Editing San Francisco Oracle (section)

{{Short description|Underground newspaper}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox newspaper
|name = San Francisco Oracle
|image = Sanfranciscooracle6.jpg
|image_size = 220px
|caption = Cover of the sixth issue, February 1967
|type = [[underground newspaper]]
|format = [[Tabloid (newspaper format)|Tabloid]]/[[Alternative newspaper]]
|foundation = {{Start date and age|1966|09|20}} in [[San Francisco]]
|ceased publication = {{End date and age|1968|02| }}
|founders = [[Allen Cohen (poet)|Allen Cohen]], [[Michael Bowen (artist)|Michael Bowen]], et al.
|publisher =
|chiefeditor =  [[Allen Cohen (poet)|Allen Cohen]]
|custom_label = Art Director
|custom = [[Michael Bowen (artist)|Michael Bowen]]
|circulation = 125,000
|headquarters = [[San Francisco]], [[California|CA]]
|ISSN =
|website =
}}
'''''The Oracle of the City of San Francisco''''', also known as the '''''San Francisco Oracle''''', was an [[underground newspaper]] published in 12 issues from September 20, 1966, to February 1968 in the [[Haight-Ashbury]] neighborhood of that city.<ref>Inventory of the San Francisco Oracle Archives, 1966-1991;(1966-1968 bulk) [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt1x0nc2p3/]</ref>  [[Allen Cohen (poet)|Allen Cohen]] (1940–2004), the editor during the paper's most vibrant period, and [[Michael Bowen (artist)|Michael Bowen]], the art director, were among the founders of the publication.  The ''Oracle'' was an early member of the [[Underground Press Syndicate]].
 
The ''Oracle'' combined poetry, spirituality, and multicultural interests with [[Psychedelia|psychedelic]] design, reflecting and shaping the [[Counterculture of the 1960s|countercultural]] community as it developed in the Haight-Ashbury. Arguably the outstanding example of psychedelia within the countercultural "underground" press, the publication was noted for experimental multicolored design. ''Oracle'' contributors included many significant San Francisco–area artists of the time, including [[Bruce Conner]] and [[Rick Griffin]]. It featured such [[Beat generation|beat]] writers as [[Allen Ginsberg]], [[Gary Snyder]], [[Lawrence Ferlinghetti]] and [[Michael McClure]].