JAY ADAMS (1961–2014) was a professional skateboarder and part of the Z-Boys team. He is considered a revolutionary figure in skateboarding. Adams brought a surfing influence to skateboarding and blended the surfing and skateboarding cultures of Southern California.
FRANK AGNEW is a musician and former guitarist for the Adolescents and other bands, including Social Distortion, 45 Grave, and TSOL.
RIKK AGNEW is a musician and former guitarist for the Adolescents and the deathrock band Christian Death.
ROBBIE ALLEN is a musician and former bassist for Tender Fury.
RON ATHEY is a Los Angeles-based performance artist known for his extreme explorations of themes including gender, sexuality, and body modification.
STIV BATORS (1949–1990) was a musician and singer for the Dead Boys and the Lords of the New Church. Bators became an influential figure in the early New York City punk rock scene.
NICKEY BEAT, also known as Nickey Alexander, is a musician and the former drummer for the Weirdos, the Cramps, and the Mau-Mau’s.
WALLACE BERMAN (1926–1976) was a visual and assemblage artist who is known for making Verifax collages, which involves the use of photocopied material.
JELLO BIAFRA is a musician, singer, and spoken word artist best known as the former singer and founding member of the San Francisco band the Dead Kennedys. Biafra is also a political activist who once ran for mayor of San Francisco.
RODNEY BINGENHEIMER is a disc jockey who had an influential show on the Los Angeles radio station KROQ. Called Rodney on the ROQ, the show was known for promoting and introducing new and alternative music, including punk rock.
CHUCK BISCUITS is a musician and former drummer for several influential bands, including Black Flag, D.O.A., and Circle Jerks.
BLACK RANDY (1952–1988) was a musician and singer for Black Randy and the Metrosquad.
SISTER KAREN BOCCALERO (1933–1997) was a Catholic nun and fine artist who founded Self-Help Graphics with Chicano artists in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles in 1971. Self-Help Graphics is both a print studio and community center that held punk rock shows in the 1980s.
JON BOK is a Los Angeles-based designer and modern folk artist. Bok has created most of the interiors for the House of Blues venues.
D. BOON (1958–1985) was a musician and the former guitarist and vocalist for the Minutemen.
SHEILA DE BRETTEVILLE is a graphic designer, feminist artist, and educator. She is a faculty member of the Yale School of Art. De Bretteville created the first women’s design program at the California Institute of the Arts in 1971.
CHARLES BUKOWSKI (1920–1994) was a Los Angeles-based poet and writer known for a dirty realist style of writing. Some of his major works include the semi-autobiographical novels Ham on Rye and Post Office.
DEZ CADENA is a musician and the former singer for Black Flag. Cadena also played guitar with the Misfits.
JUDY CHICAGO is a feminist artist best known for her large, collaborative creations, including The Dinner Party and the Birth Project. She co-founded the California Institute of the Arts Feminist Art Program with Mimi Schapiro.
ED COLVER is a photographer best known for his coverage of the greater Los Angeles punk rock scene. Colver’s photographs, many of them iconic, have appeared on more than 250 record covers.
LIZA COWAN is a New York City-based feminist artist who is an influential figure in the lesbian-feminism and lesbian-separatism movements. In the 1970s, she created DYKE: A Quarterly magazine.
DARBY CRASH (1958–1980), also known as Bobby Pyn and Paul Beahm, was a musician and singer for the Germs. Crash appears in Penelope Spheeris’s 1981 film The Decline of Western Civilization.
JACQUES DERRIDA (1930–2004) was a French philosopher and educator best known for his development of the theory of deconstruction.
DAVE DICTOR is a musician best known as the singer for MDC. Dictor is also known for his political activism related to human and animal rights.
DIRK DIRKSEN (1937–2006) was a music promoter known for his role in promoting punk rock bands at the Mabuhay Gardens club in San Francisco.
ALIX DOBKIN is a folk musician and singer-songwriter. Dobkin is a lesbian activist who co-produced the 1973 album Lavender Jane Loves Women, which was created for and about lesbians.
BETTY DODSON is a sex educator known for sex-positive feminism. Much of her work is related to advocating masturbation.
JOHN DOE is a musician, poet, and writer who is best known as the singer and bassist for X. He also sings and plays bass for the Knitters.
ROY DOWELL is a visual artist. In 1979, Dowell founded the Graduate Fine Arts Department at Otis College of Art and Design.
DAVE DRIVE is a musician and drummer for the Gears.
RICHARD DUARDO (1952–2014) was an artist and printmaker who was a significant figure in the Los Angeles Chicano art community. Duardo worked with Self-Help Graphics and co-founded the political art collective Centro de Arte Público in the late 1970s.
EL DUCE (1958–1997) was the singer for the controversial “rape rock” band the Mentors.
CHUCK DUKOWSKI is a musician and the former bass player for Black Flag. Dukowski has also played with FLAG, SWA, and other bands.
RON EMORY is a musician and the guitarist for TSOL.
KLAUS FLOURIDE is a musician and the bass player for the Dead Kennedys.
KIM FOWLEY (1939–2015) was a record producer and manager who managed several bands, including the Runaways.
PAOLO FREIRE (1921–1997) was an educator and philosopher associated with critical pedagogy, and best known for his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
HARRY GAMBOA is a Chicano performance artist, writer, and photographer. He was a founding member of ASCO, an East Los Angeles-based Chicano artist collective.
