Acme Attractions was a London clothing store on

Kings Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area. Chelsea histori ...

, that in the early 1970s provided a place for many punk and reggae musicians and scenesters to hang out. Shop assistant and manager

Don Letts Donovan "Don" Letts (born 10 January 1956) is a British film director, disc jockey (DJ) and musician. Letts first came to prominence as the videographer for the Clash, directing several of their music videos. In 1984, Letts co-founded the band B ...

described Acme Attraction as a place "where the interaction between the different factions became more important than selling merchandise, even though at that age it was a deadly combination."

History

Acme Attractions was inspired by

Malcolm McLaren Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren (22 January 1946 – 8 April 2010) was an English impresario, visual artist, singer, songwriter, musician, clothes designer and boutique owner, notable for combining these activities in an inventive and provoc ...

and

Vivienne Westwood Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (née Swire; born 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. Westwood came to public notice when she m ...

's Fifties-inspired boutique Let it Rock (revamped in 1972 and renamed Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die). In spring 1974, a radical change saw their shop become

Sex Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones (ova, oft ...

, selling fetish wear and Westwood's innovative designs. Acme's owner, John Krivine, decided to venture into clothing with Steph Raynor. In 1974, Acme Attractions initially opened as a stall in the antiques market Antiquarius on the King's Road, Chelsea. While it was owned by Krivine and Raynor its public face was Don Letts who says that Acme was selling "electric-blue zoot suits and jukeboxes, and pumping dub reggae all day long". Acme actually had to move to the basement after complaints about Don Letts's pounding dub reggae. Within two weeks of opening there were queues to get in. Steph Raynor remembers: By the mid 70s, Acme had quite a scene attracting the likes of

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...

, the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

Chrissie Hynde Christine Ellen Hynde (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician. She is a founding member and the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band the Pretenders, and one of the band's two remaining original members alon ...

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter and author who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album '' Horses''. Called the "punk poe ...

Deborah Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in ...

and

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

. Letts remembers that "Marley ... come by because he knew he could get a good draw from the thriving black-market action that also went on in Acme." The scene created by the shop also led to the formation of

Generation X Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western world, Western demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years a ...

, which launched the pop music career of

Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is a British-American singer, songwriter, and musician. He first achieved fame in the 1970s emerging from the London punk rock scene as the lead singer o ...

Andrew Czezowski

The Acme accountant, Andrew Czezowski, seeing the potential in the crowd the store attracted, started up

The Roxy Roxy, Roxey, and Roxie may refer to: People * Roxy (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name Places in the United States * Roxie, Mississippi, a town * Roxie, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Music * Roxy ...

, the first punk-rock venue in London, so that people could go from the store and have some place to party. Letts was the first house DJ. Czezowski attended the ''100 Club'' Punk Special in September 1976. He managed

and The Damned and later founded The Fridge nightclub at 390 Brixton Rd in 1981.

Chelsea

Chelsea, a band, formed in August 1976 and were originally managed by John Krivine and Steph Raynor, and was in direct competition with Malcolm McLaren's SEX and Sex Pistols.

Boy London

Seeing the success of punk and how a new market was created for punk related clothing and merchandise, Stephane Raynor and Israel-based businessman John Krivine closed Acme Attractions to create Boy London, at 153 King's Road, in 1976. Vivienne Westwood licensed designs to Boy, who issued them, some with alterations, over the next eight years. Krivine sold the company in 1984. While Don Letts opened the new store, he soon quit, "It was the bastard child of Acme, created to capitalize on the "tabloid punk" and although I opened and ran the joint it just weren't my speed. I quit to manage the

Slits The Slits were a punk and post-punk band based in London, formed there in 1976 by members of the groups the Flowers of Romance and the Castrators. The group's early line-up consisted of Ari Up (Ariane Forster) and Palmolive (a.k.a. Paloma R ...

and headed off on the White Riot tour with

References

Sources

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External links

More pictures from the store
2009-10-24) {{Coord, 51, 29, 16.63, N, 0, 10, 1.95, W, scale:3125_region:GB, display=title Shops in London Retail buildings in London King's Road, Chelsea, London