- Post date
- 24 Mar 2019
- Caption
- This is the calendar for summer 1997 gigs at Las Pampas in South Gate put together by Gonzalo y los gemelos that were part of a mean dark/gothic squad (or so the lore goes). For these gigs there are punk and ska bands from L.A. the OC, and Tijuana listed: Calavera, Divided lines, Anima, La Mortal, Armistice, B.A.S. Almalafa, Los Mugrosos, Chencha Berrinches, Síntoma Suicida, and Masside.
The second photo features ¡Viva Malpache! at Las Pampas. Note the Carlos Gardel portrait in the wall. [Photo taken by former La Opinión journalist, Ricardo Camarena.] When we think of the genealogies of “venues” in South East Los Angeles, Las Pampas (also known as La Iguana) is one of the most enduring sites to memorialize. Located in a deindustrialized strip of Firestone, between 1992 and 1997 Las Pampas became the epicenter of Rock Angelino and later expanded to include some metal and plenty of punk and ska.
As “Las Pampas,” the restaurant was nominally South American themed. This explain the presence of the portrait of Carlos Gardel, arguably the first global artist hailing from Latin America.
The lineage of the “ephemeral forums” such as Las Pampas, comes in equal parts from the DIY backyard gis in Southern California and the “hoyos funky” del D.F. mexicano, improvised and clandestine sites at the outskirts of the mancha urbana where rock and roll took refuge in the 1970s amidst the government crackdown on rebellious youth expressions.
For Rock Angelino participants, the “hoyos funky” morphed into “ephemeral forums.” These were improvised venues that functioned for one night or had a longer run. In Southern California, we can think of joints like Hong Kong Low, El Pirata and then Las Pampas. These were followed by the The Allen Theater, The American Legion, The Black Castle, etc. All these in addition to the countless backyard shows and emulated and evoked the conditions of the Hoyos Funky: The more marginalized neighborhoods these venues were, that harder and the louder the rock, punk, or ska blasted!
The Las Pampas flyer is from @la.skandalosa collection •
??:Which is your most memorable “Hoyo Funky/Ephemeral Venue”?
- Location
- South Gate, California
- Type
- flyer
- View on Instagram
- https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvau3c9he-u/