REXROTH’S SAN FRANCISCO
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)
Introduction
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 articles 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 Bay Guardian, and 90 articles for San Francisco Magazine.
In 1985 I hunted up and photocopied all these columns and articles from the microfilm archives at the University of California library in Berkeley. After going through them all, I made a tentative selection for an anthology, Kenneth Rexroth at Large in 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 At Large 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 ongoing Examiner series, “San Francisco Fifty Years Ago”). After I had posted all the Examiner columns, I continued the project (under the revised title, “Rexroth’s San Francisco”) by posting all of the Guardian articles and then all of the San Francisco Magazine articles without waiting for the 50th anniversaries. They are now all online.
(For the sake of simplicity, I have left the Examiner webpages with their original “San Francisco Fifty Years Ago” heading, along with the footer referring to it as “an ongoing project.”)
Needless to say, the columns and articles 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 complete 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?
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)
San Francisco Bay Guardian articles:
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 articles:
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!
Introduction and Table of Contents for “Rexroth’s San Francisco,” which collects 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.