B U R E A U O F P U B L I C S E C R E T S

San Francisco in the Sixties

Kenneth Rexroths complete columns and articles from the San Francisco Examiner (1960-1967),

the San Francisco Bay Guardian (1967-1972), and San Francisco Magazine (1967-1975)



In January 1960 the San Francisco Examiner (a Hearst newspaper) offered Kenneth Rexroth a job writing a weekly column. He accepted. By May 1961 the column had proved popular enough that he was asked to do two per week. Beginning May 1966 he was doing three per week.

The association was an odd one. Although Rexroth was by that time a well-known figure in the Bay Area, he was known primarily as a political and cultural radical, and even (somewhat misleadingly) as “the godfather of the Beat Generation.” But he was willing to work for the Examiner as long as they gave him complete freedom to write whatever he wanted. They did so until July 1967, when they fired him after he had written a particularly scathing article about the American police. At that point he shifted to doing monthly columns for San Francisco Magazine (1967-1975) as well as occasional political articles for the San Francisco Bay Guardian (1967-1972).

All told, Rexroth wrote approximately 760 columns for the Examiner, 30 articles for the Guardian, and 90 columns for San Francisco Magazine.

In 1985 I hunted up and photocopied all these columns and articles at the University of California library in Berkeley. After going through them all, I made a tentative selection for an anthology, Rexroths San Francisco, which I proposed to several publishers. There were a few nibbles, but ultimately no publisher was sufficiently interested, so I abandoned the project, having meanwhile concluded that writing my own critical appreciation of Rexroth would be more interesting. The latter work, The Relevance of Rexroth, was completed and published in 1990, and I later posted both it and the proposed anthology on this website.

In January 2010 I began the project of posting each of the Examiner columns on the approximate 50th anniversary of its original appearance (hence the original title of the series, San Francisco Fifty Years Ago). After I had posted all the Examiner columns, I continued the project (under the revised title, San Francisco in the Sixties) by posting all of the Guardian articles and then all of the San Francisco Magazine columns, without waiting for the 50th anniversaries. They are now all online.

Needless to say, they vary widely in topic and interest. Some offer incisive commentary that remains astonishingly relevant on all sorts of general issues  social, political, cultural, ecological. Others are more dated, such as reviews of particular musical or theatrical performances, or discussions of bygone municipal issues. I think you will find, however, that his remarks about even the most ephemeral topics are full of amusing observations and perceptive insights, and that the ensemble constitutes a unique and fascinating chronicle of those eventful years.

I have silently corrected obvious typos, added an occasional comma or hyphen when that seemed to help clarify the sense, and taken the liberty of composing new titles (the original titles were composed by the Examiner editors and often do not give a very good idea of what Rexroth is actually talking about).

The contents are listed below. Enjoy!

KEN KNABB

February 2017





Table of Contents

San Francisco Examiner columns:

