![]() ![]() “I think the DIY, do-it-yourself ethics that drive underground alternative music will always carry it. Photo by Gabe Becerra Courtesy of Gabe Becerra. Do you think the lack of places for artists to perform will affect the local music scene’s ability to grow? Highland Park resident Juan Lopez. ![]() For instance, the Hi Hat and Rec Center closed down in the past two years. Venues within Los Angeles have been disappearing at an alarming rate. Most venues wouldn’t touch hardcore with a 10-foot pole.” There’s plenty of parking around the Midnight Hour and it’s run by some of the coolest people and 1720 because it’s cool having a ‘big’ venue for hardcore. “I think the Midnight Hour in San Fernando and 1720 in L.A. What’s your current favorite local venue to attend shows at and why? Firestarter was born out of an appreciation for the New York Hardcore scene in the late 80s, specifically, the ‘Youth Crew’ scene and the Revelation Records catalog 1-30, which features a lot of seminal and influential Youth Crew releases.” ![]() We just like hardcore and happen to all be straight edge. “We definitely never intended to be a ‘new wave of’ or ‘flag bearers’ for straight edge in LA. ![]() What decisions led to Firestarter becoming the new flag bearers of straight edge on the West Coast? I wish that as a community the residents that were around when I was growing up would have come together the way those who remain are now….I wish that we didn’t have priced out members of the community living in cars near schools for their children’s sake while rooms go for $1,500 for people who virtue-signal advocating for ‘unhoused’ care despite being behind the reason why people can’t afford to live places.” “It’s better in the sense that people don’t have to be afraid of walking down the street and going out to certain areas. I’ve learned about how it used to be a predominantly Italian and Jewish community until a couple riots happened and then the Hispanic population skyrocketing in the 70s, bringing an increase of gang activity…in the 90s…Now the increased presence of white people and the pricing out of the Hispanic population…It hurts to see a lack of appreciation of a long-standing culture and community but knowing it happens over time in any place leaves me in a strange place emotionally.”ĭo you think Highland Park has changed for the better or for the worse? What do you think could be improved within your community? Interacting with older members of the community has definitely given me a wider perspective on it. “York and Ave 51 used to be sketchy and you’d never hang around there too long when I was a kid but now, it’s the place to be. How has your neighborhood changed and how does that make you feel? Lopez recently shared his personal and musical experiences in the neighborhood with UT Community News. Or Threat’s 1981 EP includes a song called, “Straight Edge,” that then led to a name for the pro-sobriety hardcore subculture. in the early 1980s with bands such as Minor Threat and Government Issue spreading positive messages of living in the moment without the need to be inebriated by any sort of substance.īands such as Teen Idles and 7 Seconds within the hardcore scene in the late 1970s had already begun expressing themes against drugs and alcohol within their lyrics. Straight Edge culture within the hardcore genre originates in Washington D.C. Lopez plays in the Los Angeles based-straight edge band, Firestarter, which is considered the first original Los Angeles Straight Edge band since 2003, when ACxDC first came out and before that, in 1991, Strife laid out the blueprints for straight-edge hardcore bands. In the 20-plus years guitarist Juan Lopez has lived in Highland Park, he has seen it shift from an art and cultural hub to a community that sometimes “lacks appreciation of its long-standing culture.” ![]()
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