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34-628: Don and Alice Schenker started The Print Mint as a picture-framing shop and retailer of posters and fine art reproductions on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, California , in December 1965, originally sharing a store with Moe's Books, but later on moving into a separate location down the block. Moe's Books owner, Moe Moskowitz, and the Schenkers had been friends back in New York City during

68-712: A cartoonist was in the late 1960s and early 1970s. During this period, Rip Off Press (co-founded by Shelton and fellow UT cartoonist Jaxon ) published three issues of Stack's Jesus Comics, as well as such solo titles as Feelgood Funnies and Amazon Comics . In 1972 Stack contributed to The Rip Off Review of Western Culture with "Jesus Goes To The Faculty Party." In addition to publishing several articles in The Comics Journal , Stack contributed comics to such anthologies as Zero Zero , Blab! , Snarf , Rip Off Comix , and Weirdo . His strips The Case of Dr. Feelgood and Dorman's Doggie were syndicated by

102-453: A four-block section just south of the university, from Bancroft Way (which borders the campus) to Dwight Way. As a center of campus and community life, this section of Telegraph Avenue is home to many restaurants, bookstores, and clothing shops, along with street vendors occupying its wide sidewalks. Here Telegraph Avenue attracts a diverse audience of visitors, including college students, tourists , hippies, artists, street punks, eccentrics, and

136-476: A similar motivation. From that point on, the Print Mint focused more on bringing new talent into the burgeoning underground industry. The Print Mint's bold experiment with Arcade: The Comix Revue , started in 1975 and edited by Art Spiegelman and Bill Griffith , with most issues sporting a cover by R. Crumb, paved the way for RAW! just a few years later. The Print Mint weathered a lawsuit filed over

170-597: A wall between Telegraph Avenue and present day Martin Luther King Jr. Way (formerly Grove Street), and sliced the Temescal District in half. The events of the 1960s and 1970s had made Telegraph, as well as Berkeley, a symbol of the counterculture of the 1960s . Over the next couple of decades the Berkeley end of Telegraph became home to increasing numbers of homeless people and panhandlers , and by

204-487: Is a street that begins, at its southernmost point, in the midst of the historic downtown district of Oakland, California , and ends, at its northernmost point, at the southern edge of the University of California, Berkeley campus in Berkeley, California . It is approximately 4.5 miles (7.2 km) in length. Among some Berkeley residents, especially University of California students, Telegraph refers mainly to

238-630: Is an American underground cartoonist and fine artist. Working under the name Foolbert Sturgeon to avoid persecution for his work while living in the Bible Belt , Stack published what is considered by many to be the first underground comic, The Adventures of Jesus , in 1964. Stack's main artistic influences were Gustave Doré , Roy Crane , and V. T. Hamlin . He is widely known as a printmaker , specializing in etchings and lithographs , and his sketchy comics style evokes Stack's background as an etcher. (His technique of creating etchings on-site

272-583: The Berkeley Hills where it became Fish Ranch Road, named some time after 1870, the year the Oakland Trout Company incorporated its fish and frog farm in the vicinity. In Berkeley, the trustees of the private College of California (the predecessor of the University of California ) laid out a residential subdivision south of their new campus in order to finance its construction. The streets were named alphabetically from east to west;

306-660: The homeless . Telegraph Avenue originated from several separately named thoroughfares. In 1859, a telegraph line was constructed between Oakland and Martinez by the Alta Telegraph Company , and the existing roads which ran alongside it were then renamed "Telegraph Road". The segment of the Telegraph Road which ran from downtown Oakland out to the Peralta estate in Temescal was previously known as

340-403: The "Peralta Road". The segment which ran to and up Harwood's (now Claremont) Canyon was first known as "Harwood's Road", named for William Harwood, an early Oakland politician who leased grazing land in the canyon. The Telegraph Road followed the route of present-day Telegraph Avenue from Downtown Oakland to Temescal , then ran along what is now the route of Claremont Avenue up to the summit of

374-808: The 1950s Beat era , so this association was a continuation of that connection. Schencker's first comic book release was a reprint of Joel Beck 's self-published Lenny of Laredo , published by the Print Mint in April 1966. The Print Mint soon opened a wholesale division, publishing and distributing posters. The dance venues at The Avalon Ballroom and The Fillmore were advertised by posters designed by artists Stanley Mouse , Rick Griffin , Alton Kelley , Victor Moscoso , and others. These posters were soon in much demand, and The Print Mint distributed many of them along with work by Peter Keymack, Hambly silkscreens, Solo Period posters, M. C. Escher prints, Neon Rose , Bob Frieds Food line, and many others. In December 1966,

