When the Bay Guardian produced its first issue in October, 1966, the paper described itself as "a fortnightly journal of news, analysis and opinion." Circulation was soon running at 20,000 copies.<!--break-->
Over the past 45 years, the Guardian has become one of the preeminent alternative weeklies in the country. The selection of past covers here gives a hint of the broad range of political and cultural events that have been part of the city — and its alt-weekly — in four and half momentous decades.