Open City October 11, 1968 – Notes of a Dirty Old Man Charles Bukowski

The October 11,1968 issue of Open City featured a “Notes of a Dirty Old Man" about Frances Dean Smith, the mother of his only child, Marina Bukowski. Also known as the poet FrancEyE, she and Bukowski often had arguments about poetry and literature. He meanfully nickneamed her Snaggle-Tooth in a piece in 1977, but she shook it off and by all indications, Bukowski respected her as a mother.

This is one of the large format versions of Open City, measuring 16” x 23”. This copy is in Near Fine-minus condition with asome toning and age..

Charles Bukowski appeared in at least 40 issues of Open City, a free weekly published by the legendary John Bryan. Bukowski would also be at least partially responsible for the paper’s demise. As a contributing editor of the paper’s arts section, Bukowski published Jack Micheline's Skinny Dynamite in one issue, prompting the paper to be charged with obscenity. The resulting legal costs would subsequently shut the paper down.

Bukowski’s columns in Open City would be the basis for the Bukowski book, “Notes of a Dirty Old Man”, published by Essex House in 1967 and City Lights Books in 1973.