Acme Attractions

Acme Attractions was inspired by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's Fifties-inspired boutique Let it Rock (revamped in 1972 and renamed Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die). In spring 1974, a radical change saw their shop become Sex, selling fetish wear and Westwood's innovative designs. Acme's owner, John Krivine, decided to venture into clothing with Steph Raynor. In 1974, Acme Attractions initially opened as a stall in the antiques market Antiquarius on the King's Road, Chelsea. While it was owned by Krivine and Raynor its public face was Don Letts who says that Acme was selling "electric-blue zoot suits and jukeboxes, and pumping dub reggae all day long". Acme actually had to move to the basement after complaints about Don Letts's pounding dub reggae.

Within two weeks of opening there were queues to get in. Steph Raynor remembers:

We had an office with a (one)-way mirror, and we'd sit in there watching and pissing ourselves because we were so excited at how busy it was... I'd get home some nights and I'd have thousand of pounds to count out all over the carpet.

By the mid 70s, Acme had quite a scene attracting the likes of The Clash, the Sex Pistols, Chrissie Hynde, Patti Smith, Deborah Harry and Bob Marley. Letts remembers that "Marley... come by because he knew he could get a good draw from the thriving black-market action that also went on in Acme." The scene created by the shop also led to the formation of Generation X, which launched the pop music career of Billy Idol.