History San Jose Opens Doors on 'South Bay Flashback'

"For almost six decades, Guardino has amassed more than a quarter-million items, including concert posters, handbills, flyers, underground newspapers and other artifacts, all of which illuminate San Jose's underappreciated role in the '60s counterculture. Only a few hundred can fit inside the Pasetta House at History Park, where a Hall-of-Fame-quality show, "South Bay Flashback: Riffs, Rhythms, and Revolution," opens this weekend. It runs for a year."

"When Guardino spilled the origin story of how it all started, he rattled off Blackford High School and Rogers Junior High. He still remembered when he first started collecting. "At that time, I just loved the art, and just learning the bands," Guardino said. "And once a week, my brother and I would ride our Stingray bikes down to the record store at Valley Fair and pick up the flyers every week for years.""

"Aside from the groovy posters, one of the best rooms in the whole exhibit is the one with a few dozen newspapers on the wall. Not only was the South Bay home to a thriving '60s rock scene, it was also a hotbed for the underground press. We see the first issue of the San Jose Maverick, with cops brutalizing protestors. Another issue captured the scene when people threw rocks, bottles and eggs at Richard Nixon's limo"

Bill Guardino collected more than a quarter-million Bay Area items over almost six decades, including concert posters, handbills, flyers, underground newspapers and artifacts that document San Jose's role in the 1960s counterculture. A few hundred items are displayed at the Pasetta House in History Park in a Hall-of-Fame-quality exhibit titled "South Bay Flashback: Riffs, Rhythms, and Revolution," running for a year. Guardino began collecting as a teenager, retrieving weekly flyers from a record store and meeting the Fillmore representative. The exhibit features hundreds of original posters and a room of underground newspapers, including the first San Jose Maverick issue and coverage of riots and protests.

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