Janet Cunningham moved from New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA) to Los Angeles in 1978 with her son Beau to pursue a career as a Hollywood writer. In 1981 she opened the Contemporary Artists Space of Hollywood (C.A.S.H.) nightclub and gallery next door to the Zero Zero Club on Cahuenga Boulevard, where she hosted punk music shows, theater, and art exhibitions; screened films and videos; and served NOLA-inspired red beans and rice to artists and fans. Cunningham spent most of her career in Hollywood as a casting agent with her Creative Artists Service of Hollywood (C.A.S.H.) agency where she employed punks as paid extras in films, television shows, and music videos. The Janet Cunningham papers range in date from 1967-2018 and contain Cunningham's handwritten diaries, C.A.S.H. files, photographs, audio and audiovisual materials, personal files, punk rock memorabilia, and NOLA files related to her documentary on the survival of African culture within New Orleans.

Janet Cunningham moved from New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA) to Los Angeles in 1978 with her son Beau to pursue a career as a Hollywood writer. In 1981 she opened the Contemporary Artists Space of Hollywood (C.A.S.H.) nightclub and gallery next door to the Zero Zero Club on Cahuenga Boulevard where she hosted punk music shows, theater, and art exhibitions; screened films and videos; and served NOLA inspired red beans and rice to artists and fans. The same year she opened C.A.S.H., Cunningham was invited by the University of California, San Diego graduate program of sociology to deliver her "Punk as a Social Movement" lecture for a course on social upheaval. Cunningham spent most of her career in Hollywood as a casting agent with her Creative Artists Service of Hollywood (C.A.S.H.) agency where she employed punks as paid extras in films, television shows, and music videos. Her casting credits for film include Valley Girl, Night of the Comet, and Cafe Flesh. She also cast music video extras for the following artists: Rockwell, Billy Idol, Ramones, Stray Cats, Blue Oyster Cult, Oingo Boingo, Josie Cotton, Bangles, Plimsouls, and Wasp. In addition to her work with C.A.S.H., Cunningham also worked as a writer, actor, production designer, art director, and landscape designer. Between 1996 and 1998, she produced, directed, and shot a documentary in NOLA about the survival of African culture within the city. After a battle with cancer in March 2018, Cunningham passed away at Garden Crest Rehabilitation Center in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. Her son Beauregard Baker predeceased her in 1986.

25.8 Linear Feet (53 boxes, 7 shoe boxes, 3 flat boxes, and 1 oversize flat box)

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