Los Angeles Underground Counterculture Newspaper "Open City", Including Antiwar Protests, Prison Violence and Early Writings of Charles Bukowski, 1968-1969

Charles Bukowski Open City

Periodical

[Counterculture] Open City underground newspaper archive, an iconic Los Angeles countercultural journalism during the late 1960s expansion of the underground press and New Left activism. Open City was a weekly alternative newspaper covering politics, counterculture, and arts during the Vietnam War era. The paper gained national visibility through the involvement of poet and novelist Charles Bukowski, whose column “Notes of a Dirty Old Man” first appeared in Open City and introduced his writing to a wide readership before later book publication. Editorial content frequently addressed antiwar activism, youth culture, sexuality, music, prison conditions, and experimental communal living, subjects central to the broader counterculture and radical press movements developing across American cities during the late 1960s. Archive of six issues of Open City: Weekly Review of the Los Angeles Renaissance. Los Angeles: Open City Publishing, 1968–1969. Issues include the following:

[1] Open City. Number Ten. Los Angeles: Open City Publishing, Week of July 7–13, 1968. Front page photographic feature titled “A time to make contact with humanity” documents a Los Angeles “Love-In” gathering in Griffith Park, with text describing the event as an experiment in open social interaction and communal experience.

[2] Open City. Issue No. 76. Los Angeles: Open City Publishing, November 1–7, 1968. Headlined “Wallace Inaugural Issue,” referencing protests connected to the presidential campaign of segregationist candidate George Wallace. Front page listings include “Peace March vs. Nazis,” “Sex in Wallaceland,” “Wallace Slaveland,” and “Blacks Resist Wallace,” reflecting anti-racist organizing and political critique during the 1968 election cycle.

[3] Open City. Issue No. 79. Los Angeles: Open City Publishing, November 22–28, 1968. Front page headline “Assassination: JFK Died 5 Years Ago and the Decline of the American Empire Began,” presenting extended political commentary linking the Kennedy assassination to broader critiques of American political power and Cold War policy.

[4] Open City. Issue No. 84. Los Angeles: Open City Publishing, December 27, 1968–January 2, 1969. Cover story “’69 the Rock Way,” accompanied by a full-page photograph of a rock guitarist. Additional front page listings include “The Moodiest Blues,” “Don Dillard and Clark,” “Does Rock Corrupt Kids?” and “Gold Rush in Ganja Land,” highlighting the paper’s engagement with contemporary music culture and debates surrounding youth culture and drug use.

[5] Open City. Issue No. 86. Los Angeles: Open City Publishing, January 10–16, 1969. Headlined “Alternatives,” featuring the article “Why Not Go Live in the Woods?” which discusses communal rural living and experiments in alternative social organization outside mainstream urban society.

[6] Open City. Issue No. 89. Los Angeles: Open City Publishing, February 28–March 6, 1969. Front page investigative report “Jail Rapes: A Full Report,” presenting testimonies and reporting on sexual violence within the American prison system, an example of the paper’s engagement with social justice and institutional critique.

The underground press formed a decentralized communication network for the American counterculture during the Vietnam War era, publishing political commentary and investigative reporting often excluded from mainstream newspapers. Open City was a prominent West Coast publication linking political activism with literature and arts. Charles Bukowski’s regular contributions helped establish the newspaper as a significant venue for emerging countercultural writing while also shaping Bukowski’s reputation as a chronicler of Los Angeles working-class life. Six issues in large folio newspaper format printed on newsprint. Fold lines from original distribution, moderate edge wear, scattered small tears along folds, and age toning to paper. Some chipping and minor losses at folds. Overall good only condition. These issues provide a concentrated record of the Los Angeles underground press and the cultural environment in which Bukowski’s early journalism circulated.

Item #23050

Price: $885.00