OPEN CITY No. 49, Apr. 5–11, 1968 — Bukowski Notes, Blood Sweat and Tears, H. Rap Brown, LBJ Withdrawal

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 built around Red, a young road drifter Bukowski has fallen in with — beastly cruel, beastly inhuman. Red runs a grim operation on an old woman, charges by the piece, keeps moving, never stays. Over beers he lays out his road philosophy: two pairs of pants, a razor under the belt, a white shirt rinsed in the sink, a strip necktie, a little icepick in an elastic strap halfway up the arm — always ready, a white collar job among the shits.

Published in the immediate aftermath of President Johnson's surprise announcement that he would not seek re-election, the cover responds with sardonic glee. Interior features a substantial interview with Blood Sweat and Tears founder Al Kooper, and a letter written from jail by civil rights militant H. Rap Brown. A two-page photo spread documents sculptor Bill Spater's guerrilla exhibition at Long Beach State College. An interior full-page photograph captures a naked man being arrested at Venice Beach. Large tabloid format, 17" x 11", black and white throughout.

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

The paper is a bit aged on this one with rubbing. The page edges stick out on the right side, leading to small tears and folds. There is a small hole on the left of the horizontal fold