1960

January

31. Here I Am

February

07. New Forms of Art and Culture?

14. New Forms of Politics?

21. A Night Out in the City

28. Merits and Faults of the San Francisco Ballet

March

06. Beckett and Ionesco

13. Ferlinghetti, Ginsberg, and the Modern Jazz Quartet

20. Drama and Community

27. In Praise of Amateur Shakespeare

April

03. Two Questions About Modern Life

10. Signs of Change in the South

17. Conversations with Southerners

24. Flagstaff versus Phoenix

May

01. New Orleans versus Pittsburgh

08. Jean Genet and Ornette Coleman

15. The Execution of Caryl Chessman

22. The HUAC Riot

29. Signs of a New Youth Revolt

June

05. New American Poetry and Jazz

12. San Francisco Theater and Chicago Architecture

19. Pirandellos Six Characters in Search of an Author

26. Slum Clearance?

July

03. Three Poets in the News

10. Kabuki Theater

17. Poetry and Ballet

24. Ballet and Jazz

31. The Royal Danish Ballet

August

07. The Tao of Fishing

14. Riding in the Mountains

21. Upheavals in Cuba and the Congo

28. More on the Third World

September

04. The Circus

11. Lack of Imagination and Common Sense

18. Japanese Art of Grace and Modesty

25. Why I Like Opera

October

02. Why I Don’t Like Jazz Festivals

09. Aida and Ornette Coleman

16. Governmental Clowning

23. An Astonishing Painting Prodigy

30. La Traviata and La Bohème

November

06. Style versus Pretension

13. Bruce Conner and the Royal Ballet

20. Matters of Taste

27. Mathematical Elegance and Classic Fiction

December

04. The Cost of Taking a Grant from the Ford Foundation

11. Robert Duncan

18. An Appeal for Kenneth Patchen

25. Christmas

1961

January

01. Man at the End of His Tether

08. Little Theater

15. Theater in San Francisco, Art in Chicago

22. Controversy About Cuba

29. The Attempted Assassination of Thomas Parkinson

February

05. Night Clubs and Jazz

12. Pacifica Radio KPFA

19. The Assassination of Lumumba

26. The Chicago Opera Ballet

March

05. The Peace Corps

12. More on the Peace Corps

19. Journalism and Talk Shows

26. The Black Muslims

April

02. More on the Black Muslims

09. King Lear

16. A Few Days in New York

23. New York Jazz Clubs and Genets The Blacks

30. Ionescos Rhinoceros

[At this point Rexroth shifts from one column a week (Sunday) to two columns per week, Sunday and Wednesday.]

