Guest Blogger: An Intern's Look at the Early San Francisco Punk Scene through the San Francisco Punk Archive

We are thrilled to report that processing has begun on the San Francisco Punk Archive! Mac, our Spring intern from Cal State East Bay, has been working with the punk fliers and helping describe the Cecilia Kuhn Frightwig Collection. We will keep you posted as collections are available. Here is Mac's guest post on early San Francisco punk! 

"Local punk history is worth learning about because it is a group of people’s reactions to what was going on politically, musically, and culturally, and how it paved the way for the punk/hardcore scene that still thrives in the Bay today."

San Francisco punk came about in the late 1970s and rebelled against the hippie culture that was so prominent and embraced throughout the city. The punks in the city played their music in places like the Mabuhay Gardens, the On Broadway, and the Tool & Die. The Mabuhay Gardens, formerly located at 443 Broadway in San Francisco, was a Filipino restaurant and music venue owned by Ness Aquino. Local punk acts needed places to perform, and many spots around the city were not very welcoming towards them when the genre first started emerging. The Mabuhay, however, was willing to give them a chance. Soon, the place would be synonymous with punk rock and would host the most influential bands of the local and national scene. The Mab is significant because it provided a space for San Francisco and Bay Area punk to exist and establish its influence. It is a good thing places like the Mabuhay and the On Broadway were willing to host punk acts, because punks received very little support for their unique way of expression. Without the Mabuhay Gardens, San Francisco punk would not have flourished quite like it did.

[Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys performing at the Mabuhay Gardens, 1982]

The unique political climate of San Francisco and the city’s location on the West Coast allowed the San Francisco punk scene to be distinct from that of New York, LA, and the UK. Another thing that made San Francisco punk unique is its existence in the same city where the Summer of Love and the Grateful Dead took place. The hippie aesthetic is earthy, natural, and laidback. The punk aesthetic is quite literally the opposite. While hippies wore fringe, beads, long hair, and Birkenstocks, punks wore leather, safety pins, tattered clothing, piercings, and unnatural hair colors. This opposite choice of expression helped them attract even more attention, and typically it was not positive. An example of the hippie’s disdain for punks is Bill Graham’s refusal to promote punk bands. This refusal is also due to the presence of Nazi imagery in punk, and Graham was Jewish. The Sex Pistols at Winterland in 1978 is an exception.

SFPL Punk Archive

DIY ethics are crucial to punk. Flyers were the main way that shows were promoted because it was cheap and easy. These flyers were self-made, included collage-art, and hand-written information stating where and when the show was. The sometimes vulgar images and language used on these flyers were not appreciated by all.

SFPL Punk Archive

Punks everywhere received poor representation in the media for being violent and disturbing. Mayor Feinstein was one of the main enemies of San Francisco punk. Since these venues were in the same part of town as a lot of bars and strip clubs, San Francisco punk received bitterness from Feinstein because she saw it as being bad for tourism, which the city relies heavily on, and the sexual deviancy and punk cultures that were occurring simultaneously throughout the city were seen as bad. 

Punks and queer people in San Francisco were largely ignored and not supported because of negative media portrayals making them out to be something that needed to be contained, otherwise they would taint the lives of “normal” citizens. The hippies were also negatively portrayed in the media at times, but their exploitation and the capitalization of tours of the Haight-Ashbury is what makes them able to be remembered and embraced, not swept under the rug like other groups. 

“Punk Rock Jail Bait” in Cecilia of Frightwig’s journal

The politics in punk can be a bit strange because although bands played at Rock Against Racism and were very vocal about their opinions on conservative politics, there was still the presence of sexism and Nazi imagery. That being said, it is up for people to decide what is true punk and what is taking things too far. Punk bands would write songs and put on performances that displayed their anger and whatever else they were feeling. The Dead Kennedys have lyrics about police violence, hostility towards landlords, and the morality of war. The all-women band Frightwig has songs called “My Crotch Does Not Say Go”, “Punk Rock Jail Bait”, and “A Man’s Gotta Do What a Man’s Gotta Do”, in which they would pick a dude from the crowd to come on stage and strip for them when they performed it live. Frightwig was doing things that were no different from their male counterparts, but of course they were seen as slutty and unstable because they were women. This criticism of Frightwig gives insight on gender roles in punk and rock music and, in a larger sense, music in general. 924 Gilman opened in Berkeley in 1986 and still provides a safe place for people to enjoy live music. This venue is intolerant of any racism, sexism, homophobia, and fighting, and do not book any bands who are openly discriminatory in their music and performance. 

Recently, I went to visit the location of the old Mabuhay. I stopped in front of the building and looked at the pictures of Blondie, Penelope Houston, and Jello Biafra in the window. It is now a rentable venue called “Fame”. The alleyway next to the building had a street sign that said, “Dirk Dirksen Pl”, which I thought was a nice touch (Dirk Dirksen was the promoter at the Mab). What I noticed was that I was the only one around that was checking the building out showing my respects. This experience was very different from the time I went and walked past 710 Ashbury (the Grateful Dead house), people were standing outside smoking joints and singing Dead tunes. The pictures in the window, Dirk Dirksen alley, and the old punk I saw walking down the street were the only remnants of the Mab’s influence that I saw in the neighborhood. When it comes to San Francisco punk, nostalgia for it seems hard to find. I would love to meet more people who can tell stories about catching an early Flipper show or recalling the time Jello Biafra ran for mayor. My grandparents’ stories about the Summer of Love and their times in Marin County are getting tiresome. Being a more underground scene is a part of punk morality, but the history of Bay Area punk deserves just as much recognition and respect as the hippies. 

The Punk Archive at the San Francisco Public Library was organized by Penelope Houston in 2015 and has received many contributions since then. One can look through hundreds of flyers, read the Search and Destroy zines, and open books with the coolest photography. This archive is notable because it holds information on bands native to the area and was brought about by the lead singer of one of the most iconic local bands. Local punk history is worth learning about because it is a group of people’s reactions to what was going on politically, musically, and culturally, and how it paved the way for the punk/hardcore scene that still thrives in the Bay today. I encourage everyone to take the time to learn something new, get inspired by the stories of artists, and utilize resources that are available to you.

SFPL Punk Archive