa‘s Fredlo Custom Pressing — “Funny Little Clown” b/w “Midnight Hour” and “Open Up Your Mind” b/w “A Puppet” (both produced by Tab Talkin) in 1967 and ’68, respectively. Vocals were handled by Nellie Hastings and Kathy Talkin. The other two members are “Barb” and “Alice Appleton.”
THE MOPPETS
The Moppets were formed in 1965 by Phyllis Hess (organ), Beverley Rodgers (lead guitar), Alisa Damon (bass guitar) and Kathie Ross (drums) at Mount Holyoake College in Massachusetts. The recorded just one single for Spirit, a cover of The Beau Brummels‘ “Cry just a little” backed with Holland – Dozier – Holland’s “Come see about me.”
LAS MOSQUITAS
Las Mosquitas were an Argentine band active between 1964 and 1968. The members were Pupe, Nita, Nene and Dina. They released songs titled “Siempre Bailo Con La Mas Fea,” “Do Re Mi,” and “Tembleque.”
MOTHER SUPERIOR
Mother Superior were a progressive rock band who formed in London in 1974. Their line-up included Audrey Swinburne (lead guitar, lead vocals), Jackie Badger (bass, vocals), Jackie Crew (drums, vocals), and Lesley Sly (keyboards, lead vocals). They released Lady Madonna in 1975 and disbanded in 1977.
MOTHER TRUCKER
Mother Trucker formed in Hounslow, UK around 1974 and were comprised of Billie Simpkins (lead vocals), Freddie Barnes (drums), Jackie Ellender (bass guitar), Leslie Rice-Paddington (guitar), Ronnie McBurney (vocals) and were signed to Ember Records. They released a self-titled album in 1975.
THE MOVING GIRLS
No information available!
NECESSARY EVIL
Necessary Evil were a British punk band formed around 1979 who existed until 1980.
NEO BOYS
Neo Boys formed in Portland in 1978. The members were Jennifer Labianco (guitar), K.T. Kincaid (vocals), Kim Kincaid (bass), and Pat Baum (drums). Labianco was replaced by Meg Hentges. They released “Neo Boys” in 1980 and the Crumbling Myths EP in 1982. A compilation, Sooner Or Later, was released in 2013.
THE NEW HAVEN WOMEN’S LIBERATION ROCK BAND
The New Haven Women’s Liberation Rock Band appeared on the split 1972 LP Mountain Moving Day with The Chicago Women’s Liberation Rock Band. The New Haven Woman’s Liberation Rock Band’s side contained the songs “Abortion Song,” “Sister Witch,” “Prison Song,” “So Fine,” and “Shotgun.”
9 MAPS
THE NIXE
The Nixe formed in 1978, in Utrecht, Netherlands. Their line-up was comprised of Ilva Poortvliet (vocals), Marian De Beurs (guitar), Nikki Meijerink (bass), and Simone Luken (drums). They appeared on Utreg-Punx in 1980 and released The Nixe EP in 1981. They broke up in 1984 but a self-titled compilation was released in 2008.
NOH MERCY
Nōh Mercy were a post-punk duo of Esmerelda (vocals, keyboards) and Tony Hotel (drums), who formed in San Francisco in 1977. They disbanded in 1980. A self-titled compilation was released in 2012.
THE NORTHERN WOMEN’S LIBERATION ROCK BAND
The Northern Women’s Liberation Rock Band formed in 1973 and were comprised of Angela Cooper (vocals), Angie Libman (drums), Carol Riddell (keyboards), Frances Bernstein (guitar), Jane Power (rhythm guitar), Jenny Clegg (bass), and Luchia Fitzgerald (vocals).
THE NURSERY RHYMES
Swedish band The Nursery Rhymes was comprised of Birgitta Nordgren (drums ), Elisabeth Alexandersson (bass), Gunilla Karlow (bass/vocals), Inger Jonsson (guitar/vocals), Marie Selander (vocals), Noni Tellbrandt (guitar, vocals), and Wiveca Sawen (bass). The released three singles: “Peaches And Cream” b/w “Nowhere To Run” and “Heat Wave” b/w “Dancing In The Street” (both on Odeon in 1966) and “We’re Gonna Hate Ourselves In The Morning” b/w “Jiving Teen” the following year. They disbanded in 1967.
女子十二乐坊
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180DB
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OOIOO
ÖSTRO 430
Östro 430 were a Neue Deutsche Welle group who formed in Düsseldorf in 1979. The original line-up included Martina Weith (vocals, saxophone), Bettina Flörchinger (keyboards), Monika Kellermann (bass), and Marita Welling (drums). Later members included Olivia Casali (bass), Gisela Hottenroth (bass), Birgit Köster (drums), and Ralf Küpping (guitar). In 1981 they released the Durch dick & dünn EP, in 1983 they released Weiber wie wir, and they disbanded in 1984.
OVA
Ova formed as The Lupin Sisters in 1976 and were Jana Runnalls (vocals, guitar, clarinet, drums, percussion, kazoo) and Rosemary Schonfeld (vocals, 12-string guitar, electric guitar, synthesizer, cabasa, drum programming, marímbula, log drum). They released Out of Bounds (1982) and Possibilities (1984).
THE PANDORAS/THE NEW PANDORAS
The Pandoras were formed by Diane “Pinky” Keehner and Kathy Kinsella (guitar) at Simmons College in Boston in 1964. They were later joined by Sally Levy on drums. Levy was replaced by Nancy DiMuro. Later, Keehner left to start a family and Michelle Marquis (lead guitar) and Elysee Thierry (bass) joined. Somewhere in the midst of the line-up shuffles, they became “The New Pandoras.” In 1967 they released two singles, “(I could write a book) about my baby” b/w “New day” and “Games” b/w “Don’t bother” — both on Liberty in 1967 and representing the songwriting of producer Bob Stone and manager Peter Bonfils. They broke up in early 1968.
DIE PARASITEN
THE PARISIAN RED HEADS
The Parisian Red Heads hailed from Indiana and in 1927 billed themselves as “The World’s Greatest Girl Band.” They recorded a single recording for Brunswick, existing primarily as a touring “territory band.” AfterBabe Egan and her Hollywood Redheads threatened to sue over their name, they changed their name to The Bricktops.
THE PARROTS
The Parrots were formed in Aarhus, Denmark by Lise Brændstrup (guitar), Lilly Pedersen (bass), Winnie Brandt (guitar), and Annie Brandt (drums) in 1964. In 1966, Pedersen was replaced by Hanne Drammelsbæk who was in turn quickly replaced by Jette Askøe. In 1968 Kirsten Glahn (organ) replaced Askøe. The band broke-up when Winne Brandt became pregnant.
PATSY
PEACHES
Peaches, also known as The Vamps, were an Australian trio formed in Sydney in 1975 by Margaret Britt (bass, vocals). In 1978 they released a recording of Willie Harry Wilson’s “Substitute.”
THE PHILILETTES
All that I’ve been able to surmise about the Philippines‘s The Phililettes is that they look to me like they took this picture around 1966 and that they were apparently billed as the “Philippines Top All Girl Show Band.”
PING PONG BITCHES
LES PLANETTES
Les Planettes were formed in Quebec by former Beatlette Helene Duguay with Margie Duplessis (guitar), Rosy Lang (organ) and Linda Duncan (drums). The released at least one single, “Quatre Mois” b/w “Si Tu Partais.”
THE PLAYMATES
The Playmates were a foursome from Trondheim, Norway comprised of Rigmor Ostmo (vocals), Inger Lise Rasmussen (guitar), Berit Lange (bass), and Irene Lund (drums). The Playmates released “Gi Ikke Opp” b/w “Bare Ga” on Continental records in 1967 before disbanding the following year. The Playmates reconvened in 1975 and recorded and released Meet the Playmates before breaking up permanently.
THE PLEASURE SEEKERS
The Pleasure Seekers were founded in 1964 by sisters Patti and Suzi Quatro, sisters Nancy (drums) and Mary Lou Ball (guitar), and Diane Baker on piano in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Baker was soon replaced by Arlene Quatro. They released their first single in 1964, “Never Thought You’d Leave Me” b/w “What a Way to Die,” on Hideout. “Nan” Ball left in 1965 and was replaced by Darline Arnone. In 1968 they signed to Mercury and released a second single, “Light of Love” b/w “Good Kind of Hurt.” In 1969 they changed their name to Cradle and pursued a heavier direction. Arlene became the band’s manager and Nancy Quatro joined as the new drummer. Suzi Quatro left in 1971 and went on to have a successful solo career. Cradle ultimately disbanded in 1973.
THE PLOMMONS
The Plommons‘ first release was a 1966 cover of The Searchers’ “Hungry for Love” and “Last Train to Liverpool,” written by member Maddan Lindqvist. Two more singles followed and the played abroad in Denmark, Germany, and Finland before disbanding in 1967.
THE POOR GIRLS
Akron, Ohio’s The Poor Girls were formed in 1965 by Susan Schmidt (daughter of Marjorie H. Schmidt of The Co-eds), Deborah Smith, Pam Johnson, and Esta Kerr when all were students at Litchfield Junior High School. They continued playing together whilst enrolled at Firestone High School and opened for bands including Cream and Steppenwolf. In the mid-1970s, Schmidt and Smith played with Cinderella’s Revenge and Friction and later co-founded Chi-Pig.
THE PRETTY KITTENS
The Pretty Kittens were led by drummer Dianne Cameron — a resident of Gardena. They played shows in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, and Vietnam, promoted by Jack Galardi — one day strip club baron implicated in Operation G-Sting. Their performances in Vietnam took place in 1967 but I’m not sure what year they formed.
THE PSYCHEDELIC SOUNDS
No information available!
PULSALLAMA
Pulsallama were a no wave band which included members Andé Whyland, Ann Magnuson, April Palmieri, Dany Johnson, Jean Caffeine, Kimberly Davis, Lori Montana, Min Thometz, Stace Elkin, and Wendy Wild. They released “The Devil Lives In My Husband’s Body” b/w “Ungawa Pt.II (Way Out Guiana)” (1982) and “Oui-Oui (A Canadian In Paris)” b/w “Pulsallama on the Rag” (1983). Magnuson went onto form Bongwater.
QUALITY STREET
Quality Street were a London band formed around 1979 whose members were Angele Veltmeye (saxophone), Maggie Nicols (vocals), Sally Beautista (guitar), and Vicky Scrivener (vocals).
QUEENS
The other Danish band called Queens also formed in 1965. Their members were Vivi Ryding (drums), Lis Nørrevig (bass), Linda Hansen (guitar), and Ulla Hansen (guitar).
QUINS (aka QUEENS)
Quins (sometimes billed as Queens although, confusingly, there was another Danish, all-female band with that name) formed in Holstebro in 1965. The members were Jette Selmer Noes (drums), Ingelise Mogensen (guitar), Jeannette Mouritzen (vocals), Birthe Mogensen (bass), and Lucia Padersen (guitar). Soon after forming, Padersen was replaced by Margit Holmgård and the band continued until 1970.
RADIO VAGO
RAG DOLLS
Rag Dolls were from Odense, where they formed in 1966. Their membership included Lillian Hansen (guitar), Jonna Madsen (guitar), Lone John (bass) and Yrsa Holst (drums). In 1967, Hansen was replaced by Margit Nelleman (formerly of Les Filles).
THE RAINCOATS
The Raincoats are a British post-punk group formed in 1977 and still active. The original line-up was Ana Da Silva (guitar), Gina Birch (bass), Paloma “Palmolive” Romero (drums), and Vicky Aspinall (guitar, violin). Palmolive was soon replaced by Ingrid Weiss. After releasing three albums, the band broke up in 1984 but reformed a decade later after their albums were reissued in 1993 with liner notes by Kim Gordon and Kurt Cobain. In the new line-up, Aspinall and Weiss were replaced by Anne Wood and Heather Dunn.
THE RHYTHM RANCH GALS
Ardis Wells was born in 1917 into a family of carnies and circus folk. Before becoming “The Yodeling Sweetheart” — when she began playing and singing Western — she wrestled professionally, danced, swam, rode elephants, and swung on the trapeze. In 1956 she formed the all-female Rhythm Ranch Gals in Minnesota with Fern Dale on banjo, Patti Williams on bass and guitar, and Jan North (née Northrup) on accordion. Wells played the electric guitar. Williams and North went on to release over a dozen records in the 1950s as The North Sisters.
THE ROCHES
The Roches were a vocal, folk-rock trio formed in Park Ridge, New Jersey by Maggie and Terre Roche. After singing back-up for Paul Simon on There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, they released their only album as a duo, Seductive Reasoning, in 1975. Afterward they were joined by younger sister Suzy Roche.
THE RUMS & COKE
The Rums & Coke released one single, “Glad All Over” b/w “Apple Blossom Time” on Bram in 1966. The members were listed as Sherry (drums), Mary, Ginger, and Coke (vocals).
THE RUNAWAYS
The Runaways were formed in 9175 by Joan Jett (guitar, vocals), Michael Steele (bass), and Sandy West (drums). Steele left to join The Bangles and was replaced by many bassists, including Peggy Foster, Jackie Fox, Vicki Blue, Laurie McAllister, and Lita Ford (who also played guitar). Cherie Currie joined as lead vocalist in 1975 and, after departing in 1977, was replaced in that role by Jett. They played their last show in 1978 and broke up in 1979.
SALLY & THE ALLEY CATS
The UK’s Sally & the Alley Cats was comprised of Sally Sykes (vocals), Ann Chalice (guitar), Sally Cursons (guitar), Pam Brett (keyboards), Robey Buckley (bass) and Andrea Beal (drums). They recorded “Is it Something that I Said?” b/w “You Forgot to Remember” for Parlophone in 1964.
THE SAME
The Same were from Arlington Heights, Illinois and were made up of Judy Selman (lead guitar), Debbie Reiss (rhythm guitar), Vicki Selman (bass), Donna Smelak (drums), and Vicki Hubly (vocals). The played mostly in the Chicago area although they recorded “If You Love Me, Really Love Me” (an English cover of Edith Piaf‘s “Hymne a l’amour”) b/w “Sunshine, Flowers and Rain” at Herb Alpert‘s Studio in Los Angeles and released on Barrington Records in 1967. After their dissolution, Smelak continued in the all-female band, The Chips. Selman plays in Straight Ethyl with Charlotte O’Neill and Donna Smolak, both formerly of the all-female band, The Chips.
THE SANDOVAL SISTERS/THE MOONMAIDS THE FOUR QUEENS
The Sandoval Sisters (aka The Girls aka The Moonmaids aka The Four Queens) were formed in East Los Angeles by sisters Diane (guitar and vocals), Margaret (lead vocals and drums), Rosemary (vocals and lead guitar), and Sylvia (bass) – who raged at the time from 12 to 17 years old. Their first recording was a live version of “Last Chance” for Valentine Sound. They changed their name to The Girls in 1965 and released a cover of Mann/Weil’s “Chico’s Girl” on Capitol Records. Margaret penned “My Baby,” which b/w “My Love” was their second and last single. Thye performed for troops in Asia, toured North America and appeared on HullabalooandHollywood A-Go-Go.
SANJALICE
Serbia‘s Sanjalice played their first show on 29 December 1964 in Belgrade’s Pionirski Grad. The original members were Ljiljana Mandi (vocals, guitar), Slobodanka Misevi (guitar, vocals), Ljiljana Jevti (bass), Vojislav Veljkovi (drums), and Radomir Vukovi (keyboards). In 1966 Veljkovi? joined the army and was replaced by his then-girlfriend, Snezana Veselinovi. The only remaining male member, Vukovi, left soon after and thus, in 1965, they became Yugoslavia’s first all-female rock band.
In 1967 they won first place in a battle of the bands, performed in Romania, and released their first two EPs, Idem u svet and Marioneta. In 1968 they released their third EP, Marijana. In 1969 they retired the band to focus on studies.
SARAH McLAWLER & THE SYNCOETTES
One of the last, significant (but still obscure) all-female bands of the pre-Rock ‘n’ Roll era was the four-piece Sarah McLawler And The Syncoettes released several records on Premium and King in the 1950s. Sarah played the piano, organ and sang. Vi Wilson was on bass, Hetty Smith was on drums, and Lula Roberts was on sax.
THE SATIN DOLLS
No information available!
THE SCHUSTER SISTERS SAXOPHONE QUARTETTE
The Schuster Sisters Saxophone Quartette (comprised of sisters Adrienne, Genevieve, Imogene, and Chloris “Honeybird” Schuster) were endorsing C.G. Conn saxophones at least as early as 1915. They’re mentioned, alongside the Darling Saxophone Four, in a 1922 edition of Variety, suggesting that they had some staying power.
7 YEAR BITCH
THE 75S
79.5
THE SHAGGS
The Shaggs were formed in Fremont, New Hampshire in 1968 by sisters Dorothy “Dot” Wiggin (vocals/lead guitar), Betty Wiggin (vocals/rhythm guitar), and Helen Wiggin (drums) at the encouragement and insistence of their parents.
In 1969 they recorded and released their debut full-length, Philosophy of the World on Third World Records. They were joined by their sister Rachel Wiggin on bass for the song, “That Little Sports Car.” It defied the expectations of their parents, who were said the imagine the girls to be inevitably bound for stardom, and disappeared without at trace.
In 1975, the sisters again entered the studio although the death of their father/manager, Austin Wiggin, resulted in their not being published for years as well as the group’s dissolution. Years after their break-up their debut was rediscovered and championed as an example of art brut/outsider music.
THE SHARP EASE
THE SHE FIVE
The She Five formed in Fox Valley, Wisconsin. They included members Patsy Yingling, Dar Ryba (guitar/vocals), Audrey Reffke, Pam Hurst, and Cheryl Young. The formed in 1965, played for troops in Vietnam and disbanded in 1970.
THE SHE TRINITY
The She Trinity, a Canadian band, were formed by Robyn Yorke, Shelley Gillespie and Sue Kirby around 1965 when they moved to the UK. On Columbia, in 1966, they released “He Fought The Law” b/w “The Union Station Blues,” “Have I Sinned b/w “Wild Flower,” “Wild Flower” b/w “The Man Who Took The Valise Off The Floor Of Grand Central Station At Noon,” and “Yellow Submarine” b/w “Promise Me You’ll Never Cry.” They released “Across The Street” b/w “Over And Over Again” on CBS in 1967. Their final single, “Hair” b/w “Climb That Tree” was a split single with The Onyx released on President in 1969. Over the course of their existence there were several membership changes and their final line-up was Eileen Woodman, Robyn Yorke, Pauline Moran, and Inger Jonnsson.
THE SHE’S
The She’s featured Marilyn Reed, Maureen O’Connor, Cammy Davis, and Pam Thompson. O’Connor, who co-wrote the band’s January, 1966 International Artists single “Ah Gee!! Maurie” b/w “The Fool,” later resurfaced with New Math and is still active in music today.
THE SIGNIFICANT OTHER
The Significant Other were from Maine and were comprised of Shirley Dillon (vocals and guitar), Bonnie Holmes (vocals and keyboards), Diane Withee (bass), and Pam Withee (drums). Holmes and Withee were from Swan’s Island. They released one single, “What is the Reason?” b/w “Ode to Carrabassett Fats” in 1967 on Critique Records, a tiny label owned by their manager Carl Strube. They performed shows in Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, opening for the likes of 1910 Fruitgum Company, Ohio Express, Strawberry Alarm Clock, and Vanilla Fudge.
THE SIMPLE NOIZE
The Simple Noize were a four-piece from Islip, New York whose members were Dale Ketcham, Janice Stocks, Celeste Rehm, and Susan Muchka and who formed when all four were attending the same high school, sometime around 1967 from the look of those knit ponchos.
6BPM
THE 6-PAK
16 BITCH PILE-UP
66 SAINTS
SLEATER-KINNEY
Sleater-Kinney formed in Olympia, Washington in 1994. They were formed by Corin Tucker (vocals and guitar — formerly of Heavens to Betsy) and Carrie Brownstein (guitar and vocals — formerly of Excuse 17) and were part of the riot grrrl movement. The band have had several drummers including Lora Macfarlane, Misty Farrell, Toni Gogin, and Janet Weiss — the latter of whom played with Sleater-Kinney from 1996-2019.
The band released seven studio albums between 1994 and 2005: Sleater-Kinney (1995), Call the Doctor(1996), Dig Me Out (1997), The Hot Rock (1999), All Hands on the Bad One (2000), One Beat (2002), and The Woods (2005). They went on hiatus in 2006 and resumed work as a band in 2014. Since then, they released No Cities to Love (2015) and The Center Won’t Hold (2019).
THE SLITS
The Slitswere a punk band formed in London in 1976 by members who’d formerly been in The Castrators and The Flowers of Romance. The original line-up was Ari Up (Ariane Forster), Palmolive (Paloma Romero), Kate Korus, and Suzy Gutsy. There were line-up changes and The Slits weren’t always all-female (e.g. Budgie) but they primarily presented themselves as an all-female group. They released Cut (1979) and Return of the Giant Slits (1981) before disbanding in 1982. They reformed in 2005 and released Trapped Animal (2009), the year before Forster died.
SNATCH
Snatch were a punk duo comprised of Judy Nylon and Patti Palladin. They formed in London in 1976 but the two bandmates were both American. After several singles and a collaboration with Brian Eno, they released a self-titled album — their only — in 1983.
THE SOUTHERN COMFORTS
The Southern Comforts were an all-female band from New York.
SPOILSPORTS
Spoilsports were Angele Veltmeijer (saxophone), Barbara Stretch (vocals), Carole Nelson (keyboards), Ruth Bitelli (bass), and Sheelagh Way (drums), who formed in 1978. They released one single, “You Gotta Shout” b/w “Love And Romance” in 1980, after which they broke-up.
A SPOON CALLED PHRANC
THE STEPNEY SISTERS
The Stepney Sisters formed in York in 1974. The members were Benni Lees (bass, guitar), Caroline Gilfillan (vocals, drums), Nony Ardill (guitar), Ruthie Smith (vocals, saxophone), Sharon “Shaz” Nassauer (keyboards), and Susy Hogarth (drums). They disbanded in 1976. Their song, “Sisters” was included on the compilation Music & Liberation: A Compilation of Music From the Women’s Liberation Movement (2012).
SUGAR & THE SPICES
Sugar and the Spices were a duo of Corky Casey (Al Casey‘s ex-wife) and Carol Eddy (Duane Eddy‘s ex-wife). They released “Bye Bye Baby” b/w “Do The Dog” on Stacy in October 1963. A message was written on the 45, “SPECIAL NOTE: all-girl group – no recording gimmicks” — produced by Al Casey and Lee Hazelwood.” In 1964 they released “Boys Can Be Mean” b/w “Tollie” onVee Jay. In 1965 they released a split single, “Have Faith in Me” b/w “Tomorrow (aka Tears)” — a Brilliant Korners cover — on Kent.
スカートの中
スカートの中 were a Japanese quartet comprised of ゆりえ (guitar, vocals), うえぽん (bass, vocals), なっぴ (guitar, vocals), and さきそん (drums). They were active from 2010-2012 during which time they released a lone EP, ちこたん.
SUZIE & THE SUNNYGIRLS/THE SUNNYGIRLS
Suzie & the Sunnygirls formed in 1967 and were comprised of Suzie Watson (vocals), Helena Thunholm (guitar), Annika Degermann (drums), Maud Lindqvist (bass), and Carina Fredriksson (keyboards). Watson (nee Maria Pereboom in the Netherlands) soon left to pursue a solo career and they continued simply as The Sunnygirls. Thunholm was replaced by Carina Leijd who also handled lead vocals and two saxophonists – Ann-Christine Carlsson and Ninnie Andersson – joined. They performed in Mexico and the USA and more line-up changes followed. At some point in the 1970s, Leijd and Fredriksson formed a new group, Mixed Six. Watson, the band’s original vocalist, released 31 singles, including “Walkin’ Back To Happiness,” before retiring.
THE SVELTS
In late 1964, while still students at McClatchy High School, Pinay sisters Jean Millington (guitar) and June Millington (rhythm guitar), formed The Svelts in Sacramento with Kathie Terry on drums and Cathy Carter on guitar. The Millington sisters later went on to play in Fanny.
DIE SWEETLES
Die Sweetles were formed in Berlin, Germany by Peggy Peters (nee Christina Zakewski), Charlotte Marian, Tina Rainford, and Monika Grimm. They released “Ich Wünsch’ Mir Zum Geburtstag Einen Beatle” b/w “Die Schule Ist Aus” and “Fruher Oder Spater” b/w “Goodbye, My Summer-Love” on Polydor in 1964.
DIE SCHWEINE
THE SWINGING RAYS OF RHYTHM AKA INTERNATIONAL SWEETHEARTS OF RHYTHM
The Swinging Rays of Rhythm were formed in 1937 by Laurence C. Jones, who organized the group to raise money for Mississippi‘s Piney Woods Country Life School, a school he founded to serve poor and black children in 1910. In the early 1940s they integrated and changed their name to the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. In the Jim Crow South, some of the white members resorted to passing as black to avoid arrest for defying segregation.
Other pre-War all-female bands included Nelson “Cadillac” Williams‘s The Dixie Rhythm Girls andThe Harlem Playgirls.
10″ MARIA
THE TERMITES
The Termites released “Tell Me” in 1965.
THELMA WHITE & HER ALL GIRL ORCHESTRA
Actress Thelma White‘s Thelma White and Her All Girl Orchestra were one of the all-female bands of the Foxhole Circuit. However, they continued to perform for several years after the war ended. Nowadays she’s best recognized as Mae Coleman from 1936’s Reefer Madness. She died of pneumonia in 2005.
3-D
3JANE
3 PUSSY KISSES
37564
THE TOMBOYS
The Tomboys recorded “I’d Rather Fight Than Switch” b/w “Mary Had a Little Kiss” for Swan Records in 1964.
TOUR DE FORCE
Tour de Force were a British new wave quartet who were formed in the late 1970s by Bernice Cartwright (bass), Carol Stocker (vocals), Deirdre Cartwright (vocals, guitar), and Val Lloyd (drums, vocals). They released three singles, “Night Beat” b/w “Tour De Force,” “Beat the Clock” b/w “Undecided,” and “School Rules” b/w “We Don’t Talk” in 1980 and ’81.
TRACY + THE PLASTICS
Tracy + the Plastics formed in Olympia, Washington. Technically, the band is the solo project of Wynne Greenwood. However, through the magic of video, it is presented as a trio comprised of Tracy (vocals), Nikki Romanos (keyboards), and Cola (drums). Although sometimes lumped in with the electroclash scene, Greenwood identified as a member of the “lesbo for disco” generation. During the trio’s existence, they released Turn Video (2000), Muscler’s Guide to Videonics (2001), the Forever Sucks EP (2002), Culture for Pigeon (2004), Knit a Claw Re-Do (2004), and the Real Damage split EP with The Gossip (2005).
THE TREMELONS/THE LUV’D ONES
Singer/guitarist Char Vinnedge formed The Tremelons in Niles, Michigan in 1963 with her sister Chris on bass, Mary Gallagher on rhythm guitar, and Faith Orem on drums. In 1966 they changed their name to The Luv’d Ones. They recorded four songs for Dunwich Records, “Whole Lotta Shakin’,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Theme for a DJ,” and “Please Let Me Know,” before disbanding in 1968.
21ST CENTURY GIRLS
25 CENTS
2:54
THE UFO’S
No information available
USCH
Usch (also known as Enola Gay) were a Swedish punk band formed in Stockholm in 1978. The original members were Hans Edström (guitar, vocals), Irene Liljeblad (bass, vocals), Jojje Jerngrip (guitar), Kicko (vocals), and Nike Markelius (drums, vocals) and they released Usch EP. In 1980, John Essing (guitar) and Toril Vigerust (guitar, vocals) played in the band and the following year the band released the single “Hatlåten” before disbanding.
UT were a New York no wave band formed in 1978 by Jacqui Ham (vocals, bass), Nina Canal (vocals, guitar), and Sally Young (vocals, drums). They released three albums, Conviction (1986), In Gut’s House (1987), and Griller (1989). They were on hiatus from 1991 till 2010, when they returned to live performance.
THE VAMPS
The Vamps were a Sydney-based trio comprised of English expatriate Linda Cable (ex-Grown Up Wrong and The Pussycats), Margaret Britt, and Terri Scott. The Vamps toured New Caledonia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Tahiti, Thailand, the USA, and Vietnam. They broke up around the early 1970s. Britt had a career as part of the trio Peaches, who had a hit with “Substitute” and continues to perform as one half of the duo Skyz the Limit.
VENDELLY’S
An all-female band that released “Please Don’t Tell Me Now.”
VICKY & THE REST
THE WELDERS
The Welders were a punk group formed in 1975 in St. Louis, Missouri. The original members were Caroline Fujimoto (bass), Kelly “Rusty” Draper (guitar), Jane Fujimoto (drums, keyboards), Julie (guitar), and Stephanie von Drasek (vocals). Julie left in 1977 and von Drasek in ’78 — their replacements were Colleen (vocals) and Lyla (drums), who remained until the band broke up in 1980 or ’81. Four of their songs, “P-E-R-V-E-R-T,” “Debutantes In Bondage,” “S-O-S Now,” and “Baby Don’t Go” were released by Rerun Records in 2010.
THE WHAT FOUR
The What Four were formed in Manhattan and comprised of Elizabeth Burke (drums), Cathy Cochran (guitar), China Girard (rhythm guitar) and Diane Hartford (bass). They signed with Columbia in 1966, where they released “Baby I Dig Love” b/w “It’s Hard to Live On Promises” and “I’m Gonna Destroy that Boy” and “Ain’t No Use in Crying, Susan.”
WHITE SPIRIT/THE ANGELETTES
Manchester‘s White Spirit were Sue Hampson, Pat Fitzgerald, Jan Heywood, and Julie Abbott – Abbott was the daughter of Alf Abbot, saxophonist the trad jazz band, The Derek Atkins Dixielanders. The trio (minus Fitzgerald) originally performed in church under a variety of names with Heywood singing lead and all members playing acoustic guitar. They settled on White Spirit before their first paying gigs at Abbey Hey Working Men’s Club and the Three Crowns pub in the late 1960s. With a line-up of two guitars, bass, percussion (and four harmonies), the cut a demo at Eroica Studios in Altrincham. In 1972 they were taken under the wing of Jonathan King and went on, as The Angelettes, to release four singles and to perform background vocals on Bryan Ferry‘s These Foolish Things.