May

03. The Bay of Pigs

07. Mediocrity in Art

10. Atoms and Irresponsibility

14. A Delightful Spring Opera Season

17. The Population Explosion

21. A Marvelous Magic Flute

24. The Attacks on the Freedom Riders

28. Courage and Cowardice in the South

31. Summit Meeting

June

04. Urban Uglification

07. The Celebrity Elite

11. Nurturing Student Creativity

14. American Provinciality

18. Another Investigation of Campus Subversion

21. Interracial Casting

25. The Moiseyev Dancers

28. Government Is Not Business

July

02. The Meaning of Conservation

05. Morality Crisis

09. The Death of Hemingway

12. Sierra Camps

16. Sausalito Cuisine and Camuss Caligula

19. The Berlin Crisis

23. Dangerous Bluster over Berlin

26. The Bizerte Crisis

30. The New York Ballet

August

02. Remembering the Spanish Civil War

06. Ballet and Opera

09. Who for Mayor?

13. Needed: A Master Plan for the City

16. A World of Refugees

20. The Two Cultures

23. A Geopolitical Easement

27. H.G. Wells’s “Open Conspiracy”

30. Breadth of Vision versus Narrowness of Interest

September

03. Gracious Music at Aspen

06. The Russians’ Real Goal

10. Comments on Cuisine

13. Anachronistic Geopolitics

17. An International Business Conference

20. Negroes and Classical Music

24. An Atrocious New Opera

27. Boris Godunov

October

01. Odds and Ends

04. Fine Opera with Shoddy Decor

08. Rigoletto and Coltrane

11. Thoughts While Watching Fidelio and Nabucco

15. More on the Above

18. More Opera

22. Sergeant Musgraves Dance

25. Letters from New York and Florence

29. The Russian H-Bomb Test

November

01. Public Opinion

05. The Sick Comedians

09. The Fallout Shelter Craze

12. Henry Miller

15. The Kirov Ballet

19. Pablo Casals at the White House

22. The Kirovs Shostakovich Piece

26. Milhaud and Chekhov

29. Adenauer and Egrets

December

03. The Age of Inoffensiveness

06. Postcolonial Problems

10. Personal and Municipal Responsibility

13. Mandarin Ethics

17. Patronage, Personal or Governmental

20. General Strike for Peace?

24. Christmas Events

27. Dont Do as I Do . . .

31. The Holidays We Need

1962

January

03. My Choice for Man of the Year

07. The French Crisis

10. Urban Deterioration

14. Some Excellent Plays in New York

17. The Bail System

21. Drawbacks of New York

24. Proposal for an Arts Council

28. Better Theater at Home

31. The Disoriented

February

04. Jazz and Longhair

07. Back to Big Sur

11. Chinese Opera

14. A Wise Proclamation from Oregon

18. Some Racial Progress

21. Eskimo Art

25. The San Francisco Mime Troupe

28. Battered Children

March

04. Folkloristic Hokum

07. John Glenn

11. Loving Care for the Mentally Ill

14. Isaac Stern, Prokofiev, and a Lovely Harpist

18. Peter, Paul and Mary, and Eugene ONeill

21. At the Matisse Opening

25. A Visit to Tucson

28. Generation Gaps in Tucson

April

01. Poetry and Song, French and American

04. Religion and the Enhancement of Life

08. Our Ailing Symphony

11. Golden Gate Park

15. Casals and Strindberg

18. The Lamentable Cuisine of Los Angeles

22. Splendid Ballet

25. The Atomic Arms Race

29. Damn Yankees and a Casals Oratorio

May

02. Social Integration

06. Shakespeare, Ibsen, Swan Lake

09. Juvenile Delinquency

13. Originality versus Self-Expression

16. The Constant Dread of a Hideous Extinction

20. The Spring Opera

23. Racial Bridges

27. Bizets The Pearl Fishers

30. [no column]

June

03. Can-Can and Dizzy Gillespie

06. Creativity versus Subliteracy

10. The Persistence of Pseudoscience

13. Elusive Educators

17. The Poetry Festival

20. [no column]

