Reviving San Diego's Rock Renaissance
(Graphic artist extraordinaire and “Then and Now” documentarian Kristen Tobiason describes how Buffalo Springfield pushed us beyond the fringe.)
In the early ’80s, American hardcore punk rock was at its peak. New Wave was also flourishing amidst Studio 9 dance crowds. Bi-curious, lipstick boys. Giant shelves of sprayed hair in several shades of Clairol color.
What better way to rebel against your peers than to emulate a ’60s folk-rock band …
Buffalo Springfield. seriously?
Ahoy! Club Zu founder Kelsey Farris re-christens a seminal San Diego soirée.
OK GURL! I know you’re coming to my party, and if you wanted to invite friends, it’s great.
Here is a little background: Long-ass story, but when I was 17, I owned a club in San Diego called Club Zu for a few years and chartered these private parties on the San Diego Harbor.
Read Kelsey’s history of Club Zu!
Facebook has reconnected me with so many people who went to Club Zu in the early ‘80s and attended one if not all three of our Club Zu boat parties. Their requests to throw another started me asking around, and this event came together.
The insane invitations are photographs of friends from the era, and the incredible graphics are courtesy of Rodney Rodney in Los Angeles.
(In the first installment of a series, roving correspondent/ photographer Kristen Tobiason revisits and documents the scenes of our youth. Today, a daylight visit to “Gay Denny’s,” 2008!)
Denny’s on El Cajon Blvd.: A night-time hang-out spot? I don’t see many hipsters hanging there today. Maybe pimps and their respective employees … but for us it was another after show/party place to kill time and wait for the sun to come up.
I recall sitting in front of a plate of hot French fries with a side bowl of brown gravy, cigarette in hand … Across from me, you might find Tom Ward with his classic shaded spectacles, Chris Negro wearing his black revolutionary coat, a couple of Gravedigger V members, Jerry Cornelius, Denise, Alena … among many others.