WICKED LADY
Wicked Lady were a Dutch band who released three singles “Underneath the Neon Tonight” b/w “Manolito,” “Girls Love Girls” b/w “Daddy’s Little Rich Girl” and “Plastic Queen” b/w “Play the Game” in 1978, 1979, and 1981, respectively.
THE WILD THINGS
The Wild Things were formed by Linda Myers (drums and vocals), Robin Reading (guitar and vocals), Martha Potter (guitar), and Vicki Yaklevich (bass) in Columbus, Ohio around 1966. Myers was the daughter of guitarist Al Myers. Reading moved to California and remains active in music. She was replaced by Daphne Cornelius. They appeared on several local television programs including WCMH’s Dance Party and Splash Party before ceasing to be active around 1969 although they did reunite for a show in 2000.
Y PANTS
Y Pants were a one-album wonder comprised of Barbara Ess (bass, ukelele, drum, vocals), Gail Vachon (keyboards, ukelele, vocals), and Virginia Piersol (drums, vocals), who formed in New York City in 1979. They released the Y Pants EP in 1980 and Beat It Down in 1982 before disbanding the same year.
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
NOTE: Due to the current COVID19 pandemic, residents of California are currently urged to stay home except when absolutely necessary. We are also currently advised not to even buy groceries unless absolutely necessary. Please check the WHO, CDC, and LAC DHP sites for the latest information.
Los Angeles was built around the walker. During the Last Glacial Period, the first humans arrived in Southern California, almost certainly by foot. As the glaciers receded, both these stone-age Paleoamericans and their non-human neighbors carved and shared trails through the green woodland, wetland, grassland, desert, and chaparral landscapes. Some 10,000 years later, the Tongva arrived in the region, having made their way on foot from the Sonoran Desert to the east. Both the Tongva and the Chumash, who lived here 10,000 years before them, used plank canoes to traverse the Pacific and feet to cross the land.
When the Spanish arrived some 3,000 years later, they brought with them horses but surely did a fair amount of walking too. Just as the Italians have the passegiatta, the Spanish, have their own customary evening stroll — the paseo. The Spanish definitely brought that custom with them to the Americas. The most famous street in Mexico City is, after all, called “Paseo de la Reforma.” The most significant Tongva road, which connected the village of Yaangna to the Pacific coast, was known to the Spanish as “Calle de los Indios.” The route is still used today, although we now know it as Wilshire Boulevard.
Local historians, when discussing Wilshire, inevitably remark on its car-centric structural orientation — exemplified by the distinctive architecture forms of the old department stores located along the Miracle Mile. Strangely, however, none ever seems to point out that Gaylord Wilshire‘s titular road actually appeared on maps at least two years before the first gasoline-powered “motor tally-ho” noisily puttered along Los Angeles’s streets. For decades after its introduction, the automobile remained little more than a plaything for the ruling class — a noisy novelty for nobs. Its main improvement over the horse was that it traded smelly “road apples” for cancerous and climate-calamitous clouds of exhaust. It wasn’t really until the 1920s that average Angelenos took to the stink chariot — before that, they mostly rode streetcars, trains, bicycles, and walked.
Downtown Los Angeles in the early 1900s
Before the ruinous rise of the freeway, Angelenos were served by streets, many of which were paved thanks to the advocacy of wheelmen. Los Angeles was also famously home to the largest electric interurban rail network the world has ever known, the Pacific Electric Railway. There was also — and still is — a fairly large network of pedestrian-oriented streets in the form of walkways and public stairways. Many of the former are concentrated in the Westside neighborhood of Venice. Public stairways — including house-lined stair streets — are spread throughout the Elysian Hills of Mideast Los Angeles (MELA) and the San Rafaeland Repetto Hills of Northeast Los Angeles (NELA).
A few cars push through crowds of walkers in Downtown Los Angeles, 1910
Nearly all of the public stairways were created in the 1920s. Many bear the stamp of the contractors who constructed them and the year in which they were built. It’s often said that they were used not just to navigate the city on foot but to access mass transit routes operated by the likes of Pacific Electric and the Los Angeles Railway — both of which ended operation in the mid-1960s. By the 1980s, Los Angeles’s public stairways were little used — apparently forgotten by the overwhelmingly car-dependent populace. According to Ice Cube, the “RTD” in the region’s bus provider, SCRTD, stood not for, informally, not for “Rapid Transit District” but “Rough, Tough, and Dangerous.” The first new rail line — the Blue Line (now the A Line) didn’t begin operation until 1990 and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority wouldn’t come into being until 1993. Some of the public stairways were even gated, using an “irrevocable permit,” which allows the city to close a street temporarily under Vacation of Street Process and state law Section 37359, passed in 1949, which states that:
Unless otherwise provided by law, the legislative body having control of any property owned or controlled by the city may at any time withdraw the property from the personal access and use of members of the public, or limit the access or use in area or time or in any other reasonable manner deemed necessary. Any person thereafter using the property without permission or in a manner other than that prescribed is a trespasser. This section does not limit or restrict any person from access or use who has a private right in the property.
However, in 1994, in Citizens Against Gated Enclaves v. Whitley Heights Civic Assn., a California court of appeal ruled that gating streets — including public stairways — to prevent some members of public from accessing them whilst allowing other access was unlawful. Nevertheless, many of these gated stair-streets have remained “temporarily” closed now for roughly 30 years.
A Los Angeles Freeway protest in 1947
Whilst I can sympathize with fearful Angelenos living near these illegally closed stairs, I suspect that some of their fears might be assuaged were they to talk to those who live near the many more which remain open to the public. I might also try to prevail to their grasp of logic and reason — after all, every street is the site of illegal activity. Has any motorist ever completed a trip, no matter how short, without even once exceeding the speed limit or rolling through a stop sign? Would they have the city close all of those streets as well? I’m sure there are more reasonable solutions. The public stair I use most often is illuminated at night with motion-activated lights. I don’t have a problem with that — in fact, it’s helpful. What’s more, the more foot traffic a street — including a stair street — attracts, the safer the street usually is. It’s time to re-open them all. Please consider contacting the appropriate city councilperson to discuss their “review” process of these illegally-seized public assets.
In the 1970s, it seems, Angelenos began jogging, surfing, and skateboarding in large numbers. All are, interestingly, ostensibly related to mobility and yet when practiced under normal conditions, not really about going anywhere. In other words, joggers, surfers, and skaters are much more likely to jog, surf, or skate in circles (or some other shape) than they are from point A to point B.
“How To Jog” instructions provided in the first edition of Popeye
In 1976, a glossy Japanese magazine targeting the “city boy” subculture, Popeye, made its debut. The inaugural issue (of which I naturally own a reprinted copy) is largely dedicated to training an ethnographic eye on the strange customs of exotic Angelenos. There’s even a “How to Jog” guide.
Recreational walking was seemingly slower to take off. In 1982, Los Angeles band Missing Persons famously assured us in their 1982 hit song, “Walking in L.A.,” that “nobody walks in L.A.” Two years later, San Francisco walking advocate Adah BakalinskypublishedStairway Walks in San Francisco in 1984. In 1990, she and Larry Gordon followed with Stairway Walks in Los Angeles. It is debatable which was more ground-breaking — the realization that it might be enjoyable to walk in Los Angeles or the existence of a San Franciscan willing to even acknowledge the existence of Southern California. (In 2015, I visited three bookstores in San Francisco and Berkely. Not one of them had a single book about Southern California in their “California” sections).
Before long, there were homegrown Los Angeles walking advocates. Angels Walk LA (for whom I sometimes write) began developing self-guided walking tours in 1996. Deborah Murphy founded the pedestrian advocacy group, Los Angeles Walks, in 1998.
When living in cities, I’ve always preferred walking, cycling, and mass transit to driving. Cars, I think, should be reserved for long road trips — and it’s better to rent than own. Of course, this has sometimes put me at odds with friends and neighbors in Los Angeles, more than one of whom has described a block as being “too far to walk.” In fact, I’ve had two roommates (both Southern California natives) who regularly opted to drive rather than walk to a restaurant or convenience store located one block away. It’s not just Southern California natives, though. I’ve also encountered neighbors in businesses located a block away who I saw drive there. When I expressed shock to one, a transplant from Philadelphia she said, “I know, I’m lazy.” The other, an immigrant from Thailand, said that walking a block was “too far!”
When I first moved to Los Angeles in 1999, I once walked, rather than drove, to return a VHS to CineFile. A walk of just 4.5 kilometers, it was hardly Herculean, but to my friends it was unfathomable. They asked their neighbors whether they’d seen me. Had I been abducted? I was neither in their home nor my car, which was parked out front — so where could I possibly be and — without a car — how could I possibly have gotten there? When I told them I’d walked, they scolded me and told me I was being irresponsible.
Landa Stairs
When I worked at Amoeba, I often walked to and from the store — a round-trip journey of fourteen or so kilometers. It was, admittedly, a pretty long daily walk but provided me with a pleasant two hours of exercise and reading time (I read a couple of rather thick novels along the way). Meanwhile, next to the record store is a gym to which people drive and take and the parking garage elevator just so that they can avoid walking or bicycling outside on their way to walk or ride something like a bicycle without actually going anywhere.
Curran Stairs
Angelenos seem to have stopped freaking out about walkers in the 2000s — at least as long as it was treated as some sort of endurance test. In 2006, Michael Schneider inaugurated the first Great Los Angeles Walk, a roughly 29-kilometer walk across Los Angeles that takes place the day before each Thanksgiving and went on to found Streets for All. In 2008, Bob Inman published A Guide to the Public Stairways of Los Angeles and afterward began leading regular walks in Los Angeles. Also in 2008, Dan Koeppel organized Stair Trek, a roughly 37-kilometer urban hike that incorporates about 90 public stairways. The following year, Koeppel organized the first Big Parade — a two-day 55-kilometer Los Angeles walk that incorporates roughly 80 public stairways and happens each May. In 2013, at the urging of hikers Andrew Lichtman and Ying Chen, and created the Inman 300 — a 350-kilometer, ten-day hike that incorporates roughly 300 public stairways. That same year, Dan Gutierrez started the walking group, SoCal Stair Climbers. In 2015, Paul Haddad published 10,000 Steps a Day in L.A.: 52 Walking Adventures. In 2019 and 2020, Los Angeles Walks organized four walks along the original 1781 borders of Los Angeles called the LA 4 Corners.
I was, a few years ago, commissioned by the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council to paint a map of all of the public stairways and stair streets in the district. More recently, I’ve begun working on another, related project. It struck me the other day that I might as well attempt to make a map of ALL of I decided the other day to make a map of Pedestrian Los Angeles — if not every single pedestrian amenity. In other words, I haven’t included every sidewalk, trail, or desire line. I haven’t even included every walk street, public stairway, or stair street — although that is the goal. This is a map in progress. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments and I will attempt to add them when time permits.
NOTES ON PUBLIC STAIRWAY NAMES
Most public stairways in Los Angeles don’t have names. A few, like Radio Walk in Franklin Hills, are marked by street signs. Some are assigned names in recognition of their historic or cultural associations — for example Esther’s Steps, Music Box Steps, and the Mattachine Steps. When I was commissioned a few years ago to map some of the stairs for the city, I found out that the vast majority not only don’t have official names — they don’t necessarily have settled colloquial ones. I, therefore, when appropriate, have referred to them by hyphenating the streets that they connect, named in alphabetical order. I’ve provided stair counts on many — which also sometimes vary — I suppose because curbs and landings call into question for the counter what, exactly, constitutes a step. I suppose the exact count is of great perceived importance to pedants but I personally am more interested than the people who built them and therefore have included the contractor and year built when those facts are known to me.
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
NOTE: Due to the current COVID19 pandemic, bars are considered non-essential businesses and are thus temporarily closed. Residents of California are currently urged to stay home except when absolutely necessary. We are also currently advised not to even buy groceries unless absolutely necessary. Please check the WHO, CDC, and LAC DHP sites for the latest information.
As someone who loves a good holiday, I tend to ignore most of the dumb ones. You know the ones — the dumb daily dumb food-related days created by grocery store trade publications (e.g. National Shrimp Day, National Shrimp Scampi Day, and National Fried Shrimp Day) or those “wacky” ones presumably invented by and for college students (e.g. International Talk Like a Pirate Day, Day of the Ninja, or National White Trash Day). National Beer Day could easily fall into either column… and yet I nevertheless reckon it’s one worth raising a glass to.
National Beer Day is observed on 7 April. 6 April, then, is “New Beer’s Eve.” A couple of weeks earlier in 1933, on 22 March, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Cullen–Harrison Act. The president, then just eighteen days into his inaugural term, said on that occasion, “I think this would be a good time for a beer.” This, despite his being more of a wine and martini man. The Cullen–Harrison Act was enacted on 7 April — thus, Beer Day.
National Beer Day, if you’re wondering, was created in 2009 by Justin Smith. Soon after, a beer-drinking app created a badge for the holiday. Governors and congressmen have since recognized the holiday, which continues to grow in popularity. None of that much matters, I suppose, to most beer-lovers, barflies, and boozehounds, for whom every day is beer day and every hour beer o’clock. I say three cheers to beer anyway. Do drink responsibly — and commute responsibly as well — meaning walk or take mass transit.
It’s exceedingly unlikely that any readers of Swinging Doors don’t know what beer is. They might not, however, really know that much about it. For example, it’s a little known fact that only water and tea are consumed in greater quantity. It’s brewed from cereal grains, the most common being malted barley. Wheat, maize, and rice are also used, however. Most modern beer is brewed with hops — the flowers of the hop plant — which impart bitterness, flavor, and also acts as a preservative and stabilizer. Sometimes hops are replaced with other herbs, fruits, or, historically, gruit — a mixture which might contain a combination of several herbs including anise seed, cinnamon, ground ivy, heather, horehound, juniper berries, mint, mugwort, nutmeg, sweet gale, yarrow, &c
Beer is an ancient drink and was enjoyed by the ancient inhabitants of the Levant. It spread to Europe by 3000 BCE. Beer varied much more greatly then than it does now. It was in 1516 that William IV, Duke of Bavaria, decreed that beer must only contain water, malted barley, and hops.
Historically, various Native Americans of the southwestern US and northern Mexico are known to have made alcoholic drinks from a variety of sources including saguaro, locoweed, maguey, maize, mountain laurel, and prickly pear. How they compared to beer, I cannot say, as unfortunately I, like most, have never had the pleasure of sampling any. The Spanish, though, introduced wine. In 1778, the first wine produced in California was made at Mission San Juan Capistrano. The tradition of wine-making was continued by French and Italian immigrants to Los Angeles and by the mid-19th Century, Southern California was the nation’s primary wine producer.
Across the continent, in the British colonies, cider was the beverage of choice for most of the 16th and 17th centuries. It’s a little known fact that screw from a cider press was used to keep the Mayflower afloat after it was damaged in a storm. Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman (1774 – 1845) wasn’t actually an apple-loving lunatic who wore a pot for a hat — he was a savvy land speculator who recognized that planting crab apple orchards for cider-making added value to his properties.
Beer overtook cider in popularity as the population urbanized and more German immigrants arrived. For one, barley and hops — the ingredients for beer making — store and transport better than cider apples. Cider was popular in regions of Germany — notably Hessia andSwabia — but many of the Germans who immigrated in the mid-1800s came from beer-loving Bavaria. Today, many of the beer styles most popular in America developed in Germany. Several breweries opened in Southern California in the 19th Century. There were at least four in Anaheim, three in San Diego, and two in Santa Ana — many employed and were operated by German immigrants.
NEW YORK BREWERY
In 1854, Chris Henne and Henry Kuhn founded Los Angeles’s first brewery, New York Brewery, in Downtown Los Angeles, at 219 South Main Street. Henne died in the 1860s at which point his brewery was taken over by Philip Lauth, who had a series of business partners. In 1874, one of his partners, Louis Schwarz, left and formed a partnership with Henry Lemmert, proprietor of the Henry Lemmert Brewery in Anaheim and a nearby upstart rival, Philadelphia Brewery. In 1881, Lauth partnered with Frederick Stecker and from 1882 – 1884, the two operated as Lauth & Stecker Brewery.
Lauth’s rivalry with Philadelphia continued, however, and Lauth challenged the latter’s then-owner, Dietrich Mahlstedt, to a drinking contest. History doesn’t record whether there was a victor that day but Lauth grew seriously ill afterward and moved to Honolulu to recuperate. He never recovered, though, and died there in 1886. His brewery closed in 1887.
PHILADELPHIA BREWERY
Edward A. Preuss and Henry Lemmert, founded the Philadelphia Brewery. The likely chose the name because Philadelphia was the second largest city and New York Brewery, of course, was taken. Los Angeles, then, was still quite small with a population of about 8,000 — not even enough to place it in America’s top 100 most populous cities. It was, for whatever reason, however, built on top of the site of Yaangna, the primarily village for the Tongva people. Within its courtyard, in fact, stood their sacred sycamore until it was felled for lumber during an expansion.
The partnership between Lemmert and Preuss was dissolved in 1875 and Lemmert then partnered with Lauth’s former partner at New York Brewery, Louis Schwarz. Still in 1875, however, Lemmert and Schwarz sold the brewery to Dietrich Mahlstedt and turned their focus to Lemmert’s Anaheim brewery, which then changed its name to the Lemmert & Schwarz Brewery. In 1882, Mahstedt sold the Philadelphia Brewery to Joseph Maier and George Zobelein (a former employee of New York Brewery), who renamed it Maier & Zobelein’s Brewery.
Maier & Zobelein’s Brewery circa 1900. (Image: Security Pacific National Bank Collection, Los Angeles Public Library)
In August 1897, German American Paul Max Kuehnrich and Scottish American Edward Mathie founded Los Angeles Brewery in Lincoln Heights (then still known as East Los Angeles). After the death of Joseph Maier in 1904, George Zobelein acrimoniously split with his former partner’s heirs and purchased the brewery. Maier & Zobelein’s Brewery became Maier Brewing Company. Los Angeles Brewing began manufacturing a line of beverages with the label, “Eastside Beer.” During the Prohibition years of 1920 through 1926, it operated as Zesto Beverage Co. In 1933, when Prohibition ended, it was renamed Eastside Brewery. It was purchased by Pabst in 1948. Pabst changed the name to the Pabst Brewery in 1953 but continued simultaneously to bottle Eastside Beer, albeit under the brand “Eastside Old Tap” until the complex closed in 1979. Three years later the old facility was reborn as The Brewery Arts Complex.
Los Angeles Brewery postcard
Prohibition (1919 – 1933), naturally, was rough on those who made their living off of legal alcohol sales. Many vineyards ceased production. San Antonio Winery turned to manufacturing communion wine and wine bricks in order to stay in business. Some beer brewers turned to soft drinks and “near beers” (beers that had an alcohol content of .5% or less) to stay in business. Some, not surprisingly, turned to the black market and in 1932, Maier’s brewery was raided and seized by the government. A year later, Prohibition ended, but Maier wouldn’t regain control of his property until 1940. The brewery did rebound, though, in 1950 launching the locally iconic Brew 102. From 1952-1957 it was known as A.B.C. Brewing Co. It was purchased by a San Francisco businessman in 1958 and reverted to Maier Brewery until it closed in 1971. For a brief time after, it operated as General Brewing Company, before closing for good in 1974. The brewery was demolished in 1985. In 2005, a man died there, crushed by a cave-in whilst excavating bottles and cans of Brew 102.
Jean Harlow, christening a beer delivery truck.
On 8 April, one minute after the stroke of midnight, famous actress Jean Harlowdramatically smashed a bottle of beer across the prow of the first Eastside Beer truck to make a beer delivery after fourteen dry years. Although more than two-thirds wouldn’t outlast the Great Depression and several were licensed but never brewed, the post-Prohibition years of the 1930s saw roughly three dozen breweries brew beer and sake.
Although sake is still sometimes referred to in English as “Japanese rice wine,” it is, in fact, a rice beer. In Japanese, “お酒” merely means “alcohol” and there is a rice Japanese rice wine, mirin— which is only used in cooking unless you’re really desperate. For reasons that remain unclear to me, when I was growing up it was a family tradition to drink sake on New Year’s Eve (and occasionally other times) and so I was in the strange position (for an American not of Japanese ancestry, anyway) of enjoying sake more than beer growing up.
Los Angeles once supported several sake breweries, including American Sake Brewing
Label fo Fuku Zuru, brewed by California Sake in the San Fernando Valley
Co., California Sake Brewery Co., Los Angeles Sake Brewing Co., and Central Sake Brewing Co. A man named Kinzo Yasuhara operated what was, perhaps, Los Angeles’s first sake brewery on Jackson Street in Little Tokyo from 1903 until at least 1917. Although rarely acknowledged today, it shouldn’t really be that surprising since Los Angeles was home to the largest Japanese community outside of Japan until some time after the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924, when that distinction eventually passed to São Paulo. Today, Los Angeles has the second-largest population of Japanese after Honolulu and is home to numerous beer and sake-oriented izakayas, several sake bars, and at least one sake brewery.
I can’t say it with the definitiveness of someone alive then but the 1950s are generally regarded as a decade in which conformity typified the American mainstream. If the beer scene provides any anthropological evidence, that seems to have been the case as far as people’s drinking habits went. Roma Wines was a sponsor of the popular radio thriller, Suspense, and they claimed to be “America’s largest selling wine” but what kind of name recognition does Roma have today?
Schlitz Brewery postcard
From the 1930s through the 1970s, each decade introduced fewer local beers as beer drinkers seemed to pledge their loyalty to national macrobrewers. Milwaukee‘s Pabst Brewing Company had had a foothold in Los Angeles since 1948, where they remained until 1963. The then-popular Lucky Lager opened the largest brewery in the West in 1949. In 1954, St.Louis‘s Anheuser-Busch and Milwaukee’s Schlitz both opened breweries in Van Nuys. Ther former notably (or notoriously) was the birthplace of Bud Light in 1982. Yet another Milwaukee giant, Miller Brewing Company, opened a plant in Azusa’s old Lucky Lager brewery in 1966 where it remained until moving to a larger facility in Irwindale in 1981.
Lucky Lagers Azusa brewery
As the macrobrewers grew, they gobbled up the competition and merged into ever larger corporations. Pabst took over Olympia and Hamm’s in 1983. Molson and Coors merged in 2005 into Molson Coors. MolsonCoors, in turn, merged with Miller to form Miller Coors in 2008. InBev and Anheuser Bush merged in 2008 to form AB InBev. In doing so, they may’ve tested the limits of all but the most ultraconformist. What drinker, after all, professes their loyalty for TSG Consumer Partners or United Breweries Holdings Limited? What’s more, younger drinkers, unlike Baby Boomers, seem less committed to drinking the exact same thing each time, bouncing between sour beers and CBD oil-infused cocktails, bottomless mimosas and gluten-free perries, rosés and hard seltzers.
Anheuser-Busch postcard
Microbrewing and craft beers began to emerge as an alternative to macrobrews in the US and UK in the 1970s. From there it spread to Australia and New Zealand. Nowadays it seems nearly every non-Islamic country has a locally grown craft beer scene — even countries like Japan, Korea, Mexico, and Taiwan, where local laws historically made microbrewing illegal. Macrobrewers, too, are increasingly keen to take a piece of the craft beer pie.
Inside the tasting room at Brouwerij West
One of the first microbreweries in Los Angeles was likely Gorky’s Cafe and Russian Brewer. It was founded in as Gorky’s Cafe in November 1982 by Judith Markoff, a former high school librarian. Businessman Fred Powers bought the cafe in 1985 and added a microbrewery. It closed in 1993 but craft brewing would soon become big business. It was in 1993, too, that Lagunitas Brewery began as a microbrewer in Northern California. In 2017, after years of growth, it was purchased by Heineken and now churns out roughly a billion barrels of beer each year. In 1996, Orange County chain, Chicago Pizza was purchased and transformed into BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, a pub chain with locations in fifteen states. Golden Road Brewery was just four years old when it was purchased by the world’s largest brewer.
Pacific Plate Brewery tap room
Los Angeles is, by American standards, a big city — and blessed with a large and diverse beer scene. I’ve been happy in bars where the only drinks are bottles of Miller Lite or Bud. I’ve also liked to explore beers exotic and unfamiliar to me — although I will never utter the word “mouthfeel.” There are bars that specialize in beer, cider, and sake; breweries big and large both with tasting rooms and without; beer halls, biergartens, brewpubs, and more — and I’ve tried to include all that I can find in my maps. Now if only I could find a proper perry…
OTHER HISTORIC BREWERIES
If you have any additions or corrections, let me know — and over time I’ll try to add some of the following historic breweries for archaeological sake:
Henry Lemmert opened his eponymous Henry Lemmert Brewery in Anaheim at an unknown date. In 1874, he co-founded the Philadelphia Brewery in Los Angeles. In 1875, he partnered with Louis Schwarz. The two sold the Philadelphia Brewery and the Anaheim Brewery became the Lemmert & Schwarz Brewery in 1875. Around 1877, it became the Louis Schwartz Brewery, which it remained until it ceased operation in 1879.
Solomon Goldstein, a Jewish immigrant from Poland, and Samuel Davis founded the first of several breweries known as Anaheim Brewery (there’s one in operation today). Advertisements for its opening appeared in the local newspaper in 1870. In 1874, the brewery became the S. Goldstein Brewery. In 1875, Goldstein’s health declined so he moved to Los Angeles to recover. The brewery then became the Theo. Reiser Brewery. Goldstein died the following year. The Theo. Reiser Brewery ended operation in 1880.
Fritz & Diesing Brewery (1874 – 1875)
Perhaps the “Diesing” of this brewery was Otto Diesing, a pioneering German brewer who earlier operated a brewery in Santa Cruz.
U. S. Brewery (1878 – 1880)
An obscure, shortlived Los Angeles brewery. Nevertheless, in 1879 the Los Angeles Herald noted that the brewery donated a keg of beer to the Los Angeles Guards for their target shooting demonstration.
International Brewery (1880 – 1884)
An obscure Anaheim Brewery. In 1883, ownership was transferred from Thomas Peekin Hinde to Mary Hinde.
Fred Binder Brewery (1882 – 1884)
And obscure, short-lived brewery that is supposed to have had a Downtown Los Angeles address on Banning Street. In 1882, Henry Anderson was charged with battering Binder’s wife, whose name was given as “Mrs. Fred Binder.” Specifically, he was reported to have cut her head. In 1887, Fred was granted a license to open a saloon around the corner at 44 North Alameda Street.
Reuter & Goldkaefer Brewery/Jos. Fox Brewery (1884 – 1886)
Reuter & Goldkaefer Brewery was established in Santa Ana in 1884. In 1886, it re-opened as the Jos. Fox Brewery. That brewery, too, was shortlived, ceasing operation the same year.
Wm. Westerhagen & Co. Brewery (c. 1890 – unknown)
Obscure Los Angeles brewery. In 1890, William Westerhagen applied for and received a license to operate a saloon at 330 North Main Street.
Ernst Hubler Brewery (1893 – 1893)
In 1891, Ernst Hubler and Lawrentz Waechter dissolved their partnership. The two had, until then, been co-proprietors of the St. Louis Brewery in San Francisco. It seems likely that Los Angeles’s short-lived Ernst Hubler Brewery was connected to him.
Tischhauser-Braun Brewing Co. (1897 – 1897)
Yet another short-lived, obscure Los Angeles brewery. In 1892, the Los Angeles Times reported that a Mrs. Tischhauser attacked her neighbor, Professor Hebler, with a hatchet and rock just a week after being tested for her sanity. Professor Hebler fired his gun into the air to scare her off and his wife was thrown into hysterics. Whether or not this is connected in any way to the brewery, I can’t say — but it’s a colorful incident.
James Larquier Brewery (1898 – 1898)
James Larquier Brewery was operated by Frenchman, James Larquier. Larquier was the husband of Constance Larquier (née Gassagne) and father of a ten year old daughter, Alice Victorine, when he opened the short-lived brewery. For roughly ten years, Larquier acted as the confidential agent, advisor, and business manager of French sea captain, landowner, investor, baker, and vintner, Jose Mascarel. Mascarel was also the mayor of Los Angeles from 1865 – 1866. When he died in 1899, his will revealed that his considerable fortune would be left not to his children but to Larquier. Legal action from the children ensued, who claimed that their father was not of sound mind when he made the will and that Larquier had convinced the dying man that his children were trying to poison him. Seems like an interesting guy.
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
When you read (or hear) the words, “California Coast,” what images come to mind? If you’re a Southern Californian, you may imagine beach bums and bunnies, woodies and wave-riding surfers. If you’re in Northern California, your thoughts may well turn to rocky shores and groves of towering redwoods. If you live in Central California, I suppose you might think of that famous Monterey cypress at Pebble Beach. One thing that probably doesn’t immediately spring to mind is a lighthouse.
Nevertheless, California has the fifth-longest coast of any American state and so naturally, it has some lighthouses — 30 to be exact. I’ll be honest, that number surprised me; when I think of lighthouses, I think of Maine (even though I’ve never been there). Maine has 65 lighthouses. Another likely surprise is that the state with the most — 124 — is Michigan. When Americans use the term “bi-coastal,” after all, they are inevitably referring to the East and West coasts — and never theSouth or Midwest ones.
Promotion of the “Southern California Lifestyle” may have accustomed us to thinking of the region as a place of entirely based around leisure — a place characterized by marinas and muscle beaches, boardwalks and rollerbladers, and of course, the aforementioned sunbathers and surfers. The Southern California coast happens to also be a place of incredible industrial activity. Even most Angelenos don’t seem aware that that the San Pedro Bay is home to the busiest port outside of Asia. Perhaps a few know that Southern California is also the birthplace of the offshore oil rig. Additionally, on Terminal Islandand elsewhere, there are numerous, massive, corroding and crumbling canneries. San Clemente Island, that is controlled entirely by the US Navy and used for military testing and training. Even though it’s more than twice the size of Manhattan, it rarely appears on maps of Los Angeles.
And then there are the lighthouses. I’m sure I’m far from the only person who finds them terribly romantic. Of course, preventing shipwrecks is their primary purpose — but perched as they usually are above crashing waves, peering over vast maritime wilderness, and protruding from atop sea cliffs, it should come as no surprise that they appear as subjects in several paintings by the master of the sublime, Joseph Mallord William Turner.
