London,
01
November
2012
|
23:00
Europe/London

Hackney tells its Mod history

A new exhibition exploring the Stamford Hill Mod movement in the 1960s will open at Hackney Museum on 7 November.

Stamford Hill Mods - The Genesis of Marc Bolan will tell the story of early modernist culture, fashion and music in the area in the 1960s.  50 years ago international war photographer Don McCullin took pictures of 15 year old Mark Feld and friends in Stamford Hill for Town Magazine.  Three years later Feld changed his name to Marc Bolan and went on to become a pop icon of T-Rex fame.  

Miki Simmonds who grew up in Stamford Hill and was one of the Mods pictured with Mark Bolan said: "It's the year 1960 and I'd just turned 18.  We were full of energy, youth was eternal and life was yet to be, we thought we were going to live forever.  We were Mods.  Ace Faces.  We were the Stamford Hill boys - this was our meeting place, our turf."
 
Visitors to the exhibition will find photographs, early 45 vinyl records, Mod magazines and a copy of the original Town Magazine.  They'll also be memories of handmade suits and bum freezer jackets as well as the old Mod hang-outs, such as the ten pin bowling alley and the amusement arcade in Stamford Hill.   Many of the stories have come from local people who have helped to shape the exhibition from real-life accounts.
 
Special additions to the display will include an original 1962 Bilgorri suit and a 1962 two tone Vespa GS160 scooter personalised by Eddie Grimstead, the scooter dealer to all the mods in East London.
 
Hackney Council Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care and Culture, Cllr Jonathan McShane said: "Hackney's colourful Mod past has been brought to life by true tales from local people who grew up here in that time or who were part of the scene.  It's this type of engagement with communities in the borough which helps to bring the honest, informed and interactive exhibitions we see in Hackney Museum today."

The free exhibition will run until 26 January 2013 for further details visit: www.hackney.gov.uk/museum

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