OPEN CITY No. 64, Aug. 9–15, 1968 — Bukowski at the Races and the Olympic Auditorium, Eldridge Cleaver, Dick Gregory, Newport Pop Festival, Jim Morrison

An issue of the Los Angeles underground weekly in the full broadsheet format, featuring Charles Bukowski's "Notes of a Dirty Old Man." Opening with a meditation on the psychology of losing at the racetrack and the "death-wish" that keeps gamblers coming back, the column pivots into a sustained memory of the old days at the Olympic Auditorium watching boxing. The centerpiece is a night when a young fighter named Enrique Balanos fought Watson, a bout of such intensity that it ends with Bukowski smashing his glass against the wall, going home through the Los Angeles rain with his woman, making love, and laughing until dawn — closing with poor Watson laying somewhere, blue all over.

The front cover leads with John Bryan's coverage of the California Peace and Freedom Party convention, where Eldridge Cleaver beat Dick Gregory for the presidential nomination, printed in striking purple and black two-color. The back cover carries a photo spread from the Newport Pop Festival featuring Jim Morrison, Blue Cheer, Country Joe and the Fish, and Sonny and Cher, alongside the weekly calendar which notes Doug Blazek reading at the Ahmanson Research Center. Full broadsheet format, 22.5" x 15.5", purple and black spot color on cover, black and white throughout interior.

Provenance: Mailing label addressed to John E. Bryan, 22420 Edgecliff Drive, Cleveland, Ohio — the editor's father at his home address.

This one is in really nice shape with even folds. Pages stick out slightly but there very few tiny tears. The color is fairly vibrant and the pages are white, if not bright white. Overall, a very nice copy.