Bell Rock Lighthouse by Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1819
The country’s first lighthouse was the Lighthouse Establishment, overseen by the US Department of Treasury from 1791 – 1852. From 1852 – 1910, they were managed by the United States Lighthouse Board. From 1910 – 1939, the nation’s lighthouses were
overseen by the United States Lighthouse Service. During World War II, the US Navy assumed control, dimming most lest they serve as a beacon for enemy forces. Afterward, the operation of most was turned over to the US Coast Guard which continues to oversee those that remain in use today.
Many were originally lit with Fresnel lenses. Fresnel lenses are a type of composite compact lens invented by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnelin 1823. Several in Southern California were designed by Silesian-American architect, Paul Johannes Pelz— most recognized today for having designed the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Foghorns were installed in most.
Most lighthouses were automated in the 1960s and ’70s and many are thus unmanned. Most of the old foghorns have been replaced with electrically powered diaphragms or compressed air horns. The Fresnel lenses have all been replaced — usually with LED lighting apparatuses. Those still in use are maintained and sometimes staffed by the US Coast Guard. I, for one, wouldn’t mind at all if several were converted into Bed & Breakfasts, provided there was more on the menu than mud and kerosene.
“Lighthouse on the Pacific. California” Publisher: Pacific Novelty Co.
Point Loma Lightis located at the southern tip of the Point Loma peninsula. The original, two-story Cape Cod-style lighthouse, sometimes referred to as the “Old Point Loma Lighthouse,” was first lit in 1855. Situated 120 meters above the harbor atop the cliffs of Point Loma, it is the highest lighthouse in the US. Unfortunately, however, at its notable elevation, its beam was frequently rendered invisible by thick fog, making it rather ineffective as a lighthouse. It was threatened with demolition in 1913 but what it lacked in usefulness it made up for as a tourist attraction and thus it was spared. It’s Fresnel lens long ago went missing. The lighthouse museum, located in the former living quarters of the assistant keeper, is open to the public from 9:00 – 17:00 but the tower is open just three days a year, from 10:00 – 15:30.
New Point Loma Lighthouse
In 1891, the Old Point Loma Lighthouse was replaced with the “New Point Loma Lighthouse,” situated below at a more modest 27 meters above sea level. It was first lighted on 23 March 1891. Its first keeper was Robert Decatur Israel, who’d already served as the old lighthouses keeper for eighteen years. It was automated in 1973. Today, it is the only pyramidal skeletal lighthouse on the West Coast.
Point Conception Lighthouse is named after the prominent point along the Santa Barbara Coast on which it’s located. It was completed in 1856. The following year, however, it was seriously damaged by the Fort Tejon Earthquake. It was, like the Old Point Loma Lighthouse, located at too high an altitude not to be frequently rendered ineffective. It was therefore moved to its current location, 41 meters above sea level, in 1881. Its reconstruction was completed and it was re-lit in 1882. It was automated in 1973. In 1981 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The original light, a 1st Order Fresnel lens, is now on display. The current optical apparatus is a VRB-25.
The lighthouse was featured in the obscure 1959 monster movie, The Monster of Piedras Blancas, which concerns a monster fed by a hermitic lighthouse keeper who proves incapable of satiating a monster’s bloodthirst.
The lighthouse is surrounded by a gated private property and thus neither accessible nor open to the public except from the beach below, and only then at low tide.
SANTA BARBARA LIGHT
The old Santa Barbara Lighthouse
Santa Barbara Light was completed in 1856. It was first lit with a 4th Order Fresnel lens on 1 December of that year. Its original light was red. Later it was replaced with a white light. The light shone from the center of a Cape Cod-stye home.
The initial keeper was Albert Johnson Williams. After a few years, he relinquished his role so that he could instead pursue farming. In 1865, after a few short-lived successors, Williams’s New Brunswick-born wife, Julia, assumed the position of head keeper. Albert died in 1882. In 1905, after forty years of service, Julia Williams retired at the age of 81. A serious earthquake shook the structure on 29 June 1925. Keeper Harley Alonzo Weeks awoke and safely ushered his family (including visiting relatives) outside mere moments before the lighthouse came crashing down. The lighthouse log records, rather taciturnly, “Earthquake at 6:45 a.m. Tower and building down.” Alonzo Weeks was briefly succeeded by his wife, Caroline, and, from 1925 – 1943, Raymond H. Weeks.
Santa Barbara Light
A new, decidedly utilitarian structure was completed in 1935. It consists of little more than a white, metal, square tower, and beacon that stands 7.3 meters tall. The beacon that was used from 1935 – 1977 is now on display at the Point Vicente Lighthouse. It is still in operation today and is managed by the US Coast Guard.
Santa Barbara Light is served by Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District‘s 4 and 5 lines.
POINT FERMIN LIGHT (1874)
Point Fermin Light is located in San Pedro. The Stick-style lighthouse was designed by Paul J. Pelz and was constructed from California Redwood lumber. It was first lit in 1874 with a 4th order Fresnel lens — now on display at the lighthouse museum. In 1898, the lighting apparatus was changed to a petroleum vapor incandescent lamp. In 1925, it was electrified. The City of Los Angeles took over the operation of the lighthouse in 1927.
Point Fermin Light was deactivated in 1942 and the lantern room and gallery were removed and replaced with a lookout shack. In 1972, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 1974, it underwent restoration for its centennial. In 1986, it was featured in an episode of Amazing Stories titled “Magic Saturday.” It appeared in two episodes ofMacGyver: “Flame’s End” and “D.O.A.: MacGyver.”
Today there are free guided tours of the lighthouse, Tuesdays through Sundays, between the hours of 13:00 and 15:00.
Point Hueneme Light stands at the southeast entrance to the Santa Barbara Channelat the Port of Hueneme. The original lighthouse was designed by Paul J. Pelz and constructed in 1874 by Salisbury and Co. The lighthouse’s first keeper was Samuel Ensign, previously the 1st assistant keeper at Pigeon Point in San Mateo County. He was appointed on 9 November 1874. His assistant keeper was Melvin P. Giles. It was first lit with a 4th Order Fresnel lens on 15 December.
Old Port Hueneme Lighthouse transported across the bay.
A storm destroyed the nearby wharf in 1938 and in early 1939, Standard Dredging Company began improving the harbor, necessitating the relocation of the lighthouse. It was transported by barge across the harbor so that it could be repurposed for the Hueneme Yacht Club. That yacht club never came to fruition, however, and the old lighthouse — having suffered years of wear and tear from wind, sand, water, and termites — was razed.
Point Hueneme Lighthouse (Image: Rennett Stowe)A temporary light was established nearby in 1939. The current Art Deco lighthouse, with a fifteen-meter-tall tower, was completed by Oxnard Harbor District in December 1940. Its first keeper was Walter White, who’d previously been keeper at the old lighthouse since 1928. It was lit with the lens from its predecessor until 2013. The original lens is now on display inside the lighthouse whereas the lighthouse beacon is an LED one.
The lighthouse is still in use by the US Coast Guard but is open for free tours the third Saturday of the month from February through October between 10:00 and to 15:00.
Piedras Blancas Light Station is located at Point Piedras Blancas. It was first illuminated on 15 February 1875. The sound signal was added in 1906. It was originally thirty meters tall but damage from several earthquakes took their toll on the structure. Finally, after sustaining more earthquake damage on 31 December 1948, the decision was made to remove the top three floors, landing, watch room, and lantern. The lighthouse now, subsequently, is 21 meters tall.
Piedras Blancas Light Station (Image: Whiterocks)
The light was automated in 1975 and the sound signal was removed. Since then, it has been unmanned. In 1977, permission was granted to biologists from the US Fish and Wildlife Service to establish a biological research station there. The original lens was removed and is on display in Cambria. Today, the light station uses a Vega VRB-25 optical system. In 2013, a replica water tower was constructed albeit to house public safety communications equipment instead of water. In 2017, it was designated aCalifornia Coastal National Monument.
In 2001, management was taken over by theBureau of Land Management, who were tasked with restoring the light station and offering public access. Toward that end, the non-profit Piedras Blancas Light Station Association was established. Guided tours are provided most Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 15 June through 31 August.
POINT SAN LUIS LIGHTHOUSE
An aerial shot of the San Luis Obispo Lighthouse on March 27, 2016. (Image: Wolfgang Kaml)
The Point San Luis Lighthouse, also known as the San Luis Obispo Light Station, was built in 1890. It stands above a small cove next to Port San Luis Harbor. The main impetus for the lighthouse’s construction was the 1888 loss of the Queen of the Pacific at Port Harford (as Port San Luis was then known). No lives were lost but the ship’s cargo was and a legal case followed concerning the question of liability. Its design, a mix of American Foursquareand Eastlake styles, was most likely created by Paul J. Pelz. Its original light was a 4th Order Fresnel lens that alternated flashes of red and white light.
In 1969, the Fresnel lens was replaced by an electric light. The original, twelve-meter-tall tower was decommissioned by the US Coast Guard in 1975. Its replacement was an automatic, 35-meter tall tower with an electric light. It currently is light with a Vega VLB 44-2.5. Since 2010, the original Fresnel lens has been on display inside.
In 1991, the original tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The non-profit the Point San Luis Lighthouse Keepers was formed in 1995 to oversee operations of the decommissioned lighthouse. The lighthouse is accessible to the public either by tour van or through docent-led hike along the Pecho Coast Trail. It is also technically accessible from the water via a stairway and path that connects to the lighthouse from Lighthouse Beach.
ANACAPA ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE
Still from “Channel Islands National Park, eastern Anacapa Island lighthouse” by Scott Abella
The Anacapa Island Lighthouse is surely one of the loneliest lighthouses in California, located as it is on an island which in 2000 had a population of just three humans. Animals inhabitants of Anacapa include an endemic subspecies of deer mouse, two endemic species of lizards, a native salamander, and various species of marine animals and seabirds. It’s situated at the southwest corner of the entrance to the Santa Barbara Channel. The Chumash never established any permanent villages on ‘Anyapakh (“mirage”) due to an absence of freshwater.
In 1853, after entering a heavy fog, a sidewheel steamer called the SS Winfield Scott ran aground there. The entire crew of 450 survived and lived on the island for a week until they were rescued. Around that time, a man named George Nidever raised sheep on the island, devastating the island’s native plant community. Louis le Mesnager and Herman Bayfield Webster followed in his footsteps until the early 1900s. A man named Ira Eaton then used the island to bootleg during prohibition. Finally, a hermit named Raymond “Frenchy” LeDreau lived on the West Island (Anacapa is actually an archipelago) from around 1928 until 1954, when failing health impelled him to return to the mainland, where he died in 1962.
In 1983, Anacapa and several other Channel Islands were designated Channel Islands National Monument. It’s not one of the most popular of the Channel Islands with visitors, however, as the National Park Service regularly issues warnings regarding the loud noises and smells that arise during seagull mating season.
The first lighthouse, a primitive structure, was built in 1912. The current twelve-meter tall, Spanish Colonial Revival-style lighthouse was completed in 1932. Its first keeper was Frederick Cobb. It was automated in 1968. In 1989, a solar-powered, acrylic lens was installed to replace the original 3rd Order Fresnel lens which had been in use since 1932 and is now on view at the island’s visitor center.
Should you want to visit the islands, Island Packers regularly conducts trips to the East End Landing Cove throughout the summer. Visitors are prevented from getting too close to the lighthouse, however, on account of its deafening horn.
LOS ANGELES HARBOR LIGHT
Light House at End of Government Breakwater
Los Angeles Harbor Light, also known locally as Angles Gate Light, is situated at the end of the San Pedro Breakwater in San Pedro Bay. It was designed by Edward Lowery Woodruff, a civil engineer and architect who designed numerous lighthouses. It was constructed in 1913. Originally, it was painted entirely white but black stripes were added to increase its visibility to ships. It has been fully automated and unstaffed since 1973. Its signature light is green. The original Fresnel lens is on display nearby at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum in San Pedro. In 1980, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Angels Gate Light (Image: United States Coast Guard, Petty)
The public is prohibited from visiting the lighthouse although graffiti reveals the relative ease with which it can be reached by the determined lawbreaker. Metro’s Silver Line will take you to Cabrillo Beach, though, and from the Cabrillo Beach Pier you can get reasonably close.
POINT VICENTE LIGHT
Point Vicente Light postcard
Point Vicente Light is a twenty-meter-tall lighthouse on the Palos Verdes peninsula. It was built in 1926. The first head keeper was George W. L’Hommedieu. It was originally lit with a 3rd Order Fresnel lens, now on display at the Point Vicente Interpretive Center. It was automated in 1971. It was replaced with an LED apparatus in 2019.
In 1934, the Long Beach Radio Station was housed in a neighboring building to monitor distress signals. It ended operation in 1980, the year the lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
As an active residential facility for US Coast Guard personnel, the lighthouse is not open to the public. However, the Coast Guard Auxiliary offers public tours once a month, on the second Saturday, from 10:00 – 15:00. It is also the site of Rancho Palos Verdes‘ Whale of a Day Festival.
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
As most of my readers no doubt know, I’ve made neighborhood maps of many of the cities that I’ve explored, including Barcelona, Busan, Detroit, Glasgow, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seoul, and Taipei. There are many more big cities that I’ve visited, however, that I for whatever reason haven’t made neighborhood maps of — even cities I visited since I began mapping them — including Kyoto, London, Mexico City, Montreal, Osaka, Paris, and Tokyo— to name just a few that immediately come to mind. Of course, I’m hardly the only person who hasn’t mapped all of the cities that I’ve visited. Anyway, I decided to have a crack at New York City.
A few weeks ago, my partner sent me a link to something about an organization offering to pay room and board to a writer willing to explore and write about New York for the summer. I didn’t figure that I was the sort of person they were looking for but I did find myself suddenly thinking a lot about New York. I listened to music from New York, watched movies filmed in New York. I’ve also, given New York’s successful implementation of a bus-only lane inMidtown Manhattan, found myself wondering whether or not New York still has a lot to teach other American cities, including, especially, the city I live in — Los Angeles.
Then the COVID19 pandemic happened. It seems unlikely that I, or most folks, will be heading to New York any time soon — or anywhere else. On top of that, I got ill. The test revealed it probably wasn’t coronavirus. Nevertheless, my doctor recommended that I quarantine myself for a couple of weeks. And so, here’s a map of New York City neighborhoods and an essay about my relationship with New York. First the map.
To make the map, I relied mostly on preexisting maps, including a recently published one that was pretty extensive. I also relied on Wikipedia, and — despite its deserved notoriety for being an unreliable source when it comes to neighborhoods* — Google maps. I have little doubt that there will be those who find fault with my map and if they are from New York, they might be quite blunt about it. If you are offended by my map, I am sorry. If you have, on the other hand, constructive criticism regarding boundaries, designations, or omissions; I welcome you to leave a comment and, when possible, I will incorporate your input into my map in order to improve it.
I LIKE NEW YORK
Like I said, I’ve only been to New York City twice. Aside from a trip to the Grand Canyon, until I was in my mid-20s, I had never been anywhere in the US outside the South or Midwest. Growing up as I mostly did in Missouri‘s Little Dixie region, the “big city” for me meant St. Louis** or Kansas City. In my junior high, a group of exchange students from France visited us. They expressed their desire to visit both the Grand Canyon and New York City. We took them to St. Louis and Kansas City.
From my home in the country, cities were the stuff of fairy tales. I loved the works of Brooklyn-born author and illustrator Ezra Jack Keats— especially Apt. 3. and Googles. I loved Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. I was simultaneously disturbed and enthralled by The Wiz. I bemoaned the fact that the tallest building in my town, a fifteen-story housing project called Paquin Tower, had been built the year I was born and Columbia (the town I lived outside of) hadn’t seen much verticality since. On the rare occasion that I saw a taxi (the sort people phone for rather than hailed), I’d get excited by the possibility that its existence somehow suggested that we were on our way to becoming a real city. I remember the thrill of seeing a sign reading “subway” near the campus of Stephens College — only to discover it indicated the presence of a now-ubiquitous sandwich chain rather than the entrance to a vast, newly-built network of underground trains.
Until about ten years ago, the furthest north I’d ever been on the Atlantic Coast was Miami. As a child I imagined the Northeast was one unbroken urban mass of brick highrises and brownstones, fire escapes and subways. In my uninformed imagination, it included within it Baltimore, Boston, DC, Jersey City, Philadelphia… and Pittsburgh. Within this hard but electric megapolis, people in fingerless gloves warmed their hands over fires burning inside old oil drums whilst steam rose from beneath the cacophonous streets.
Most of the images I had of New York (and more broadly the Northeast) were the result of watching films and television set in New York. I don’t think I’d ever met anyone from New York until I moved to Los Angeles. One of my roommates alternately claimed Harlem and the Bronx, the other Staten Island. They were also two of the most obnoxious people I ever had the displeasure of knowing and both, even though they lived with me at different times, would shrug it off inappropriate roommate behaviors with a dismissive “I’m from New York!”
Growing up, though, I loved the films of Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Woody Allen, and later, Wayne Wang. I watched Hill Street Blues and assumed that the unnamed city it was set in was New York. Only in researching this map did I discover that it was intended to be a hybrid of Chicago, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh — and was filmed in Los Angeles.
I went to college at the University of Iowa. After a year of obsessively making a point of exploring every block of every street of not just Iowa City but neighboring Coralville, North Liberty, Tiffin, University Heights, as well. It was time to set my sights higher. New York was the obvious choice, being the biggest city in the country — but my music tastes had turned toward New Orleans. I also considered Seattle because Twin Peaks had made the Pacific Northwest look so appealing.
Somewhere along the way, it seemed, though, my interest in New York had flagged. The commercial, pop rappers of Bad Boy struck me as corny. Somehow the New York of The Equalizer had been replaced with the New York of Seinfeld,Friends, Mad About You, and Sex & the City. Was it possible that New York was… over?
So much of New York’s reputation seemed primarily dependent on New Yorkers’ high regard for their city. New Yorkers love to tell you that New York is the “greatest city on earth” and “the center of the universe.” It’s the biggest and best at everything. As I got older, though, I began to detect apparent cracks in the New York Myth. The population of Tokyo, which very seemed like the city of the future and possibly the center of the universe, had overtaken New York’s all the way back in 1968. The title of “tallest skyscraper,” had been held since 1973 by Sears Tower in Chicago — the birthplace of the skyscraper. Bagels and pizza? Fuggedaboutit! Those were invented in Poland and Naples. The Stonewall Riots? Two years after the Black Cat Protest. The High Line? Paris’s Coulée verte René-Dumont got there sixteen years earlier. The Statue of Liberty? Ellis Island? Jeez, those are in New Jersey!*** At the same time, the New York myth seemed to fragile to acknowledge certain unpleasant realities — like that it was the birthplace of the American freeway (the Long Island Motor Parkway), suburban sprawl (Levittown), and businessman, television personality, and butt-of-jokes, Donald Trump.
My faith in New York was tested during the Rudy Giuliani era. Everything I liked about New York seemed to recede further into the past. Metropolitan, The French Connection, Ain’t Misbehavin’, This Side of Paradise, Gangs of New York, &c. At any time from the 1850sto the 1980s, New York would’ve almost certainly been the American city in which I’d most want to have lived. Los Angeles, on the other hand, was a place that had never interested me in the slightest, indifferent as I am to cars, sun, and slebs. Plus, I’d already had enough of boring, palm-lined suburbs during the nine months I’d lived in Tampa.
Nevertheless, in 1998, a friend and I headed west to visit friends on a road trip. I drove through thirteen states. Los Angeles, where I dropped of my friend, thankfully bore almost almost no relationship with the Los Angeles of my imagination. I’d heard of “the Valley” but never heard of the San Gabriel Valley. I was stunned by vibrancy of Koreatown. No Hollywood film or television show had ever acknowledged in any real way that Los Angeles was not, in fact, a boring Florida suburb, but rather an unparalled pan-Asian melting pot — home to the largest communities in the world of Cambodians, Filipinos, Iranians, Koreans, Taiwanese,Thai, and Vietnamese outside their respective homelands — and the nation’s largest populations of Burmeseand Indonesians. Of course, I knew there’d be Mexicans — but nothing from Hollywood had ever hinted at the massive communities of Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and other Central Americans.
It wasn’t just the people who were diverse, though, it was the ecology and landscape as well. No one, for example, seemed to acknowledge that Los Angeles’s skyscraper-dwarfing mountains made it not just vertical but the most vertical city on earth… or that the streets and yards of the city were not just patrolled by the usual urban suspects like rats, skunks, raccoons, and opossums — but also coyotes, ringtails, bobcats, bears, and mountain lions. And although I found pseudo-tropical suburban oases, I learned that Los Angeles was also characterized lush wetlands, dry chaparral-covered hills, grasslands filled with poppies and lupines, deserts, and perhaps most surprisingly, the Galapagos-like Channel Islands.
It was only after ten years of living in Los Angeles that I finally got around to traveling to New York City for the first time. I visited my sister, then in school in New Jersey, as well as friends. It was winter. It was also almost eerily as I’d expected it to be… albeit less gritty . There weren’t, in other words, any surprise climates, land forms, or animals roaming the streets… just more Koreans than I’d expected, and everyone wearing black coats and Burberry scarves.
In Los Angeles, I can still easily get disoriented on unfamiliar streets and the ubiquitous site of ocean or mountains on the horizon. My sister wanted to take the subway so much that I started to feel like a mole and begged to walk above ground just for a little bit. New York, on the other hand, proved easy to navigate. There’s Upper, Middle, and Lower Manhattan are arranged exactly as you’d expect them to be. “The Bronx is up but the Battery‘s down,” and all that.
This isn’t a knock against New York, mind you. It’s just an observation about geography, community, and place. Consider the remarkable range of New York neighborhoods that even a hreasonably engaged person will at least recognize the names of: Astoria, Bed-Stuy, Bensonhurst, Bowery, Brighton Beach, Broadway, Chelsea, Chinatown, the East Village, Flatbush, Greenwich Village, Harlem, Hell’s Kitchen, Hollis, Howard Beach, Jamaica, Little Italy, the Lower East Side, the Meat Packing District, Park Slope, South Bronx, Spanish Harlem, Tribeca, the Upper West Side, and Williamsburg.
Now consider Los Angeles locales. Beverly Hills, Compton, Inglewood, Long Beach, and the Sunset Strip — of course, not one of those is actually in the city of Los Angeles. Hollywood isn’t a neighborhood but a multi-neighborhood region, akin to a borough… and a metonym. The few actual neighborhoods with which I had some preexisting familiarity were almost always tied to a single pop cultural association. Bel-Air (the Fresh Prince of), Brentwood (the OJ Trial), Echo Park (Mi Vida Loca), Encino (Encino Man), Venice (birthplace of the Doors). The only exception might’ve been Watts — which I knew from both the iconic towers and riots. There are many more Los Angeles neighborhoods that most natives don’t know. Of the following — Canterbury Knolls, Chesterfield Square, Franklin Hills, Happy Valley, Hermon, Longwood Highlands, Monterey Hills, Morningside Circle, Rose Hill, University Hills, Victor Heights, Yucca Corridor, Wilshire Park, and Wilshire Vista — not one is included on the Los Angeles Times‘ less-than-conclusive neighborhood map.
A sense of place is just one thing I like about New York. While I may not like that much of its cultural exports (it can keep its hipsters, ramen burgers, cronuts, and Australian coffee shops), I do appreciate its ongoing commitment to being a proper city. In 2009, for example, New York closed Times Square to cars. Los Angeles, on the other hand, has at least 100 city “squares,” and with the exception of Pershing Square (which has cars parked beneath), cars drive through them all. Cars were banned from Central Park‘s scenic drives in 2018. Meanwhile, there’s not even a bus stop in Elysian Park, Grand Park is sliced trisected by streets, and a Griffith Park without cars is another impossible dream like California High-Speed Rail, daylit streams, ending parking minimums, Hollywood Central Park, Mobility Plan 2035, Park 101, building morepublic housing, vertical farming, or Vision Zero. While Manhattan may be able to ban cars from certain streets, even making room for bicycles in sleep Playa del Rey results in NIBMY weeping and gnashing of teeth as well as calls to recall a democratically-elected city councilperson. New York has about 730 green roofs. Los Angeles, at last call, has approximately two.
There are still plenty things I’d like to experience in New York on a personal level too. Los Angeles has an underappreciated theater scene but I wouldn’t say no to seeing a stage production in New York (provided its not a megamusical). I like alleys, bustling street life, and even night life — well, at least knowing that it exists even if though I personally am of the view that nothing ever happens after midnight that’s worth staying up for. I’d like to get a closer look at all of those uninhabited islands with their crumbling ruins that rarely show up on maps… or those European ethnic enclaves that complicate our racially distorted notions of diversity. I also want to explore those single-story suburbs that so many New Yorkers pretend don’t exist. And just once, I’d like walk out of my apartment with my shirt tucked in and not be asked by a stranger why I’m “so dressed up.”
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
Note: Many businesses are struggling during the COVID19 pandemic and if you can support them, please consider doing so. Many book stores are currently closed and but some offer pick-up and delivery — and during our shelter-in-place order, now seems like an especially great time to read. Public libraries are all closed but if you haven’t yet, you should check out their websites. Most allow you to read ebooks, stream films, access photo archives, ask questions of librarians and take advantage of many other services.
In the US, it seems like every month has some sort of literary observance. January is home to National Science Fiction, National Thesaurus Day, and Library Shelfie Day. February is National Library Lovers Month and includes Children’s Authors and Illustrators Week, Library Lovers Day, and Freelance Writers Appreciation Week. The cavalcade continues all the way to December — also known as New Book Month, a month which attempts to compete with holiday heavyweights like St. Nicholas Day, Christmas, the Winter Solstice, and New Year’s Eve with less eagerly anticipated observances like Letter Writing Day, Dewey Decimal System Day, Crossword Puzzle Day, Jolabokaflod, and A’phabet Day.
For whatever reason — however, April (aka National Poetry Month) is positively packed with such holidays. There’s Children’s Book Day (the 2nd), National School Librarian Day (the 4th), National Library Week (the second week of the month), National Library Workers Day (Tuesday of National Library Week), Encourage a Young Writer Day (the 10th), National Bookmobile Day (Wednesday of National Library Week), D.E.A.R. Drop Everything And Read Day (the 12th), National Librarian Day (the 16th), National Haiku Poetry Day (the 17th), National Columnists’ Day (the 18th), and National Tell A Story Day (the 27th). There’s also a moveable feast of sorts, National Poem In Your Pocket Day, and on the last Saturday of the month, Independent Bookstore Day.
Not that I actually celebrate any of those April holidays, mind you. They’re the sorts of observances, really, that I think deserve some designation other than “holiday.” I mean, World Book and Copyright Day (the 23rd) and National Great Poetry Reading Day (the 28th) — however worthy — aren’t exactly in the same league as competing festivities like April Fool’s Day, South Asian New Year, and Beltane. That said, I figured it would be a nice enough excuse to make a map of Literary Los Angeles, featuring libraries (both public and private), book stores (independent and chain), and a few homes of Los Angeles writers.
If you know the addresses of any of the following — or any other Los Angeles authors (provided they’re no longer alive or at the very least, living there, out of respect to their privacy) — please let me have them: Bebe Moore Campbell, Chester Himes, Helen Hunt Jackson, Horace McCoy, Iceberg Slim, Irving and Sylvia Wallace (somewhere in Brentwood), Kate Coscarelli, L. Ron Hubbard (Newport Beach and elsewhere), Louis L’Amour, Octavia E. Butler (Pasadena), Paul Monette, Raymond Chandler (with some confirmed 36 addresses, I’ll add these later), Reyner Banham, Robert Bloch, Sidney Sheldon, Theodore Dreiser, and Truman Capote (had his own room in Joanne Carson‘s home, where he died.
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
There are not, I don’t think, many Tajiks or Tajikistanis in Los Angeles. I only know one, personally, and when we first met at a birthday party a few years ago, I got the impression from him that I was the amongst a very small numbers of Angelenos that he’d met who’d ever even heard of his country. Americans are, on the whole, justifiably notorious for their geographically illiteracy but even the few who pay moderate attention to world events probably have little knowledge of Tajikistan or have ever met anyone from there. It’s my hope, however, that if there are any Tajik Angelenos reading this that they will make themselves known in the comments. салом!
TAJIKISTAN
Tajikistan (Tajik: Тоҷикистон) is a Central Asian country bordered by Afghanistan, East Turkestan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. The territory that now constitutes Tajikistan was historically home to several ancient cultures, including the Bronze AgeOxus and Andronovo cultures. It has been ruled by a succession of empires and dynasties, the last before independence being the Soviet Union.
As a geography and culture-obsessed kid, I became aware of Tajikistan (or “Tadjikistan” as it was usually spelled in English back then) by looking at maps and was especially curious about the non-Russian republics and autonomous republics of the USSR — especially as I could find no one who knew anything about them. Tajikistan became a Soviet republic in 1929. It has been ruled by President Emomali Rahmon since 1994, however, and such lengthy reigns surely are rarely if ever indicators of a flourishing democracy.
Most residents of Tajikistan are ethnic Tajiks and speak a Persian dialect, also called Tajik. Other Tajikistani ethnic groups include Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Russian, Pamiri, and smaller groups. 98% of Tajiks practice Islam. The Muslim Eid Mubarak, the breaking of the fast of Ramadan, is one of Tajiks’ biggest celebrations. As with most of Central Asia, however, the pre-Islamic/Zoroastrian spring festival of Nowruz (literally “New Day”) is also widely observed, including by Tajiks in Southern California.
There was formerly a thriving Jewish community, but most Jews left from the 1970s to the 1990s and resettled in the US or Israel. Interestingly, there may very well be more Tajikis living in Afghanistan than Tajikistan itself, which has a population of around nine million whilst some most estimates for Afghanistan suggest that there are somewhere between nine and eleven million Tajiks living there. Countries with smaller but substantial numbers of Tajiks include Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and Russia.