24. The New Frontier in Alaska

27. The Wealth of Alaska

July

01. Last Stand of la Vie Méditerranée

04. Patriotism

08. Packing in the Sierras

11. The Intermountain Country

15. Research for Peace?

18. The Aspen Idea

22. A Tribute to Darius Milhaud

25. Midwest Trying to Be French

29. Debussy’s Lovely Trio

August

01. Economic Dilemmas

05. American Poetry Since 1940

08. Utopia or Perish

12. Igor Stravinsky

15. The Tao of Politics

19. The Death of Marilyn Monroe

22. The Ineffectiveness of the United Nations

26. High Sierra Characters

29. Comfortable Confusion

September

02. Conservation and Wise Use

05. Classic Humor Becoming Politically Incorrect

09. East versus West in Art

12. Starved Infrastructure

16. Strindberg

19. The Continuing Appeal of King Tut

23. Church Architecture

26. Superb Verdi Productions

30. KPFA in Danger

October

03. Show Biz Plugs

07. Racial Discrimination and Resentment

10. Opera Too Light

14. A Flawless Twelfth Night

17. Shakespeare and Opera

21. To Each His Own Hula Hoop

24. Bolshoi versus Kirov

28. The Bolshoi Ballet

31. The Cuban Missile Crisis

November

04. A Very Official Poetry Festival

07. Why Not Abolish Market Street?

11. The Continuing Destruction of San Francisco

14. In Praise of Live Music

18. Bad Art, Fair Hamlet

21. The Glass Menagerie

25. Richard Nixon and Bertrand Russell

28. Thanksgiving in Yosemite

December

02. Heifetz, Hindemith, Mozart, Milhaud

05. Follies Foreign and Domestic

09. The Limits of Post-Stalin Art

12. Debussy and Stravinsky

16. White House PR

19. Ballet and Bartok

23. Brechts Philosophy

26. The Increasing Appreciation of Early Music

30. San Francisco’s Ballet School

1963

January

02. The Turning of the Year

06. Plea for a Municipal Arts Center

09. Nuclear Power and Free Speech Radio

13. The Negro in Vogue Again

16. Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband

20. Contrasting Speeches by Kennedy and De Gaulle

23. Alienation or Frustration?

27. Moscow and the Chinese Communists

30. A Poorly Directed Macbeth

February

03. Stravinsky’s Mass

06. Classic Ballet and Chinese Theater

10. Who’s Backing De Gaulle?

13. Budapest String Quartet and Russian Opera

17. Academicizing the Avant-Garde

20. Theatrical Intercasting

24. The Chaos of Decolonization

27. Volpone and Ash Wednesday

March

03. Volpone and the Black Comedy of Humanity

06. The Film Elektra

10. The de Kaplany Verdict

13. Kandinsky

17. The Pan-Islam Movement

20. Foot-in-Mouth Politics

24. The Narcotics Problem

27. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Le Coq d’Or

31. The Season of Resurrection

April

03. The Debbil-Debbil Theory

07. Revolting Genet

10. Government and the Arts

14. A Monster Is Loose in the Human Heart

17. Protest of the Month Club

21. Superlative Ballet

24. John Handy

28. More Thoughts on Protest

May

01. The Gordon Lish Controversy

05. Pirandello and Offenbach

08. Art versus “Promotion”

12. A Cultural Cornucopia

15. A Century of Restraint

19. The Privilege of Community

22. An Appeal for Bay Area Cultural Coordination

26. A New Human Revolution

29. Two Civil Rights Events

June

02. Fictitious Images of America

05. The Death of Pope John XXIII

09. The Spring Opera

12. Self-Segregation Issues

16. An Impressive “Ballet ’63”

19. Performing Arts in the Parks

23. Planning and Preserving the City

26. The Power Elites Dolce Vita

