The Tokyo Subculture of 1950s Rockabilly Gangs

They say rock’n’roll never dies, but there’s one slick-back haired subculture in a corner of Tokyo, Japan that’s making damn well sure of it. Suited up in full-leather gear and greased with obscene amounts of hair gel, the Tokyo Rockabilly Club has been gathering every Sunday in the city’s famous Yoyogi Park near Meiji-Jingumae station…

The Ghetto Brothers: Lost Legends of Rock’n’Roll

The Beatles from the Bronx… A Puerto Rican street gang turned community peacekeepers and rock’n’roll band, the Ghetto Brothers recorded their one and only album in 1972. When the streets of the Bronx, New York were plagued by 14 year-old warlords, drugs and prostitution, one unlikely group of teenagers created a unique sound that captured…

The Dandy Suit that America Banned and Caused a Riot

You know the zoot suit. It’s the suit that bad guys are usually wearing in comical mid-century gangster movies, but there’s much more to this story than a stereotype. In the 1940s and 50s, zoot suits were worn by Mexican-American hipsters who embraced the flamboyant oversized style of dress to express their desire for freedom from discrimination and racism as an underclass. The zoot suiters became a…

The Vault

An Archive of Women who Ride

I got a sweet little tip in my email inbox the other day from a gal who collects vintage photographs of women and their motorcycles. Alison Iven compiles them all on her Tumblr, Women Who Ride, which has become an extensive treasure trove for celebrating women riders. It’s endlessly inspirational, and here are some of my favourites… Cuban singer…

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Mods vs Rockers in Brighton’s Battle of the Beach Chairs, 1964

One of my favourite things to come across when I’m researching is a snapshot from history that I’m completely unfamiliar with. A forgotten story to re-discover, another clue to the bigger picture or just a bizarre anecdote from the past; these are my little treasures hiding under rocks. And today, I found these baffling and beautiful photographs of what I can only…

Freedom Riding on a Harley: The 1950s All-Black Biker Gang

“While Rosa Parks took her historic bus ride, and as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and Huey P. Newton and the Black Panthers stood bravely for equal rights, the East Bay Dragons MC risked life and limb during days when a black man riding a Harley chopper was a revolutionary act.” The East Bay…

The 1950s All-Girl Hot Rod Gang

When we think of women in the 1950s, we tend to picture some kind of Stepford housewife or a glamorous Marilyn Monroe type. Rarely does a character like bad girl Betty Rizzo come to mind and you’d be hard pressed to find a female Hollywood equivalent of James Dean’s “Rebel without a Cause”. Today, I think I found the real…

Meet the Woman Behind New York’s 1800s School For Crooks

Fredericka “Marm” Mandelbaum, better known as the “Queen of Fences” was a homely Prussian immigrant running a dry goods store with her husband and four children. She was also one of the biggest crime bosses the city of New York had ever seen. Marm came to New York in 1827, a poor immigrant peddling bits of silk…

Hitching a ride with Hell’s Angels & Friends

On a Friday afternoon, when the clock is ticking slower than you’ve ever seen it tick before (you’re absolutely sure of it), and all you want to do it burst out of the office and begin the weekend, there’s something about the idea of leaving behind all the week’s woes by riding away on a rad set of wheels with…

Girls on Bikes

There aren’t enough girls on bikes. If I ever see one, I have to stop and wonder, sort of like when you see a female taxi driver. There is something seriously inspiring and powerful about a woman taking over what society still assumes is a man’s territory. Photographer and motorcyclist herself, Lanakila MacNaughton is looking for…