TAJIK-AMERICANS
An estimated 6,000 Tajikistanis live in the US. Most have settled in New York, California, Nebraska, and the Washington, DC area. For whatever reason — and unlike most East and Southeast Asian immigrants — Central Asian immigrants tend to favor the East Coast over the West. Two of the most prominent Tajikistani-Americans are dancer Malika Kalontarova and Vine co-founder Rus Yusupov. Both are Bukharan Jews and both live in New York. Not surprisingly, the Embassy of Tajikistan is located in the nation’s capital. Metro Los Angeles, on the other hand, is home to the California Tajik Society (in Torrance), the California Tajik American Association (in Long Beach), and the Tajik Karate Academy (two locations inIrvine).
TAJIK FILM
My first glimpse of Tajikistan came with Djamshed Usmonov‘s 2002 dark comedy, Angel on the Right (Фариштаи китфи рост), set and filmed in the town of Asht and which shares a lot of stylistic similarity with the films of the Iranian New Wave. The copy I obtained was from Amoeba Music Hollywood‘s Asian Cinema section. Other films by Usmonov include Flight of the Bee (1998), To Get to Heaven, First You Have to Die (2006), and My Wife’s Romance (2011).
Tajikistan formerly supported a surprisingly robust cinema. However, since the collapse of the USSR, it has shrunk considerably. There have been efforts to revive it, though. Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov‘s Luna Papa (Лунный папа) was submitted for consideration for the Academy Award‘s Best International Feature Film. Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf‘s Tajikistan-filmed Sex & Philosophy (2005) was submitted, too, but disqualified for not having English subtitles. In 2004, the bi-annual Didor International Film Festival was inaugurated in Dushanbe.
TAJIK MUSIC
It was whilst working at Amoeba that I first heard Tajik music, too, when I picked up a copy of Invisible Face of the Beloved: Classical Music of the Tajiks and Uzbeks by the the Academy of Maqâm. That album was the second volume of Smithsonian Folkways’ truly excellent series, Music of Central Asia. The Academy of Maqâm is a traditional music ensemble founded by Tajik musician Abduvali Abdurashidov in Dushanbe.
There apparently aren’t many opportunities to hear live Tajik music performances in Los Angeles — although Uzbek musician Abbos Kosimov performed traditional Uzbek and Tajik music at REDCAT in 2011 and at the Getty Center in 2014. I’m not certain but my guess is that if one were to try to find Tajik films or music recordings in Los Angeles, their best bet might be a Persian store like Music Box in Westwood.
Last but not least, at the Los Angeles Zoo there live several Bukharan markhors or Tadjik markhors(Capra falconeri heptneri). The markhors are an endangered species of goat-antelope, native to Tajikistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan — and possibly Afghanistan. There are only and estimated 5,750 still living in the wild. In 2018, four more were born in the zoo.
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
Who wants to participate in an art exchange? Perhaps you’re quarantined or self-isolating and would like to channel your descent into madness toward something creative. Or maybe, like me, your work is deemed essential but without opportunity to let off steam at a bar or gym, you might benefit from a bit of a creative diversion. Or perhaps you’d just like a postcard with a hand-drawn or painted map and you’re willing to trade a piece of art for it.
I mean “art” in the big sense, too. Francis Bacon, Henri Matisse, Lucian Freud, Pablo Picasso, Paul Gaugin, Paul Klee, Vincent van Gogh, and Wassily Kandinsky all participated in art exchanges in which paintings were the traded object. However, if you’d rather trade a song, an essay, a poem, a customized mug, an origami tree stump, or even a pair of socks you’ve decorated with iron-on crayons, I’m open minded — to a point. I will under no circumstance ever display a piece of art which features Papyrus font on any part of it.
I’m open to whatever map guidance you’d like to provide, too. Perhaps you’d like a map of your neighborhood and you’d like me to include all of your favorite spots highlighted in puce. Or perhaps, as one artistic friend suggested, you’d like a map of my dresser. No request is too strange (at least, not that I can think of).
So if you’d like to exchange art, let me know — and if I have your permission, I’ll share the products of our exchange here.
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
Teresa Teng(鄧麗君) was a Taiwanese singer and Asian superstar. Despite her death at the age of 42, her career traversed four decades. With her covers of Japanese songs in Chinese (including Cantonese, Hokkein, and Mandarin), she is sometimes credited with helping to bridge the cultural gap between Taiwan, China, much of Southeast Asia, and their former colonizer, Japan (where known as テレサ・テン, she was especially popular).
Teresa Teng was born on 29 January 1953 in Baozhong, Yunlin County to Waishengren parents. Her father, Teng Hsu, was an ROC soldier from Daming, Heibei. Her mother was from Dongping, Shandong and when Teresa was a girl, she often took her to see Chinese movies and operas. Teresa was the fourth out of five children born to the couple and the only girl. She was schooled at Ginling Girls High School (私立金陵女中) in Sanchong Township.
As a child, Teng won awards for her singing at talent competitions, including in 1964, when she sang “Visiting Yingtai” from Shaw Brothers‘ Huangmei opera movie, The Love Eterne. With her parents’ approval, she afterward quit school to pursue singing professionally.
In 1973, Teng signed a contract with Polydor Japan and took part in the annual Kōhaku Uta Gassen competition. In 1974, the song “Airport” (“空港”) was a Japanese hit. She remained beloved in Japan despite being briefly barred from entering it in 1979 after she was discovered to be in possession of a fake passport purchased for US $20,000 following an official break in relations between Japan and Taiwan after China took the latter’s seat in the United Nations.
After the incident, Teresa Teng moved to Los Angeles to live with her younger
Teresa Teng in Los Angeles
brother in 1979 and she enrolled in a college preparatory program. It was also during her time in Los Angeles that she met Jackie Chan, then relatively unknown outside of Asia, who was then in the country for his first time filming The Big Brawl. According to his biography, they went on walks and dined in Chinatown but although the friendship was important, he stressed in his biography wasn’t what he’d characterize as a relationship.
In 1980, Teng became the first ethnically Chinese singer to perform in New York City‘s Lincoln Centre. In 1982, Teng was engaged to Malaysian businessman Beau Kuok. However, the family of her fiancee’s grotesquely wealthy family weren’t apparently keen on their son marrying a mere artist. They also, apparently, perversely insisted that she provide them with a written record of her previous relationships, which reportedly begn with Lim Zhen Fa, the son of a Malaysian casion tycoon who died of a heart attack. Teng ended the relationship with Beau Kuok and, according to some, began self-medicating to deal with the pain.
It was also in the 1980s that Teng’s music was banned in China but grew thanks to the black market. By then, however, her fame had spread to places with large Chinese communities like Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the San Gabriel Valley. The ban in China was eventually lifted and Teresa was even nicknamed “Little Deng” because she had the same family name as China’s then-leader, Deng Xiaoping.
In 1981, Teresa Teng’s Polydor contract ended and she signed with Taurus Records. For many Japanese fans, the second half of the decade was Teng’s golden years. For four consecutive years between 1984-1989, in fact, she won Japan’s All-Japan Record Awards. In 1989, Teng performed in Paris and voiced support for the pro-democratic protesters at Tiananmen Square. On 27 May 1989, she performed to an audience of over 300,000 people at Hong Kong’s “Democratic songs dedicated to China” (民主歌聲獻中華).
The CPC invited Teresa Teng to perform for the first time in China but she died on 8 May 1995 in Suite 1502, Imperial Mae Ping Hotel whilst on vacation in Chiang Mai, Thailand. There are plenty of rumors, of course, including that shed died from a drug overdose — a view shared by her French boyfriend Paul Quilery who was supposedly buying groceries when she died. Quilery later claimed that the two were, at the time of her death, engaged to be married that August.
Ten was given state honors at her funeral in Taiwan. A day of national mourning was declared and president Lee Teng-hui was amongst those in attendance. Teng was posthumously awarded the KMT Hua-Hsia Grade One Medal (the Ministry of Defense‘s highest honor for civilians). She was buried in a mountainside tomb at Chin Pao San, a cemetery in Jinshan. The grave features a statue of Teng made of gold and a large electronic keyboard that can be played by visitors.
A tribute album called A Tribute to Teresa Teng was released in 1995. In 2002, a wax figure was unveiled at Madame Tussaud’s Hong Kong. A house she purchased in Hong Kong in 1986 at No. 18 Carmel Street, Stanley has become a site of pilgrimage for her fans. A set of stamps featuring Teng was released by the Chunghwa Post. In 2007, Yoshino Kimura played Teresa Teng in the Japanese film, Teresa Teng Monogatari (テレサ・テン物語). Her songs have covered by the likes of Faye Wong, Joanna Wang, Jon Bon Jovi, and many others. Fans of Tengs recognized the inclusion of “When Will You Return” (also known as “Waiting For Your Return”) in the 2018 Hollywood film, Crazy Rich Asians.
PARTIAL DISCOGRAPHY
鄧麗君精選歌曲 (1967, Yeu Jow Record)
嘿嘿阿哥哥 ( 鄧麗君之歌第三集) (1967, Yeu Jow Record)
鄧麗君之歌第四集「比翼鳥」 (1968, 宇宙)
鄧麗君之歌第五集「暢飲一杯」(1968, Yeu Jow Record)
一見你就笑 (第六集 ) (1968, Yeu Jow Record)
鄧麗君之歌第七集 (1968, Yeu Jow Record)
鄧麗君之歌第九集 (1968, Yeu Jow Record)
鄧麗君之歌第十一集 ~ 再會吧！十七歲 (1968, Yeu Jow Record)
鄧麗君之歌第十二集 (1969, Yeu Jow Record)
晶晶 (1969, 宇宙)
蔓莉蔓莉我愛妳 (1969, Chiu’s Musical Enterprises)
昨夜夢醒時 (1970, Four Seas Records)
16 鄧麗君之歌第十六集 ~ 戀愛的路多麼甜 (1970, Yeu Jow Record)
勸世歌 (1970, Yeu Jow Record)
愛情 1, 2, 3 / 台北姑娘樂風 (1970, 樂風)
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
Los Angeles is widely recognized for its ethnic diversity. There are several communities — including those of Armenians, Guatemalans, Mexicans, and Salvadorans — which are larger in Los Angeles than in anywhere else outside of their respective homelands. The same is true of numerous Asian peoples, including Cambodians, Filipinos, Koreans, Persians, Taiwanese, Thai, and Vietnamese which is why I refer to Metro Los Angeles as the world’s pan-Asian Metropolis. Not only is the Thai community of Los Angeles the largest outside of Thailand, but it is also home to nearly one-third of the nation’s Thai American population, as well as the oldest officially recognized Thai Town.
When I moved to Los Angeles in 1999, my roommates and I signed a lease at an apartment in Thailand in which initially all but one of my neighbors were Thai — although none of us knew that at first. To my ears, the lingua franca of our building sounded nasal and argumentative. Sometimes I assumed from their tone and volume that neighbors were arguing but smiles and gestures suggested otherwise. I don’t remember when I learned or figured out that nearly everyone was Thai but catercorner to us was Thai American Express. That restaurant’s owners — also the parents and grandparents of some of my neighbors — lived across the street. They insisted that real sriracha (which at the time I associated with Vietnamese restaurants) came from Thailand, not Rosemead.
The lone non-Thai neighbor kept entirely to himself. He was middle-aged and every night at midnight, he’d warm up his mid-’60s car for ten minutes while loudly blasting the music of Slayer after which he’d drive away. The Thai neighbors theorized, on account of the Victoria’s Secretcatalogs poking from his mailbox, come to the consensus that he was “kathoey.” I assured them that the catalog probably served another purpose and that, in fact, he was more likely a serial killer. We’d sometimes look to see if his car was riding lower than normal — evidence of a body stuffed in the trunk. There were no bodies other than his wheeled from his apartment. By then, many of my Thai neighbors had long ago moved out.
I’ve lived here twenty years now and the neighborhood has changed. None of my neighbors are Thai — nor do any blast thrash music from within their old cars. The Korean liquor store long ago became an upscale boutique. The Mexican bar with $2 beers is an upscale Italian restaurant. Moby turned the used car lot next door into an upscale vegan place. The halfway house was torn down and replaced with luxury townhomes — as was the bamboo grove that grew outside of my window. Thai-American Express long ago became an upscale restaurant and the owners’ home is now a shop named after a street in Manhattan that although billed as a general store, rather than selling staple foods and household goods, sells expensive candles and coffee drinks. All of the Thai neighbors are gone — although the Banphaburuts and I still get together occasionally if not as often as we used to.
EARLY THAI LOS ANGELES
All of my Thai neighbors were first-generation immigrants. Like most Thai immigrants to the US, many came here to study and a considerable number worked in local restaurants. According to the US government, there were fewer than 500 Thai immigrants who arrived in the 1950s — most of whom were ethnic Chinese. In the 1960s, that figure grew to about 5,000 — a huge increase but still a pretty small number compared to neighboring Southeast Asians like Indonesians and especially Filipinos.
THAI ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Still, there were enough Thai living in Los Angeles in the early 1960s that in 1962 it was deemed reasonable to found the first local Thai American community organization, the Thai Association of Southern California. It provided immigrant services including everything from legal assistance to car repair. One of its presidents, Aroon, The group produced a publication, Puan Thai, which focused on events back home rather than in the nascent Thai Angeleno community.
THAI NEWSPAPERS
Community newspapers were historically vital to serving emerging immigrant and refugee communities. Not long after Puan Thai, there were several other Thai language newspapers — although most were short-lived. The first proper paper was Thai Phon-Tale, which began publication in 1970 but lasted less than a year. One of that paper’s co-founders, Kittiratna Sivayavirojana, launched the first professional Thai language paper — one with a paid staff — in 1973, Sarn Thai. It too, however, folded after less than a year. Chaiwat Paknilarat started Sereechon in 1975, which is still in print, although in 1985 it changed owners and its name to Sereechai. Siam Media Newspaperwas founded in Wilshire Park in 1981 and continuing publication today from its offices in Rosemead. Thai L.A. Newspaper was founded in Chinatown in 1985.
ASSOCIATION OF THAI MERCHANTS/THAI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Community organizations, like community newspapers, have long been important to immigrant and refugee communities. After the Thai Association of Southern California, the next major Thai Angeleno institution was the Association of Thai Merchants (later renamed the Thai Chamber of Commerce), founded in 1971 with Poonsak “Paul” Sosothikul as its first president. Paul was a young man who was prominent in the community but would tragically die at a young age — more on that later.
WAT THAI & THAI RELIGION
Houses of worship, too, are typically of central importance to immigrant and refugee communities. In Thailand, roughly 95% of the inhabitants are Buddhist. Only about 1% practice Christianity and even fewer practice Islam.
Locally, there are several Thai Christian congregations, including New Life Church of Nazarene – Thailand Christian Fellowship (Long Beach), Prasiri Church USA (West Covina), and Thai Outreach Church (Pasadena), and the Thai Church in California (Anaheim). Majid Al-Fatiha, founded in Azusa in 1993, is the nation’s oldest Thai mosque.
There are several Buddhist temples serving the Thai community including Wat Buddhavipassana (Long Beach), Wat Padhammachart (Avocado Heights), and Wat Thai Srisoda Sun Valley (Pacoima). The oldest is Wat Thai, however, the largest Thai Theraveda Buddhist Temple in the country. Although open since 1979, its origins go back to the beginning of that decade with the establishment of the Theravada Buddhist Center in 1971.
Songkran at Wat Thai in Los Angeles, 8225 Coldwater Canyon, No. Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, April 2008 (Image: Cbl62)
Services initially took place in a private residence in the San Fernando Valley. In 1971, Venerable Phra Dhammakosacharn and a group of monks, along with Paul Sosothikul (president of the Association of Thai Merchants), Aroon Seeboonruang (one-time president of the Thai Association of Southern California) and other members of the community, began raising funds to purchase a former Japanese nursery in Sun Valley on which to construct a permanent home. Construction of the temple began in 1972. In addition to religious services, it also offers free Thai language classes, dance and music performances, art exhibits, and a food fair. Today it remains the primary spiritual, social, and cultural hub for most of Los Angeles’s Thai community.
THAI CUISINE
I’ve often stated without too much push-back my opinion that cuisine is the easiest entry point into another culture. Like any sane person, I love Thai food. I love everything Thai that I’ve eaten — curries, rice dishes, noodles, salads, soups — all of it. Even so, more often than not, I return the same items at the same restaurants not out of a lack of sense of adventure but because the cravings are so strong and specific.
Thai food is, for most non-Thai people, pretty much the beginning and end of our knowledge of Thai culture. Thai food is ubiquitous now, having conquered the nation in the way that Italian, Chinese, and Mexican did before it. In any town with more than 10,000 inhabitants, there’s probably a Thai place — but this wasn’t always the case. The first Thai place I remember coming to the Iowa town where I went to college was Saigon to Bangkok, one of those bets-hedging joints that offer more than one cuisine. That was around 1996.
Thai food fanned across the US after first establishing itself in Los Angeles. The first Los Angeles Thai restaurant was Thai Kitchen, which opened in 1969 in what’s now Koreatown. It was destroyed in 1992 when a nearby apartment burned down. Soo, too, were two other Thai restaurants — Arunee’s Restaurant and Renoo’s Kitchen.
The Kuntee Family at Chao Krung
Chao Krung opened the same year as Thai Kitchen. The owners reportedly found that many American diners confused Thailand with Taiwan (a confusion still disappointingly common I found out when I visited Taiwan in 2010) and so began the practice of including Chinese items on the menu — although several iconic Thai dishes are believed by some to have origins in Thailand’s Chinese communities including goy see mee, pad kee mao, pad see ew, and pad thai. Although only the Fairfax location remains today, were formerly three locations of Chao Krung, which may therefore also have been Los Angeles’s first Thai chain. Another early chain was Tepparod, owned by Aroon Seeboonruang and which at its height boasted three locations. Today, there are several established local Thai chains, including Ocha Classic, Pa Ord, Thai Original BBQ, and Vim Thai Restaurant.
A location of Thai Original BBQ that used to be a Taco Bell
Actual vegetarianism — that is, the abstaining of eating dead animals — isn’t apparently that common in Thailand. Although often translated as “vegetarian,” “มังสวิรัติ” apparently actually refers to the practice not eating visually perceptible pieces of animals — which means that even when a server asks “egg is OK?” it’s possible that fish sauce or shrimp paste found its way into the dish described on a menu as “vegetarian.” Vegetarian Thai in Los Angeles also often includes plenty of convincing, processed, salty, and delicious mock meats that needless to say are better suited for vegetarians who abstain from eating animals out of empathy than out of health concerns.
Many of those mock meats are made by Taiwanese brands but are carried in Thai markets like Silom. There’s pretty convincing Vietnamese vegetarian fish sauce, too, which too my nose (for better or for worse) smells pretty much just like the real thing and therefore is consigned to its own cabinet. There are also savory seasoning sauces like Golden Mountain — which my former Thai neighbors refer to generically as a “maggi” sauce after Maggi, the popular Swiss approximation of Chinese soy sauce that’s now integral to many cuisines. It’s a long but interesting story.
Anyway, for reasons which aren’t entirely clear to me — Thai restaurateurs were behind many of the vegan restaurants which appeared on the Los Angeles landscape in the 2000s, including Vegan Express, Vegan Star, Bulan Thai, California Vegan, Truly Vegan, Green Leaves, My Vegan Gold, andVegan House. Most skewed heavily toward mock meats and most also had some recognizably Thai options; however, with most, it was the greasy spoon staples like fried chicken sandwiches that were/are better than the Thai items.
Pramote “Pat” and Marasri Tilakamonkul opened Bangkok Market, the first Thai market in the US, in 1971. Their son, Jet Tilakamonkul (known professionally as “Jet Tila”) later became a celebrity chef. Bangkok Market closed in 2019 when the elder Tilakamonkuls retired. There are still a number of Thai markets in business, however, including Bangluck, New Bangluck, Chanh Thai, LAX-C, and Silom.
THAI ARTISTS
In 1991, Thai Angeleno artist Vibul Wonprasat painted a mural on the market’s exterior titled East Meets West. Wonprasat established the Vibul School of Painting in Venice in 1984. Wongprasat also founded the Thai Community Arts and Cultural Center (TCACC) in 1992. The TCACC began organizing the Thai Cultural Day festival in 1993, first at Wat Thai and, the following year and since at Barnsdall Art Park. East Meets West, however, was eventually painted over.
East Meets West by Vibul Wonprasat (Image: Robin Dunitz for the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles)
Of course, there are still Thai artists in Los Angeles. Wonprasat’s painting school is still in operation, having long ago relocated to Studio City. Other Thai Angeleno artists include illustrator Gift Janyachotiwong, Patradol “Dodo” Kitcharoen, and Pawan Poungjinda. My friend Susannah Tantemsapya runs international arts organization Creative Migration, which is based in Bangkok and Los Angeles.
SIAM HOLLYWOOD SHOOTOUT
In November 1974, community leader Paul Sosothikul was hosting a group of Thai at Thai Town’s Siam Hollywood, a restaurant owned by another community leader, Surapol Mekpongsatorn. Their purpose was to raise money for the construction of Wat Thai. The event took a tragic turn when Vallop Thamrongarinath walked into the restaurant, placed an order. He then, according to witnesses, turned to face patron Govit Chianthanachinda and said “I’ve been waiting to kill you for a long time” before firing his gun multiple times.
Chianthanachinda then ran for the door, firing his own gun behind him. Two of Thamrongarinath’s accomplices, seated in booths, also began firing guns. Once Chianthanachinda was down, Thamrongarinath and his accomplices fired more shots into Chianthanachinda’s head before escaping in a getaway car. Chianthanachinda had made many enemies in the community by extorting money from Thai living here illegally. He was out on bail, awaiting charges on the attempted murder of Thamrongarinath whom he’d earlier shot four times and left for dead.
When the smoke cleared, Chianthanachinda was dead — but he wasn’t the only one. Two patrons, Wacharapon Kunthara and Jarin Taechanarong, were both injured, one critically. An eleven-year-old girl, Daowsin Dilokevilas, was also dead. So too was Paul Sosothikul.
Thai food began to cross over in earnest to non-Thai Angelenos not long after. Pat Tila of Bangkok Market opened Royal Thai on Pico Boulevard in 1978. Many of its customers came from the nearby studios of 21st Century Fox. In the 1980s, Los Angeles collectively fell for Central Thai cuisine. In the 1990s, Northern Thai established a foothold.
In 2001, Southern California explorer Huell Howser and Jet Tila visited Thai Town — stopping at Palms Thai, Bhan Kanom Thai, and Hollywood Thai — on the former’s series, Visiting… With Huell Howser. Palms Thai was, thanks in large part to Thai Elvis, already well-known. Huell Howser, however, with his own ravenous following, helped expose Thai food to a larger swathe of Los Angeles.
A few years later, Sarintip “Jazz” Singsanong and Suthiporn “Tui” Sungkamee took over Jitlada and shifted its focus to Southern Thai. The restaurant struggled until, in 2007, food critic and Southern California explorer Jonathan Gold wrote a glowing review that appeared the following year in the LA Weekly under the title, “Flame War.” It furthered the appreciation of regional Thai variations while at the same time stoking the competitive obsession of those for whom dining is, most importantly, about seeing who can tolerate the spiciest food.
THE GROWTH OF THAI LOS ANGELES
Most early Thai immigrants settled in Central Los Angeles. One concentration was in East Hollywood, which would later emerge as Thai Town. The other, around the intersection of Western Avenue and Olympic Boulevard — would soon be absorbed into Koreatown. Although the Thai exodus to the San Fernando Valley would really get underway in the 1980s and ’90s, there were already in the 1970s several Thai businesses and residences on the other side of the Hollywood Hills.
Thai emigration increased dramatically after the conclusion of the Vietnam War, in 1975. In contrast with their Southeast Asian neighbors — in particular Cambodians, Hmong, Lao, and Vietnamese — Thai immigrants didn’t arrive as refugees. Included in their ranks were students eager to study in the US, war brides of American soldiers, and both unskilled laborers and professionals.
In the late 1970s, the New York City-based organization, Thai Physicians of America, opened a Southern California chapter. Central Plaza One hosted the newly established Thai Trade Centerand the offices of the Thai Chamber of Commerce. Thailand’s Bangkok Bank opened an office in the Pacific Financial Center.
In the 1980s, roughly 64,400 Thais moved to the US. Thai at the University of California, Los Angeles formed the student group, Thai Smakom, in 1980. Aroon Seeboonruang (owner of Tepparod and one-time president of the Thai Association of Southern California) was instrumental in establishing several new Thai organizations, including the Thai Senior Citizen Club of Los Angeles.
By 1982, the Thai Chamber of Commerce had been inactive for several years when it was reorganized and renamed the Association of Thai Businesses and Trade of California. The force behind its reinvigoration was a group of twenty Thai entrepreneurs including Aroon Seeboonruang’s son-in-law, Chow Burana, Surapol Mekponsathorn, and Dr. Vibul Vichit-Vadakan of Thai Physicians of America. The organization’s first president was Thongchai Teepratew. The association also launched a newsletter, Siang Vanich.
By the 1990s, more Thai lived in outlying suburban communities like Arleta, Bellflower, Cerritos, Lynwood, North Hollywood, Pacoima, Panorama City, Sun Valley, and Van Nuys than they did in the Central Los Angeles enclave of Thai Town — although Thai Town remained (and remains) an important cultural, culinary, and commercial hub of the community.
THAI TOWN IN THE 1990s
New Hollywood Plaza sign (Image: Harvey Castellano)
For many years, the commercial hub of Thai Town was New Hollywood Plaza, completed in 1980, which since then has managed to host some of Thai Town’s most popular establishments. The parking lot is a nightmare — except during Songkran when its turned into a Singha beer garden (something it should remain year-round since the opening of Hollywood/Western Stationin 1999 removed any excuse for driving). Ruen Pair has been in operation there since at least 1983. The popular Palms Thai opened in the plaza in 1994 but in 2005 moved to a larger location a few blocks west of Thai Town. It was replaced by Thai Patio. Red Corner Asia came and went. Bhan Kanom Thai, Crispy Pork Gang, Pa Ord Noodle 3, and several other Thai and non-Thai establishments remain.
Thailand Plaza, Thai Town, Hollywood, CA (Image: Simon J. Hernandez)
Thailand Plaza, while not home to as many storied Thai restaurants, is the most recognizable symbol of Thai Town. It was developed by Anek Bholsangngam and opened in 1992 and is home to Silom Market (my favorite Thai market), Jinda (the home of Thai Elvis until he was poached by Palms), and DokyaLA — a shop accessible through the wonderfully grimy enclosed parking garage. Out front is a pair of spirit houses, a sort of shrine found throughout Southeast Asia.
THAI LITERATURE AND BOOKS
Thai literature is written almost exclusively in Thai script, the abugida derived from Old Khmer and ultimately based on the Pallava alphabet of Southern India. It’s used to write Standard Thai, naturally, but also Southern Thai (also known as Pak Thai or Dambro), Northern Thai (also known as Lanna or Lanna Kam Mueang), Northeastern Thai (also known as Isan), and Kelantan-Pattani Malay (also known as Yawi, Jawi, or Baso Kelaté), among others. Before the 19th century, poetry comprised the bulk of Thai literature. Nowadays, fiction predominates and Thailand has produced several contemporary authors of note including Botan (Suweeriya Sirisingh), Chart Korbjitti, Duanwad Pimwana, Kukrit Pramoj, Pitchaya Sudbanthad, Prabda Yoon, and Siburapha (Kulap Saipradit).
Local Thai-Angeleno writers include Dan Santat — who writes and illustrates children’s books and created the Disney show, The Replacements — and playwright Prince Gomolvilaswho spent much of his childhood in Monrovia.
Siam Book Center is probably the oldest local Thai bookstore, having been established in 1980. The main location is in the Thai Town plaza shared with Sanamluang and Bangluck Market and it sells quite a bit more than books. There used to be a second location in Valley Glen but I believe that it closed.
Jintana and Nicha Tantipinichwong opened the first Los Angeles location of Dokya in 1994. I believe there may also be a location in the Dogtown complex that houses the cavernous Thai wholesale market, LAX-C. There used to be a location in the San Fernando Valley, too, but it appears to have closed. As sales of books have declined, the owners shifted Dokya’s focus away from books toward shifted to health and beauty products. It may’ve been a wise move, as Chao Thai Video & Magazine, Thai Tanee Book & Video, and Thaisfly Book seem to have all closed some time ago.
THAI TOWN GOES OFFICIAL
It’s somewhat ironic that the city finally got around to granting Thai Town official recognition in 1999 — long after most of the Thai residents had made their homes elsewhere and five years after efforts to get official recognition began. Still, it is in Thai Town that the annual Thai New Year’s Songkran Festival has taken place almost every year since 2003.
It’s in Thai Town, too, that the Thai CDC initiated a public art project with funding from the (now defunct) Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles (CRA/LA) and installed bronze statues of aponsi at the neighborhood’s eastern and western entrances in 2006.
THE WADDELL BUDDHIST TEMPLE SHOOTING
On 9 August 1991, nine Thai were robbed and murdered at Waddell, Arizona’s Wat Promkunaram. The victims were Boochuay Chaiyarach, Chalerm Chantapim, Chirasak Chirapong, Foy Sripanpiaserf, Matthew Miller, Pairuch Kanthong, Siang Ginggaeo, Somsak Sopha, and Surichai Anuttaro.
Although more than 500 kilometers from Los Angeles, law enforcement investigated possible links between between the remote Thai wat and the heroin trade from Thailand through California. One month after the murders, four men were arrested in connection with the murders on the day local restaurateur Thongkam Smith hosted the Thai ambassador and members of local law enforcement. The confessions were foced and the men were all innocent. Smith, though, turned out to be an alias for Lamthong Sudthisa-ard, the former president of the Thai Association of Southern California, who’d fled Los Angeles in 1978 after he was charged with conspiracy to smuggle heroin. The four men’s confessions were false, however, and they ended up settling with the county for a large sum of money.
Earlier in the year, authorities in Hong Kong intercepted a shipment of heroin bound for the US from Thailand concealed inside statues of the Buddha. Two months before the murder, on 20 June 1991, the largest seizure of heroin in US history had taken place in Oakland. Nine days before the murder, a call was placed from someone at the temple to Tepparod No. 3. The FBI believed that owner Burana Chow (of the Association of Thai Businesses and Trade of California) was deeply involved in the heroin trade he vanished. Additionally, a note found at the temple included instructions to call a public phone in a Placentia high school parking lot, to ask for “Phet,” and, rather cryptically, that “it now weighs 1083 pounds.”
