The San Francisco Bay Guardian
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| Type | Alternative weekly |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner(s) | San Francisco Newspaper Company LLC |
| Publisher | Marke Bieschke |
| Editor | Steven T. Jones |
| Founded | 1966 |
| Language | English |
| Ceased publication | October 14, 2014 |
| Headquarters | 135 Mississippi St. San Francisco, California 94107 |
| Circulation | 106,708 |
| ISSN | 0036-4096 |
| Website | sfbg |
The San Francisco Bay Guardian was a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1966 by Bruce B. Brugmann and his wife, Jean Dibble. The paper was shut down on October 14, 2014. It was relaunched in February 2016 as an online publication.
The Bay Guardian was known for reporting, celebrating, and promoting left-wing and progressive issues within San Francisco and (albeit rarely) around the San Francisco Bay Area as a whole. This usually included muckraking, legislation to control and limit gentrification, and endorsement of political candidates and other laws and policies that fall within its political views. It also printed movie and music reviews, an annual nude beaches issue, and an annual sex issue. The Bay Guardian was one of several alternative newspapers in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, including SF Weekly (formerly its major competitor, now under the same ownership), East Bay Express, Metro Silicon Valley, North Bay Bohemian, Marin's Pacific Sun, and Berkeley Daily Planet.
Starting in 1974, the Bay Guardian published an annual "Best of The Bay" issue that listed the best restaurants, business, and activities in the Bay Area, based on a readers' poll and staff recommendations. The Bay Guardian claimed that its "Best Of" issue was the first annual guide of its kind and was copied by other publications.
The Bay Guardian handed out "Goldie Awards" annually for excellence in the arts and similar areas.
In 1971, it published The Ultimate Highrise, on the costs of development to the city. In 1975, it published San Francisco Free & Easy: The Native's Guidebook with a revised edition in 1980, edited by William Ristow.
The Bay Guardian put down an attempt by its employees to unionize in the 1970s. In 1975, Bay Guardian staffers, with the aid of Newspaper Guild Local 52 and International Typographical Union Local 21, signed union cards to seek higher wages and benefits. The paper had previously won a legal settlement and moved to a new building. Nevertheless, publisher Bruce Brugmann claimed there were not enough funds to increase pay or benefits. The day after Thanksgiving, he fired five senior staffers who had helped organize the union effort. Newspaper staffers voted to join the Newspaper Guild and, on June 15, 1976, they called a strike to force Brugmann to offer a labor contract. Brugmann retained a few management staff and hired scab replacements. In August, César Chávez offered to mediate the strike, but Brugmann refused. Finally, in 1977, another election was called, but this time votes by replacement workers carried the day and the new staff voted not to join a union.
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