by Laura Garber
Hermosa Beach Museum’s latest exhibit, “Echoes from the Edge: A Cultural History of Jazz and Punk in Hermosa Beach,” opened on July 17.
The ode to the small beach town’s cultural impact on the two distinct genres explores the tie between “two seemingly opposing genres -jazz and punk,” the museum’s opening plaque states.
The Lighthouse jazz club’s spicy nights of the 1950s and 1960s and the clamorous 1970s’ and 1980s’ punk scene that unfurled in Hermosa garages and unpermitted venues helped shape the town’s creative character.
The exhibit includes archival punk photography by Kevin Salk and the late SST Records photographer, Naomi Petersen.
The museum will be under consideration for an American Alliance of Museum accreditation in early August, “We thought this exhibit would be the perfect snapshot of who we are and a true reflection of our City,” said Jake Courtney, Vice President of the Hermosa Beach Museum. “It also shows to future City Councils that by getting accreditation, we have a commitment to the future.”
The opening reception included contemporary punk art by Damian Fulton and Bob Dob, alongside a live punk performance by Suckerpunch with notable absences from past punk performances, such as violent mosh pits and police closures.
The tension from the threat of violence at Black Flag’s and other punk performances “added to the flavor,” Salk said.
His memories of gigs blur unless there was a violent element and a photo to prove it.
Photographs taken by Salk between 1982 and 1983 remained stored in a garage until their recent publication in his 2019 photobook “Punk: Photos from a Fan’s Perspective.”
Salk’s images capture seminal South Bay punk bands such as Black Flag, The Descendents, The Circle Jerks, and The Misfits. “I took my first shot on July 3, of 1982, I had a point and shoot camera, and why I brought a camera, I don’t know,” Salk recalls. “I mean, I was a kid who didn’t know what he was doing.”
Salk would argue that the days of real punk had been boxed away along with his punk show flyers and 45s. When he received a call in 2019 from FATHOM Art publishers to print and showcase his past work, it changed his life. “It allowed me to find who I really am. Getting back in touch with this photography helped me understand my issues with anger and rebellion and that’s what punk rock was the perfect recipe for; an alienated kid in Manhattan Beach.” Salk said.
Salk and many of the other ‘Echos from the Edge’ artists often felt rejected by the working class or conforming cultures of the South Bay, “I was somewhat introverted and angry, but when punk rock came around, it was my new family. That’s where I felt the most at home,” Salk said.
Escaping high school bullying in Simi Valley, Naomi Petersen found refuge as the resident photographer for Hermosa Beach-based SST Records.
However, decades later and an unfortunate silence around her addictions, Naomi Petersen died of kidney failure in 2003 at just 38 years old.
What we understand of Naomi and her photography now, is in large part by her older brother, Chris Petersen, and his efforts to showcase her photography and legacy.
Petersen remembers when he brought 15 year old Naomi to see The Clash at the Santa Monica Civic, the same concert Salk first attended and became a life-long punker. When Naomi disappeared into the large, crowded pit, Petersen became worried. She re-emerged from the pit sweaty, bruised and a little bloody. “Chris, that was the best night of my life,” Petersen recalls Naomi telling him. In her diary entry of that event she wrote, “That’s the night I became a punk rocker.”
Naomi’s Nikon F7, gifted to her by a Buddhist uncle from Japan, shot some of the most intimate portraits of the punk scene and beyond; Keith Morris, Kurt Cobain and Nick Cave. “She used to get them to smile quite a bit. If you look at her photos, you see a lot of horse play and people smiling and goofing around.” Petersen said. “She just had a good way of connecting with people.”
Petersen met Henry Rollins backstage at the House of Blues in Las Vegas in 2006. Petersen expressed gratitude for Rollins’ friendship with Naomi, to which Rollins inquired about Petersen’s plans for Naomi’s extensive photo collection. Petersen remembers Rollins’ words: “Chris, you have a piece of history. You need to archive it.”
It took walking away from his mortgage banking career, a spoiled relationship and 10 years to get into full swing of archiving Naomi’s work. At this point, it has become Petersen’s life-path. “She never really got proper credit for what she had done. She hardly ever got paid and so my duty as a brother is just to make sure that she gets credit.”
During a time where Hell’s Angels would roll down the Hermosa Beach pier before it was closed off, a new wave of punk arrived in Hermosa Beach. It took the form of Pennywise, a punk rock band formed in 1988. It was an impressionable band and time for artist Bob Dob, whose own band ‘Lunacy’ was booking local gigs and creating memorable Hermosa Beach tales. “It was crazy growing up around here. It was pretty awesome,” Dob said.
Dob’s art is narrative driven. His piece, ‘The Golden Punk God Made of Clay’ is an ode to Pennywise guitarist Fletcher Dragge and the antics he created by being in the punk scene. “Fletcher was a legend prankster. He’s definitely the definition of what old punk rock was or is.” said Dob.
The painting features tidbits of Dragge’s lore -like the story of the lifeguard tower he set on fire, allegedly or the time he drove his Ford Bronco down Sand Dune Park, crashing it at the bottom. “I didn’t think that it was punk enough by the definition of whatever punk is so I added this guy in there urinating on Chewbacca at the last minute.” added Dob. That detail is what ultimately sold his piece to the intrigued buyer.
Both Salk and Dob agree that with the lack of South Bay venues, there is no place for today’s punk to thrive among the East coast transplants and tripled housing prices. “There are no venues for these younger kids to play at. They got Saint Rocke making attempts, but nothing like The Church where Pennywise practiced,” Dob said. “There’s a lot of history here that’s all torn down.”
What might seem like an odd pairing, punk rock and neighborhood museums, the artists are grateful for their work to be appreciated and to form another close circle of likeminded people -even after decades. “I didn’t even like punk rock that much. But the more I dug into it, and listened to the music and archived Naomi’s photos, I learned about the whole community and what they’re all about, and they really support each other.” Petersen said.
‘Echos from the Edge’ runs through October 1 at the Hermosa Beach Museum. hermosabeachhistoricalsociety.org ER