Ultimately, however, the murders were pinned on a Thai American high schooler, Jonathan Doody, and his friend Allessandro Garcia. Their motive in murdering nine people was attributed to robbery — they netted about $2,600. Whether or not Chow was ever found, charged, or exonerated, I don’t know.
EL MONTE GARMENT SLAVERY CASE
Chanchanit “Chancee” Martorell founded the Thai Community Development Center (Thai CDC) in 1994 and since then, that non-profit has worked to advance the social and economic well-being of low and moderate-income Thais.
Image: Phillip Bonner, former Special Agent of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
In 1995, 72 Thai were found working in slave conditions from a complex of duplexes in El Monte. Among the companies to rely on their labor were Anchor Blue, B.U.M., CLEO, High Sierra, and Tomato Inc. The events inspired Henry Ong‘s 2010 play, Fabric. The sweatshop had been run by “Auntie” Suni Manasurangkun with the help of her five sons, two daughters-in-law, and two others. The complex was surrounded by razor wire and authorities had been tipped off by an escapee in 1992 but took three years to raid.
When the operation was finally busted, it exposed not just the ongoing reality of slavery in the US but also a rift in the Thai community. While many took the side of the imprisoned workers, others were angry over the embarrassment at the loss of face for the community. Some, additionally, were caught in the middle. Several of the freed laborers joined the Retailer Accountability Campaign, which targeted department stores that relied on slave and sweatshop labor. Others, like Rotchana Cheunchujit, themselves became anti-slavery activists. The case came to be known as the El Monte Thai Garment Slavery Case. The Thai CDC continues to handle cases for Thai forced against their will to work in the agricultural, construction, domestic, and sex industries.
THAI FILM
In the 2000s, there was a spate of films coming out of Thailand that (when I worked at Amoeba) briefly garnered quite a bit of a following. Thai Cinema, before the early 1990s, had never been known much outside of Thailad, where a small industry emerged in the 1930s. In the 1990s and early 2000s, directors Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Nonzee Nimibutr, and Pen-Ek Ratanaruang emerged as part of a Thai new wave. At the same time, Hong Kong’s Pang Brothers relocated to Thailand where they made films beginning with Bangkok Dangerous (1999).
Wisit Sasanatieng‘s Tears of the Black Tiger (2000) was apparently a flop in Thailand but gathered audiences overseas as it scooped up awards at international film festivals. The Legend of Suriyothai (2001) had a huge buzz around it and the Thai import sold quite a bit on DVD. Eventually, however, Americans were given a heavily-edited domestic version that pleased no one and that sold poorly. Despite Americans’ preference for the original, the trend of butchering, dumbing-down, re-scoring, re-editing, and re-titling Thai films for US audiences only ramped up. Fans, therefore, resorted to buying imports or bootlegs. American versions sometimes arrived on shelves two years later — by the time the import and bootleg crowds were buying the inevitable sequels. The botched mishandling, I think, more than anything scuppered the chances for Thai cinema to gain a proper foothold in the US.
The biggest success was 2003’s Ong-Bak (องค์บาก) — which made a cult star of Tatchakorn “Tony Jaa” Yeerum but wasn’t released in the US until 2005. In keeping with the practice of botching Thai films, it was heavily re-edited, re-scored, and re-titled Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior — in case, I suppose, potential audiences might stay away if it wasn’t made explicit that it was about a warrior who was Thai. The Bodyguard (บอดี้การ์ดหน้าเหลี่ยม — 2004) managed to find an audience, however, despite not being retitled “Comedic Thai Bodyguard.” Born to Fight (2004), Shutter(2004), Tom-Yum-Goong (2005), Dek hor (2006), The Bodyguard 2 (2008), Chocolate (2008), Ong-Bak 2 (2008), Ong-Bak 3 (2010), and Tom Yum Goong 2 (2013) all did reasonably well.
There have been a few Thai Angelenos who’ve worked in our own Hollywood industry. The first prominent Thai American film actor was likely Art Chudabala, who made his Hollywood debut as Vietnamese student Vinh Kelly in the unexpectedly enjoyable Gleaming the Cube (1989). I first became aware of half Thai/half-Hmongactress Brenda Song when my then-young Thai neighbors would insist on watching her in the insufferable The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, an excruciatingly unpleasant Disney show about a bunch of horrible, sassy children. In 2010, she broke out of Disney hell with a role in The Social Network. Other Thai Angeleno film figures include author/producer Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, director/producer Kevin Harwick Tancharoen, documentarian Looksorn Thitipuk Teeratrakul, producer/writer Maurissa Tancharoen, actor/stuntman Michael Chaturantabut, Saidtha (Chok) Suwanavisootr, and director Todd Angkasuwan.
THAI ANGELENO MUSIC
As is the case with all cultures, Thailand’s music is in part a reflection of its geography. In the case of Thailand, that location is at the crossroads of South, Southeast, and East Asia. Although Thailand was never colonized, it is situated along trade routes used by Africans, Greeks, Persians, and Romans, which brought influences from far away. Forms of Thai music include khrueang luk thung — so-called “Thai country music” — which in my experience cleanly divides Thai families along generational lines;mor lam — a folk music associated with Laopeople and derided by some as “taxi driver music”; and kantrum — a type of folk music associated with Khmer people.
Of course, since the mid-20th century, Western forms of music have also been popular in Thailand. The British group The Shadows were so popular across much of Southeast Asia and in Thailand, gave birth to a genre known as wong shadow, which later evolved into “string.” Protest folk-rock was represented by phleng phuea chiwit(literally “songs for life”). There’s also western style Thai rock, metal, dance-pop, and hip-hop.
Locally, Thai music enjoyed a bit of a moment amongst the nuggets/pebbles garage rock crowd with Swedish label Subliminal Record‘s release of three volumes of the Thai Beat A Go-Go (2004-2005. Those volumes, which collected obscurities (in the US, anyway) by the likes of Johnny’s Guitar and Viparat Piengsuwan received a fair amount of attention. Similar 60s/70s re-issue label compilations followed, including Amazing Sounds of Thailand, Siamese Soul, The Sounds of Siam, Thai Funk, Thai? Dai! (The Heavier Side Of The Luk Thung Underground), and Pebbles’ Thai volumes of their series Original Artifacts From The Psychedelic Era.
Los Angeles has produced or been home to several Thai musicians as well, including singer Chanatda Punyaratabandhu, Nichkhun Buck Horvejkul (who performs with Korean boy band 2PM) and Tim Chantarangsu, a comedian/rapper who formerly performed as both Timothy DeLaGhetto and Traphik. Many local Thai restaurants include small stages that host live performers — most of whom are Thai. Off the top of my head, I can think of Hollywood Thai, Jinda, Palms, Pattaya Bay, Siri Thai Cuisine. I’m sure there are many more — and I wish I could name more than a couple of the performers who grace them.
The best known, surely, is Kavee “Kevin” Thongpricha — better known as “Thai Elvis.” I enjoyed his performances many times, dining at Palms on my lunch breaks from Amoeba (and a birthday for which the waitresses unexpectedly surprised me marzipan from Bhan Kanom Thai) until he returned to Thailand. I reckon it was the perceived novelty of a Thai singer devoted to the look and music of ElvisPresley that initially drew people to him but he’s a genuinely captivating performer and he had a way of converting gawkers into genuine fans. In my case, he converted me into a fan of Elvis — someone I’d written off as an impressionable young fan of Public Enemy.
Before he was the star attraction at Palms, where he performed with a pre-recorded backing track, Thongpricha performed next door at Jinda with a live band. I was friendly with a few of the waitresses at Palms who used to sometimes come by Amoeba. We tried to get the marketing department to allow him to perform on the Amoeba stage but the store has a rule that only artists promoting a new release can perform — a rule created by Amoeba, of course, but which Amoeba employees were powerless to make an exception for. Nevertheless, we all enjoyed a performance at Spaceland (now the Satellite) when he performed once again with a live band. I believe that he retired and moved back to Chiang Mai around 2011 (he’s now 80 years old).
The unlikely good news for Thai Elvis fans is that there are several — perhaps a half dozen, even. It seems that covering Elvis was a lucrative career move during the Vietnam War, when many American GIs began coming to Thailand on vacation (Bangkok is still the most-tourist-visited city in the world). Even before that, Thailand’s king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, was an Elvis fan and in 1960, he and his wife, Queen Sirikit, visited Elvis at Hollywood’s Paramount Studios lot where America’s “king” was in the process of filming G.I. Blues.
One of the better known Thai Elvises locally is Manuel Toi-GB, who used to co-own Ruen Pair. He was born in Bangkok and came to Los Angeles in 1974. It was much later, however, that he began performing Elvis songs back in Thailand and now, sometimes, around Los Angeles and Southern California.
THAI SPORTS & THAI ANGELENO ATHLETES
Muay Thai (มวยไทย) is a well known Thai martial art. When I try to recall when, exactly, it entered the American collective consciousness I reckon it must’ve been around the time of the 1989 release of the film, Kickboxer. In it, Jean Claude van Damme plays an American who travels to Thailand to fight a Thai champion known as “Tong Po.” Somehow I’ve never seen it nor any other van Damme film but knowing what I know of Hollywood conventions, I’m assuming that the American triumphs through his mastery of the Thai adversary’s technique. Even though I didn’t watch that film, though, I do remember my schoolmates nearly arriving at a consensus that Jean Claude van Damme and any muay Thai master could defeat Steven Seagal or any aikido master in a fight.
Surapuk Jamjuntr‘s Muay Thai Academy of America, founded in North Hollywood, is supposedly the first such venue opened in the US. Nowadays there are numerous muay Thai gyms in Los Angeles and one of the main features of Thai Town’s Songkran festival are the muay Thai fights.
Surely the most famous Thai-Angeleno athlete, however, is golfer Eldrick Tont “Tiger” Woods, whose mother was born in Thailand and of Thai, Chinese, and Dutch ancestry.
Aroon Seeboonruang, who’s come up several times in this piece (president of the Thai Association of Southern California, founder of Tepprod, founder of the Thai Senior Citizen Club of Los Angeles, &c) was also a highly-regarded tennis player and founder of the Thai Tennis Association. Seeboonruang was born in Bangkok on 29 December 1913. He appeared in The Hangover Part II in 2011 before dying that year on 14 October.
Other local athletes of Thai background include tennis-player Tamarine Tanasugarn, skater Eric Koston, and American football player Kevin Kaesviharn.
THAI MASSAGE IN LOS ANGELES
I suppose, too, that I should mention Thai massage — although with which I have no personal experience. Apparently, though, it’s a traditional healing system combining acupressure, Indian Ayurvedic principles, and assisted yoga postures. I would sooner pay a stranger not to touch me but I do know several folks who love Thai massage and it certainly seems like there are a lot of Thai massage places in Los Angeles. Additionally, in 2019, UNESCO added Thai massage to its Cultural Heritage of Humanity list and so I’ve included some Thai massage spots on the Thai Los Angeles map.
THAI ANGELENO MODELS AND BEAUTY PAGEANT CONTESTANTS
No disrespect intended against the noble occupation of “model” but I probably wouldn’t have mentioned Thai Angeleno models if there weren’t several and if a couple weren’t so well-known. Not a week goes by that I don’t see and ignore a headline about half-Thai model and “media personality” Chrissy Teigen — who apparently lived for a while in Huntington Beach and may still live in Los Angeles. Model and former porn actress Tera Patrick is also half Thai and has or had a residence in East Hollywood. Other local Thai models include Allison Samson (née Pimbongkod Chankaew), Bui Simon (né Porntip Nakhirunkanok), Ganita Koonopakarn, Greg Uttsada Panichkul, Janie Tienphosuwan, and Lada Engchawadechasilp.
OTHER THAI ANGELENOS
If it seems like an afterthought listing “other Thai Angelenos” at the end of an essay, it’s not — I just can’t think of a better way of incorporating them more gracefully into the body of this piece. One Thai Angeleno whose work I enjoy is Quincy Surasmith. He is an improv comic and actor but I mainly know him through his thoughtful podcast, Asian-Americana. Another Thai Angeleno who I couldn’t figure out where else to mention is Sorn Nonn the Khmer Thai designer behind the bag brand Laphiny. Are you a Thai Angeleno who’d like to be included in this piece? If so, let me know in the comments.
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
Hong Kong has long been one of those globally prominent places up there with London, Paris, Rome, and Tokyo — and yet surprisingly little has been written about the Hongkonger diaspora. There’s next-to-nothing specifically about Hong Kong emigration to Los Angeles — despite the fact that nearly as many Hongkongers live in the US as in China and that more than twice as many live in California as any other state.
It seems that Hongkongers, despite their century-and-a-half long history as British subjects, distinct history, separate political systems, and unique culture are in the American mindset still somehow insufficiently distinct to warrant being distinguished from other ethnically Chinese immigrants from places like China, Singapore, Taiwan, &c. Although I’ve not yet had the pleasure of visiting Hong Kong, the more I read about it the more it seems to me that Hongkongers deserve at least an attempt at a more nuanced approach.
I suspect that part of the reason people don’t write as much about Americans with origins in Hong Kong is that most of us aren’t sure how to refer to them. In English, the people of Hong Kong are known by several names including Hongkongers, Hong Kongese, Hongkongans, and Hong Kong Chinese. In Hong Kong, the demonym is 香港人 (literally “Hong Kong people”). No disrespect intended but those all sound rather clunky to my ears. Even clunkier are derivatives like Hongkonger Americans, Hong Kong People Americans, or Hongkongan Angelenos. Rather amazingly, “Hongkonger,” only added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2014.
Hongkongers are mostly Han Chinese and Hong Kong has ancient ties to China — having been ruled by the Qin Dynasty at least as early as 221 BCE. On the other hand, Hong Kong was also (unlike most of China) part of the Vietnamese Nanyue Kingdom for a time. Much more recently — and probably much more profoundly impactful — Hong Kong was a British Dependent Territory from 1841 until 1997 (with a break from 1941 until 1946 when it was ruled by the Empire of Japan) and I just can’t imagine that 150 years of colonial rule don’t leave their mark on any people. Hong Kong, after all, may’ve been ruled by China for the last 23 years — but even today it (along with Macau) enjoys a status as a Special Administrative Region. Plus, roughly 9.4% of Hongkongers are not Han Chinese, with some of the larger ethnic minorities including Americans, Australians, British, Canadians, Filipinos, French, Indians, Indonesians, Japanese, Koreans, Nepalese, Pakistanis, Russians, Thai, and Vietnamese.
Chinese immigration to the US begins all the way back in 1820 — when Hong Kong was part of the Qing Dynasty — the last imperial Chinese dynasty. The first significant numbers to arrive in California arrived during the Gold Rush of 1849. Nearly all early Chinese immigrants were from the province of Guangdong — historically usually romanized as “Canton” or “Kwangtung.” The island of Hong Kong was then part of Guangdong but nearly all of these early immigrants were from the Guangdong districts of Enping, Kaiping, Taishan, or Xinhui rather than Hong Kong, which by then was a British colonial subject.
Hong Kong seems to have taken off as a popular tourist destination after mainland China was effectively sealed off — an era that corresponds with the “Golden Age of Flying.” It was “the last foothold of freedom on the vast mainland of China… the city of anxious millions surrounded by the bamboo curtain and surviving on borrowed time” as one writer put it. Hong Kong was the “Riviera of the Orient” or the “Pearl of the Orient” but you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was the West Berlin of East Asia.
Hongkonger emigrés were historically more likely, it seems, to go settle in the UK than they were to relocate to the goldfields of California. Today there are roughly 145,000 British citizens of Hong Kong origin. There are actually more than twice as many Hongkongers in the US — an estimated 330,000 — somewhat fewer than live in China and far fewer than the 616,000 who live in the country with the largest population of Hongkongers outside of Hong Kong — Canada.
In the late 1970s, large numbers of Taiwanese had begun settling in Los Angeles suburbs like Monterey Park — which acquired the colloquial nickname, “Little Taipei.” An ordinance requiring all signage to include English translation may’ve impelled some Taiwanese business owners to settle in less hostile corners of the San Gabriel Valley but in their wake it was Hongkongers, mainland Chinese, and ethnic Chinese from Vietnam, Indonesia, and elsewhere who largely filled the void, settling not just in Monterey Park but Alhambra, Arcadia, El Monte, Rosemead, San Gabriel, and San Marino. Some Taiwanese, meanwhile, established a presence at the other end of the valley, in places like Diamond Bar, Walnut, Hacienda Heights, and Rowland Heights.
I can’t say that every place with “Hong Kong” in the title was founded by a Hongkonger but I suspect that surely some — maybe even a majority — were. For example, I don’t know whether or not David Jung was a Hongkonger but he did speak Cantonese and in 1910 he established the Hong Kong Noodle Company at 950 South San Pedro Street. Still in operation today, it is one of several places that claims to have invented the fortune cookie. Knowing this, I always pay more attention to the manufacturing location of my fortune cookies rather than their fortunes but I’ve yet to come across on produced at Los Angeles’s Hong Kong Noodle Company. According to Hong Kong Noodle Company lore, that innovation occurred in 1918.
FOOD OF HONG KONG
Food is, of course, a massively important aspect of every culture but Hong Kong Cuisineseems somehow to be the most important aspect. Hong Kong is primarily a service economy and much of that service involves serving food. In Hong Kong, it’s normal to consume five meals per day — although it should be noted that the size of a typical Hongkonger meal is much smaller than the supersized, hypercaloric gut-busters Americans routinely gorge themselves on.
Hong Kong cuisine is a part of the Cantonese tradition, albeit bearing a pronounced influence of British cuisine. It also bears the influence of non-Cantonese Chinese traditions (especially)Fujian, Hakka, Shanghainese, and Teochew); Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean, and various Southeast Asian cooking traditions, owing to migration from elsewhere in China, the island’s geographic location, and its importance as a port of international commerce.
In Hong Kong cuisine, typical items include dumplings, roast goose, congee with pork and century egg, chicken feet, egg tarts, sticky rice, clay pot rice, steamed fish or shrimp, &c. Eating dim sum (點心) at yum cha (飲茶) is a popular activity — although Americans widely refer to the meal and experience themselves as dim sum, as in “going to dim sum.” I often find Western-influenced dishes to be at least as interesting as indigenous ones and Hong Kong’s western-style dishes are no exception, including as they do dishes like macaroni in broth with fried egg and sausage, Hong Kong Style Borscht, Swiss sauce chicken wings, and “Western Toast” (西多士).
In Hong Kong, food is sold from a variety of food outlets including street carts, tiny food stalls, specialty shops, bakeries, fast food chains, Hong Kong-style cafés (茶餐廳 or “cha chaan teng”), and proper restaurants. In Los Angeles, however, Hongkonger restaurants are usually restaurants although there are a few cha chaan teng as well.
Considering how many Hongkongers live in Los Angeles, then, it may come as somewhat of a surprise that there aren’t more Hong Kong-style restaurants and cafés but part of that is probably owed to the fact that most Hongkonger immigrants are relatively wealthy and are more likely to work in professional fields than they are to open restaurants. That doesn’t, however, mean that there aren’t some great local Hongkonger restaurants. One of my favorite restaurants, period, is JJ Hong Kong Café in Monterey Park. Another cha chaan teng is Delicious Food Corner 原味店 — which is one of Los Angeles’s only Hongkonger restaurant chains — having expanded since its founding in 2008 (also in Montery Park) to its expansion into four locations. Perhaps the oldest of Los Angeles’s Hongkonger chains is Sam Woo, the first location of which was founded in Chinatown in 1979 and has since expanded to Canada.
Other Hong Kong-style restaurants and cafés (or restaurants which include Hong Kong-style dishes on their menus) include Alice’s Kitchen, Baccali Cafe & Rotisserie, Bao Dim Sum House, The Bay Café, E A T Bistro, E&J Yummy Kitchen, East Garden Restaurant, Henry’s Cuisine, Ho Kee Cafe, Hong Kong, Hong Kong BBQ Restaurant, Hong Kong Bowl & LA Fried Chicken, Hong Kong Café, Hong Kong Collection, Hong Kong Express, Hong Kong Restaurant, Pearl River Deli, Premier Dessert Art 尚品甜艺, U2 Cafe & BBQ, Wei’s Cuisine Kitchen, and Yardbird.
Hong Kong was occupied by the Empire of Japan from December 1941 until August 1945. At the same time, unrest from the Chinese Civil War compelled many mainland Chinese to resettle there as refugees — especially after 1949, when the Communists conquered all of mainland China. However, the decade that followed was stable and prosperous, as the economy rapidly industrialized. The media branded Hong Kong (along with Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan) the “Asian Tigers (or Dragons) on account of their ferocious economic growth.
In 1967, a labor dispute grew into large scale clashes between the pro-British and pro-Beijing forces. Striking workers were in some cases beaten to death by the colonial police force and, at the same time, several pro-Beijing journalists were murdered. One result of the 1967 Hong Kong riots was that left-wing schools were closed and leftist publications were silenced. Another was a wave of emigration out of the colony known as the Hong Kong Mass Migration Wave.
In contrast with earlier Chinese immigrants (nearly half of whom returned to China before the passage of a number of racist, anti-Chinese ordinances halted Chinese immigration) immigrants from Hong Kong, like those from Taiwan before them, tended to be middle and upper-middle-class professionals and business people. Another contrast drawn with “boat people” — the poor, mostly Vietnamese Southeast Asian refugees who fled their countries in small, cramped boats. Taiwanese and Hongkonger immigrants, on the other hand, were therefore sometimes described as “yacht people.” By the end of the 1970s, there were roughly 80,000 Hong Kong-born residents of the US.
Many Hongkongers settled in the San Gabriel Valley suburbs whilst others opened businesses in the established Chinatowns of Manhattan, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. One such business was the Hong Kong Café, which opened at 425 Gin Ling Way in 1979. It rivaled another Chinatown music venue, Madame Wong’s, run by Shanghainese American Esther Wong. Both venues were famous for hosting emerging new wave and punk acts and Hong Kong Café featured performances from the Weirdos, the Go-Go’s, the Germs, X, Bags, the Alley Cats, Catholic Discipline, the Mau-Mau’s, Nervous Gender, Middle Class, theSmart Pills, Dred Scott, Black Flag, and others. It was also featured in Penelope Spheeris’s documentary, The Decline of Western Civilization, which was released shortly before Hong Kong Café closed, in 1981. Christy Shigekawa is currently working on a documentary about the Hong Kong Café and would like you to contact her if you have memories of it.
In 1984, the British and Chinese ratified the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which declared that Hong Kong would become part of the People’s Republic of China in 1997 but that Hong Kong would retain a status as “Special Administrative Region” for 50 years after. This was enough to convince many Hongkongers to leave. That stream of migration increased after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989in China, offering to Hong Kongers a dramatic and ruthless example of how the Communist Chinese intended to deal with pro-democracy efforts. Many continued to settle in Los Angeles and Vancouver as well as the Silicon Valley of the San Francisco Bay Area. Immigration from Hong Kong to the US grew to an estimated 219,231 as of 2012. Of those, about 44% lived in California.
Unlike most other Chinese, language fluency is less of an impediment to assimilation for Hongkongers, with more than 90% of immigrants from Hong Kong already fluent in English. 70% of Hongkonger immigrants, too, are classified as skilled workers — a fact which in part accounts for why fewer Hongkongers choose to live in the US than in other countries — specifically Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Taiwan. In fact, only 2.9% of recently polled Hongkongers describe the US as a desirable place to live. In other words, while the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the H5N1 avian flu outbreak, the 2003 SARS epidemic, anti-democratic crackdowns, and large scale protests all compel Hongkongers to move elsewhere, the US is near the bottom of the list thanks to a worsening epidemic of gun violence, a pathetic healthcare system, pitiable mass transit, and a president who repeatedly makes a point of stoking racist and nativist hostility against immigrants.
HONG KONG-HOLLYWOOD
Hong Kong was deemed a suitably exotic setting for Hollywood films at least as early as 1941’s They Met in Bombay. It was really only after the Chinese takeover of the mainland, however, that Hong Kong became a frequent setting for Hollywood films, including Hong Kong (1952) starred former California governor, Ronald Reagan. Other Hollywood films that featured Hong Kong include Macao (1952), Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), Flight to Hong Kong (1956), Hong Kong Affair (1958), Hong Kong Confidential (1958), The World of Suzie Wong (1960), Road to Hong Kong (1962), Lord Jim (1965), and Gambit (1966).
TELEVISION
Hong Kong and Hollywood’s television connections are fewer but worth noting. In 1960 and ’61, ABC aired the 26-episode series, Hong Kong. That the series, filmed in Hollywood and Hong Kong, co-starred two white men will surprise no one remotely familiar with Hollywood history. It did, however, feature many Chinese American actors. Some even had recurring appearances, including actors Gerald Jann, Mai Ting Sing, Lawrence Ung, Allen Jung, Clarence Lung, Peter Chong, Beulah Quo, Aki Aleong, Harold Fong, James Hong, Jane Chang, Kam Tong, Leonard Strong, Richard Loo, Tommy Lee, and Victor Sen Yung.
After that one has to jump ahead to the 1970s for more Hong Kong-influenced television, when Hanna-Barbera produced the animated Hong Kong Phooey about a dog named Penrod “Penry” Pooch who works as a janitor at a police station. Secretly, however, Pooch is a crime-fighting kung fu master. Pooch was voiced by Scatman Crothers. Hong Kong Phooey’s uniform, a red karategi appears to be Japanese. In fact, aside from the title, there’s no not much suggestion at all of connection to Hong Kong beyond Hong Kong Phooey’s copy of The Hong Kong Kung Fu Book of Tricks, which was most likely produced in Hong Kong.
In 1998, comedic Hong Kong action star and director Sammo Hung began starring in Martial Law as a police officer from Shanghai who joins the LAPD with co-stars Kelly Hu and Arsenio Hall. It was executive produced and occasionally directed by Stanley Tong, another veteran Hong Kong film director who came to Hollywood where he was hired to direct the live-action adaptation of Mr. Magoo. Unlike most Hongkongers, Hung didn’t speak English and apparently learned what few lines he delivered phonetically. The result, not surprisingly, was rather stiff although when his martial arts skills were on display it was occasionally enjoyable.
HONGKONGER CINEMAS OF LOS ANGELES
By the mid-1960s, audiences were less interested in Hollywood depictions of Hong Kong than they were of Hong Kong-made films. Chinese-language films, mostly from Hong Kong, began to be commonly screened in Chinatown and elsewhere Downtown. The first local cinema to screen Hong Kong films likely, was the King Hing Theater (designed by Gilbert L. Leong), which began doing so in 1962 and also showcased Cantonese opera performances. The Cinemaland Theater was reborn as the Hong Kong film showcase, the Royal Pagoda Theatre. The Alpine Theater, an old vaudeville theater, became the similar Kim Sing Theater. Sometime after 1965, the Japanese film-screening New Linda Lea Theatre was purchased by Chinese businessman who’d opened the original Linda Lea and he began screening Kung Fu movies. In the 1970s, the Brooklyn, Cameo, Carson Twin, Palace, Roxie, Wiltern, and others began showing kung fu films alongside grindhouse fair like horror and sexploitation films. Most of the Chinese-language cinemas and grindhouses closed down in the 1980s, when those sorts of movies migrated to cable television and home video. King Hing’s owner, Sik Wah Lew, donated many of his Golden Age Hong Kong films to the UCLA Film and TV Archive.
Hong Kong’s cinema, although long popular around the world, developed relatively late. Before the Japanese occupation, Hongkongers were mostly treated to films made in Shanghai. After the communists came to power in 1949, film-making was severely restricted and Hong Kong filled the void by producing not just Cantonese but Mandarin, Hokkein, and Teochew-language films. At its peak, Hong Kong’s motion picture industry was the third-largest in the world, thanks mainly to its crowd-pleasing comedies and kung fu films.
JACKIE CHAN
In 1979, comedic kung fu star Jackie Chan came to Los Angeles before heading to Texas to film The Big Brawl, (殺手壕), a Hong Kong-Hollywood co-production designed to be Chan’s American breakthrough. In Los Angeles, he befriended Taiwanese superstar Teresa Teng, then living here with her brother. Although it underperformed, it led to a small role for Chan in Cannonball Run. Chan married another Taiwanese entertainer, Joan Lin, in Los Angeles in 1982. The day after their marriage, Lin gave birth to Jaycee Chan, who later went on to pursue a career in acting and singing.
In 1985, Chan returned to the US (New York City this time) to film The Protector (威龍猛探) but he wouldn’t find mainstream success until 1995’s Rumble in the Bronx (filmed in Vancouver). Chan, of course, went on to act in numerous Hollywood films, most notably Rush Hourand Rush Hour 2, both filmed mostly in Los Angeles and Hong Kong — (skip Rush Hour 3). Los Angeles Chinatown restaurant Foo Chow still bears the message on its exterior “A best seller movie by Jackie Chan Rush Hour was shot here.”
BRUCE LEE
Perhaps the only kung fu film star bigger than Jackie Chan was Bruce Lee, who was also briefly an Angeleno. Lee was born in San Francisco in 1940. His first film role was in 1941’s Golden Gate Girl, directed by Esther Eng, an American filmmaker who made Cantonese language films for Joseph Sunn Jue and Moon Kwan‘s San Francisco-based Grandview Film Company, which made the first Cantonese film shot color White Powder and Neon Lights(dir. Wong Hock Sing, 1941). Lee grew up in Kowloon, however, and returned to the US for school in the 1950s. He moved to Los Angeles in 1966 to appear in the television series, The Green Hornet. He also established a martial arts studio, the third location of his Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, in 1967. Bruce Lee died on 20 July 1973 in Hong Kong at the age of 32. On the 40th anniversary of his death, a two-meter bronze statue of the star was installed in Chinatown’s Central Plaza.
Picture of Bruce Lee statue in Los Angeles Chinatown (Image: Bill Cook)
Hong Kong Cinema continued to flourish in the 1980s and ’90s and any film lover with taste will recognize the brilliance of the best work by the likes of Johnnie To, Maggie Cheung, Stephen Chow, and Wong Kar-wai. There was a period when a few giant directors of Hong Kong worked in Hollywood — although in no instances did they produce their best work under America’s creatively stifling studio system.