30. By the Waterfall

July

03. Planning the City’s Future

07. Silly Reactions to Four-Letter Words

10. Agriculture Issues

14. Bayard Rustin and the New Black Struggle

17. The Green Revolution

21. The Mime Troupe in the Park

24. Martians in the Ghetto

28. The Needs of the City

31. Summer Spy Season

August

04. The Chinese Theater

07. The Persecution of Buddhists in Vietnam

11. Three Cultural Losses

14. More on the Chinese Theater

18. Camping in the Sierras

21. Conservation Issues

25. What to Do with the Old Hall of Justice

28. A Wild Horse Refuge

September

01. Music in the Vineyards

04. The Campaign for Mayor

08. Victor Serge’s Memoirs of a Revolutionary

11. The Real Coal Mine Disaster

15. Diebenkorn at the De Young

18. A Master Plan for the City

22. Opening Nights at the Opera

25. [no column]

29. T.S. Eliot

October

02. Questioning Psychiatry

06. Superlative Opera

09. Declining American Power

13. The Taming of the Shrew and The Queen of Spades

16. The Wine Festivities

20. Invigorating the Cultural Life of the City

23. [no column]

27. [column missing from library copy]

30. Efficient Spending

November

03. Best Opera Season Ever

06. Frivolous Picketing

10. A Crisis of Leadership

13. A Loyalty Oath for KPFA

17. The Sickness Runs Deep

20. Labor’s Faltering Image

24, Superlative Theater: Lorca, Pinter, Chekhov

27. The Kennedy Assassination

December

01. The True Mourning

04. Thoughts About Death

08. A New and More Satisfying Symphony

11. Redevelopment Dilemmas

15. The Challenge of Utopia

18. Ghosts That Haunt the Public Mind

22. Drama Pros and Cons

25. To Men of Good Will

29. An Impenetrable Maze

1964

January

01. Resolutions and Habits

05. Misguided Ballet Funding

08. The New Mayors Challenge

12. H.L. Mencken

15. The Miserable Twilight of Colonialism

19. The Greek Ideal

22. Troubles Around the World

26. Ballet Schools

29. Recognition of Red China

February

02. Neglected Parks

05. What to Do with the Fine Arts Palace?

09. Drug Addiction and Synanon

12. More on Race Relations

16. Symphonic Progress

19. Government by Celebrity

23. Ralph Stackpole and the Coit Tower Murals

26. Sex Education

March

01. Pennsylvania

04. Traffic Tangle in Golden Gate Park

08. Tom Jones and The Ginger Man

11. Civil Rights Action at the Sheraton

15. Ideas for a San Francisco Music Festival

18. More on Civil Rights

22. Trade Secrets of the Arts

25. Youth Problems Not Addressed

29. Here Begins a New Life . . .

April

01. Improvements for Golden Gate Park?

05. Blissful Indifference

08. Poverty in San Francisco

12. In Quest of New Opera

15. Examples of Local Poverty

19. A Scatterbrained Column

22. Another Poverty Scenario

26. The Enigma of Shakespeare

29. Divorce: Another Factor of Poverty

May

03. Planned Laissez Faire

06. Alcoholism and Poverty

10. Ideas for Replanning the City

13. Skid Row

17. A Backward Glance at the Seasons Arts

20. [no column]

24. Charles Mingus

27. A Cultivated Congressman

31. Spring Opera

June

03. Nehru and India

07. Interracial Marriage

10. The Goldwater Effect

14. Homosexuality

17. Library Architecture

21. Greeks and Buddhists in Afghanistan

24. A Drastic Solution for Market Street

28. Spring Opera and the International Repertory Theater

July

01. Feedback on Controversies

05. Arts Festival in Milwaukee

08. Milwaukees Public Philosophy

12. Mellow Milwaukee

15. [no column]

