Bright Lights, Big City

The cities of the 20th century thrummed like magnets, drawing in their populations from rural hinterlands and across borders and seas, their lights glowing with the promise of prosperity, fortune and fame. In Chicago and New York, people filled cafes, catwalks and discos; Swinging 60s London became the epicentre of youth culture; the 70s saw nonconformists of every psychedelic stripe make LA and San Francisco their spiritual home. In this pre-internet age, cities were the connective hubs, the centres of cultural transfer and emergent communities.