The following is an account of what is perhaps the only avant-garde, members-only society that has existed in Los Angeles, 50 Bucks, a grouping of artists, writers, scenesters and libertines which thrived in one of downtown's art apogees, 10-15 years ago.

Recently i learned that Todd Warren (3rd from left,) one of the moving forces behind 50 Bucks has passed, probably as a result of his avid d&a (drugs and alcohol) lifestyle, although he died in jail, murdered. Most of us who knew Todd suspected he wouldn't fare well, given his life of excess. In latter years, 50 bucks spawned an art gallery and print studio, headed by Rolo (last from left) and it isn't known what other intellectual seeds were planted, to add to L.A.'s largely sleepy conceptual terrain.

A few years before his dropping out of sight, i visited Todd in his apartment off Hollywood blvd/Wilton. He was doing white and brown lines, while expressing his projects and frustrations as a poet. At the end of that meeting, he gave me a folder with xeroxes of the 50 Bucks "manifesto" and some graphics, all of which are posted in this page. This is a scan of the main typed document:

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