19. A Buddhist’s Request

21. On Church and Ecology

22. The Danger of Unanimity

26. Wedekind’s Lulu

29. The Harlem Riots

August

02. Pork Barrel in Harlem

05. The Invasion of Northern California

09. Culture on the Go

12. Disappearing Farmland

16. Descendants of the Heroic Negro Past

19. San Francisco Swimming

23. Wonder and Meditation in the Sierras

26. Community Planlessness

30. Mysticism, Ethical and Chemical

September

02. The Theater on Mt. Tamalpais

06. Riotous Despair

09. An Exemplary Church

13. Community versus Collectivity

16. On the Brink in Southeast Asia

20. Wagnerian Tartuffery

23. San Francisco Art Festival

27. What a Week!

30. James Baldwin’s Amen Corner

October

04. Rapport at the Opera

07. Ghettoized Youth

11. Opera and Early Music

14. Compulsive Demonstrators

18. Repressed Issues Coming Out

21. [no column]

25. Dealing with Social Problems

28. The Fall of Khrushchev

November

01. Intangible Values

04. The Kremlin’s Madison Avenue

08. Looking Back on the Opera Season

11. Post Mortem on Prop. 14

15. The Kirov Ballet

18. The French Communist Party

22. Answering the Correspondence

25. A Parking Problem

29. The Paucity of Patrons

December

02. Thanksgiving in Yosemite

06. The Vatican Council

09. The Depersonalized Campus in Berkeley

13. Wycherleys The Country Wife

16. Intelligent Life on Mars?

20. The New English Liturgy

23. The Myth of Christmas

27. The Past and Future of This Column

30. Fine Ballet, Lousy Auditoriums

1965

January

03. Stimulating Mail

06. Police versus Homosexuality

10. Inadequate Cultural Infrastructure

13. The Mafia Invasion of North Beach

17. Cultural To-Do List

20. Highways and the Future

24. A Great Week of Local Theater

27. Misdirected Education

31. A Theatrical Body Blow

February

03. San Francisco’s First-Rate Ballet

07. Our Deteriorating Theatrical Infrastructure

10. The Wrong Educational Priorities

14. Pussyfoot City

17. Proposals for Chinatown

21. Highlights of a Pleasant Week

24. The Assassination of Malcolm X

28. Education Beyond the Classroom

March

03. The Folly of Escalation in Asia

07. The Proposed New Culture Center

10. A Sense of Crisis Abroad

14. The Cold War in the South

17. Voluntary Provocateurs

21. San Francisco’s Cultural Divide

24. Gentle Thursday

28. Farewell to the Actor’s Workshop

31. Cleaning Up North Beach

April

04. More on North Beach

07. Factory-Style Education

11. International Plays in Our Little Theaters

14. In a Timeless Hurry

18. Easter and the Story of Job

21. Bob Dylan

25. Nostalgic Art Show

28. Ghelderode and Euripides

May

02. Civilized Visitors

05. Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas

09. Contemporary Japanese Art

12. Cowboy Diplomacy

16. The Alienation of Youth

19. An Abundance of Events

23. The Generation Gap

26. An Outstanding Antigone

30. The Strategy of Peace

June

02. A Silly Plaza Design

06. War on Poverty at the Local Level

09. The Spread of Drugs

13. Escape from Theatrical Orthodoxy

16. The Demand for Education

20. Challenge to the City Clergy

23. California Living at Its Best

27. Disappointing Spring Opera

30. Letters from Readers

July

04. Wine  French versus Californian

07. A Great Romeo and Juliet by the Royal Ballet

11. More on Ballet

14. John Handy

18. Symposium, Sixteenth-Century Style

21. More on Wine

25. FSM’s Inconsistent Defense

28. And Yet More on Wine

August

01. An Atrocious Tennessee Williams Play

04. Natural Urban Renewal

08. Casting by Talent, Not by Color

11. Prophets and Profits

15. The Philosophers of Power

18. Negro Riots

22. What’s Ahead for the Negro?

25. Unlimited Responsibility

29. San Franciscos Pitiful Patronage

September

01. After the Watts Riot

05. Two Books on the Berkeley FSM

08. More on Wine

12. A Promising Fall Season

13. The Quiet Center [At this point the columns started appearing Sunday and Monday, instead of Sunday and Wednesday.]

19. Performing Arts

20. The Latest News

26. Unfashionable Opera Reviews

27. Race Issues and the Arts

October

03. The Opera Lulu

04. The Negro Writers Conference

10. San Francisco’s Absurd Bond Fight

11. Harassment in Haight-Ashbury

17. Back Home in Indiana

18. Cops and the Core City

24. What the New Youth Are Asking

25. Destroying Urban Beauty

31. A Magnificent Opera Season

November

01. Performing Arts Needs

07. The Royal Danish Ballet

08. Out-of-Touch Culture Oligarchy

14. San Francisco Theater Beats New York’s

15. Sloth or Revolution

21. New Apple Carts

22. Henry Wallace

28. Shake Up San Francisco with a Teach-In

29. Bees in My Bonnet

December

05. A Great Actor’s Workshop Production

06. A Train Up Mount Tamalpais?

12. Poetry on Record

13. Mafia Toes in the Door

19. Voices Outside the Inn

20. Passing the Buck

26. Year End Thoughts

27. Some Traffic Suggestions

1966

January

02. Culture Has Become Popular

03. Smoking Manners

09. The Subculture Facing Armageddon

17. The War on Poverty

23. Molière

24. Blitzkrieg Against the Environment

30. Metaphysical Metrecal

31. Society’s Silver Cord

February

06. Coalinga

07. Corporate Patronage

13. Strindberg and Genet

14. One Freeway We Do Need

20. The Ballet’s New Season

23. As Machiavelli Said . . .

27. Twenty Years from Now

28. Community Complacency

March

06. Performing Arts Season

07. Civic Deterioration

13. The Bombing of the DuBois Club

14. The State Department Wine List

20. An Updated List of Fine Wines

21. The Book of Job

27. A Savagely Indignant Midsummer Nights Dream

28. A Visit to Pittsburgh

April

03. Religions Awakening

04. An Overall Plan for the City

10. The Religious Rite of Spring

11. SF Ballet Tries Harder

17. Library Week

18. Cultural Improvements  Easy But Unprofitable

24. More Saul Alinskys Needed

25. Copper-Hearts in the Fillmore

May

01. May Day

02. Voluntary Social Engagement

08. Some Vital Black Theater

09. Make Way for Big Dances

15. Sophocles and the Black Theater

16. Cathedrals and Culture

22. Some Visiting German Highbrows

24. The Future of Catholicism [At this point the columns start appearing Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday, instead of Sunday and Monday.]

