OPEN CITY No. 48, Mar. 29–Apr. 4, 1968 — Bukowski at the Races, The Doors, Judy Collins, Tim Buckley, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Yippie Presidential Campaign

An issue of the Los Angeles underground weekly in the full broadsheet format, featuring Charles Bukowski's "Notes of a Dirty Old Man." The column is dateline Santa Anita, March 22, 1968, written in the voice of a man 408 dollars down and 40 dollars more in the hole, working the races with hard-won and largely futile system logic — toteboards, 5/2 payoffs, parking fee variances, the slow unbelievable drain of money bet at the last moment. Bukowski reflects at length on the nature of horseplayers — men and women driven to the track by the same accumulated miseries of life: the landlord's hand, the foreman's face, bad jobs, bad weather, the blues — and on the particular madness of believing you can outthink the board. The afternoon builds toward a single explosive moment: an outrider in a red hunting jacket appears on RICH DESIRE during the post parade, the crowd begins moving onto the track, a man waves his program at the board, another leaps the rail, the announcer demands the track be cleared repeatedly, ten policemen move in, the outrider grabs the number one horse's jockey and tries to pull him from the saddle, the police pull the outrider, the horses go through anyway — RICH DESIRE wins, Pierce on the number one horse is nearly pulled from the saddle, the game is lost and the track cleared. The column closes the next day, March 23, Los Angeles, 45,000 people at the track, the horses running, Bukowski writing — same damn sadness, same damn place.

A visually striking issue with red, white and blue spot color used throughout. The front cover mocks the 1968 presidential race by pitting Robert F. Kennedy against Pigasus, the Yippie movement's pig candidate. Interior features a two-page color spread on the Kaleidoscope venue. The back cover carries a full-page Elektra Records antiwar advertisement listing Judy Collins, Tim Buckley, The Doors, Love, the Incredible String Band and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Large tabloid format, 17" x 11", red, white and blue spot color on cover and back cover.

Provenance: Mailing label on front cover addressed to John Bryan Sr., father of Open City editor John Bryan, and a newspaper man himself.

This copy is in nice condition with an even fold and the color remains vibrant. The interior pages stick out a bit on the right leading to some small tears and folds. Two-inch clean tear on bottom right of the front cover. Some light browning along the edges.