First was John Woo — director of masterpieces like A Better Tomorrow (英雄本色), The Killer (喋血雙雄), Bullet in the Head (喋血街頭), and Hard Boiled(辣手神探). For all of his triumphs, his first Hollywood job would be to make a film about a mullet-sporting Jean Claude van Damme. It would be followed by a film co-starring John Travolta and Christian Slater. Face/Off, however, was utterly brilliant — despite what you may’ve heard or even thought. Mission: Impossible 2 (like most of that series) was serviceable if largely forgettable. Like most people, I didn’t see Windtalkers, and like even more, I don’t even recall Paycheck, after which Woo moved to China. I haven’t seen any of his films since MI:2 but my sister loves the epic Red Cliff.
Even though Woo’s Hollywood films were a mixed bag, they opened the door for other Hong Kong filmmakers — who were tasked with greater challenges. Ringo Lam was paired with Jean-Claude Van Damme for Maximum Risk. For Tsui Hark, van Damme was not enough and the Hong Kong veteran was additionally saddled with basketball player Dennis Rodman (possibly the better actor) in Double Team. I remember getting stoned and watching it — but I think even in that state I was too bored to finish it. The best Hong Kong-Hollywood crossover might’ve been The Replacement Killers, which paired Chow Yun-fat with Mira Sorvino and was directed by American director Antoine Fuqua. Despite being a fan of all involved, I never got around to watching it.
Los Angeles has been home to a number of Hongkonger film figures, actually — too many, in fact, to explore in-depth here, including Alan Chang, April Hong, BD Wong, Brandon Lee, Byron Mann, Elizabeth Sung, Evan C. Kim, George Kee Cheung, Ginny Tiu, James Hong, Jim Lau, Kelvin Shum, Kevin Cheng Ka-wing, Kevin Leung, Nancy “Ka Shen” Kwan, Ran Zhang, Samson Fu, Tzi Ma, and Winnie Wong.
HONG KONGER ANGELENO MUSIC
The music of Hong Kong is a mixture of traditional and popular genres. Cantonese opera (粵劇) is one of the major categories in Chinese opera, having originated in Guangdong sometime before the late 13th century. Under the British, western Classical music was popular from the 1890s until the rock era. A Cantonese version, Jyut Jyu Si Doi Kuk (粵語時代曲, literally “songs of the era”), produced some decent tunes in the 1950s and ’60s.
Frankly, though, as someone who loves tons of pop produced anywhere between the 1930s until the 1980s, I’m at a bit of a loss as to why I don’t enjoy more of Hong Kong’s music of that fifty-year period. I like a lot of music from the first few decades of Jenny Tseng‘s career. The term “Cantorock” was coined in 1974, the same years Cantonese became an official language in Hong Kong, finally giving it equal legal status with English. I’m not sure how big Cantorock was but the 1980s were dominated by Cantopop, much of which was as slick, soulless, and boring as commercial pop music of anywhere else (although I appreciate some of Faye Wong‘s stuff). Scrappier pop bands have always been of more interest to me and Hong Kong has produced a few of those that I know of including at17, the Marshmallow Kisses, my little airport, and the Pancakes.
Los Angeles is home, or has been home, to several musicians with roots in Hong Kong. One of the first of note was Lui Tsun-Yuen (呂振原), a composer, performer, and teacher of Chinese classical music who played a large part in introducing Western audiences. Lui was born in 1931 in Shanghai but moved to Hong Kong in 1954. In 1957 he moved to Brazil and afterward moved to the US. He recorded for the label Lyrichord and as part of a Las Vegas revue called Oriental Holiday. In 1961, Lui began teaching Chinese music, classical dance, and opera for UCLA’s Department of Ethnomusicology and Systematic Musicology. In 1968, he was chosen by the Doors to open for them at the Forum in Inglewood. He died in January 2008.
Christopher Wong Won — aka “Fresh Kid Ice” and “The Chinaman” — was a Chinese Trinidadian-American rapper and pioneer of bass music. Both of his grandmothers were black but he was also of Hongkonger heritage. In 1984, whilst stationed at March Air Reserve Base in the Inland Empire, he formed the group, 2 Live Crew. While 2 Live Crew may be notorious for their exploitive lyrics and videos, they started out relatively “positive” with electrofunk songs like “The Revelation” and “2 Live Beat Box.” Then they moved to Miami and teamed up with Luke Skyywalker and the rest is booty bass history.
Hong Kong’s sports culture is sometimes said to be heavily influenced by its long occupation under the British — although western sports like football (which some argue was invented in China), bicycling, badminton, ping pong, pool, swimming, volleyball, and basketball (a Canadian invention, of course) are widely popular throughout China. At the same time, indigenous sports like martial arts and dragon boat racing remain popular.
There are several well-known athletes of Hong Kong familial origin. American gymnast Amy Chow was born to a father from Shanghai and a mother from Hong Kong. Professional baseball player Vance Worley also has a Hong Kong-born mother. The most famous living Hong Konger American athlete, though is probably Michelle Kwan, widely considered one of the greatest ice skaters of all time.
Kwan was born in Torrance to two immigrants from Hong Kong. Her siblings Ron Kwan and Karen Kwan were skaters before her — Ron an ice hockey player and Karen a figure skater. Michelle won five World Figure Skating Championships. She opened an ice skating rink, East West Ice Palace, in Artesia in 2005. She retired from professional skating in 2006.
HONGKONG ART & HONGKONGER ANGELENO ARTISTS
Under British rule, Hong Kong’s art scene was initially characterized by British-run organizations and a preference for western art. That began to change after World War II, when art colleges began to train Hongkonger artists who then began to produce works in contemporary styles. In the 1960s, a series of innovative art exhibitions featured many artists who moved away from the naturalistic landscape paintings favored by their forebears to establish a tradition that, despite exhibiting greater abstraction that was then in vogue in the West, was also uniquely reflective of its Hong Kong origins. Artists emblematic of this synthesis include Hon Chi Fun, Lui Shou Kwan, Luis Chan, Wucious Wong, and many others. Los Angeles, too, has been home to artists with roots in Hong Kong including Anlan Huang, Jëff Yoika (Jeffrey Ng), Kristi Hoi, Po Yan Leung, Sophie Cheung, Stephy So, Vanessa Holyoak, and Yumi Tsang.
HONGKONGER LOS ANGELES MEDIA
Hong Kong’s second-largest newspaper Sing Tao Daily(星島日報) established a facility in Alhambra in 1989, one of its nine overseas bureaus. Established in 1938, it maintained a pro-British Hong Kong and Kuomintang political alignment. However, since the handover of Hong Kong to China, it has shifted its stance to a pro-Beijing Communist one. Censorship, naturally, was increased and journalists who didn’t quit were instructed to avoid covering politically sensitive topics and to reduce investigative journalism in favor of “soft news.”
Pasadena’s 1430 KMRB (“MRB” stands for “Multicultural Radio Broadcasting”) began its 24-hour-per-day Cantonese broadcast in 1999. Most of the programming is talk radio but there are music programs too, including DJ 上山小麥’s 鋒尚音樂 (“Top Music”), DJs 梁少芯 and 文千歲‘s 千連芯戲曲雅集, 何可晴’s 流金歲月 (“Golden Years”) (a program focused on Jyut Jyu Si Doi Kuk and Cantopop from the 1960s-1990s), 蘇娜’s 音樂人生 (“Music and Life”), and my favorite, the Cantonese Opera that airs Monday 20:00-22:00, Friday 6:00-7:00, and Saturday 8:00-9:00.
More recently, URadioXEWW (690 AM) has begun broadcasting in Mandarin and Cantonese from a facility within Irwindale. In August 2018, the station was purchased by Hong Kong-based television network Phoenix TV which was enough to trigger Marco Rubio who warned that it would be used to disseminate CCP propaganda.
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
Los Angeles is home to the largest Korean community anywhere outside of Korea — a distinction it has held since at least since 1979. Metro Los Angeles is home to the enclaves of Koreatown (the world’s first) andLittle Seoul— as well as the communities with large Korean populations like Windsor Square, Miracle Mile, Larchmont, Hancock Park, Cerritos, La Palma, La Mirada, La Crescenta-Montrose, La Cañada Flintridge, Buena Park, Fullerton, Torrance, Gardena, Irvine, Little Tokyo, and Garden Grove.
KOREAN-AMERICANS AND ANGELENOS
Almost all Korean Americans are from South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea) — roughly 99%. A combined 1% come from North Korea, Yanbian, Kazakhstan, and elsewhere. Excluding West Asians, they comprise the fifth largest population of Asian Americans. In Los Angeles, they are the third-largest population of Asian Americans, following Chinese (including Taiwanese and Hongkongers) and Filipinos; the third-largest population of foreign born Asians (after Taiwanese and Vietnamese); and Korean is the third-most spoken Asian language after Chinese and Tagalog. In neighboring Orange County, Koreans are the second largest Asian ethnic group after Vietnamese.
Growing up as I did in the Upper South in the 1980s, I don’t remember any Koreans and I had almost no awareness of Korean culture. Aside from school lessons on the Korean War, I suppose I first became aware of Koreans in relationship to tensions between them and the black community. The first Rated R film I snuck into was Do The Right Thing. I remember when Steve Park joined the cast of In Living Color. And then the Los Angeles Riots happened, in which Koreans — for reasons then less clear to me — bore the brunt of hostility. It’s not as if, however, any of that really provided a deeper understanding of Korean culture and I still didn’t know that the corner market at which I did much of my shopping was Korean. My Asian Civilizations course barely touched on Korea and when I went to the town’s only Korean restaurant, I invariably ordered the vegetarian yakisoba.
Six years later I visited Los Angeles for the first time. My Angeleno friends took me to the usual tourist traps: the Walk of Fame, the Sunset Strip, the Venice Boardwalk, and all that. I was most interested, on the other hand, in the urban mountains, the walkable neighborhoods, the ethnic enclaves — none more-so than Koreatown. I was taken to Chinatown, Little Ethiopia, Little Tokyo, and Thai Town — but my friends continually skipped Koreatown, which I gazed at in curiosity from behind their car windows. They assured me that there was “nothing there for us” — and so, at the first opportunity, I spent the day there by myself, experiencing what turned out to be Los Angeles’s most vibrant neighborhood.
A 2003 flyer from Par Avion when it went to Seoul
It’s hard to underestimate how unfamiliar most non-Koreans were with Korean culture until Hallyu, or “the Korean Wave.” The was a club, launched in 2000, called Par Avion which was billed as a global indie pop night. It was even organized by a guy who billed himself as “DJ Soju” and flyers frequently featured Hangul writing — but (aside from a trip to Seoul), the Asian music played was nearly always from Shibuya–kei like The Aprils, Motocompo, Pizzicato Five, Plus-Tech Squeeze Box, and Takako Minekawa.
Korean cinema, too, was much less popular amongst non-Koreans. In the 1990s, Japanese horror developed a cult following and Korean horror films like Whispering Corridors, Wishing Stairs, and A Tale of Two Sisters appealed, by and large, to the same audience. The Korean blockbuster, Shiri, released in Korea in 1999, finally made its way to Los Angeles in 2002 and did just OK at the local box office. By then, though, there was a small but growing audience for Korean blockbusters like Joint Security Area (공동경비구역 JSA) and My Sassy Girl (엽기적인 그녀) which sold well on import DVDs.
It was Oldboy (올드보이), however, that blew the doors wide open for a larger Angeleno audience, even though it took two years to cross the Pacific, finally making its way ashore in 2005. Bong Joon-ho‘s The Host (괴물) took only a year to make its way to the US. Its 2009 follow-up, Mother (마더), was released the same year in both Korea and Los Angeles. I was lucky enough to see it at the recently-demolished Bing Theater, sat next to Korean man whom I couldn’t help but notice didn’t react to the film’s shocks and horrors. Afterward, he walked up onto the stage and was introduced as the director.
K-Pop, although the most obvious example of the ascendence of Korean pop culture, is at the opposite end of the spectrum from Korean cinema. K-Pop is slick, simplistic, presumably generated by algorithms and produced in factories. Korean cinema, on the other hand — at least the films which are recognized and respected abroad — are often ambiguous, challenging, and created by idiosyncratic directors like Kim Ki-duk (김기덕), Lee Chang-dong (이창동), and Hong Sang-soo (홍상수). Somewhere in the middle, it seems, are Korean dramas which are also often the products of a single auteur and yet are (in my admittedly limited experience) invariably quite commercial. I don’t know which was the first to really attract a large international following although I remember Dae Jang Geum (2003) being quite a phenomenon and later, series like Coffee Prince (커피프린스 1호점) and Boys Over Flowers (꽃보다 남자).
Korean-Angeleno culture, too, though, has had its own “hallyu” of sorts. Korean Los Angeles includes, now, numerous globally-recognized actors, comedians, musicians, and other entertainers. Koreatown, for its part, is much less likely to be shunned today than it was twenty years ago by Angelenos playing tour guide to visiting friends — and most of those visitors will no doubt know of and want to visit it anyway. If further proof of the rise of Korean Los Angeles is necessary, know this… there are today kimchi taco trucks on the streets of far off places locales like New York City.
EARLY KOREAN CALIFORNIA
Ahn Chang Ho, Kap Suk Cho, and other workers at Riverside orange orchard, c. 1905. Image: Collection of the Korean American Digital Archive, University of Southern California.
Although there were a few Korean who earlier came to the US, Korean American history begins in earnest around 1903, when roughly 100 Koreans came to work on the sugar plantations of Hawai’i. Soon after, many of those Koreans left the territory to try their chances in the US, arriving alongside even more from the Korean Empire mostly via the Port of San Francisco. By 1905, there was a Korean community of about 60-70 established in Riverside‘s Pachappa Camp, where that year the Korean Mutual Assistance Association (KMAA) was established. By 1906, there were roughly sixty Koreans living in Los Angeles County.
Ahn Chang-ho (안창호, also known by his pen name, Dosan) moved with his wife Heyryon “Helen” Lee to Riverside in 1904. There he worked in the orange groves of the Inland Empire and taught Korean migrants. After the Great Freeze of 1913, whichdevastated citrus groves, Ahn and his family relocated to Los Angeles, first setting in the Crown Hill neighborhood and then Bunker Hill. There, his home served as the location of Hungsadan, or the Young Korean Academy — a focal point for the emerging community.
Dosan returned to Asia to fight against the Japanese, departing from San Pedro on the SS Sonoma. He would never see his family again. First, he was arrested by the occupational forces in 1932. After his release, he was again imprisoned in 1937. He died in Seoul in 1938.
Statue of Do-San Ahn Chang-Ho — in the Main Street Pedestrian Mall of Riverside, California. Image: David Scriven
In 1937, Ahn’s surviving family — Helen Ahn and their children Philip, Philson, Ralph, Soorah, and Susan — moved to a home near the intersection of 34th Street and McClintockAvenue where they remained until 1946 and which during that time served as a meeting place for Korean independence activists. In 1966, the home was moved to its current location where it was restored by the University of Southern California, who maintain it as theUSC Korean Studies Institute.
The intersection of Jefferson Boulevard and Van Buren Place was designated “Dosan Ahn Chang Ho Square” sometime before 1999. Downtown Riverside’s Dosan Ahn Chang-Ho Memorial was dedicated in 2001.
KOREAN CHURCHES & HOUSES OF WORSHIP
It’s hard to overstate the importance of churches and other houses of worship to immigrants and refugees and Koreans are hardly an exception. The US and the Joseon Dynasty established diplomatic relations in 1882 and American Protestant missionaries began converting Koreans in 1884. Today, the majority of Koreans are not religious and Christians account for about 27.6% of the population. Korean Americans, on the other hand, are overwhelmingly Christian and of the 70-80% who identify as such, although interestingly some 40% converted to the religion after immigrating to the US.
Churches offer not just religious instruction, of course, but also an opportunity for social interaction as well as language instruction, financial aid, and other community resources. There are a lot of Korean churches in Los Angeles. Korean Christians, like all of the best Christians, have a propensity for yelling through megaphones which render their messages both extremely unpleasant and utterly unintelligible. When I worked in Hollywood, a convertible van full of congregants used to tote a life-sized cross up and down Sunset Boulevard — which I guess is possibly what Jesus would’ve wanted.
Although myself not religious, I’m a fan of architecture and thus a fan of Los Angele’s many mid-century churches, Spanish Colonial chapels, and stunning cathedrals, which more often than not, seem to conduct their services in either Spanish, Tagalog, or Korean. Several of the most memorable weddings I’ve attended have involved Koreans and taken places in beautiful churches like the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles and Wilshire United Methodist Church.
In 1904, Missionary Florence Sherman established the Korean Methodist Episcopal Mission in what’s now Downtown’s South Park neighborhood. The first pastor was Hugh Cyn and the congregation numbered about 25. In 1911, the pastor returned to Korea. By then, the church had moved from its original location (long ago demolished). The Korean Methodist Church finally purchased a permanent home, the former Swedish Lutheran Church, in 1945.
There were also, by then, several other Korean churches, including the Korean Mission in Bunker Hill. The second location of the Korean Methodist Episcopal Mission closed in 1912. The Methodist and Presbyterian congregations merged into the Korean Presbyterian Church under Reverend Chan-ho Min, who remained there until 1919 when he returned to Hawaiʻi to pastor a new church.
The Korean Free Church was established in 1926. In 1930, it became the Methodist Episcopal Church, South after merging with the Methodist Episcopal Church. It moved into its first permanent location in 1945. It moved to its current location in 1960.
Korean Philadelphia Presbyterian Church, formerly Temple Sinai East, 401-407 S. New Hampshire Ave., in Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles. Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #91. Image: Downtowngal
The Berendo Street Baptist Church was established by Reverend Dong-Myung Kim and his wife Ee-Sook “Esther” Ahn in 1957. It moved in 1964 into a new church (now home to Korean Evangelical Nah Sung) and again, in 1977, to its current location in Koreatown. The Oriental Mission Church moved into a former East Hollywood supermarket in 1975. In 1976, the the Korean Philadelphia Presbyterian Church took over the former synagogue of Temple Sinai East (City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 91). The Korean Church of Southern California. The Korean Church of Southern California was located in Westside Village by 1977. By the early 1980s, Young Nak Church (then in Wilshire Vista) andOriental Mission Church each had thousands of members.
KOREAN NEWSPAPERS & MEDIA
Media is also important in nurturing and maintaining community. In the case of newspapers, radio, and television — it was homegrown Korean American institutions which preceded the arrival of imports from Korea.
The first Korean American newspaper, Korean American Herald (Miju Shin-Mun), was founded in 1909 from offices near what’s today Koreatown. The second, Korean American Times (Puk Mi Sibo), was established in Westlake. Dong-A Il Bo was founded in Oxford Square. From 1943 until 1952, the communist, The Korean Independence News, was published from offices in Old Koreatown. The Korea Herald, an English-language newspaper founded in Korea in 1953, opened a Los Angeles branch office in Sunset Junctions in 1973.
By 1977, the Korean Broadcasting Company, Korean TV Productions, MBC, TBC TV & Joong Ang Il Bo were all in operation in Los Angeles. The Koreatown Weekly, the first Korean American newspaper printed in English, was founded by Kyung Won “K.W.” Lee. It was founded in 1979. By 1981, it had moved down the street. It ceased publication in 1984. Korean television networks KBS and SBSalso established bureaus in Los Angeles.
In 1990, the Korean American magazine, KoreAm, was founded by Jung Shig Ryu and James Ryu. Journalist Jimmy Lee served as the managing editor from 1999 – 2007. It cease print publication in 2015 but continued to publishe online out of an operation overseen by James Ryu and editor Julie Ha. In 2018, it changed its focus to a Pan-Asian American one and changed the name to Kore. It also began publishing a print version once again, overseen by editor-in-chief Serena Kim although it, too, appears to have ceased.
Today, Korean stations are especially prominent on AM Radio, where Korean language stations are only outnumbered by those in Spanish and English. They’re represented by AM 1990 KGBN (Korean Gospel Broadcasting), AM 1230KYPA (Radio JBC Korean), AM 1540 KMPC (Radio Korea), and AM 1650 KFOX (Radio Seoul).
Los Angeles has been to several Korean Angeleno journalists and broadcasters including reporters K. Connie Kang, Corina Knoll, Jeong Park, and Jo Kwon; Angry Asian Man founder Phil Yu; and news anchors Suzie Suh, Julie Chang, Rachel Kim, Richard Choi, and Sophia Choi. At least one Los Angeles-born journalist, Jenny Jo (Cho) ended up moving to Korea to work as an anchor there.
Korean Immigration to Los Angeles slowed considerably in 1910, when the Empire of Japan formally annexed Korea and restricted migration. Koreans already living in Los Angeles, however, were energized by Japan’s annexation. As early as 1912, the San Francisco-based Korean National Association (KNA) opened a branch in Downtown Los Angeles. Highly heterogeneous Bunker Hill supported the Korean Mission and several Korean markets.
CHAI YOUNG HONG & KOREAN-ANGELENO COMEDY
The first Korean Angeleno entertainer to reach a significant non-Korean audience may have been comedian Chai Young Hong. Hong was born in Yangsan on 26 November 1885 and arrived in Hawaiʻi via steamer on 9 December 1904. He later moved to Los Angeles where he found work as a bellhop at the Los Angles’s then-most glamorous hotel, the Alexandria.
In 1918, he appeared in his first film, The Blind Pig, in which he played “the Chinese Man.” That Hong was Korean, not Chinese, seemed an apparent triviality and he was marketed by the L-KO Kompany as “Charlie of the Orient — the only Chinese in comedies” and nicknamed “the Chinese Charlie Chaplin. At L-KO, he starred in numerous “Charlie” comedies, his final being An Oriental Romeo, released in 1919 (the year L-KO folded).
Hong’s career never approached the heights of fame of longevity as his Anglo-American inspiration. Hong’s last starring role was in 1920’s Over the Ocean Waves. After that, he appeared in films for a few more years, ultimately amassing 22 credits by 1922. By 1925, he was working as a valet for “male vamp” star, Lew Cody. He later moved to Manhattan where, as Chester Hong, he worked in a restaurant and during World War II served as a cook aboard the SS Thomas Lynch. He died 4 January 1946 in Manhattan.
As he died in obscurity, he was not a likely inspiration for any of the Korean Angeleno comedians who rose decades later. The first who comes to mind is Johnny Yune, who began his stand-up career in New York City in 1964 but who later lived and performed in Los Angeles. In 1977, he was invited to appear on the Tonight Show, which he ultimately did 34 times. In 1989 and ’90, he hosted a late night talk show in Korea, 자니윤쇼 (The Johnny Yune Show).
Knoxville-born Henry Cho began a long career in stand-up in 1986 and has lived on and off in Los Angeles. San Francisco-born Margaret Cho began her comedy career in the early 1990s and later moved to Los Angeles and starred in the landmark television series, All American Girl. Other prominent Korean Angeleno comedians and comedy writers include Bobby Lee, Daniel Chun, Dr. Ken, Fred Armisen, Jane Kim, Lenny Shelton, Markiplier, and Suzanne Whang.
BIRTH OF KOREAN MARKETS
Korean Angelenos have long associations with markets — everything from small corner stores up to sprawling, almost mall-like, grocery stores. Locally, Korean’s relationship with the food industry begins with the earliest immigrants, most of whom worked as field workers, truck drivers, and gardeners. Agricultural workers in the Central Valley, Inland Empire, and elsewhere in turn established relationships with wholesalers and groceries in Los Angeles.
One of the earliest wholesale grocer was Benjamin N. Kim, who operated at stall at City Market, which had then only been open for two years. and was owned a cooperative of Chinese, Japanese, and white farmers. K&S Company (also known as K&S Jobbers) was another wholesalers at City Market, founded in 1925 by Youse (also spelled Yong-jeung and Young) Kim and Chull “Leo” Song. K&S notably sold Legrand nectarine, a new variety of the fruit developed by Fred Anderson and distributed from the Kim Brothers nursery, operated by Harry Kim and Charles H. Kim. Leo Song later was a leader of of the Dong Ji Hoi or Comrade Society, a Korean independence organization founded by Syngman Rhee. In 1926, Peter Hyun founded Oriental Food Products of California in South Los Angeles’s South Park neighborhood, a wholesaler that specialized in supplying Asian restaurants. They also produced a line of products under the label “Jan-U-Wine.”
As mentioned earlier, Korean grocery stores are often more like shopping centers than most non-Korean markets as they often share space with numerous restaurants (or “grocerants” if you’re into industry jargon) and other businesses. They also, by extension, tend to be the anchors of Korean malls. Sometimes, as with the California Market (aka Gaju Market and 가주마켓) on Western Avenue, it’s almost impossible to make meaningful distinction between market and mall.
Zion Market in Koreatown
There are several Korean grocery stores and chains today. They include Arirang Supermarket (aka AR Supermart), Hankook Market (aka HK Market), established in 1975; Zion Market, established inSan Diego in 1979; California Market , established by Richard Rhee in 1987; Plaza Market (established in 1988); Hannam (established in 1988); Galleria Market (an offshoot of Hankook Market launched in 2001); Lotte (which expanded from Korea to the Us in 2006); H-Mart (established in Queens in 1982 and expanded to Los Angeles County in 2007), Little Tokyo Marketplace (formerly known as Woori Market, established in 2009), Seoul Market, and Valley Seoul Market.
Pendersleigh & Sons Cartography’s Map of Koreatown and its malls
There are almost too many Korean malls and shopping centers in Metro Los Angeles to count (most are in Koreatown or Little Seoul). One of the most significant in terms of size and age is Koreatown Plaza – 코리아 타운 플라자, in Koreatown, that opened in 1987. The hangar-like Koreatown Galleria – 코리아타운 갤러리아, just down the street, opened in 2001. Surely one of the strangest is IB Plaza – IB 플라자, which is an Art Deco building from the 1930s that was repurposed into a Korean mall some time ago. One of the hippest is also one of the newest, Madang Mall – 마당몰, built in 2010. Others of note include Arirang Galleria, Brookhurst North Shopping Center, Chung Ki Wa Plaza – 청기와 플라자, City Center on 6th – 시티 센터 온 6th, Cosmos Village, Garden Grove Shopping Center, Gilbert Plaza, Hanmi Plaza, Ka-Ju Plaza, Korea Plaza, Koreaone Plaza, Koreatown Mall, Lux Plaza, New Seoul Plaza, Newland Plaza, Newton Plaza, Vermont Plaza, and Western Shopping Center.
THE RISE OF OLD KOREATOWN
In 1920, the Korean population of Los Angeles proper was still just 89. The annexation of Korea by Japan had ended most immigration from the US although some picture brides came to Los Angeles through arranged marriages until the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924, which specifically banned the immigration of Asian to the US. The Korean population of Los Angeles continued to grow, however, both through births and the migration of Koreans from the Central Valley, Hawaiʻi, Riverside, San Francisco, and elsewhere.
Many early Korean Angelenos had lived in and around Bunker Hill but it was never a predominantly Korean area. In fact, the once tony neighborhood that originally been home to many of the city’s white Protestant upper class was increasingly home to poor and working class Latinos, Native Americans, Filipinos, and others who lived, in many cases, in the neighborhood’s stately but subdivided Victorian mansions.
The Korean Angeleno community began to shift to the area west of USC, part of an annexation known as the University Addition that had in 1899 added 1134 acres of territory in the city’s southwest. West Adams, as it came to be known, was an area where racial housing covenants that determined where non-white protestants could and couldn’t live were less strictly enforced. The neighborhood may also have appealed to Koreans because of its proximity to the Methodist affiliated USC and in 1926, the Methodist Korean Free Church opened its doors in Old Koreatown. Other Korean congregations followed, and several met in the neighborhood’s numerous, established black churches before finding permanent homes.
In addition to the churches, West Adams was also a suburb, which might not seem appealing to you or me but is to others. One should never underestimate appeal of detached homes, fallow grass lawns, and two car garages for aspiring suburbanites of any ethnicity — and the Korean enclave in West Adams had those and precious little else.
By 1930, the population of Korean Angelenos had reached about 320. During the Great Depression, local Koreans operated produce stands, grocery stores, laundry businesses, trucking companies, wholesalers, Chinese restaurants, herb shops, hat shops, and more.
Korean Independence Memorial Building, 1368 W. Jefferson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA (HCM #548) Image: Los Angeles
The KNA opened a Los Angeles branch in 1937 that found a permanent home in Old Koreatown in 1938. From its offices it published a political paper, The New Korea. Over the years, it also hosted the printers of the Shin Han Min Bo newspaper, the Korean Women’s Patriotic League, and the United Korean Committee. In 1991, it was designated City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 548 as “the Korean Independence Memorial Building.”
PHILIP AHN & KOREAN-ANGELENO FILM FIGURES
One of Chang-ho Ahn’s children, Philip Ahn, was notable for several reasons. Born on 29 March 1905, in Highland Park, he was likely the very first American-born Korean. As an adult, he became the first really well-known Korean-American actor in Hollywood. In high school, he visited the set of The Thief of Baghdad. Its star, Douglas Fairbanks, offered him a role in the film — which his mother refused. While a student at USC, however, he acted in the play Merrily We Roll Along, which toured the US.
Ahn’s film career began inauspiously, if typically, for Asian American film actors of that era — playing, uncredited, an unnamed Chinese waiter. The film was Desirable, released in 1934. However, it was only a year later that he had his first credited role, as Wu Ting in A Scream in the Night. Dozens of small roles followed during which he usually played Chinese or Japanese villains.
Ahn served in the military during World War II before being discharged due to an ankle injury, after which he returned to Hollywood. He acted in many more films, plays, and television series — one of his most prominent roles was as Master Kan on the series Kung Fu, which ran from 1972-1975. In 1954, Ahn and his sister Soorah opened Moongate Restaurant, a Chinese restaurant which lasted until 1990. He died on 28 February 1978. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984 and was the first Korean American to be inducted — although not the last.
Acting roles in Hollywood for Asian Americans were then — and still are, really — pretty limited. Theater has been, perhaps, a bit more open to Asian representation. The nation’s oldest Asian American theater company, East West Players, was founded in Silver Lake in 1965. Among its founders was Korean Angeleno actor Soon-Tek Oh. Oh went on to create a Korean American theater ensemble, Society of Heritage Performers, in 1995. In 1999, it evolved into Lodestone Theatre Ensemble — which, sadly, ended its run in 2009.