26. The Real Fame of San Francisco

29. Musical Provincialism and Modern Drama

31. France and Our Wines

June

02. Two Legal Wrongs

05. Urban Alienation Renewal

07. Excellent Dramas at S.F. State

09. Ornette Coleman

12. Fundamental Cultural Change

14. An Absurd Obscenity Decision

16. Unconstitutional Initiatives

19. More on Culture

21. The New Brundage Collection

23. Art and San Franciscos Chinese

26. The Cultural Nullity of the New Rich

28. Marijuana

30. Cultural Potpourri

July

03. Lively Arts versus TV Culture

05. LSD

07. Grand Canyon Dams?

10. A Very Disappointing Bolshoi

12. The Last Genuine Community in San Francisco

14. Actors Workshop Crisis

17. Marxism and the Persistence of Alienation

19. A Liberty and Laughter Symposium

21. New Racial Frictions

24. The International Cultural Revolution

26. Ballet 66

28. Performances in the Parks

31. Petitioning for Peace

August

02. Revisiting Oregon

04. More on Oregon

07. A Heavenly Resort

09. Yet More on Oregon

11. And Into Washington

14. A Renaissance Symposium

16. Portland and Seattle

18. The Cultural Northwest

21. A Lot to Say Before Leaving

23. Unions Behind the Times

25. As Foreigners See Us

28. San Francisco, Not Hollywood

30. What Is Immoral?

September

01. Communist Hypocrisy

04. The Terrible Breakup of Our Civilization

06. A Jazz Club’s Fight for Survival

08. Crisis in Our National Parks

11. Camouflaging the Rape of the Environment

13. What I Will Miss in San Francisco

15. Rosh Hashanah by the Rhine

18. On the Plane to Germany

20. Nature and Nationalism

22. German Food, French Folly

25. Arrival in Berlin

27. Berlin

29. Dining in Pre-Hitler Germany

October

02. How the Germans See Us

04. Germany’s Military Scandal

06. Ballet and Opera

09. Hamburg

11. From Drama to Horror

13. Pleasant Bed and Board

16. The Ghosts of Germany

18. Land of Wine and Poetry

20. Zigzagging Through the Rhineland

23. Europe Sets Us and Example

25. A Heavenly Country Inn

27. Poetry from a Computer

30. Munich

November

01. The Crises in Germany

03. Salome in Berlin

06. German Squares

08. Mayakovsky’s The Bedbug

10. What Do You Think of Berlin?

13. The State of German Theater

15. Its Still Square in Europe

17. Hamburg Again

20. A Superb Modern Opera

22. Welcome to England

24. The Lesson of Italy’s Floods

27. How Europe Sees the U.S. Election

29. Nazi Resurgence?

December

01. London Traffic

04. Making the Rounds in Way-Out London

06. The Big Issue in Britain

08. Wandering the Streets of London

11. Amsterdam Is Jumping

13. The Provos

15. More on the Provos

18. Revaluing Modern Art

20. Yet More on the Provos

22. Too Much Public Spending?

25. A Critique of German Painting

27. The Mystery of East Germany

29. Bolshevism as State Capitalism

1967

January

01. Finland Sparkles

03. Tourist Tips for Finland

05. Finland’s Coherent Soul

08. Finland’s Superb Theater

10. Finland’s Good Example

12. The Arts of Finland

15. The Mastery That Is Sweden’s

17. Vital Theater in Sweden

19. Explosive East Germany

22. Sexual Liberation in Denmark

24. Gracious Copenhagen

26. A New Song Star in Europe

29. A New Film’s Classic Spirit

31. The New Bonapartism

February

02. [no column]

05. Farewell to Germany

07. At Home in Belgium

09. Tips for Touring Belgium

12. A Writer We Should Know

14. Anti-Human Urbanism

16. Skyrocketing Paris Prices

19. Paris Is Provincial

21. German Diplomatic Maneuvers

23. Funny Money

26. Wandering the Streets of Paris

28. Rotten French Food

March

02. New Western Alliance?

05. Barcelona

07. The Condition of Our Survival

09. Time Catches Up to Spain

12. Gaudi’s Architecture

14. Contradictions in Spain

16. Undergrounds in Spain

19. Catalan Romanesque

21. Power Struggle in Italy

23. Lake Como

26. The Temptation to Remain in Italy

28. [no column]

31. Venice

April

02. Tintoretto and the Painters of Venice

04. [no column]

07. Why Venice Is So Great

09. The Failure of Florentine Art

11. Contrasting Coalitions

13. A New Produce Rival to California

16. The Ghosts of Ravenna

18. Extincting Ourselves

20. Threat to Italy’s Economic Boom

23. Catholics in Upheaval

25. Tourist Tips for Italy

27. The Italian Communist Party

30. A Roman Sermon

May

02. Paestum

04. Ecological Revolution

07. The Decline of Ancient Greek Art

09. Ruins of Ancient Greece

11. Turkey’s Economic Lag

14. Istanbul

16. Iran

18. Third World Economies

21. Irans Two Culture Peril

23. Home Cooking Is Better

25. Isfahan

28. Afghanistan

30. Afghan History

June

01. Leaving Afghanistan

04. India

06. India’s Political Demoralization

08. More on Indian Politics.

11. Exemplary Theater in India

13. Buddhism and Hinduism in India

15. Population Control

18. Thai Buddhism

20. Still More on Indian Politics

22. More on Thailand

Coda: Who dunnit to Rexroth at the Examiner? (article in the San Francisco Chronicle about Rexroths firing from the Examiner)

* * *

1967

October 31. A Civil War in America

December 19. Screws Tightening on the Universities

1968

January 22. LBJ’s Repression of Radicals

January 27. Manipulators of Dissent

April 5. Pessimism Is Justified

May 10. Terrorize the Enemy  Stroll in Pacific Heights

August 30. Where Do You Go When You Flee the Country?

