To the Plain Dealer 610? S 2nd St

I fell in love with South St in 1969/70. The expressway had just been stopped and the Street was still in transition from cheap somewhat gaudy clothing stores and a new generation of merchants selling pipes, candles, art and health food and other Hippie paraphernalia or just giving stuff away.

into that mix came the Plain Dealer underground newspaper. We had our office on South 2nd Street between South and Bainbridge and we sold ads mostly to the independent business on South from Front to Broad. There were no chain stores, there were few cars and the Street was used by pedestrians as an “express lane” as others would cruise the side walks window shopping and talking to friends and strangers alike.

most nights we’d gather back in the office to turn in any ad sales, check the Liberation News Service for national stories, write our local stories and lay out the paper as we discussed politics and music (the only things besides sex that mattered to us.

Then in the morning it was back to the street we loved, to the rag stores and the head shops and music venues and restaurants that loved us back.