It might merely be a product of nostalgia borne of rapidly encroaching middle age, but I’m not so sure. Whenever I find myself walking around a city where I used to live all I can see are the ghosts of what used to be in the spots where certain notable and unique places once existed. Book stores, art galleries, record stores, bars, night clubs, squats, drug dens and all manner of notorious afterhours sin emporiums that have been long been replaced by artisanal mayonnaise stores, gourmet cheese shops and Chipotle. Someone younger could visit any capital city and still find much to be excited about, of course, but for someone my age, it’s more about how much better things used to be. You know, back in the day.

But I just hate being that guy pointing out “See this deli? That’s where Max’s Kansas City used to be” (And besides that, Max’s was long before my time anyway.)

But now I don’t have to be that guy, at least as far as London is concerned, I can just point “young people” towards Punk London: In The City, 1975-78, Paul Gorman and designer Mike Haddad’s walking guide to the bad old good old days of punk:

The Punk London guide:

“... charts the squats, clubs, shops and rehearsal spaces from which punk emerged and grew into a global phenomenon. It is the definitive tour of the city at a moment of febrile intensity.

Punk London takes us to Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s Sex shop at 430 Kings Road; the Hampstead flat shared by Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious; Saint Martin’s School Of Art, where the Sex Pistols made their debut performance; Pathway Studios in Canonbury, where The Damned recorded “New Rose,” the first UK punk release; The Clash’s Camden Town rehearsal space and many more locations associated with all the movement’s key figures. “

 

 

 
Punk London: In The City, 1975-78 is 28 pages and includes a foldout A3 map. It’s published by Herb Lester Associates, who clearly are innovating travel guides. What’s next? Lemme guess Punk NYC?