Punk Globe:  You are now a Free Bird frolicking to and fro from Silver Lake to Ventura. Are you living a crazy life now?

Jula Bell:  It has been phenomenal to be able to go between the two cities. R and R and beach livin’ in Ventura, and getting my culture fix in Silver Lake works well for me.  Ventura has some really cool venues, so it is fun supporting my old friends’ bands or art in Ventura as well. Sometimes I pinch myself because I feel so lucky to have both options. It is funny, the main difference between the two cities for me is that in Ventura I wake up and wear whatever is at the foot of my bed.  In Silver Lake, I tend to doll it up a bit more–but overall–Yes! I am a free bird!

Punk Globe: How long did you have your Dog Camp LA pet sitting and dog walking business? What made you do that? 

Jula Bell: I owned Dog Camp LA for 24 years.  It was based out of my Silver Lake house.  I started it in 1999 as something to do in between film production gigs.  It took off, and I stopped doing film work in 2001.  At the time I started doing it, film work was slow, and punk rock didn’t pay the bills.  To make money I was designing vegan furry briefcases for a fancy West Hollywood store called Maxfields.  I love animals, so I figured I would do daycare for a few dogs while I was making the briefcases.  It grew from there. When I started Dog Camp LA, there were 3 dog walking services in Silver Lake, but mostly it was done by your next-door neighbor’s kid.   Now, there are hundreds of dog walking/pet Sitting services.   Nowadays, if you throw a rock in Silver Lake or Echo Park,  you have a pretty good chance of hitting a dog walker.  Did you know that Silver Lake was the dog capital of the world at one time?  I am not kidding. The world!  Not sure if it is anymore–but who would have thought that?  Dog Camp LA got really big, so I sold it in May of 2023.  I wanted less responsibilities and more time for biking, travel, and music.  

I now own Dog Camp Ventura which is boarding for the “creme de le creme” of 20 lbs and underdogs.  It is basically a beach vacation for the little dudes, and extra dog snuggling time for me.  

Punk Globe: I heard you have a black belt!  Tell us more. 

Jula Bell: I have always been attracted to martial arts; and after a sad breakup, I joined a dojo in Los Feliz.  I studied Kenpo Jitsu Ryu.  I did it religiously for 10 years but decided to retire a year after my black belt to help take care of an aging parent. I loved the discipline and meditative aspects of it.  I was very fast. Like a butterfly with razor-sharp kicks!  You couldn’t see me coming! 

Punk Globe:  I know that you are big into biking.  Tell us about your bike gangs over the years. 

Jula Bell: In Silver Lake, I was one of the co-founding members of The Menstrual Cycles Silver Lake chapter.  It started in San Francisco and Sharon Needles and I continued the tradition for a while in LA.  We would let dudes ride with us, but they would have to wear a pad.  At least that is what we would tell them–but we didn’t enforce it.  I have also ridden with the Eastside Bike and Social Club and the Midnight Ridazz.  Currently, I am one of the founding members of The Stingrays Vta.  It’s a Ventura e-bike/bike club. 

Punk Globe:  Tell our readers about PORK. 

Jula Bell:  PORK was a direct response to a few things. When I experienced a European punk squat/club tour with Bulimia Banquet in ‘91, I was really moved by the concept of a social center for art, music, and community.  Back then In L.A.,  when you thought of a squat, it conjured up images of a run-down graffitied dump in an abandoned building in Hollywood with no electricity or running water.  L.A. squats housed drug addicts, thieves, gangsters, runaways, hustlers, and sex workers. Sometimes “residents” were all of the above.   

In Europe, a squat was very different.  Art and music were celebrated and kids took over entire abandoned buildings. They lived there, pirated their water and power, and created art and music meccas.  There were political events and inexpensive healthy food made by the members of the squats.  The shows at squats were cheap, so everyone could afford to come.  They even offered free housing and facilities to kids who needed it. Some of the squats had skateboard ramps, movie theatres, and cafes.  Buildings that were long vacant were being utilized, and there was plenty of room to make art and music without much hassle from the local police.  It was a total Pippi Longstocking dreamland.    