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408-531: The 1990s had become a destination point for runaways from around the United States. The numbers of panhandlers have decreased since a series of police sweeps in the late 1990s. University students remain the largest daily population on Telegraph, which still serves as the anchor of food, culture and student life on the south side of campus. More recently, a Korean business district has emerged just south of Temescal along Telegraph Ave. Attempts to change

442-601: The Art Institute of Chicago and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière of Paris. He was a long-time professor of art at the University of Missouri , where he taught from 1963 to 2001, and is now a professor emeritus . In addition, he did teaching stints at Appalachian State and Virginia Tech . While at the University of Texas, Stack joined the staff of The Texas Ranger student humor magazine in 1957, and

476-489: The Print Mint opened a second store on Haight Street, in the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco, in a building that Moskowitz had purchased to install a bookstore. The city refused to give Moskowitz a permit to sell used books, so his plan was never realized. 1967 was an eventful time, and the store became a center of neighborhood activities and a main source of countercultural information and creative energy to

510-468: The Ritas (employees that the Schenkers had offered a partnership to in 1967), Don did the organizing, editing, and layout of the books, working with the artists. Bob and Peggy Rita and Alice handled the distribution and the day-to-day operations of the business. Bob Rita had previously run Third World Distribution out of a Haight Street location. Alice also oversaw the Berkeley store. The company's main office

544-493: The cities of Berkeley and Oakland opted to change Humboldt and Choate to Telegraph since Oakland's portion of the thoroughfare was already aligned with what remained of the old Telegraph Road between the new Claremont and downtown Oakland. Since Telegraph Road was a county road, a petition to change its name to Claremont Avenue was presented to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors on January 12, 1880. The petition

578-426: The first ecologically themed comics, The Dying Dolphin , a solo effort by rock poster artist Jim Evans with contributions by Ron Cobb and Rick Griffin . As the first publisher to invest heavily in the underground comix movement (and its distribution), the Print Mint was instrumental in the form's popularity and widespread reach in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As they were growing the market and putting money in

612-399: The hands of the cartoonists, however, their business practices were called into question by a number of the more popular artists. A few of those, including Gilbert Shelton and Frank Stack , broke off in early 1969 to form their own publisher, Rip Off Press , taking some of the more established cartoonists (like Crumb) with them. The 1973–1974 venture Cartoonists Co-Op Press was formed out of

646-569: The huge influx of young people coming into San Francisco that summer . It grew from being a simple retailer into a complex cross-country distribution and then publishing operation. In December, however, Moskowitz forfeited the building and his plans for a second location for Moe's Books, bringing a demise to Print Mint in San Francisco . Beginning in 1968, but really getting going in 1969, publishing and distribution of underground comics became The Print Mint's major endeavor. With their partners

680-469: The name of the area to Koreatown have led to controversy, as most residents of the surrounding neighborhoods do not identify as Korean or Korean-American. A large Ethiopian and Eritrean population has also resulted in a string of Ethiopian restaurants , cafes and social clubs, stretching along Telegraph from about 30th Street in Oakland all the way into Berkeley. As a result of heavy foot traffic and

714-581: The narrow width of the street, the area near the Berkeley campus is designated as a one-way street by the city, and there have been talks of completely eliminating car access, a topic still hotly debated in the city council. A proposal by AC Transit to build a Bus rapid transit line on Telegraph has stirred up controversy, especially on the northern end where it might result in the elimination of parking and/or car access. Frank Stack Frank Huntington Stack (born October 31, 1937, in Houston, Texas )

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748-480: The new student union building. The Berkeley end of Telegraph Avenue, along with Sproul Plaza, has been the site of numerous protests and riots beginning in the 1960s. In 1969, Telegraph was the site of massive confrontation between police and demonstrators during the conflict over People's Park . Alameda County Sheriff's deputies killed one man (James Rector) and permanently blinded another (Alan Blanchard) when they fired buckshot loaded shotguns at people sitting on

782-661: The pen-name Foolbert Sturgeon) he published The Adventures of Jesus in The Texas Ranger (as well as early counterculture publications like The Austin Iconoclastic and The Charlatan ). In 1964, then Texas Ranger editor Gilbert Shelton collected about a dozen of the Jesus strips, designed a cover, and made 50 photocopies of the collection, giving them to associates around the UT campus. Stack's most prolific period as

