Nostalgia and community pride filled Riverside Art Museum Thursday night as more than 1,200 gathered for the opening reception of “60 Miles East: Riverside’s Underground Punk Rock, Hardcore & Ska Scene.”
The gallery was packed wall to wall by the time speeches began, with the room buzzing with anticipation and excitement. The “who’s who” of the local punk and hardcore scene filled the space, including influential musicians, venue operators and other key figures from the era.
The exhibition, which runs through April 12, 2026, in the Art Alliance Gallery, chronicles the vibrant underground music scene that thrived in Riverside from the late 1980s through the early 2000s.
Co-curators Ken Crawford and Zach Cordner, who attended Riverside Poly High School together in the 1990s, addressed the crowd of former musicians, venue operators and scene participants who had contributed memorabilia and photographs to the show, along with younger attendees and community members curious to learn about this influential chapter in Riverside’s cultural history…