A Guide to the Best of Southern California : BOOKS : Peace, Love and the Oracle

WE’VE resurrected miniskirts, bell-bottoms, paisley shirts, floral ties . . . and now the San Francisco Oracle, the legendary psychedelic newspaper found under the arms of hippies from 1966 to 1968. Budding and wilting flower children alike can groove on the peace, love, rainbow colors, funky ads, bizarre letters and literary history packed into the 420-page, hardcover “San Francisco Oracle Facsimile Edition” (limited print run of 1,900 copies). It lovingly and accurately reproduces all the mind-blowing issues of what Abbie Hoffman once called “the most beautiful newspaper ever seen on the streets of the planet.”

This 1991 publication ($150), an impressive burst of nostalgia, recalls such headlines as “Haight-Ashbury Meets Police,” “The Gossiping Guru” and “Sounds From the Seedpower Sitar” and features pieces by Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. It’s a memorial to the Beat-Hippie-Psychedelic movement. Dust off your love beads.

“The San Francisco Oracle Facsimile Edition” is available at Dutton’s Brentwood Bookstore, 11975 San Vicente Blvd., Brentwood, (213) 476-6263; or through Regent Press, 6020-A Adeline, Oakland 94608, (415) 547-7602.