When I got back to the States, I dreamed of making a social center with that same community feel.  The closest thing to a squat that I had seen was Gilman Street in Berkeley, but there was nothing like that in LA at that time. Because of the mad rush for bands to get signed in the nineties, things in the LA punk/underground music scene had changed.  Many LA bands were clamoring to be on labels, so the sense of comradery and community was being replaced by a fierce competition to be the next Nirvana, Beck, or Offspring.   During that same era, there were vibrant all-ages straightedge, speedcore, and hardcore shows. These bands thrived on their sense of community and supporting their fellow bands, but most of them were quite young.  I started to find myself being one of the oldest people at these all-ages gigs.  I felt a bit disenfranchised in my own punk scene. In talking with my friends, other folks in the 30 and up crowd felt disconnected from the scene that had been so important to all of us. Many were starting families, getting sober, or having to get “real” jobs because L.A. was becoming more and more expensive.   In 2000 I was hanging out with my friend Cali DeWitt and I said let’s make a social club for punkers who are in their 30’s and up.  It could be a place to hang out and see old friends, listen to music, check out art, play games, and feel generally connected to a scene.  Cali agreed, and we got all of our friends to come to my house for a potluck to discuss making a social club for us.  We had meetings and sponsored some free events at Rolo’s club downtown called 50 Bucks.  Brandon Cruz (Dr. Know) named the group Punks of the Round Keg (PORK) in one of the meetings.  We all thought that was hilarious, especially since over half of the members were sober.  We had over 200 bands that were members of our collective. Our MC for our events was Keith Morris (Off, Circle Jerks, Black Flag).  He was always brilliant. We had bands, art, food, card games, board games, photo booths, and competitions.  One extremely memorable one was our Flaming Bike jousting competition.  One of the things that was really great about PORK was that most of the members lent a hand to make our events really memorable. To give credit for PORK,  the list would be vast, but some of the hardest working members were Jennifer Finch (L7, Other Star People), Fast Eddie Navarette (Downtown art guy), Stephanie Council (Blessing of the Cars), Cali DeWitt ( LA artist), Tania Estrada (Comedienne), Gabriel Baltierra (Blessing of the Cars), Sunja Park (artist), Julie Bachman (Ballgagger), and Ed Marshall (The Ooks/Devo Road Crew). All of the events were free and the bands and local shops donated swag for our famous raffles.  It was a really amazing endeavor that lasted a year–but eventually stopped because we had to focus on getting real jobs to keep up with the high expenses of living in LA.  That is when I started Dog Camp LA. 

Punk Globe:  You are an Activist in the ranks of Exene and Nicole Panter for Bohemian Women’s  Political Alliance. How inspiring you are!  What do you think about the current state of things for women?  

Jula Bell: I really enjoyed being part of raising money for important women’s causes. We battled to uphold Roe Vs. Wade by putting on events and endorsing candidates who would fight for women’s issues.  Some of the members of BWPA actually escorted women thru Pro-Life mobs in front of abortion clinics.   I am pretty disappointed as well as horrified with what is going on currently. The day Roe Vs. Wade got overturned I was sickened and in shock.  We have to fight with all of our being to protect our rights and to defeat agendas like Project 2025.  Honestly, things are scarier than I could have ever imagined for the future of our female youth. We have fought so hard for these rights and they are slowly being eroded in conservative states.  

Punk Globe: You were a child actress. Please tell us in what we may have seen you in?

Jula Bell:  I was a child actress discovered with my sisters in ballet class. I did a few commercials age 4-5 mostly.  One for Wonderbread, one for Uniroyal Keds (with Kim Richards of Escape from Witch Mountain/Nanny and The Professor Fame.  Now of Real Housewives of BH fame); but the most memorable one was a Twinkie the Kid commercial.  Here is the link for your enjoyment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WivAv7a1ELA

It is rather entertaining. 

Punk Globe: Tell us about your work doing soundtracks and doing voice-over work. What was it like working with Devo? 

Jula Bell: I have sung on some soundtracks, TV shows, and commercials.  I really enjoyed working with Mark Mothersbaugh on a Spanish Version of Felix the Cat (El Gato Felix) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU0kvhC3ni8

I also sang on a few of his TV shows, and did a duet with DEVO for Girl  U Want for Tank Girl  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uv-9mJCTkk Mark said that I am the only female who has ever done a duet with DEVO, so that was pretty cool. He was especially fun to work with because he is very silly, and has a brilliant imagination. I enjoyed doing songs for Bill Nye the Science guy, working with Rolfe Kent on a few films, and doing a very funny commercial with Jon Huck (Thelonius Monster) called Unruly.  I even did a Levi’s radio commercial where I played my autoharp and another woman sang all of the states of the US in 60 seconds. 

Punk Globe: You worked doing film production. What did you do?  What was it like working with David Lynch? Why did you leave the film business? 

Jula Bell: I worked in the film industry on and off for 18 years. I would work for 6 months to earn money and then I would play gigs and tour for six months.  I started as a P.A. and worked my way up to a producer. I really enjoyed working in the art department and Twin Peaks was one of my favorite gigs.  Working for David Lynch was a highlight.  I worked as an Art dept.  coordinator on Twin Peaks, and when David put Twin Peaks on the Bravo network, I worked as Art Director on his Log Lady Intros.  David is a joy to work with.  He dug hanging out with us in the art department and was obsessed with constructing the perfect meditation chair.  One of his favorite habits is to be spontaneous.  He loved to put the crew members in the occasional scene.  He put me in front of the camera, and I did a few cameos in Twin Peaks. In the first season, you can see my legs and arms filling in for some of the actor close-ups.  In the second season, I wore a straight black wig and an emerald sequined gown and was unveiled as  Miss Twin Peaks on all the contest flyers.  I also pushed around a vacuum in the house of ill repute called “One Eyed Jacks” as the “Vacuum Mistress” in the second season. Wardrobe dressed me in a black bra, mini skirt, fishnets, cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat. My acting in that left much to be desired–but I had a lot of fun in my impromptu parts.  After seeing myself in that, I took some acting classes, so I would be ready for the next time! Before Twin Peaks, I had worked mostly on commercials and rock videos.  After Twin Peaks, I worked with 23D films as a producer on some animated and stop-motion projects. The directors of 23D films were extremely talented. One of them was famous for working on the early Tool stop motion videos. They also worked with Bjork, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eminem, Michelle Gondry, Nickelodeon bumpers, and a ton of other great projects.  I left the film business because it got slow. I then started Dog Camp LA in 1999.