Curator of all things strange and wonderful, Ryan Richardson has rung in the new the New Year with his very own “misguided version of public service”: an online archive of the scandalous and short-lived 70’s teen magazine, Star! And oh, boy is it good. As Ryan explains:
The first issue of Star hit the stands in February 1973. With its over-the-top advice and irreverent coverage of LA’s teenage groupie scene, it wasn’t long before Petersen Publishing was feeling the heat from “concerned citizens”. Five issues and five months later, publication ceased. A sixth issue was planned but never printed. Such controversy along with coverage of “new breed” Sunset Strip groupies (Shray Mecham, Sable Starr, Lori Lightning, Queenie Glam) and glam venues like Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco cemented the mag’s later cult status among fans and collectors.
After spending endless hours and a sizeable cash stack to secure all five original issues, there was only one illogical step left: do it all over again by making every page of this impossibly rare groupie mag available online.
At Ryan’s Star 73 website you can flick through the pages of all five glorious issues. Learn skills on being a groupie; hone up on David Bowie, Marc Bolan,The Stones and Alice Cooper; read the fascinating diary of a nose-job; uncover the secrets of those foxy Hollywood High Girls; become your own Super Fox; discover how far out you are; do anything you want to do, and get away with it. Interested? Then head over to Ryan Richardson’s fabulous Star 73 for all the juice.
Issue 5 June 1973
With thanks to Duke Sandefur