'South Bay Flashback' celebrates San Jose's role in rock history

"But that's part of the fun of "South Bay Flashback: Riffs, Rhythms and Revolution," a yearlong exhibition that opened Saturday and takes a long, strange trip into the music scene in and around San Jose in the 1960s and '70s. Nearly 300 items are on display from the extensive collection of Bill Guardino, a San Jose native who has been collecting posters, handbills, records, underground newspapers and other artifacts of the time for more than five decades."

"There are walls and walls devoted to hand-drawn posters for rock shows featuring the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Chocolate Watchband, Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna and Sha-Na-Na at long-gone venues like The Continental in Santa Clara, the Bold Knight in Sunnyvale, Losers South (which had been Hawaiian Gardens) in San Jose, the San Jose Civic and the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds."

"The exhibit - housed in the Leonard and David McKay Gallery at the Pasetta House - is divided up into themed rooms. There's a room about KLIV, the San Jose AM station that played all the hits in the '60s, with handbills for station-sponsored shows at the Civic Auditorium and framed 45s including "Little Girl" from Syndicate of Sound and "Psychotic Reaction" from the Count V."

A yearlong exhibition at San Jose's History Park presents South Bay music from the 1960s and 1970s with nearly 300 artifacts from Bill Guardino's collection. The show runs through Dec. 21, 2026, and will host events including ones marking the Grateful Dead's first San Jose concert 60th anniversary. The display occupies the Leonard and David McKay Gallery at the Pasetta House and is organized into themed rooms featuring KLIV memorabilia, framed 45s, handbills, underground newspapers such as the San Jose Maverick and Berkeley Barb, and walls of hand-drawn posters for major acts and vanished local venues.

Read at The Mercury News