I've decided to ring in the 2011 New Year with my own misguided version of public service: an online archive of a scandalous and short-lived 70's teen magazine! The first issue of Star hit the stands in February 1973. With its over-the-top advice and irreverent coverage of LA's teenage groupie scene, it wasn't long before Petersen Publishing was feeling the heat from "concerned citizens". Five issues and five months later, publication ceased. A sixth issue was planned but never printed. Such controversy along with coverage of "new breed" Sunset Strip groupies (Shray Mecham, Sable Starr, Lori Lightning, Queenie Glam) and glam venues like Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco cemented the mag's later cult status among fans and collectors.After spending endless hours and a sizeable cash stack to secure all five original issues, there was only one illogical step left: do it all over again by making every page of this impossibly rare groupie mag available online. Actually, the website idea was the very thing that induced a former Star staffer — the only one among several I tracked down who'd actually kept any issues — to sell the mags. My quest was veering toward hopeless so a big thanks to Judy Shane for making this happen. I promised a website and here it is... in record time, too!This is just one of several just-for-fun, archival sites I've created over the past decade. I don't accept advertising or other means of offsetting the costs of creating and hosting the sites. I will, however gladly accept referrals to collections. Know someone selling their records, fliers, fanzines or photos? Please send 'em to my want list page and encourage 'em to e-mail me. I am, of course, very interested in original Star issues and all related ephemera! My thanks to Lisa Fancher for hipping me to the mag.Dig star1973.com? Then you'll probably wanna see what happened next over at RockScenester, my online archive of Rock Scene magazine 1973 - 1982. Please show some appreciation by hyping 'em elsewhere online! Facebook and Twitter widgets can be found at the bottom of this page.— Ryan Richardson

January 2019 update! With Adobe Flash becoming deprecated, I've eliminated the individual flip-books and created a single PDF download containing all five issues!

New Year's 2015 update! Four years after I first posted star1973.com, I figured it was time to give you Star fans a whole 'nother dose of fun. As a token of my appreciation for everyone who's taken the time to drop a line or link to the site, I've added some rarely glimpsed Star magazine ads. And, just for kicks, I went ahead and tracked down the young lady who won the Raspberries Rollswagen magazine ads contest, too!

A post-script about the watermarked pages... sometimes extracting even a wee bit of online civility can be difficult. Some web denizens don't bother handing out a speck o' credit — not so much as a link — to sources of copied content. Hell, I even discovered one dirtbag selling CD-R's on eBay composed entirely of images downloaded from my paperback sites! In a better world, the watermarks wouldn't be necessary. Don't get me wrong, I'm down with re-blogging and sharing. I just want a li'l credit for the time and money I've put into the site.

In early 1973, Capitol Records embarked on a Raspberries promotional campaign aimed squarely at the lucrative youth market, girls in particular. In conjunction with Star, the Raspberries Rollswagen sweepstakes was announced in the magazine's debut issue and was promoted through its fourth issue with entries accepted through the end of May. The Rollswagen was yet another over-the-top Barris Kustom creation, complete with "foxy fur" upholstery and a Quadrasonic 8-track player (natch). One issue later in June 1973, Petersen abruptly ceased publication of Star.I couldn't help but wonder... whatever happened to the Rollswagen? Dedicated dozens of Eric Carmen fans wanted to know, too. In November 2014, while looking for Star ads in another teen mag issued by Petersen, a piece of the puzzle popped forth:

cursory Google search turned up a Billboard announcement that the winner was from Florida and that there'd been 31,000 contest entries. Having logged many years sleuthing for long-lost band members, I felt confident I could find Teena — and maybe the Rollswagen. The uncommon spelling and surname helped narrow the search in a hurry, though experience told me maiden names often go by the wayside. Eventually a search by family name and the tiny Florida hometown led to a newspaper piece where Teena's married name was mentioned. A few minutes later, I jumped onto this era's one-stop-shop for people finding, Facebook, and sent off a message. That evening a reply appeared: "I will give a call tomorrow."

For a town with fewer than 4000 residents, Teena's big win was a big deal. There was a parade. The mayor presented a key to the city to Jim Bonfanti, the Raspberries member Teena deemed "foxiest" and who'd flown in along with Capitol execs for the hand-off. With Teena being three years shy of driving age, the Rollswagen wound up with an older cousin, though she did wind up learning how to drive stick-shift in it! And so I had to ask: where's the Rollswagen now? Her answer was nothing short of thrilling: "it may still be in my aunt's backyard." With four decades elapsed in the coastal outdoors, the best case scenario would be a rusted-out Rollswagen, a shadow of its former glam glory. Still, I was already imagining a roadtrip to see the thing.

After no word from her cousin and a month gone by since we'd first spoken, Teena decided to drive the half hour to her aunt's place. A look around revealed no sign of the mythic vehicle, inevitably vanished in the gulf between way back when and way too late. Her cousin later confirmed the Rollswagen had been junked long ago. Could it have really turned out differently? Probably not. But, hey, a little dreaming never hurt. In fact it's almost required for some things — like morphing a Volkswagen Beetle into a souped-up Rolls Royce or, well, sending off a sweepstakes entry. Just ask those guys who sang Let's Pretend.— Ryan Richardson
January 2015