December 24. Looking Back on the Election

1969

March 27. Santa Barbara

May 22. More on Santa Barbara

July 10. Press, Police, Mafia

August 18. Facing Extinction

September 30. The Mafia’s Increasing Domination

December 16. The Ecology of Education

1970

April 17. Proposals for UC Santa Barbara

June 11. Kent State

August 31. Lessons of History

October 26. Soledad Brother

December 23. Women’s Liberation

1971

February 26. Nixons Revolution

June 7. The War in Indochina

September 27. The Commune Movement

December 22. Communal Movements of the Past

1972

March 28, 1972. Nixon’s China Trip

May 11. The Election

June 22. The Presidential Primaries

August 3. The McGovern Movement

November 15. McGovern’s Mistakes

* * *

San Francisco Magazine columns:

1967

October. Hong Kong and Japan

November. America the Ugly

December. Tourist Tips for Japan

1968

January. The Junta Coup in Greece

February. General Breakdown

March. Destruction for Profit

April. Humanity at the End of Its Tether

May. America the Sick

June. San Francisco’s Rose-Colored Glasses

July. The May Revolt in France

August. Community versus Alienation

September. Reorganize the Police

October. The Chicago Convention

November. On the Eve of the Election

December. [no column]

1969

January. Nixon’s Election

February. No Sign of a Way Out

March. In the Grip of the Militantly Mindless

April. Utopia Belongs to Us

May. The Ecological Point of No Return

June. Can San Francisco Be Saved?

July. Radical Movements on the Defensive

August. Poetry and Song in Santa Barbara

September. The Battle for Food

October. San Francisco’s Artistic Provincialism

November. San Franciscos Square Cultural Elite

December. The Ecological Revolution

1970

January. The Threat to Civilized Life

February. Depression and Revolt

March. The Administration of Calvin Coolidge Jr.

April. Dissolving Power

May. What’s Happening at Santa Barbara?

June. Nixon in Drag

July. The Reign of Lies

August. How Many Americans Have Ever . . .

September. Remarks on a Shaky Economy

October. What Lies Ahead?

November. Invisible Power

December. Women’s Liberation

1971

January. The Quieting of America

February. Peace Might Break Out

March. The Real Polarization in America

April. The Invasion of Laos

May. Manson, My Lai, and the Devil

June. Ping Pong Diplomacy

July. General Breakdown

August. San Francisco Today

September. Nixon’s China Ploy

October. What’s Going on in Britain?

November. Your Move, Mayor

December. The Local Election

1972

January. Nixon’s Economic Policies

February. Architecture and Religion

March. My Philosophy of Life?

April. [no column]

May. Why the U.S. Is Bankrupt

June. The Manhattanization of San Francisco

July. American Violence

August. [no column]

September. McGovern versus Nixon

October. The Politics of Heroin

November. Political Commedia dell arte

December. The Abandonment of Principles

1973

January. Nixon’s New Cabinet

February. A Visit to Japan

March. What Happened to the Movement?

April. Merchandise of Death

May. Return of the Booboisie?

June. Requirements for a Performing Arts Center

July. Destroying Our Architectural Heritage

August. San Francisco’s Smug Corruption

September. Old Chinatown

October. The Redevelopment Wrecking Machine

November. Bohemian San Francisco Between the Wars

December. More on Bohemian San Francisco

1974

January. Local versus National Corruption

February. Organized Vice, Then and Now

March. Planned Chaos

April. How to Get Away from It All?

May. How Evil Rises to the Top

June. The SLA

July. More on the SLA

August. It’s All Coming Apart

September. The Breakdown of Education

October. More on the Breakdown of Education

November. [no column]

December. Changes in Japan

1975

January. A Turning Point in San Francisco History

February. The San Francisco Renaissance

March. [no column]

April. The Beat Era

May. Haight-Ashbury and the Sixties

June. The New Rock Music

July. End of a Golden Age

That’s the end of the whole series!



Table of Contents for “San Francisco in the Sixties,” an ongoing project of posting all of Kenneth Rexroths columns and articles from the San Francisco Examiner (1960-1967), the San Francisco Bay Guardian (1967-1972), and San Francisco magazine (1967-1975). Copyright 1960-1967 Kenneth Rexroth. Reproduced here by permission of the Kenneth Rexroth Trust.



[Rexroth Archive]