ELSA GIDLOW (1898–1986) was a poet, author, and philosopher known for her lesbian love poetry. Gidlow founded a rural retreat center, the Druid Heights Artists Retreat, in Marin County, California, in the 1940s.
GREG GINN is a musician best known as the guitarist for Black Flag. Ginn is also the owner of SST Records.
KIM GORDON is a musician, writer, and artist best known as the singer and bassist for Sonic Youth.
JACK GRISHAM is a writer and musician best known as the singer for TSOL.
NAT HENTOFF (1925–2017) was a columnist, historian, and music critic. Hentoff wrote for numerous publications and was the jazz critic for the Village Voice from 1958 to 2009.
WILLIE HERRON is a Chicano muralist and performance artist. Herron was one of the founding members of the punk band Los Illegals, as well as ASCO, an East Los Angeles-based Chicano artist collective.
ROBERT HILBURN is a music critic and writer who was the music editor at the Los Angeles Times from 1970 to 2005.
PENELOPE HOUSTON is a musician best known as the singer for the San Francisco band the Avengers.
BRUCE KALBERG (1949–2011) was the co-founder of NO MAG magazine with Mike Gira from the Swans.
CHRISTOPHER KNOWLES is a Brooklyn-based artist with a diverse practice that includes painting, sculpture, and performance art.
SUZANNE LACY is an artist and educator whose work includes video and photographic installations. She is a member of the faculty at the University of Southern California Roski School of Art and Design.
CRAIG LEE (1956–1991) was a musician and the former guitarist for the Bags and Catholic Discipline. Lee produced the Rock Against AIDS benefit and was also a music reviewer for the Los Angeles Times.
DICKEY LEE is a country singer and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee.
EVE LIBERTINE is a musician and the former singer for Crass. Libertine performed on the band’s feminist Penis Envy album.
ROBERT LOPEZ, also known as El Vez, is a musician and the former guitarist for the Zeros.
LYDIA LUNCH is a writer, poet, and singer. Lunch’s career includes founding the no wave band Teenage Jesus and the Jerks.
DAVE MARKEY is a filmmaker whose work includes documenting the Southern California punk rock scene.
TOM MORELLO is a musician who is best known as the guitarist for Rage Against the Machine.
KEITH MORRIS is a musician who is best known as the former singer for the Circle Jerks and Black Flag.
BRENDAN MULLEN (1949–2009) was a music promoter and writer best known as the founder of the punk rock club the Masque.
TOM MURRIN (1939–2012) was a performance artist and playwright known for his work in experimental theater.
MIKE NESS is a musician best known as the singer and guitarist for Social Distortion.
CLAES OLDENBURG is a performance artist and sculptor. Oldenburg was a leading pop artist known for combining consumer culture into his work.
CATHERINE OPIE is an artist and photographer whose work focuses on a diverse array of subjects, including Los Angeles freeways, surfers, and tree stumps.
RAYMOND PETTIBON is an artist who is widely known for his creation of punk rock art in the 1980s, especially for bands on SST Records. He created the iconic four bars logo for Black Flag.
JEFFREY LEE PIERCE (1958–1996) was a musician and the former singer and guitarist for the Gun Club.
LARI PITTMAN is a painter known for his use of vivid color. Pittman is a faculty member in the University of California, Los Angeles Department of Art.
ARLENE RAVEN is an art historian, writer, and educator who co-founded the Feminist Studio Workshop with Judy Chicago and Sheila de Bretteville.
PAUL ROESSLER is a musician and the former keyboardist for the Screamers.
ZACK DE LA ROCHA is a musician best known as the singer for Rage Against the Machine.
MIKE ROCHE is a musician and the former bassist for TSOL.
HENRY ROLLINS is a musician, actor, and writer. Rollins is well-known as the former singer for Black Flag.
MIMI SCHAPIRO (1923–2015), also known as Miriam Schapiro, was a feminist artist who co-founded the California Institute of the Arts’ Feminist Art Program with Judy Chicago.
PAT SMEAR is a musician best known as the former guitarist for the Germs and current guitarist for the Foo Fighters.
STEVE SOTO is a musician and a founding member of the Adolescents. Soto was also in the bands Agent Orange and Legal Weapon.
BILL STEVENSON is a musician and drummer for the Descendents who formerly played drums for Black Flag.
JOE STRUMMER (1952–2002) was a musician best known as the singer and rhythm guitarist for the Clash.
MARTHA SWOPE (1928–2017) was a photographer who started photographing New York dance and theater performers in the 1950s.
MIKE WATT is a musician best known as the bassist for Minutemen and Firehose.
BROCK WHEATON is a musician and the former drummer for Chinas Comidas.
MARK WHEATON is a musician and the former keyboardist for Chinas Comidas.
SHANNON WILHELM is a musician and the former singer for Castration Squad.
WOLFMAN JACK (1938–1995) was a disc jockey known for his raspy voice and howls.
JOE WOOD is a musician and the former singer for TSOL. He also formed the blues band Joe Wood & the Lonely Ones.
Z’EV is a percussionist, sound artist, and performance artist. Z’EV has been an influential figure in industrial music.
BILLY ZOOM is a musician and guitarist best known as the guitarist for X.