It never started with a link.
It started with a friend saying, “There’s a show tonight.”
In Riverside, in the late ’80s and ’90s, that was all you needed. Punk, ska, and hardcore lived in garages, back rooms, VFW halls, and anywhere that could hold a crowd and a couple of amps. Sixty miles east of L.A., far enough to skip the freeway and do things your own way, a scene grew that didn’t care about polish, trends, or permission.
That energy is back in focus at the Riverside Art Museum’s Art Alliance Gallery with 60 Miles East: Riverside’s Underground Punk Rock, Hardcore & Ska Scene, from the Late 1980s to Early 2000s, on view November 1, 2025 through April 12, 2026.
Before social media and streaming, music moved hand to hand. Flyers were photocopied. Tapes were dubbed. Zines were passed around. You found your bands through people, not platforms. The photographs in this exhibition feel the same way: quick, raw, and real. No posing. No filters. Just the moment.
Curated by lifelong friends Zach Cordner and Ken Crawford, who met at Riverside Poly High School, the show is both a history lesson and a love letter to the place that shaped them. Now Publisher and Editor of The Riversider Magazine, they’ve reunited to tell the story of the scene they grew up in.
Presented by Travis Barker and 98 Posse, 60 Miles East proves that some of the best music stories don’t happen in the center of the map, but just outside it.
Riverside Art Museum
EXHIBITION ON VIEW:
November 1, 2025 – April 12, 2026.
Location: Art Alliance Gallery
