Welcome to the Archive.

No Apologies this time. I need your HELP! NOW! 

The images to your left are not the ones I'm searching for. Instead, I’m currently (re)searching for photographs, posters, recordings, stories, documents, self produced records, published articles, artwork, anecdotes, videos, publications, memorabilia, catalogues, snap shots, scripts, home made films, rumors, poetry, and personal narratives, etc. pertaining to the café/club/cabaret/post-modern/quazi-punk/music/art/performance/dance/ after-hours scene of San Francisco circa 1978 and up until 1983 to be included in a community Archive. I'm not after your valued originals. I couldn't handle the stress.A digital facsimile for display purposes would be best. All files submitted will be credited to the author/owner/creator and made available free to the public.

The Archive will ideally function in the form of a web based digital data bank of information covering a significant but under-documented period of creative activity in and around the SF Bay Area during the late seventies and early eighties. Often referred to at the time as the Alternative Alternative, this street art culture thrived not only outside the mainstream museum/commercial gallery/nightclub/concert hall/media context, but well below the radar of the publicly funded, increasingly institutionalized, Alternative gallery establishment. The lines between art, music, performance, fashion, publishing, and persona became, temporarily transparent as the creator/consumer was morphed into one. Venues were formed ad-hoc as needed, with most lasting no longer than a few hours thus adding a transient nature to the scene. Funding consisted primarily of out of pocket resources, cover charges, and cheap liquor sales. Documentation was scant, so it’s essential to act now to make this material available to future historians and researchers and anyone who was there or otherwise. If you have something to share, contact me. If you know someone who was involved or who may have documentation, please pass this on to them. I can scan visual originals into digital formats, as needed and am just preparing  software for transferring analog sound files. Also, feel free to link this page to other resources where ever possible or relevant.

My sincerest thanks.

JC Garrett, co-founder of Club Foot and a  former member of the art/performance/band, the Alterboys.

The following partial list may help to jar loose some past recollections: Club Foot, Jetwave, the Deaf Club, Art Grip, Vacation magazine, Ivy’s calendar, Artists for Revolution in the Eighties, the Strand, Survival Research Laboratories, Another Room magazine, Club Generic, Tool and Die, punk night at the Café Flore, Subterranean records, Rough Trade in North Beach, the Mab, Hotel Utah, etc. Feel free to offer additional suggestions.

photos on the left (in assorted arrangements): Mayor George Moscone, Harvey Milk, Rev. Cecil Williams, Gov. Jerry Brown, Jello Biafra, Rev. Jim Jones, Ayatollah Khomeini, the Shah of Iran, the victims of  Jonestown, Patty Hearst, Sid Vicious, Doggy Diner, the Jack Tarr hotel, Dan White, American embassy hostages in Iran....