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Royer (Keith) collection on Southern California scootering and youth subculture
7139
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Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: Keith Royer collection on Southern California scootering and youth subculture
Creator:
Royer, Keith
Creator:
Pharaohs Scooter Club
Identifier/Call Number: 7139
Physical Description:
9.56 Linear Feet
12 boxes and 2 oversize folders
Physical Description:
6.86 Gigabytes
2755 digital image and video files
Date (inclusive): 1985-2022
Abstract: The Keith Royer collection on Southern California scootering and youth subculture documents several decades of vintage scooter
culture and the diverse aspects of the subculture as it relates to music, fashion, politics, and youth communities. Keith
Royer has been a scooter rider, collector, and bike mechanic since the mid-1980s and a patched club member of the Pharaohs
Scooter Club of San Diego since 1995. The Pharaohs Scooter Cult was formed on December 23, 1993 at Hill Street Coffee House
in Oceanside, California. The collection includes, but is not limited to, photographs of scooter rallies, gatherings, events,
and shows taken by Royer and others; t-shirts and patches from scooter rallies and brands; fliers and postcards of events
and rallies; VHS tapes with recordings of scooter events; ephemera; scootering and motorcycle magazines and newspaper clippings;
comics and zines; scooter-related posters and artwork; and digital files of photographs and moving images.
Language of Material:
English
, German
.
This biographical historical note was adapted from Kim Schwenk's description of the collection.
The Southern California scootering and youth subculture collection of Keith Royer documents several decades of vintage scooter
culture and the diverse aspects of the subculture that traverses into music, fashion, politics, and youth communities. Typically,
the history of punk, skateboarding, and surfing dominates the underground identity of Southern California's youth, however,
the fringe and underground aspects of scooter culture parallel many of the same values and ethics. The facets of the subculture--including
alternative music scenes such as punk, ska, reggae, and mod--have similar political and cultural implications to other contemporary
movements. Scooter culture's fashion and music choices tended to favor 1960s subcultures and styles. Similar to the punk movement
in Southern California, the scooter scene is culturally and ethnically diverse, reflecting inclusive aspects of the Two-Tone
Ska music scene from working class England, and immigrant communities from Jamaica to 1960s American R&B and British Northern
Soul.
From its inception, the scooter scene centered around the restoration, maintenance, and group riding camaraderie of vintage
and contemporary two stroke scooter vehicles manufactured mainly in Europe. Southern California scooter clubs, although similar
to "biker gangs" with patched members, initiations, and sophisticated bike engineering, were also influenced by European styles
from Italy--the birth place of Vespa motor scooters--and 1960s urban youth aesthetics from England. The scene provides a sense
of belonging without the unwarranted violence. The scooter scene and its associated subculture identities are not exclusive
to Europe and the United States, but reach all over the world, including to Asia, Africa, and Australia.
The Keith Royer collection on Southern California scootering and youth subculture documents several decades of vintage scooter
culture and the diverse aspects of the subculture as it relates to music, fashion, politics, and youth communities. Keith
Royer has been a scooter rider, collector, and bike mechanic since the mid-1980s and a patched club member of the Pharaohs
Scooter Club of San Diego since 1995. The Pharaohs Scooter Cult was formed on December 23, 1993 at Hill Street Coffee House
in Oceanside, California. The collection includes, but is not limited to, photographs of scooter rallies, gatherings, events,
and shows taken by Royer and others; t-shirts and patches from scooter rallies and brands; fliers and postcards of events
and rallies; VHS tapes with recordings of scooter events; ephemera; scootering and motorcycle magazines and newspaper clippings;
comics and zines; scooter-related posters and artwork; and digital files of photographs and moving images.
Advance notice required for access. This collection includes both analog and digital files. The collection's digital files
have been copied to the USC Digital Repository. Researchers wishing to request access to the digital files should email specol@usc.edu.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special
Collections at specol@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Rights Statement for Archival Description
Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Johnson Rare Books & Archives, August 5, 2022.
[Box/folder no. or item name], Keith Royer collection on Southern California scootering and youth subculture, Collection no.
7139, Regional History Collection, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Subjects and Indexing Terms
California, Southern -- Transportation -- Archival resources
Motor scooters -- California, Southern -- Archival resources
Motor vehicles -- California -- Archival resources
Motor scootering -- California, Southern -- Archival resources
Punk culture and art -- California -- Archival resources
Youth movements -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
Comic books
Digital images
Digital media
Ephemera
Fliers (printed matter)
Magazines (periodicals)
Moving images
Photograph albums
Photographs
Postcards
Posters
T-shirts
Textiles
Video recordings (physical artifacts)
Videotapes
Pharaohs Scooter Club -- Archives
Royer, Keith -- Archives