Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool of Green Day with their new coffee flavors at a 7-Eleven store on Pinole Valley Road in Pinole, Calif. on Sept. 22, 2024. Aaron Lee/STAFF.

By Ashley Lane

PINOLE, Calif. — Back in the East Bay city of Pinole where most of Green Day went to school and started their band, the trio was recognized for its musical impact and ties to the community on Sunday.

Standing in front of the 7-Eleven across from Pinole Valley High School, one of Billie Joe Armstrong’s and Mike Dirnt’s frequent teenage haunts, the band members, including Tré Cool, were presented with a plaque that was installed outside of the store. Inscribed was: “At the center of the earth in the parking lot of the 7-Eleven….Billie, Mike, and Tré were here.”

The quote refers to the iconic verse from “Jesus of Suburbia,” the second track on the band’s album American Idiot, released 20 years ago this month. Those same lyrics played over loudspeakers as the band made their grand entrance at the storefront.

Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day signing their new mural at a 7-Eleven store on Pinole Valley Road in Pinole, Calif. on Sept. 22, 2024.

Pinole Mayor Maureen Toms then presented Green Day with the key to the city, saying that the the community now had a specific place—the store—where fans and visitors alike could reflect on the power of music to bring people together. She went on to praise the band’s talent and success, and thanked Armstrong, Dirnt and Cool for their “loyalty to [their] roots.”

“Today we come together not only to celebrate music but the spirit in which your music has brought to our community,” Toms told the crowd of about 400 fans who gathered after the event was announced just three hours earlier. “Growing up right here, you showed us what passion, dedication and homegrown talent can do. And we want to thank you for bringing that back.”

Reminiscing on their formative high school years, Dirnt joked that he and Armstrong spent “a lot of time in class and ditching class.

“But always in the search for something creative and finding our people, our tribe,” he added. “I look around now and go, ‘Wow, half of us would have gotten beaten up for looking … the way we do now, back then. And now the same people who wanted to beat us up now understand us.”

Tré Cool of Green Day signing their new mural at a 7-Eleven store on Pinole Valley Road in Pinole, Calif. on Sept. 22, 2024. of Green Day with fans at a 7-Eleven store on Pinole Valley Road in Pinole, Calif. on Sept. 22, 2024.

“This is an amazing thing,” Dirnt added. “Great things can come from anywhere. Do creative things.”

Armstrong name-checked other bands in the East Bay music community with whom Green Day came up; such as Blatz, Corrupted Morals and Possessed.

“We just felt home,” he said.

While Armstrong never finished high school, Dirnt graduated in 1990, and the band officially went on tour the day after his graduation.

Before taking photos with fans and signing merch, the trio signed their names onto a mural dedicated to the band, outside the 7-Eleven.

Mayor of Pinole Maureen Toms presents Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool of Green Day with the key to the city at a 7-Eleven store on Pinole Valley Road in Pinole, Calif. on Sept. 22, 2024.

Fans began filling the sun-bleached parking lot of the store after noon. Armed with pink and black lanyards, they tested the band’s Punk Bunny Coffee, swapped stories from Friday’s concert in San Francisco and sang along to Dookie and American Idiot songs playing over the loudspeakers. Several brought vinyl records, posters and even guitars in hopes for the band to sign. A few folks who brought acoustic guitars turned out a few Green Day cuts as the crowd eagerly awaited the arrival of the band.

“I think it’s well-deserved,” Bay Area resident Ami Lawless said about the band being honored with the key to the city. “They put Pinole on the map for a long time. East Bay punk, you can’t mess with that. I remember seeing them at [punk club 924] Gilman [Street] quite a few times back in the day.”

“When they came on stage [on Friday], I started crying. This was my first time [seeing them live],” 15-year-old Pinole resident Marie Gonzalez Olivares said. “Green Day is my favorite band. I’ve been a fan of the band for three years. Growing up, I didn’t know about them, but then I started listening to them in my teen years.”

Follow photographer Aaron Lee at Instagram.com/aaronxphotos.