The Masque and the Birth of Los Angeles Punk

This episode unpacks how Brendan Mullen’s underground basement club in Central Hollywood became LA’s first punk venue, the DIY infrastructure it fostered—hand‑printed flyers, all‑ages shows, a network of local bands like The Germs, The Weirdos, X—and how its brief existence shaped the city’s punk scene before being shut down by a fire marshal. It examines the venue’s role in developing distribution networks, the influence of early fanzines, and the legacy that echoed through later West Coast punk labels.

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