San Francisco

SF Bay Guardian Looks to Crowdfunding for Website, Special Issues

A new crowdfunding campaign seeks community help to digitize 48 years of San Francisco Bay Guardian issues and publish new special editions.

Marke Bieschke and Tim Redmond's "Bring Back The Bay Guardian" campaign seeks to raise $120,000 by December 17.

Bieschke and Redmond, the former publisher and editor of the Guardian, were granted the sfbg.com website and archives last month by owner Black Press to use for their new San Francisco Center for Newspaper Preservation, a 501(c)4 that will not operate for profit.

While there are no plans for the Guardian to return as a weekly newspaper, the campaign funds would allow them to become a fresh online destination. They'll continue to publish their popular Clean Slate Endorsement guides, which they did for the recent election in San Francisco, as well as the GOLDies arts awards and special editions such as the Best of the Bay and a recurring guide to nude beaches.

Bieschke is most excited about the prospect of digitizing the complete archives.

"It's a true treasure trove of a half-century of local history and culture," he told NBC Bay Area. "Everything from early ads for Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix concerts to '80s fashion spreads, interviews with Harvey Milk to pieces about romance by Armistead Maupin."

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