The history of Melrose punk is a history of resistance. Through our documentary and archive projects, we're ensuring that the stories of the original influencers are never forgotten.
THE DOCUMENTARY
"The Original Influencer" is our love letter to the scene. It documents the rise of Retail Slut and the cultural explosion that defined an era, from a single storefront at 7517 Melrose Ave to a genuine cultural landmark that outlasted the trends it helped create. We're funding it the same way the scene has always funded everything: directly, through the people who were there and the people who wish they had been.
WHY DOCUMENT AT ALL
Post-punk culture has a memory problem. The scene runs on flyers, polaroids, and word of mouth, all of which fade, get thrown out, or die with the person who kept them in a shoebox. We've spent the last few years digitizing forty-plus years of that material, storefront ads, window art, backstage portraits, so it doesn't quietly disappear the way most underground history does. The Vault archive is the public-facing result, but the documentary is where the actual stories get told, in the words of the people who lived them.
"IF NOBODY WRITES IT DOWN, THE SUITS GET TO DECIDE WHAT PUNK MEANT."
This isn't preservation for its own sake. It's a refusal to let a subculture get sanitized into a costume aisle. Every photo we scan and every interview we film is proof that this scene was built by real people making real choices under real pressure, not a mood board. Back it, watch it, argue with it. Just don't let it get forgotten.
