- Post date
- 12 Jun 2018
- Caption
- This is a 1998 flyer shared by @r1ch4rd_s from the short-lived yet all too memorable punk club Bollocks on the border between South L.A. and the City of Vernon.
So what was The Bollocks? Well, according to the July 9, 1998 L.A. Times article, the Bollocks was, "the combination of a club aimed specifically for an all-ages crowd and music that, at its core, remains disaffected […]a venue that's completely off clubsville's radar--as far from the Sunset Strip as is physically and symbolically possible. Located on an abandoned street corner, Bollocks is little more than a big rehearsal space, consisting of a ticket window, a raised stage, a small bar serving only soda and popcorn (each'll cost you a buck) and a restroom that, as these clubs go, isn't as gnarly as you might suspect.” The venue was ran by this British crusty punk-rocker named Eric Teggers.
Besides the common names of Schizm and Viernes 13 (probably with a line-up that preceded Mikey and JP), this show featured The Devil Deals, Human Eaters, Divided Lines from Bell Gardeners, and Life's Halt who according to Richard ended up getting pretty big in the straight edge hardcore scene, touring the world, and they even appeared on the Beyond the Screams/Más Allá de los Gritos documentary. Btw, this documentary was produced by Martin Sorrondeguy (Los Crudos/ Limp Wrist) and it’s available for free on YouTube.
The Bollocks Long Beach Blvd. location was shuttered by 1999 and Teggers began to host Bollocks at different locations, among them one sketchy joint on 7th Street in the deepest of Downtown’s Skid Row area, and at the storied Paramount Ballroom in Boyle Heights. In the 2000s, the Long Beach Blvd. site became the South Central Farmers’ Community Center, this as the insurgent South Central Farmers 5 acre lot where dozens of South LA families farmed collectively was located right in front of the site!
Both the Bollocks site and the former lot of the South Central Farmers currently sit empty nowadays.
Thanks Richard for sharing these flyers and history!
Did you go to a gig at Bollocks?
- Location
- South Central Farmers' Cooperative
- Type
- flyer
- View on Instagram
- https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj83t20B54r/
- View on Internet Archive
- https://archive.org/details/199801181702_201906