Spokane Natural
Encyclopedia
Spokane Natural was an underground newspaper
published biweekly in Spokane, Washington
from May 5, 1967 to November 13, 1970, by the Mandala Printshop, and edited by Russ Nobbs. It belonged to the Underground Press Syndicate
and the Liberation News Service
. The first issue was produced out of a converted barbershop storefront cum bookstore and hangout called the "Hippie Mission" on a cul-de-sac in Spokane, where Russ Nobbs and a visiting friend from the SF Bay area, Ormond Otvos wrote and produced the first 8 page issue on a hand-cranked Spirit duplicator
. After several issues of pale blue "Ditto" print on white paper, The Natural moved to colored papers and occasionally colored ink with a Gestetner Mimeograph duplicator. Ultimately, the newspaper was printed on newsprint by sheet fed or web presses by various printers in Spokane, Seattle and Davenport, WA.
Part of the Spokane community was hostile and the storefront's windows were broken or shot out several times.
One early contributor, George (Martin) Maloney Jr, replaced Ormond Otvos as co-editor and later edited the arts oriented Second Section of the Natural. Many local teenagers and college students helped with writing and street distribution/sales, leading to clashes with police and ACLU supported free speech efforts.
The staff and locals also served as a casual debriefing point for Vietnam war veterans, due to its strong pacifist editorial bent.
The original intent of the paper was to bring news of the Summer of Love
and opening of the culture taking place "on the coasts", and eventually the paper's circulation grew to about 3000 copies. By late 1970 Nobbs gave the paper away to local people who changed the paper's name to the Provincial Press, keeping it alive under that title until May 1972. As the Provincial Press it began to focus on gay issues, becoming Spokane's first gay paper. Never achieving much of a national profile, the Natural was a lively but isolated outpost of the hippie counterculture in eastern Washington State.
In 2010 Nobbs gave his full set of copies, photographic negatives, paste-ups and the original hand-cranked Gestetner mimeograph to the Eastern Washington Historical Society for their research library located on the grounds of the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture
.
Underground press
The underground press were the independently published and distributed underground papers associated with the counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and other western nations....
published biweekly in Spokane, Washington
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
from May 5, 1967 to November 13, 1970, by the Mandala Printshop, and edited by Russ Nobbs. It belonged to the Underground Press Syndicate
Underground Press Syndicate
The Underground Press Syndicate, commonly known as UPS, and later known as the Alternative Press Syndicate or APS, was a network of countercultural newspapers and magazines formed in mid-1966 by the publishers of five early underground papers: the East Village Other, the Los Angeles Free Press, the...
and the Liberation News Service
Liberation News Service
Liberation News Service was a New Left, Underground press news service which published news bulletins from 1967 to 1981.-History:The Liberation News Service was co-founded in the summer of 1967 by Ray Mungo and Marshall Bloom after the two of them were separated from the United States Student...
. The first issue was produced out of a converted barbershop storefront cum bookstore and hangout called the "Hippie Mission" on a cul-de-sac in Spokane, where Russ Nobbs and a visiting friend from the SF Bay area, Ormond Otvos wrote and produced the first 8 page issue on a hand-cranked Spirit duplicator
Spirit duplicator
A spirit duplicator was a low-volume printing method used mainly by schools and churches. It was also used by members of science fiction fandom and early comic book fandom to produce fanzines...
. After several issues of pale blue "Ditto" print on white paper, The Natural moved to colored papers and occasionally colored ink with a Gestetner Mimeograph duplicator. Ultimately, the newspaper was printed on newsprint by sheet fed or web presses by various printers in Spokane, Seattle and Davenport, WA.
Part of the Spokane community was hostile and the storefront's windows were broken or shot out several times.
One early contributor, George (Martin) Maloney Jr, replaced Ormond Otvos as co-editor and later edited the arts oriented Second Section of the Natural. Many local teenagers and college students helped with writing and street distribution/sales, leading to clashes with police and ACLU supported free speech efforts.
The staff and locals also served as a casual debriefing point for Vietnam war veterans, due to its strong pacifist editorial bent.
The original intent of the paper was to bring news of the Summer of Love
Summer of Love
The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people converged on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, creating a cultural and political rebellion...
and opening of the culture taking place "on the coasts", and eventually the paper's circulation grew to about 3000 copies. By late 1970 Nobbs gave the paper away to local people who changed the paper's name to the Provincial Press, keeping it alive under that title until May 1972. As the Provincial Press it began to focus on gay issues, becoming Spokane's first gay paper. Never achieving much of a national profile, the Natural was a lively but isolated outpost of the hippie counterculture in eastern Washington State.
In 2010 Nobbs gave his full set of copies, photographic negatives, paste-ups and the original hand-cranked Gestetner mimeograph to the Eastern Washington Historical Society for their research library located on the grounds of the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture
Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture
The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, formerly the Cheney Cowles Museum, is located in Spokane, Washington's Browne's Addition. It is associated with the Smithsonian Institution and is accredited by the American Association of Museums....
.