A local punk clothing store is celebrating its one-year anniversary with great art—and heavy music!
Damaged Goods Punk Shop in Palm Desert has been providing threads, jewelry and more for the local alternative scene since late March 2025, and to commemorate the anniversary, the shop will host Damaged Fest, an event intertwining an art gallery experience with sets from energetic rockers. You can view and purchase artwork by music legends like Monkey (The Adicts), Exene Cervenka (X), Jill Emery (Hole/Mazzy Star), Gitane Demone (Christian Death), Fur Dixon (The Cramps) and A.J. Ransdell (Das Klown), and catch sets from bands including S.O.H., SOOT and Greasetrap.
Damaged Fest will take place at 5 p.m., Friday, April 3.
During a recent interview with owner Veronika Vitsaras, she explained how Damaged Fest stemmed from a Valentine’s Day art show.
“It went really well, and the community was really thankful for the opportunity,” Vitsaras said about that show. “I just saw that it was so needed to keep doing things like this. I had my one-year anniversary coming up, our first year in business, so I was like, ‘Let’s do this again.’”
Damaged Fest is a collaboration with The Artlands Creative, a nonprofit that provides opportunities for art and artists throughout the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley, and has a gallery space in Redlands.
“Daniel Gohman from Artlands reached out to me,” Vitsaras said. “He came for the Valentine’s show and was like, ‘Hey, I have some of these artists who show in our space, and they love to show in different spaces, especially female-owned punk businesses.’ I worked together with him to put this together.”
Thanks to that connection, some huge names in punk music will showcase their artwork at Damaged Goods. The event then grew from an all-star exhibit into a full-fledged community celebration highlighting art of all forms.
“I wanted to make it even bigger, so I started reaching out to bands I knew, posting and asking for local bands—and now we’ve got music,” Vitsaras said. “Then food vendors hit me up, and artist vendors hit me up, so now it’s a full-on thing, and I just kept rolling with it. I was like, ‘Maybe I could do this every year,’ so I called it Damaged Fest. I think it’s a good time of year, too. It’s the weekend before Coachella starts, and there are a lot of people in town who have to set up Coachella, so they don’t have much to do other than work. I think it’ll be a good turnout. The art show will be inside, and we’re doing the music in the back, in the parking lot.”
You can catch local female-fronted punk energy from Greasetrap, as well as sets from two out-of-town acts—S.O.H. and SOOT.
“S.O.H., System of Hate, are from L.A., have female lead vocals, and they’re awesome,” Vitsaras said. “They’re just a powerhouse, and they’re so rad. I’m excited that they were down for this. SOOT, State of Offensive Tactics, I’ve known those guys for a while, and they’re just super-supportive. They’re always helping everyone in the punk scene, so he hit me up, and I was like, ‘Yes.’”
When setting up Damaged Fest, Vitsaras posted on social media that she was in search of BIPOC or femme-fronted bands. She said she’s insistent on providing opportunities to bands who aren’t always offered a spotlight.
“We see less from them (BIPOC or femme-fronted bands), because people don’t give them the stage,” she said. “I think the art world and the punk scene have always been very male-dominated, so I’m all for helping the sisters out and the people who don’t get those opportunities.”
The goal of Damaged Fest is to combine music and art seamlessly, as Vitsaras has always valued the connection between punk music and physical art.
“I’ve always combined the two, because that’s just been my lifestyle,” she said. “I’ve always been an artist and a painter and a creative person, and I’ve just been drawn to the punk scene, because I feel like there’s more freedom to be who you are there. In my mind, they’ve always mingled.”
In its first year, Damaged Goods Punk Shop has become a hub for alternative subculture, and has allowed people to post fliers for local punk, hardcore and goth shows.
“I’m down to help everybody, and (others) are the same way,” she said. “We all just want to support each other and make fun things happen. We need more of that out here; that’s why I wanted to do this store. I grew up out here, and there was nothing like this when I was a teen, and I would’ve loved to go to a shop like this. It’s always been a dream of mine to have a shop, so I moved back here a few years ago and was like, ‘Maybe this is the place to do it.’ It all came together.”
That said, owning a business in 2026 is a struggle. Vitsaras said that thanks to word of mouth, Damaged Goods has been able to stay afloat.
“I think the hard part is getting the word out that I’m here,” she said. “Instagram is helpful, but it really helps that people come in and share that they’ve come here and send (those shares) to their friends. Word of mouth is the best. People are coming in and going, ‘How long have you been here?’ … For the first year, it’s been pretty good, and I’ve had a lot of good feedback.”
Every event at Damaged Goods, including Damaged Fest, prioritizes punk over posh.
“With the last art show … people who came were like, ‘This is the way I want to see art—not so stuffy, and on the walls of a punk shop,’” Vitsaras said. “I’m going to do more local art shows after this, too. I want to showcase more local people and affordable art, so we’ll keep doing that. In the shop, I make all the T-shirts. I do all the artwork and screen printing, and then I’ve got other vendors in here, too, who make jewelry and leather goods.”
Damaged Fest will take place at 5 p.m., Friday, April 3, at Damaged Goods Punk Shop, at 73540 Highway 111, No. 2, in Palm Desert. The event is free. For more information, visit instagram.com/damagedgoodspunkshop.
Updated on March 22 to correct a typo.