The cultural exchange between Korea and Korean Los Angeles sometimes makes its way into films. Korean director Chang Kil-soo‘s Koreatown-set film Western Avenue, was released in 1993. Conversely, Korean Angeleno actor Steve Yuen appeared in Bong Joon-ho’s 2017 film, Okja. Korean multiplex chain CJCGV주식회사 has local locations in Koreatown and Buena Park (and offices in the Miracle Mile). It screens both Korean and Hollywood films. The Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, screens Korean films (for free).
WORLD WAR II & ITS AFTERMATH
On 7 and 8 December 1941, Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service struck American military bases in the occupied territories of Hawaiʻi and the Philippines. Koreans were understandably quick to mobilize against the Japanese — as, it should be mentioned, were many Japanese Americans and Captain Young-oak Kim was put in charge of a unit of Japanese American soldiers. A National Guard unit of 109 Koreans called Tiger Brigade included within its ranks Chang-ho Ahn’s son, Philson. Ralph Ahn joined the Navy, as did Susan, who as lieutenant was the first Korean American woman in the US military.
On 29 August 1942, the “Day of Hope” was observed for which a parade of Chinese, Filipino, andKorean infantrymen marched from Pershing Square to City Hall where Frank Lee sang the Korean national anthem as the Taegukgi was hoisted on a flagpole. Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945, bringing about an end to both their decades-long occupation of Korea and the six-year-long world war.
With the establishment of the Republic of Korea in 1948, the Korean independence movement ended. Many Korean Angelenos who’d come to Los Angeles as students or pastors returned to Korea. Whui Sik Min was appointed the consul general of the republic’s new consulate in Los Angeles.
THE END OF RACIAL HOUSING COVENANTSAND OLD KOREATOWN
In 1947, a dentist named Yin Kim and his wife bought a house in Country Club Park, a neighborhood where racial housing covenants were then strictly enforced. They were served with an injunction to vacate which they challenged in court. The following year, in another case (Shelley v. Kraemer), the US Supreme Court ruled that the discriminatory practice was unconstitutional. An unintended side effect of desegregation was the erasure of many communities which had until then been segregated. Blacks moved out of South Central, Jews out of Brooklyn Heights, and Koreans out of Old Koreatown, and none of those enclaves today bear more than faint traces of their ethnic pasts.
SAMMY LEE & KOREAN-ANGELENO ATHLETES
Los Angeles is, or has been, home to many Korean American athletes, including golfersAngela Park, Anthony Kim, David Lipsky, Kevin Na, and John Huh; gridiron footballersJohn Lee, Marcus Demps, Will Demps, and Younghoe Koo; baseball players Darwin Barney, Hank Conger, Rob Refsnyder, and Terrmel Sledge; wrestlersCameron, Jimmy Yang, and Mia Kim; hockey players Jim Paek and Richard Park; martial artists Han Bong-soo and Kwon Tae-man; ice skater Naomi Nari Nam; skateboarderDaewon Song; snowboarderChloe Kim; and tennis player Kevin Kim.
Sammy Lee, 1944. Image: USC Libraries – Los Angeles Examiner Collection.
Who is the best known, I cannot say because even though I enjoy playing sports, I almost never derive enjoyment from watching others do so — certainly not enough to follow the careers of athletes. That said, it’s probably a safe bet to state that Sammy Leeis one of the most famous Korean American athletes Los Angeles has ever produced. The Lee family, presided over by Eunkee Chun and Soonkey Rhee, lived in Highland Park where they also managed a grocery store and restaurant.
The celebrated swimmer and diver learned to swim at Brookside Park pool in Pasadena, which then had just one day a week in which non-white swimmers were allowed to use the pool (it was drained the day after). He did his first somersault dive at a Highland Park pool in 1932. Lee snuck in practices at the Los Angeles Swimming Stadium in Exposition Park when he caught the attention of Jim Ryan, who became his coach. In 1942, he won the national championship in platform and three-meter springboard diving. In 1948, Sammy Lee won a gold medal at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. He won another gold and a bronze in the 1952 games.
THE KOREAN WAR AND THE SECOND MIGRATION WAVE
The Korean War erupted on 25 June 1950. The primary belligerents were North and South Korea but it was also a proxy war with the former backed by China and the USSR and the latter backed by their Cold War enemies in the UN. In Los Angeles, there was reported tension between supporters of Syngman Rhee’s republic and the communist north. Some Korean Angelenos made their way to the Korean Peninsula via communist Czechoslovakia to fight for the North.
Nearly 5 million died in the Korean War, including about 40,000 Americans (more than 100,000 were wounded). An armistice was signed on 27 July 1953. The Korean peninsula was afterward divided by the Korean Demilitarized Zone. The Immigration and Nationality Act (also known as the McCarren-Walter Act) was passed in 1952 and allowed for the resumption of immigration from some Asian countries, including South Korea. War brides, refugees, and children orphaned by the conflict became the first Korean immigrants to the US since the passage of the the Immigration Act of 1924. This second Korean immigration wave was much bigger than the first and from 1950 through 1965, about 14,000 Koreans immigrated to the US.
DAVID HYUN AND KOREAN-ANGELENO ARCHITECTS
One of the immigrants in the second wave was Ki Suh Park, who was born in in Seoul in 1932 and who came to the US in 1953 to study architecture at East Los Angeles College. He earned his bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley in 1957 and a graduate degree in architecture and city planning from MIT. In 1961, he was hired at Gruen Associates and he became a partner there in 1972 and a managing partner in 1981. In 1984, he and Joon Nam Yang developed Koreatown Plaza. Park died in 2013.
Another prominent Korean Angeleno architect was David Hyun. Hyun was born in Korea in 1917. His father, Reverend Soon Hyun, was active in the Korean resistance and the family fled to Shanghai, where they lived for five years before relocating to Hawaiʻi. Hyun graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1940, with degrees in math and physics. Hyun, his wife Mary, and their children David and Than moved to Los Angeles in 1947 where Hyun studied architecture at USC whilst working as a janitor.
David Hyun and his family look at a globe, circa 1950, Los Angeles Image: Charlotta Bass / California Eagle Photograph Collection, Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, Los Angeles
Hyun also continued working as a union organizer, something he’d done begun in Hawaii. This — and the fact that his father had strongly criticized American-backed dictator, Syngman Rhee — led to Hyun’s being labeled a “dangerous alien” and in 1949 the Hyuns were detained on Terminal Island on charges of violating the Alien Registration Act. The Los Angeles Civil Rights Congress, the Los Angeles Committee for Protection of the Foreign Born, fellow architects and members of the Korean American community successfully organized to prevent his and his family’s deportation.
In 1958 the US government again designated him an undesirable, this time charging him with violating the McCarran Internal Security Act. Again, organized resistance prevented the Hyuns’ deportation. Hyun founded his own firm, David Hyun Associates, Inc. in Glendale in 1953. Hyun designed several beautiful modernist homes including the Lawrence Segal House (Los Feliz, 1955), the Tapelband Residence (Silver Lake, 1957), the Haddad Residence (1958), his own Residence (west San Fernando Valley, 1960), the McTernan House (Los Feliz, 1960), the home at 300 South Rossmore (Hancock Park, 1961), and the Nisser Residence (Downey).
In 1961, Hyun formed a partnership with Richard Whitney — Hyun & Whitney. His most famous project was likely the Community Redevelopment Agency‘s “revitalization” of Little Tokyo. The Japanese Village Plaza and Yagura Fire Tower were designed by Hyun in 1978. He, presumably, had also planned to use them in the design of Korea City, a project designed by Koreatown developer, Gene Kim, in the mid-1970s but which never came to fruition. David Hyun died in 2012, a year after his wife.
Nic Cha Kimwears many hats including activist, reporter, documentarian, and playwright. He also founded Los Angeles’s Gallery Row in 2003 with Kjell Hagen — which led to the Dowtown LA Art Walk, which has taken place since 2009. Kim was born in Lakewood and raised in Arcadia. Another key development in Los Angeles’s arts scene was the establishment ofperformance art venueHuman Resources by Eric and Kathleen Kim in Chinatown in 2010.
ALFRED SONG & KOREAN-ANGELENO POLITICIANS
In 1960, Alfred Song was elected to the city council of Monterey Park, making him the first Korean to serve on a city council in Los Angeles County. Song was born to plantation workers in Hawaiʻi and came to Los Angeles to attend USC. After enlisting in the Air Force during World War II, he entered law school and in 1964 had a law office in Downtown. In 1962, he was elected to State Assembly and in 1966 to the State Senate.
Elected office isn’t, of course, the only way to engage in politics and over the years, Korean Angelenos have organized numerous civic and cultural organizations. In 1961, the Korean Chamber of Commerce was organized under Frank Ahn. In 1962, Charles Yoon founded the American Korean Civic Organization. The Korean Association of Southern California (KASC) was also organized in 1962 with partial funding from the Korean Consulate General. In 1963, the old Danish Hall reopened as the Korean Community Center after it was purchased by the locally prominent Leo Song, Ho “Charles” Kim, Won-yong “Warren” Kim, and Hyung-soon. The KASC moved to a new location in 1972 and later, its current location which has also been home to the Korean American Community Center, which also housed the Korean Chamber of Commerce, the Korean Students Association of Southern California, and the Korean Trader’s Association of America. In the mid-1980s, the KASC was renamed the Korean American Federation. More recently, Jae Hwan Lim founded Humans of North Korea. Although neither specifically nor strictly a Korean organization, K-Town for All deserves to be singled out for serving some of the most vulnerable residents of Koreatown, its unhoused population.
KOREA HOUSE AND KOREAN-ANGELENO CUISINE
Korean Angelenos had been in the restaurant business at least since the 1920s although for decades most operated restaurants that served American Chinese or Cantonese cuisine. There are still a lot of Korean-owned restaurants that serve Chinese cuisine — and in recent years — Japanese, too, but Korean cuisine has existed on the Los Angeles restaurant scene since 1965.
The first restaurant to serve Korean cuisine was Korea House, established by Francis Lewe in Old Koreatown as early as 1963. Around 1970, it relocated to a spot in Downtown Hollywood, where it was run by Rocky Gunn and Henry Lu. The second Korean restaurant, Madame Lee’s, was established by a Korean couple in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood in 1965.
Although perhaps tailored to American tastes, for decades afterward, Los Angeles’s Korean restaurants presumably served a fairly unadulterated of Korean food. The first significant development in Korean-Angeleno cuisine likely occurred when local cooks began combining Korean-style grilled meat and Kimchi with Mexican items like burritos and tacos. Korean-Mexican fusion restaurants existed at least as early as 1996, when 2424 Pico in Santa Monica began serving Korean fillings in lettuce wraps.
In 2008, Caroline Shin and Mark Manguera opened the Kogi Korean BBQ food truck, with chief chef Roy Choi at the helm. By 2011, the fleet of food trucks had grown to five. From 2014-2015, there was a location in LAX. In 2016, it expanded into brick-and-mortar with Kogi Taqueria. Today, there are several Korean-Mexican fusion restaurants, including BALAM Mexican Kitchen, Cha Cha Chili, Gogobop Korean Rice Bar, Kimchichanga, and Maru Pit Stop.
If the mash-up seems at all strange, consider that Korean emigration to Mexico began at the exact same time as it did to the US and that Mexico City‘s Pequeño Seúl is home to thousands of Koreans. Of course, Mexican cuisine is also perhaps the most obvious cuisine in Los Angeles to fuse with Korean. Personally, I’m waiting for Korean-Salvadoran fusion. Someone make kimchi-topped pupusas or curtido-topped pajeon happen, please!
Frozen yogurt was invented in the 1970s and, for years, had no obvious connection to Korean culture. For reasons unclear to me, however, there was an explosion of Korean-owned frozen yogurt cafés. The catalyst seems to have been Pinkberry, which was established in West Hollywood by Shelly Hwang and Young Lee in 2005. In 2006, Phillip Chang opened the first Yogurtland in Fullerton. Daniel J. Kim opened the first Red Mango in 2007. In 2008, Solomon Choi opened the first 16 Handles in New York City, representing, in my view, the outward expansion of Korean-related froyo from Los Angeles. By 2009, there were seemingly hundreds of competitors and all seemed to have long lines. As with any food fad, however, it died down although there are still plenty of places to get frozen yogurt in Los Angeles.
As the capital of Korean America, its not really that surprising that Korean cuisine, Korean-Mexican Fusion, and Frozen Yogurt all conquered the country from Los Angeles — following the lead of Mexican and Thai cuisines (Los Angeles is also the capital of Mexican and Thai America, after all). As such, there are far too many Korean restaurants to name here but a couple of the most respected, established, and/or beloved include All That Barbecue,Cham Sut Gol, Eight, Haejangchon, Han Yang, Hangari Kalguksu,I Can BBQ, Incheonwon BBQ House, Mhat, Mo Ran Gak, Ong Ga Nae, and Seoul Garden.
While there are numerous Korea-based restaurant, bakery, and cafés with locations in Los Angeles (e.g. Café Bora, Caffé Bene, Café De Paris, Kang Ho-Dong Baekjeong, Nipong Naepong, Paris Baguette,Sul & Beans, Tom n Toms, and Tous Les Jours), there are also several Korean-American restaurant and café chains that I know of (aside from the aforementioned froyo joints or Korean-owned Taiwanese bubble tea house, Boba Loca) born in Los Angeles. Two of the oldest are BCD Tofu House, founded in Koreatown in 1996 by by Hee Sook Lee, and Young Dong, also founded in Koreatown in 1996, albeit by Ho Bin and Jun Suk Choi. Kaju Soft Tofu Restaurant – 가주순두부, I believe, began in Little Seoul in 1994. There’s also Gen Korean BBQ House and Genwa, I’m not actually sure when or where Love Letter Pizza & Chicken started. Anyone?
I feel compelled as a vegetarian of more than thirty years to address the fact that Korean food is not especially vegetarian friendly — especially Los Angeles Korean food. In fact, it was easier to find vegetarian Korean food when I visited Seoul a few years ago than in Los Angeles. There are, however, vegetarian Korean options available — although not necessarily the ones a non-Asian might expect. Many westerners think of items like tofu, seitan, and tempeh as meat substitutes eaten only by vegetarians and therefore might wrongly assume that tofu houses and soon tofu stew are vegetarian when in fact, they almost never are.
There are a couple of locally-produced vegan Korean items available in local markets, however. Dave’s Gourmet Korean Food is sold at numerous local farmers’ markets, and includes a number of delicious products. Souzai-Ya, founded in 2011, makes pre-made vegan Japanese but currently makes two vegan Korean products — bibimbapandjapchae — that are stocked at several grocery stores. An increasing number of Korean restaurants, too, have vegetarian options so the days when vegetarians had to forage through banchan whilst their friends gorge themselves on gogigui are fewer now than before.
한과채 (a vegan restaurant in Seoul)
There’s also always booze. For many Koreans, drinking and eating go hand-in-hand. There’s even a term, anju, for food meant to be consumed with alcohol. Koreans are often stereotyped as big drinkers — especially by other Asians. It is true that Koreans consumer more alcohol per capita than any other Asian people but in the world, their ranking is only 17th and that 26 of the 30 booziest nations are European.
Drinking expired magkeolli (does it really go bad?)
The best known Korean alcohol is soju although there are supposedly more than 1,000 types of alcoholic beverages distilled or brewed from fruits and rice. For my money, makgeolli is the best although I’ve only found it at one Korean bar whereas soju and Korean macrobrews (i.e. Cass, Hite, and OB) are ubiquitous. Koreans also have all sorts of establishments in which to drink (in addition to the restaurants), including booking clubs, hostess bars, nightclubs, noraebang, &c… but weirdly, most of my favorites are sports bars like Biergarten, OB Bear, Jug Jug Sports Bar & Restaurant, and the Prince because even though most, if not all, have televisions, they’re comparitively relaxed. Frank N Hanks and the HMS Bounty are nice too — but although in Koreatown aren’t especially Korean.
Further Reading on Korean Angeleno Cuisine
Discovering Korean Cuisine: Recipes from the Best Korean Restaurants in Los Angeles by Allisa Park, 2007
L.A. Son: My Life, My City, My Food by Roy Choi, Tien Nguyen, and Natasha Phan, 2013
Eating Korean in America: Gastronomic Ethnography of Authenticity by Sonia Ryang, 2015
Seoul Food: Short Stories of a Korean American Living in Los Angeles by Sarai Koo, 2019
IMMIGRATION ACT AND HEAVY-CHEMICAL INDUSTRY DRIVE
With the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (enacted in 1968) Koreans became one of the fastest growing Asian groups in the United States, surpassed only by Filipinos. 1969 Asian American Studies Center established at University of California, Los Angeles. The Heavy-Chemical Industry Drive (HCI) was an economic development plan enacted in the 1970s under the regime of right wing South Korean dictator Park Chung-hee. By the early 1970s, the numbers increased dramatically with over 30,000 Korean immigrants entering the U.S. alone in 1976. Those who came to the U.S. as part of the third wave were predominantly well-educated and skilled workers, in contrast with the first wave. Many, though, were unable to transfer those credentials or immediately overcome the language barrier. Instead, many pursued goods-and services-based economic opportunities, such as small business ownership of grocery stores, dry cleaners, tailors, and restaurants
THE RISE OF NEW KOREATOWN& HI DUK LEE
The final segment of the Santa Monica Freeway opened on 5 January 1966. By then, white flight had hollowed out much of Central Los Angeles and the freeway slicing a cancerous cut through West Adams that would effectively wall off South Los Angeles. Not only did the construction of the freeway displace thousands of Angelenos and fill the air around it with noise and pollution, it also effectively killed the nearby commercial corridors by removing traffic from them and sticking them onto an interstate freeway.
Korean Youth Center in 1975
With rents depressed, the area north of the 10 was primed for reinvestment and the Koreatown Development Association (KDA) helped establish a new Koreatown centered along Olympic Boulevard. In 1974, the KDA organized the Korean Street Festival to promote the area and city’s Korean population. The Los Angeles Korean Festival Foundation still organizes it to this day. The Koreatown Youth Center was established in 1975. In 1978, after lobbying by the KDA and its then-president, Hi-duk Lee, the city conferred honorary recognition of the area as Koreatown.
Hi Duk Lee and Kil Ja in Germany. Image: the Lee Family
No one person deserves more credit as the father of Koreatown than Hi Duk Lee. When he died in 2019, however, his passing went unaknowledged until weeks later the media began to recognize his significance. Lee was born 29 July 1939 in Korea. He graduated from Chungnam National University with a degree in chemistry in 1961. In 1965, he emigrated to Switzerland, where he studied hotel and business management for a year before relocating to West Germany. There he found work as a miner andmet his future wife, Kil Ja.
Olympic Market in Koreatown in 1971
Lee moved to Los Angeles in 1968 and initially got a job in a can factory. He was soon joined by Kil Ja, whom he married, and in 1971 the couple opened Olympic Market. Lee purchased the building in 1974 and began dreaming of creating a tourist-and-immigrant-friendly Korean enclave along the lines of Chinatown. First Lee invested in a Chinese-Korean-Japanese shopping center planned for Downtown Hollywood that was to have been named Oriental Village. In 1975, as director of the Koreatown Development Association (as well as the Koreatown Chamber of Commerce and the Korean-American Friendship Association), Lee approached Mayor Tom Bradley hoping to get political support for his dream.
V.I.P. Palace – 영빈광, now Guelaguetza
With the support of the mayor but little from Korean entrepreneurs, Lee opened V.I.P. Palace (영빈광), a restaurant that served Mandarin and Korean Cuisine as well as sushi.
Koreatown founder Gene Kim (center) with LA Mayor Tom Bradley (left) as the Grand Marshal of the Korean Parade and LA County Supervisor James Hahn as the Honorary Grand Marshal in 1975. Image: Gene Kim
Another developer who shared Lee’s vision of a stylized Koreatown was Gene Kim (who is also sometimes referred to as the “Father of Koreatown”). Kim hired David Hyun to design a project to have been named Korea City but it was never completed and Hyun next went on in 1978 to instead design Little Tokyo Plaza which, as with Hyun’s hanok-inspired family residence, are conspciously topped with the blue, ceramic roof tiles that one usually associates with Korean architecture.
In 1979, Lee’s V.I.P. Plaza opened, a two-story shopping center topped (naturally) with blue ceramic tiles. By 1979, however, Los Angeles was home to an estimated 170,000 Koreans, the largest population of Koreans outside of Korea — and many Korean entrepreneurs were succeding from within buildings of unaltered appearance except for signs in Hangul — without concern for the aesthetic expectations of tourists. It may not much resemble Lee’s vision but it looks more than a little like modern-day Busan.
One of the orginal three Koreatown signs
In 1980, Tom Bradley and city councilman John Ferraro had three Koreatown signs installed along Olmypic Bouelvard, although no paperwork was done and the move was therefore largely symbolic. In 1982, Lee accompanied Tom Bradley, the Korean consul, and a few state officials to oversee the installation of another Koreatown sign, this time on the 10 Freeway‘s Normandie Boulevard exit. Lee was apparently disillusioned, however, and sold his properties later that year and moved to South Africa and then China, learning the tea trade and writing a 520-page memoir.
Today, roughly a third of Koreatown’s population is Asian and Korea remained, at least in 2000, the most common foreign placed of birth — edging out Mexico by about 5%. Lee quietly returned to Los Angeles with his family in 2002, settled in Silver Lake, and opened a nursery called Echo Garden. Koreatown belatedly received official recognition from the city on 20 August 2010 and the LADOT installed blue “Koreatown” signs in streets that reflected Koreatown’s spread from Olympic Boulevard north to Third Street.
KOREAN BELL OF FRIENDSHIP
Koreatown is Los Angeles’s most densely populated neighborhood, most populous neighborhood, and its most vibrant. Koreatown also remains indisputably the commercial and cultural center of Korean Los Angeles even as growing numbers of Los Angeles County Koreans today favor the suburbs of the South Bayandthe Verdugos. One of the most obvious icons of the Harbor Area and South Bay is the Korean Bell of Friendship (우정의 종), a massive bronze bell and stone pavilion in Angels Gate Park that was modeled on the Divine Bell of King Seongdeok the Great of Silla and dedicated on 3 October 1976 in recognition of the US’s bicentennial and to honor veterans of the Korean War. In 1978, it was designated City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 187.
A more somber icon is the Peace Monument of Glendale, a statue that commemorates the women employed as sex slaves for Japanese troops during the latter’s long occupation of the former. In 2007, the US House of Representatives issued a resolution which urged the Japanese government to accept responsibility for its wartime crimes. The bronze statue, dedicated in 2018, is located in Glendale’s Central Park.
THE KOREAN CULTURAL CENTER, LOS ANGELES
The Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles (KCCLA) opened in a former bank building in the Miracle Mile neighborhood in 1980 with the goald of promoting Korean heritage. It’s operated by the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. To this end, it screens free Korean films, hosts Korean and Korean American art exhibitions, music, and other performing arts. It also holds seminars and Korean language, art, and music classes. I have seen some terrible films there and some absolutely amazing ones (one of my favorites was Rough Cut (영화는 영화다)) and sometimes there are pastries and coffee.
LITTLE SEOUL & KOREAN ORANGE COUNTY
Pendersleigh & Sons Cartography’s map of Little Seoul
According to the 2010 census, there were then 93,710 Koreans living in Orange County, making it home to the second largest population of Koreans in any county after Los Angeles. While many prefer suburbs like La Palma, Buena Park, and Fullerton; Orange County, like Los Angeles, has its own official Korean commercial and cultural enclave, known officially as Garden Grove’s Korean Business District Garden Grove but colloquially as Little Seoul.
The Koreanization of a 3.5 kilometer stretch of Garden Grove Boulevard mirrored the transformation of Olympic into Koreatown, 50 kilometers north. In 1965, construction of the Garden Grove Freeway began, another intracommunity interstate that predictably directly displaced residents along its path, impelled many of those who lived near its pollution to move away, and killed much of the business along what had been Garden Grove’s primary thoroughfare. The boulevard supported several strip clubs, adult video stores, and seedy motels when ambitious Korean entrepreneurs began to transform it. As with Koreatown, it began with the establishment of a Korean market. In 1980, a reporter from the Los Angeles Times described Gardel Grove Boulevard as a “bustling corridor of Korean markets, restaurants, and other enterprises.” The character remains very suburban, however, compared to Koreatown, with few buildings except the rusting, incomplete Garden Grove Galleria topping two stories and the landscape dominated by vast parking lots flanking an overly wide street.
KOREAN LOS ANGELES IN THE 1980s
In the 1980s, Koreans were noted for establishing small businesses like dry cleaners and convenience stores. The latter were often operated in neighborhoods in which few Koreans lived and were viewed by some in the communities they served as exploitive. Tensions were exacerbated by the repeated characterization within sectors of the mainstream media of Koreans as a “model minority” — that is, one whose members were assumed to their role racial hierarchy without fuss and whose customers were primarily less successful not because of centuries of exploitation and disinvestment but lack of comparable work ethic. Relationships were likely further fragmented by the fact that Koreans — coming from one of the most racially homogenous states in the world — found themselves tasked with making lives for themselves with only a rudimentary understanding of the racial dynamics of their new home — or even the language.
BLACK KOREA & SA-I-GU
The Los Angeles Riots erupted on 29 April 1992, the afternoon that four white LAPD officers were acquitted in the brutal beating of a black motorist, Rodney King, despite its having been videotaped.
Much of the violence that followed was directed at Koreans. Roughly 40% of looted businesses were Korean-owned. and they came to refer to the event as “Sa-I-Gu” or “four two nine.” This was hardly coincidental. Two weeks after the filmed attack on Rodney King, a fifteen-year-old child named Latasha Harlins had been shot and killed by Soon Ja Du (두순자), a 51-year-old Korean shopkeep at Empire Market. As with Rodney King’s beating, it had been caught on video and broadcast over and over by the local news.
There were already tensions between the black and Korean communities. The subject was was brought to center stage in 1990, when Sonny Carson led a six-month the Flatbush boycott in which participating black Brooklynites avoided Korean-owned shops. In October, Ice Cube released Death Certificate, which included a song, “Black Korea. In November, the jury found Du guilty of manslaughter, a crime which carried a maximum sentence of sixteen years. Judge Joyce Karlin decided instead, however, to charge Du with a $500 fine and sentence her to five years of probation and 400 hours of community service. Although the riots erupted six months later, many felt that the murder of Harlins was a contributing factor.
During the riots, 2,383 Angelenos were injured and 63 died. Some 3,600 fires were set, destroying 1,100 buildings. Material losses approached 1 billion. On the second day of rioting, the LAPD and other law enforcement agencies retreated from Koreatown, leaving inhabitants and business owners to fend for themselves. In the ensuing chaos, eighteen-year-old Edward Song Lee was killed by “friendly fire” whilst protecting a pizza shop. The media acknowledge the toll on Korean Americans which, for much of the country, was probably the first significant collective acknowledgment of that culture since the “conclusion” of the Korean War.
A crowd of more than a thousand rallied in Los Angeles on May 2, 1992, calling for healing between Koreans and the African-American community. (Image: David Longstreath)
The television series, All-American Girl, debuted on 14 September 1994. It was significant for several reasons. One, it was the first American television series with an entirely Asian American starring cast since 1972’s The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan— and that had been a cartoon for which the Asian American voice actors were re-cast and re-dubbed soon after its debut my a mostly white cast.
All-American Girl was also the first television series to star a Korean-American, in its case, actress/comedian Margaret Cho (although her television family members were portrayed by actors of Korean, Japanese, Hongkonger, and mixed race backgrounds). Although a milestone for Korean American representation, it was not especially loved by audiences or Cho, who later revealed that the producers had pushed her to lose thirty pounds and that ABC had hired a consultant to teach the Asian American star how to act “more Asian.” It ran for nineteen episodes, ending on 15 March 1995.
For years after, the networks were reluctant to air anything with a predominantly Asian American cast. In 2002, pilots were taped for The Chang Family Saves The World and I Got You, neither of which were picked up. Canadian-American coproductions like Martial Law, Ni Hao, Kai-Lan, and the Canadian Relic Hunter proved to be willing to represent Asians. In the US, following the success of MTV‘s A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, Margaret Cho returned with her own reality series, VH1‘s The Cho Show.
In reality, however, it was on YouTube rather than television networks that aspiring Asian American actors found a more receptive audience, with series like K-Town Cowboys (2010), Mythomania (2011), Koreatown (2012), Car Discussing with Sung Kang (2012), Baby Mentalist (2013), and Roll Models (2013) offering exposure to Korean Angeleno entertainers. At least one had been turned down by television networks after the producers had refused requests to add white characters to the cast.
The networks seem to have belatedly hired more Asian American actors with Korean Angelenos featured in starring rolls on Hawaii Five-O (2010), Sullivan & Son (2012), Selfie (2014), Dr. Ken (2015), and Fresh Off the Boat (2015).
Of course, Hawaii Five-O — the earliest of these shows to bank on the draw of Asian American actors — lost face and more than a few viewers when Korean Angeleno stars Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park left after learning that their white co-stars were earning more money than them despite both being the most famous cast members. Perhaps no better example of American network’s discovery of Korean culture exists than Conan O’Brien’s discovery that he apparently has a fairly rabid following there.
KOREAN ANGELENO MUSIC
Nowadays, Korean music is almost synonymous in the minds of many with so-called “K-Pop,” the commercial pop music associated with boy and girl bands comprised of shiny-faced youths who dance and sing but almost never play instruments and apparently have no input writing the songs or, for that matter, choosing what to wear or who they date.
There is, of course, more to Korean music than that and when re-issue label Light in the Attic Records rereleased Kim Jung Mi (김정미)’s 1973 album, Now, it turned a few psych-heads onto Kim and songwriter Shin Joong Hyun (신중현). Also worth exploring, for fans of pop with a bit more personality, is Korea’s indie pop scene.
There are even Angelenos who work or have worked in K-Pop, including Bo-kyung “Stephanie” Kim, Brian Joo, Ellison “Eli” Kyong Jae Kim, Eric Mun, Jae Park, Jay Park, Johan Kim, Joon Park, Lena Park, Soon-gyu“Sunny” Lee, Sun-ho “Andy” Lee, Megan Lee, Nicole Jung, Samuel Kim Arredondo, Taebin, Teddy Park, Tiffany Hwang, Tiger JK, and Yoo Seung-jun. I see no reason, however, to misrepresent myself as a K-Pop fan, however, and the time I went to Gangnam, it was to seeLinus’ Blanket, not Psy.
