Mods and Hippies

  • The Teddy Boys (Britain’s First Youth Subculture)

    Chris Steele-Perkins on why photographing teen subcultures is so much more than style over substance. The invention of the ‘teenager’ in the 1950s was a global, almost simultaneous phenomenon. Defined by groups of youths rebelling against the expectations of their parents and wider society in their behaviour, attitudes and clothing, movements sprang up in…

  • The Teddy Boys (Britain’s First Youth Subculture)

    Chris Steele-Perkins on why photographing teen subcultures is so much more than style over substance. The invention of the ‘teenager’ in the 1950s was a global, almost simultaneous phenomenon. Defined by groups of youths rebelling against the expectations of their parents and wider society in their behaviour, attitudes and clothing, movements sprang up in…

  • John Hopkins Guardian Obituary 15/02/2015

    This obituary is so good with so many interesting links that I have decided to repost it here. The complete movie of “Tonight Let’s All Make Love in London” is stunning! John ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins in 2000. Photograph: Sarah Lee John “Hoppy” Hopkins, who has died aged 77, was one of the best-known counterculture figures…

  • John Hopkins Invented the 1960s

    This interview was first published in VICE March 2nd 2010 British photographer and political activist John “Hoppy” Hopkins spent the 1960s documenting jazz, poetry, The Rolling Stones, Nelson Mandela, the sexual revolution – basically everything that defined the decade. When he wasn’t working, he was launching the legendary UFO club at The Roundhouse in…

  • ‘Bob Dylan was 10 feet away from me’: Isle of Wight festival, 1969

    “Ringo Starr, George Harrison, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were sitting behind us. The talk of the festival was that they might join Dylan on stage.” Penny Warder The organisers of the 1969 Isle of Wight festival, brothers Ronnie and Ray Foulk, had managed to pull off the amazing coup of getting Bob Dylan…

  • More London Coffee Bars of the 1950s and 60s

    This is the full unexpurgated Central London Cafe Tour put together for Architecture Week 17-26 June 2005. The tour takes in a range of 1950s and 1960s London cafe styles. As you can see many more have since closed down, overwhelmed by the big corporate chains like Starbucks, Costa and Caffe Nero! Support your…

  • Interactive Maps for Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” by Dennis Mansker

    This is a re-post from Dennis Mansker’s web site. The original can be found here: http://www.dennismansker.com/ontheroad.htm In 1957, two novels were published that were destined to have a profound effect on the future of the United States, and indeed, the world, effects that would long outlast the lives of their creators. The first was Atlas…

  • Interactive Maps for Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” by Dennis Mansker

    This is a re-post from Dennis Mansker’s web site. The original can be found here: http://www.dennismansker.com/ontheroad.htm In 1957, two novels were published that were destined to have a profound effect on the future of the United States, and indeed, the world, effects that would long outlast the lives of their creators. The first was Atlas…

  • Live Music Clubs and Coffee Bars in Soho, London in the 1950s and 60s

    This blog was originally published on the web site Sixties City where you can find more information about Swinging London! It doesn’t include some of the legendary folk venues like Bungie’s and Les Cousins but it certainly gives a comprehensive background to British Jazz , Rock & Roll and Mod culture. It’s interesting to…

  • From the Observer archive, 24 May 1964: Mods v Rockers: Britain’s summer of discontent

    I have discovered the digital archives of several publications and they contain fascinating contemporary reports of events and happenings in the past. More importantly, I can also access them.This is one about the Mods in 1964 and the leaders known as Faces. Incredible! I’ve found lots more like this and I feel quite excited by…