816-616: The publication of Zap Comix , particularly issue No. 4 (published in 1969). The Schenkers were arrested and charged with publishing pornography by the Berkeley Police Department . Previous to that, Simon Lowinsky, owner of the Phoenix Gallery on College Avenue in Berkeley, had organized an exhibition of the Zap collective's original drawings, and had been arrested on the same charge. His case came to trial first. He

850-493: The roof above Telegraph Ave. At one point, protesters were chased down Telegraph as far as Willard Junior High School (now Willard Middle School) at Derby Street, with Sheriff's deputies firing teargas canisters onto the school grounds. The 1960s also saw the construction of the Grove Shafter Freeway , which parallels Telegraph Avenue half a block west, between Downtown Oakland and 56th Street. The freeway created

884-468: The substitution of "Road" for "Avenue" for the canyon segment. Berkeley changed Choate Street to Telegraph Avenue in 1890. In 1910, Sather Gate was built at the northern end of Telegraph Avenue. The university built Sproul Hall on Telegraph in the 1940s. In the 1950s the campus expanded south to Bancroft Way; Telegraph Avenue was shortened by 1½ blocks and buildings were demolished to make room for Sproul Plaza and several other new buildings including

918-496: The third street was named "Choate Street", after Rufus Choate . Oakland subsequently extended a road to connect with Berkeley's Choate, but named it "Humboldt Avenue". Oakland's first horsecar line was built in 1869 and ran along Telegraph Road to 36th Street. It was extended to Temescal a year later, then to the university campus via Humboldt and Choate after the university relocated from Oakland in 1873. A business district grew up along Choate and Humboldt Streets. The horsecar line

952-414: The wholesale and publishing. The Print Mint ceased publishing comics in 1978, with the last two titles published being the comics anthologies Lemme Outta Here , edited by Diane Noomin , and The Human Drama , edited by Jim Madow. The retail poster shop continued. In 1985 the Schenkers sold the retail store. Reprint Mint closed in late November 2016. Telegraph Avenue Telegraph Avenue

986-404: Was acquitted after supportive testimony from Peter Selz , a prominent figure in the art world. At that point, the city dropped the charges against the Print Mint. By 1975 the partnership with the Ritas was not going smoothly. Alice Schenker says that an agreement was made to split the business between retail and wholesale, the Schenkers taking the retail store — "Reprint Mint" — and the Ritas

1020-542: Was editor of the magazine in 1958–1959. As editor, Stack aspired for the Ranger to emulate the humor exemplified by The New Yorker and Punch . He published comic strips by fellow UT student Gilbert Shelton , later known for Wonder Wart-Hog and The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers . Soon after graduating from UT, Stack entered the U.S. Army , stationed at Governors Island , New York, in 1961–1962. Although he had already graduated in 1959, starting in 1962, (using

1054-451: Was eventually replaced by a steam dummy line, and later by an electric streetcar line. This transportation corridor stimulated the development of neighborhoods along its route, as well as an amusement park , Idora Park , between 56th and 58th Streets. When the segment of Telegraph Road leading up to Harwood's Canyon was renamed "Claremont" to suit the interests of a developer of the district (see Claremont, Oakland/Berkeley, California ),

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1088-570: Was featured in American Artist magazine.) His oil paintings and watercolors mostly feature landscape and figure compositions. He lives in Columbia, Missouri , where he was a longtime professor at the University of Missouri . Stack graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BFA in 1959. He received his M.A. at the University of Wyoming , and also studied at the School of

1122-600: Was granted. Although the 1880 petition included it, the segment of the old Telegraph Road that ran up the canyon to the summit of the Berkeley Hills was renamed Claremont Road by the Oakland City Council (which by then had annexed the previously unincorporated area) on February 14, 1913, acting on a petition by the owners of the Claremont Hotel . The only discernible difference in naming was

1156-669: Was located at 830 Folger Avenue in Berkeley. The first comix Print Mint published was the (initially) weekly tabloid Yellow Dog , edited by Don Schencker. They also re-issued Gilbert Shelton 's Feds 'n' Heads , which he had initially self-published. Eventually, the Print Mint published such underground comix notables as Robert Crumb , Trina Robbins , Rick Griffin , S. Clay Wilson , Victor Moscoso , Gilbert Shelton , Spain Rodriguez , and Robert Williams . Titles they published included Zap Comix , Junkwaffel , Bijou Funnies , and Moondog . In addition, they published one of

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