Most Korean Angelenos pursuing a career in music seem to have arisen lately — perhaps Hallyu has made a career in showbiz seem less risky than in the past. Immigrants of all backgrounds aren’t exactly known for encouraging their children to hang all of their dreams on pop stardom. That said, learning an instrument has been something many immigrants have valued for generations. It therefore shouldn’t perhaps be such a surprise that the first Korean band in the US was formed over a century ago… and yet it was to me.
As early as 1916, a group of students who’d fled Japanese-occupied Korea as refugees formed the straightforwardly named Korean Band at their school in Claremont. They also formed a clubhouse — although it closed in 1917. The band was formed by pianist and composer Donald Young GakKang, who’d also organized a Korean band in Dinuba, California. In the 1920s, Kang moved back to Hawaiʻi.
KOREAN ANGELENOWRITERS
Korea has a well established literary tradition dating back at least 1,500 years. For much of its literary history, the bulk of that literature consisted of various forms of poetry written in Chinese characters. Since the beginning of the 20th Century, however, Korea has produced numerous Korean novels and short stories. It was only in the mid-1970s that Korean literature began on occasion to be translated into English and in the 1980s, a small but growing audience emerged for translated Korean literature, exemplified by popular Korean authors like Ch’oe Yun, Hwang Sok-yong, Kim In-suk,Kim Young-ha, Ko Un, O Chonghui, Park Wan-suh, Shin Kyung-sook, Yo Ko-eun, and You Jeong-jeong.
In Los Angeles, several authors of Korean background have written novels and short stories in English. I wonder how many have had there works translated into Korean or if readers in China, Japan, and Taiwan read them the way, in growing numbers, they do contemporary Korean literature. One could always learn Korean — it is spoken by roughly 200,000 Anglenos after all ( although in my experience the ease of learning the alphabet is not at all an indication of how easy it is to learn the language).
The tradition of Korean-Angeleno writing probably begins withMary Paik Lee, born in Pyongyang in 1900. Her family left the Korean Empire in 1905 and settled in Hawaiʻi. However, the racial discrimination proved unbearable and they resettled in Riverside’s Pachappa Camp in 1906. She didn’t get around to writing her memoir, Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America, until late in life. It was published in 1990, five years before she died.
Ronyoung Kim also came to publishing fairly late in life. Born in 1926, she wrote under the pen name “Gloria Hahn.” Her novel, Clay Walls, was published in 1987. She died that February and the novel, about a Korean family that flees Japanese-occupied Korea, was later nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Frankly, most of the online coverage of Korean Los Angeles has been predictably superficial, limited almost entirely to “Koreatown BBQ” listicles with the occasional day spa thrown in for good measure. The two most notable exceptions, to my mind, areColin Marshall andLisa Kwon. Marshall moved from Koreatown to Seoul a few years ago and still writes a great deal about Korea. Kwon still lives in Los Angeles and touches on aspects of Korean-Angeleno culture that are otherwise overlooked. Another exception is Kadaeのロサンゼルス K-TOWN LIFE【LAグルメとコリアタウン】, which as the title implies, is mostly about Korean-Los Angeles from the perspective of its Japanese American author, Kadae Kayo Lim.
There have been a few books and journals written about Korean Los Angeles that aren’t focused primarily on Korean Cuisine or race relations. They include:
Koreans in Los Angeles: Prospects and Promises by Eui-Young Yu, Earl H. Phillips, and Eun Sik Yang, 1982
Underemployment of Recent Asian Immigrants: Koreans in Los Angeles by Sookja Paik Kim, 1984
Residential Patterns and Mobility of Koreans in Los Angeles County by Hak-Hoon Kim, 1986
Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Koreans in Los Angeles, 1965-1982 by Ivan Light and Edna Bonacich, 1991
East to America: Korean American LifeStories by Elaine H. Kim and Eui-Young Yu, 1996
Los Angeles’s Koreatown by Katherine Yungmee Kim, 2011
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
NOTE: Around 2009, I wrote a bunch of music biographies for Amoeba Music, which was then planning an ambitious project which ultimately never came to fruition. Some of the biographies I wrote did make their way onto Amoeba’s current, scaled back website — although they’re somewhat buried and often don’t credit the authors. A lot of time was spent researching and writing them, though, and Amoeba may not be around forever; therefore I’m re-posting them here with minimal updates or editing.
Man Parrish (center) with Joey Arias and Boy Adrian
Man Parrish was one of the earliest figures in hip-hop to compellingly make a case for the producer as artist in a genre more where most credit, traditionally, went to the rapper. After getting his start as one of electro’s most groundbreaking composers, he segued into production, house, ambient, and DJing.
In 1981, he scored John Gage’s Handsome. Living in Manhattan, Parrish was approached by Klaus Nomi, then a performer in New Wave Vaudeville to collaborate on the his debut. The result was the frightening “Nomi Chant.” After scoring another porno,John Gage’s Heatstroke, Parrish was surprised to hear the theme song being DJed at a club. After he inquired as to who the DJ obtained the unreleased piece, Parrish was invited to come down to Importe/12 Records and sign a deal.
Soon after, Parrish and Raúl Rodríguez began recording, sharing a studio with Afrika Bambaataa, Arthur Baker, and John Robie. A friendly rivalry arose and Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock” was followed closely by the release of Parrish’s mostly instrumental “Hip Hop Be Bop (Don’t Stop).” Around that time, Parrish began performing dramatically-staged shows at hip-hop clubs in the Bronx. After his tunes got picked up in Manhattan clubs like the Danceteria and the Funhouse, his stature grew and Man Parrish (1982 Polydor) (which featured Klaus Nomi on additional vocals) went on to sell over two million copies. The following year, he played live at Studio 54, with Madonna as his support act. Then, rather than capitalizing on his growing fame, however, Parrish burned out.
When he returned to music, it was in a production faculty, working with artists including Michael Jackson, Boy George, Gloria Gaynor, and The Village People (for whom he was also a road manager). After the music he wrote for an intended follow-up went unreleased, Elektra dropped Parrish in 1984. No longer producing, Parrish supported himself working as a prostitute. He returned to music in 1986, working with Mike and Paul Zone’s Hi-NRG act, Man 2 Man on the song, “Male Stripper.” That year he also scored the film, Bad Girls Dormitory.
Parrish again worked with Man 2 Man on 1987’s “I Need a Man” and released a solo EP, the ambient Brown Sugar (1987Select Records). Another fallow period followed and it wasn’t until 1992, when Parrish and Cherry Vanilla collaborated on “Techno Sex.”
Fourteen years after his groundbreaking debut, Man Parrish released The 2nd Album (1996 Hot Associated), a collection of comparatively straight forward Soul II Soul-ish dance-pop albeit with odd, gay sonic collages between several songs. Two years later he released the atmospheric, mostly ambient but occasionally beat-driven Dreamtime(1998 Hot Associated). Another Ambient-oriented work, Ambient Music for Sleep (2003 Parrish Enterprises), was his final release.
With the renewed interest of electrofunk in the late ‘90s/early ‘00s electroclash scene, demands for Parrish as a DJ arose. His Sperm night was held at the Cock Bar before moving to Club Opaline and then The Boys Room. He also DJed a weekly night, The Bad Boys Club, at Mr. Black. In a strange return to his roots, Man Parrish is also once again involved with porn, selling it on the web.
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
NOTE: Around 2009, I wrote a bunch of music biographies for Amoeba Music, which was then planning an ambitious project which ultimately never came to fruition. Some of the biographies I wrote did make their way onto Amoeba’s current, scaled back website — although they’re somewhat buried and often don’t credit the authors. A lot of time was spent researching and writing them, though, and Amoeba may not be around forever; therefore I’m re-posting them here with minimal updates or editing.
Mantronix was initially a 1980s hip hop and electro group composed of DJ Kurtis Mantronik and rapper MC Tee. After a line-up change, they became a popular house and pop-dance act. Ultimately, however, Mantronix and Kurtis Mantronik are one in the same.
Kurtis Mantronik was born Kurtis el Khaleel in Jamaica on 4 September 1965 to a Syrian father and a Jamaican mother. The family immigrated to Canada when Kurtis was seven. In 1980, the family moved to New York City. Whilst attending high school there, el Khaleel unsuccessfully tried to form and band before turning to technology in the form of a Roland TR-606 and a Roland TB-303 and rechristening himselfKurtis Mantronik.
In 1984, whilst working as the in-store DJ for Downtown Records in Manhattan, el Khaleel met MC Tee (Touré Embden), a Haitian-born, Flatbush, Brooklyn-based rapper and regular customer. The duo recorded their first song, a demo of, “Fresh Is the Word,” and eventually signed with William Socolov and Arthur Russell‘s Sleeping Bag Records.
The first single was “Needle to the Groove” b/w “Jamming On The Groove” and “Radio Groove,” was also released in 1985. It was followed by “Fresh is the Word” also released as a single in 1985. “Bassline” and “Ladies” followed in 1986.
All four singles were included on Mantronix – The Album (1985 Sleeping Bag Records), an amazing showcase for Mantronik’s poly-rhythmic, heavily synthesized take on hip-hop and MC Tee’s energetic rapping.
Whilst still signed to Sleeping Bag, Mantronik also produced other artists including Joyce Sims, Just-Ice, KRS-One, Nocera, T La Rock, and Tricky T. Mantronik also worked in A & R at Sleeping Bag and in that regard, was also responsible for signing EPMD to the label.
The follow-up, Music Madness (1986 Sleeping Bag Records), however, saw the duo moving in an increasingly dancey direction.
In 1987, Sleeping bag claimed they were owed two more albums by the group, who (after some legal wrangling) signed to Capitol. In Full Effect (1988 Capitol/EMI) was the first album to be mastered from DAT instead of reel-to-reel tape and was the duo’s biggest commercial success. However, after its release, MC Tee quit the music business and enlisted in the United States Air Force.
Mantronik met Bryce “Luvah” Wilson, a fellow Sleeping Bag Records label mate, while doing production for Luvah’s solo project in 1989. After the project was shelved, Mantronik formed new line-up of Mantronix with Wilson and Mantronik’s cousin, DJ D. The new line-up issued This Should Move Ya (1990 Capitol/EMI) which was a full-fledged house album. Singles “Got to Have Your Love” and “Take Your Time” (featuring vocalist Wondress) peeked at numbers four and ten in the UK.
For The Incredible Sound Machine (1991 Capitol/EMI), Jade Trini (full name Jade Trini Goring) replaced DJ D and seven of the eleven tracks were co-written by Angie Stone. Its unabashed mix of commercial R&B, dance-pop and New Jack Swing resulted in the group’s first critical and commercial disappointment and after a European tour the group disbanded.
Afterward, Mantronik dropped out of the music scene for the better part of a decade, resurfacing the the UK, where he intermittently produced house and techno acts. After Jade Trini found God, she settled in Connecticut. Wilson formed Groove Theory and got into production. MC Tee reportedly lives somewhere in Georgia.
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
NOTE: Around 2009, I wrote a bunch of music biographies for Amoeba Music, which was then planning an ambitious project which ultimately never came to fruition. Some of the biographies I wrote about my favorite musical acts did eventually make their way onto Amoeba’s current, scaled back website — although they’re somewhat buried and often don’t credit the authors. A lot of time was spent researching and writing them, though, and Amoeba may not be around forever; therefore I’m re-posting them here with minimal updates or editing.
The Triffidshttps://thetriffids.com/were a prolific and musically adventurous band whose mix of doomed Romanticism, folk flourishes, country touches, and the darkest of blues proved tremendously influential for a whole host of other Australian musicians. Despite rapturous praise from critics and fans, in the end fame mostly eluded them although they’ve been the subjects of several honors since their disbandment.
Though the Triffids were without a doubt a group effort, the guiding force in the band was always David McComb. David Richard McComb was born 17 February 1962 in Perth to Dr. Harold McComb, a plastic surgeon, and Dr. Athel Hockey, a geneticist — and both children of Canadian immigrants. The McComb family resided in The Cliffe, an historic home on McNeil Street in posh Peppermint Grove. David and his four older brothers attended Christ Church Grammar School in nearby Claremont. Young David was a promising student and he was awarded prizes in Divinity and English Literature.
Throughout their career, membership in the Triffids was highly amorphous but Allan MacDonald was McComb’s longest serving songwriting partner, appearing on all of the eleven albums released over the course of their fourteen year career. “Alsy” (his nickname “Alsy” came from his pronunciation of his own name as a child) was born on 14 August 1961 to Bill MacDonald, a professor of child health at University of Western Australiaand Dr. Judy Henzell, a pediatrician. Like McComb, MacDonald was also the youngest of the four children, with two older brothers and a sister. It was whilst he was attending Hollywood Senior High School in Perth that he became friends with McComb.
McComb and MacDonald began making music after being creatively energized with the arrival of punk. On 27 November 1976, McComb and MacDonald (on toy drum and acoustic guitar respectively) recorded a demo. In addition, the two formed a multi-media collective called Dalsy with a cast of fellow teens including Phil Kakulas, Andrew McGowan, Julian Douglas-Smith, Byron Sinclair, Will Akers, and Margaret Gillard. In less than a year’s time, various members of Dalsy recorded a series of cassettes, primarily consisting of original material including The Loft Tapes, Rock ‘n’ Roll Accountancy,Live at Ding Dongs, Bored Kids, Domestic Cosmos, People Are Strange Dalsy Are Stranger, Steve’s, and Pale Horse Have a Fit before splitting up in 1977.
Clockwise from upper left: The Triffids’ cassette albums: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, Tape 5, and Sixth
In 1978, most of the musical members of Dalsy reconvened as Blök Music and recorded one self-released album, Blök Music tape. In April, after an underwhelming reception at theLeederville Town Hall Punk Fest, they changed their name to Logic and then, one day later, the Triffids. Over the next couple of years, the Triffids practiced and recorded in the Cliffe. Their first album was recorded over two days in May, 1978, simply known as Triffids 1st. It was followed byTriffids2ndthat September, Triffids 3rd in February 1979, Triffids 4th in August, Tape 5 in April 1980, andSixth in 1981. By 1979, Kakulas and Sinclair had left the band and one of David’s brothers, Robert McComb, quit his band to join his brothers on guitar, violin, keyboards, percussion, and backing vocals.
By 1981, McComb was studying journalism and literature at the Western Australian Institute of Technology (now Curtin University of Technology) but continued to make music with his band. The Triffids released their first single, “Stand Up,” b/w “Farmers Never Visit Nightclubs”in July for a song competition hosted by the Student Guild’s radio show on 6NR (now Curtin FM). Alsy MacDonald wasn’t in the band for two months and thus Mark Peters filled in on drums. The Triffids won the competitions, which led to the song’s re-release the following year on the Shake Some Action compilation.
In December, the band released their first studio effort; Last Gasp (1981-Resonant Records), recorded at Mutant Mule Studios in Perth. The album was again only released on cassette and a mere fifty copies were made. At the end of 1982, the 7″ Reverie EP, drawn from the second side of Last Gasp, was released on Resonant Records.
A line-up change was necessitated when Akers was hauled off to jail on drug charges. His replacement was by an English immigrant, Martyn P. Casey, who joined in 1983. Another new member was Jill Birt, who primarily performed keyboards but also sang vocals, including lead,on some of the band’s best songs.
The Triffids — “Spanish Blue” (1982)
The band traversed the continent to the east coast with increasing
frequency and opened for The Church, Hunters & Collectors, The Uncanny X-Men, The Reels, and Sunnyboys. In Melbourne, the band recorded and released theLes Karski-produced “Spanish Blue” b/w “Twisted Brain”which was followed by the Bad Timing and Other Stories EP (1983), both of which were released through White Label Records, a subsidiary of Mushroom (and the latter of which featured Simon ‘Le Tact’ Cromack on percussion).
The Triffids followed with another self-released cassette which they sold exclusively at performances in eastern Australia, Dungeon Tape(1983). The recordings were taken from two sessions in 1981; one at Dungeon Rehearsal Studios in Sydney and another from Mutant Mule.
After having self-released seven full-length records, The Triffids finally
signed to the Sydney-based Hot Records who released their full-length, studio debut, Treeless Plain (1983) in November. It’s distinctly ragged and rural blend of rock, blues, country, and folk adumbrated subsequent efforts of countrymen like Nick Cave,Rowland S. Howard, Simon Bonney and others. Not only did it establish them them as an important band in their homeland, it also pricked up a few ears in the UK.
The Triffids — “Red Pony” (1983)
The Raining Pleasure mini-album (Hot Records) and Lawson Square Infirmary EP (Hot Records) followed in 1984 – the latter recorded in the Sydney Opera House with additional musical support provided by local musician James Paterson, who also financed the record. It was also notably the first appearance with the band of ‘Evil’ Graham Lee, who would later become a key ingredient after joining full-time.
By then based inRedfern, the band shared a run-down home whilst they attempted to save money to finance a move to London. In August they made the big move, joining a small group of critically-lauded/commercially-ignored Aussie expats – one of their earliest gigs in the UK was supporting The Go-Betweens. The press loved them and they were featured on the cover of NME, who grandiosely predicted that 1985 would be “The Year of the Triffids.” In November, the band recorded the Field of GlassEP (Hot Records) live in BBC’s Studio 5 before returning to Australia.
Back home, the Triffids re-teamed with Evil Graham Lee for a cover of William Bell’s soul classic, “You Don’t Miss Your Water (Till Your Well Runs Dry).” When they returned to the UK, Lee came along as a member. They were once again featured on the cover of NME, recorded a Peel Session (ultimately released in 1987) and toured Europe with Echo & the Bunnymen where they gained strong followings in Belgium, Greece, Ireland, The Netherlands, and in particular, Sweden. Despite these not insignificant triumphs, NME’s prophecy was not fulfilled and the band in no way threatenedthe likes of Jennifer Rush or Paul Hardcastle, whose year it could more credibly have been claimed to be, at least commercially speaking.
In 1986, the Triffids backed a pre-KLF Bill Drummond on his excellent solo album, The Man. They remained unsigned, however, when they entered the studio withGil Norton in August and recorded what many would view as their own masterpiece, Born Sandy Devotional(1986-Mushroom).
Frustrated with delays in the release of Born Sandy Devotional and the ongoing lack of label interest, the Triffids returned yet again to Australia. When Born Sandy Devotional finally saw the light of day, it was widely heralded not just as their best work but as one of the greatest albums ever. At home it reached the Top 40, in Sweden, the Top 20.
A month after the release of Born Sandy Devotional, the band entered a wool shed in Ravensthorpe with a budget of $1190 ($240 for gas, $310 for food, $340 for booze, and $300 for recording). They emerged four days later with the another classic, In the Pines (1986-White Hot), seemingly tossed off with little effort. An anthology of both album and non-album tracks recorded between 1983 and ’85 was released asLove in Bright Landscapes (1986-White Hot).
INXS’s Michael Hutchence successfully lobbied for the Triffids’ inclusion on the Australian Made tour, a touring festival which also featured Jimmy Barnes, INXS, Mental as Anything, Divinyls,Models, The Saints, and I’m Talking. It began on St. Stephen’s Day in Hobart, Tasmania and wrapped up the following January.
Afterward, the Triffids were finally picked up Island, which signed them for three records. The recording sessions took place in Bath, Liverpool, and London with an Island-appointed producer, Craig Leon. The label and Leon insisted that Casey and MacDonald weren’t up to snuff and forced the band to employ session musicians, resulting in what that Lee called an “unmitigated disaster.” The sessions were scrapped and Lenny Kaye was brought in. When he heard their material, he backed out, convinced that his talents weren’t needed. Finally, Gil Norton was brought back to re-record something that would please both Island and the band. The resulting album, Calenture(1987-Island) proved to be another one, albeit one marred in the view of some by the uncharacteristically bright and slick production. It charted highest in Sweden, where it reached #24.
Frustrated by a recording experience that David McComb likened to the famously disastrous production of the film Heaven’s Gate, the band’s next release saw them once again return to their roots with the release of another limited edition DIY cassette, Jack Brabham(1988). It was exclusively sold at two shows in Perth that December. They followed it with another self-released cassette, an anthology, Son of Dungeon Tape (1988). The band expressed their desire to record Calenture’s follow-up in Australia but Island, after the costly commercial failure of that record, were eager to keep the band on a short leash.
With a working title of Disappointment Resort Complex, the band recorded their follow-up in Somerset. With Stephen Streetat the helm, the experience proved less painful and it was released as, The Black Swan(1989-Island). It proved to be their most musically adventurous set, utilizing a broad variety of instruments and sounds, even including elements of hip-hop and dance. In fact it proved too adventurous for most fans and its cold reception disappointed the band. The Triffids played two dates in New York City before returning to Australia. Although they didn’t know it at the time, an August, 1989 show at Australian National University would be their last.
In order to fulfill their contractual obligations at Island, the label compiled a set of pre-Calenture songs recorded live in Stockholm for The Bommen Show on Swedish National Radio from 1989. It was released as Stockholm(1990-Island). It was their last official release until 2008’s Beautiful Waste and Other Songs (Liberation Records) which compiled tracks from several EPs and singles that hadn’t previously been on compact disc.
In 1989, The McComb brothers and MacDonald formed Black-Eyed Susansoriginally as a side-project in Perth with former Triffid Phil Kakulas, Ross Bolleter, and Rob Snarski. Line-up changes to that band were necessitated by David’s decision to have another crack at the UK — this time as a solo artist. Robert went into teaching. The band were subsequently joined by future Dirty Three members(and, respectively, Crime & the City Solution and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds) Jim White and Warren Ellis, and former Triffid Martyn Casey.
David McComb returned to London in 1990 with his girlfriend, and once again struggled to attain commercial success. In 1991, McComb and Adam Peters contributed a cover ofLeonard Cohen‘s “Don’t Go Home with Your Hard-On” for the tribute album, I’m Your Fan. The two also released a single, “I Don’t Need You.”
McComb next formed an all-Australian backing band, the Red Ponies, which was comprised of Graham Lee, Warren Ellis, Peter Luscombe (of the Black Sorrows and the Revelators), Bruce Haymes (from Russell Morris And The Rubes, Bachelors from Prague, and the Feeling Groovies), and Michael Vidale (from Jimmy and the Boys). McComb and the Red Ponies toured Europe. One single, “The Message” was released on Stephen Street’s Foundation label.
In 1992, McComb packed it in, returned to Australia, and enrolled at the University of Melbourne where he began studying art history. He occasionally re-joined Black-Eyed Susans and released the Setting You Free EP (featuring contributions from Warren Ellis) (1993-White Records), Clear Out My Mind EP (1994-White Records) and the full-length solo album, Love of Will(featuring contributions from Martyn Casey) (1994-Mushroom).
As the years passed, a couple of McComb’s former bandmates from the Triffids moved on and settled down. Alsy MacDonald became a lawyer. Jill Birt became an architect and continued to make music. They married one another and moved to East Fremantle in suburban Perth. Three children were born to the couple.
McComb continued to make music. His next act was called Costar. They recorded a three-track EP that remains unreleased officially. The songs recorded for the project were “I Kept My Eye On You,”“Murder In The Dark,”“Lucky For Some,”“The Goodlife Never Ends,” and “Devil Please.”
A planned Triffids reunion in 1994 was put on hold when McComb’s health worsened. McComb developed cardiomyopathy, a heart condition most likely caused by his alcoholism. He undertook a successful heart transplant in 1996 but continued abusing alcohol, heroine, and speed. In 1999 he was involved in a car crash and released after being hospitalized for a night. A few days later, on 2 February, he died – just before his 37th birthday. The State Coroner stated his death was due to “heroin toxicity and mild acute rejection of his 1996 heart transplant.” His ashes were spread under the pines at Woodstock, the family farm in Jerdacuttup, Western Australia.
Since McComb’s death, the Triffids stature has predictably grown. In 2001, the Australasian Performing Right Association named “Wide Open Road” as one of the thirty greatest Australian songs of all time. In 2006, McComb was posthumously inducted into the West Australian Music Industry Association Hall Of Fame. That same year, Domino began re-issuing remastered editions of the Triffids’ albums, beginning with Born Sandy Devotional. Members of the band reunited for three live performances in Hasselt, Belgium and Amsterdam with Mark Snarski and Harald Vanherf filling in for McComb.
In 2007, SBS aired a documentary about Born Sandy Devotional and Bleddyn Butcher has written a biography, Save What You Can – the Day of the Triffids and the Long Night of David McComb. A McComb documentary titled Love in Bright Landscapes followed. At the of the 2008 Sydney Festival, the reunited members played yet again, joined by Rob Snarski, Youth Group’s Toby Martin, Mick Harvey, The Church’s Steve Kilbey, The Necks’ Chris Abrahams and Melanie Oxley. The performances were filmed and released on DVD as The Triffids and Guests: It’s Raining Pleasure. Surviving members reconvened in 2010 to play a tribute at the Barbican with a host guests. In 2013, Jill Birt released Render & Prosper, which included contributions from Triffids Alsy MacDonald, Martyn P. Casey, Graham Lee, Robert McComb as well as guitarist and keyboardist Adrian Hoffman.
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
Won’t Come Home”), the title track of a film of the same name. Her career was cut short at its peak by Kuomintang (KMT) authorities who revoked her license to entertain. Soon after she left to enjoy success in Hong Kong, and then Singapore (where she lives today).
everyone was a fan, however, and the nation’s long-misruling dictator, Chiang Kai-shek, did not approve of weeping popstars or the danger of sentimental ballads inflaming the passion of his subjects. More than 80 of Yao’s songs were thus banned.
In 1970, Yao began recording for a Hong Kong label, 樂風. There, and that year, she released her first of several collaborations with various others, including 陳寶玲 (Chen Bao Ling), 與 蒋光超 (Jiang Guang Chao), 藍夢 (Lan Meng), 趙曉君 (Lily Chao), 青山 (Qing Shan), 奚秀蘭 (Stella Chee), 魏平澳 (Wei Ping Ao), 楊燕 (Yang Yan), and 張帝 (Zhang Di). Sorting out her discography is rather difficult due to its size, the multitude of re-releases, and my extremely remedial grasp of Chinese. I have, nevertheless, attempted to compile a fairly inclusive discography here of studio albums (although some are no doubt compilations and at least one, although attributed to Yao, features a handful of tracks sung by multiple artists).
longest period of martial law in world history (since surpassed by Syria). Today, Taiwan is easily among the most progressive and nations in Asia. Although Yao’s last album seems to have been released in 1978, she was still regularly performing live as late as 1980 — albeit never in Taiwan. In 1996, 今天不回家 was remade by Taiwanese director, Sylvia Chang. Yao’s recording of the title song was again featured. In 1998, the organizers of the Golden Horse Film Festival invited Yao to return to the island to perform. Yao declined. In 2007, the Jay Chou (周杰倫) film, 不能說的·秘密 (Secret), used another vintage Yao song, “情人的眼泪” (Lovers’ Tears). Apparently, Yao only became aware of this when informed by a relative in Chengdu whom she was visiting at the time of the film’s release.
The Bangles formed as The Colours in Los Angeles in 1981. The original members were Susanna Hoffs (vocals, guitar), Vicki Peterson (guitar, vocals), Debbi Peterson (drums, vocals), and Annette Zilinskas (bass). After learning of another band called The Bangs, they changed their name to The Bangles. During their commercial heyday, they had hits with “Manic Monday” and “Walk Like an Egyptian” (both 1986), “Hazy Shade of Winter” (1987), “In Your Room” (1989), and “Eternal Flame” (1989). They disbanded in 1989 but re-formed in 1998 and remain active today.
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spread to Europe by 3000 BCE. Beer varied much more greatly then than it does now. It was in 1516 that 
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Heibei. Her mother was from Dongping, Shandong and when Teresa was a girl, she often took her to see Chinese movies and operas. Teresa was the fourth out of five children born to the couple and the only girl. She was schooled at 
reportedly begn with Lim Zhen Fa, the son of a Malaysian casion tycoon who died of a heart attack. Teng ended the relationship with Beau Kuok and, according to some, began self-medicating to deal with the pain.
Still, there were enough Thai living in Los Angeles in the early 1960s that in 1962 it was deemed reasonable to found the first local Thai American community organization, the Thai Association of Southern California. It provided immigrant services including everything from legal assistance to car repair. One of its presidents, Aroon, The group produced a publication, Puan Thai, which focused on events back home rather than in the nascent Thai Angeleno community.
markets like Silom. There’s pretty convincing Vietnamese vegetarian fish sauce, too, which too my nose (for better or for worse) smells pretty much just like the real thing and therefore is consigned to its own cabinet. There are also savory seasoning sauces like Golden Mountain — which my former Thai neighbors refer to generically as a “maggi” sauce after Maggi, the popular Swiss approximation of Chinese soy sauce that’s now integral to many cuisines. 
Surapol Mekpongsatorn. Their purpose was to raise money for the construction of Wat Thai. The event took a tragic turn when Vallop Thamrongarinath walked into the restaurant, placed an order. He then, according to witnesses, turned to face patron Govit Chianthanachinda and said “I’ve been waiting to kill you for a long time” before firing his gun multiple times.
Many Hongkongers settled in the San Gabriel Valley suburbs whilst others opened businesses in the established Chinatowns of Manhattan, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. One such business was the Hong Kong Café, which opened at 425 Gin Ling Way in 1979. It rivaled another Chinatown music venue, Madame Wong’s, run by Shanghainese American Esther Wong. Both venues were famous for hosting emerging new wave and punk acts and Hong Kong Café featured performances from the Weirdos, 
Los Angeles is home, or has been home, to several musicians with roots in Hong Kong. One of the first of note was Lui Tsun-Yuen (呂振原), a composer, performer, and teacher of Chinese classical music who played a large part in introducing Western audiences. Lui was born in 1931 in Shanghai but moved to Hong Kong in 1954. In 1957 he moved to Brazil and afterward moved to the US. He recorded for the label Lyrichord and as part of a Las Vegas revue called Oriental Holiday. In 1961, Lui began teaching Chinese music, classical dance, and opera for UCLA’s Department of Ethnomusicology and Systematic Musicology. In 1968, he was chosen by the Doors to open for them at the Forum in Inglewood. He died in January 2008.
Trinidadian-American rapper and pioneer of 
Hong Kong’s sports culture is sometimes said to be heavily influenced by its long occupation under the British — although western sports like football (which s
