The ''Helix'' was an American biweekly newspaper founded in 1967 after a series of organizational meetings held at the Free University of Seattle involving a large and eclectic group including

Paul Dorpat Paul Dorpat (born 1938) is a historian, author, and photographer, specializing in the history of Seattle and Washington state. He had a weekly column in the '' Seattle Times'' and is the principal historian of HistoryLink.org, a site devoted to ...

Tom Robbins Thomas Eugene Robbins (born July 22, 1932) is a best-selling and prolific American novelist. His most notable works are "seriocomedies" (also known as "comedy drama"), such as ''Even Cowgirls Get the Blues''. Tom Robbins has lived in La Conner, ...

and

Lorenzo Milam Lorenzo Wilson Milam, born on August 2, 1933, in Jacksonville, Florida; died on July 19, 2020 in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico, was an American writer and activist who was instrumental in starting many of the first listener-supported community ...

A member of both the

Underground Press Syndicate The Underground Press Syndicate (UPS), later known as the Alternative Press Syndicate (APS), was a network of countercultural newspapers and magazines that operated from 1966 into the late 1970s. As it evolved, the Underground Press Syndicate crea ...

and the

Liberation News Service Liberation News Service (LNS) was a New Left, anti-war underground press news agency that distributed news bulletins and photographs to hundreds of subscribing underground, alternative and radical newspapers from 1967 to 1981. Considered the "Asso ...

, it published a total of 125 issues (sometimes as a weekly, sometimes as a biweekly) before folding on June 11, 1970. The first issue was produced by Paul Dorpat and Walt Crowley with $200 in borrowed capital, out of a rented storefront on Roosevelt Way NE. After being turned down by the first printers they approached, they found a printer in Ken Monson, communications director of the

International Association of Machinists The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is an AFL–CIO/ CLC trade union representing approx. 646,933 workers as of 2006 in more than 200 industries with most of its membership in the United States and Canada. Or ...

local, who had recently acquired a printing press. 1500 copies were printed of the first issue. By the fourth biweekly issue sales had reached 11,000 copies. After the first two issues a "split-font" rainbow effect was sometimes used to print psychedelically colorful front covers; issues averaged 24 pages, with illustrations and graphics clipped from old magazines and having little to do with the adjoining copy crammed into the interior pages. In September 1967 ''Helix'' was evicted from the office on Roosevelt Way. On October 15 they opened their new office at 3128 Harvard E., where they were to remain for the rest of the paper's existence. Contents of the paper were a New Left/hippie mélange of underground politics, psychedelic graphics, drug culture, bulletins from the Liberation News Service, and rock music reviews, with much coverage of

rock festival A rock festival is an open-air rock concert featuring many different performers, typically spread over two or three days and having a campsite and other amenities and forms of entertainment provided at the venue. Some festivals are singular even ...

s in the Pacific Northwest including the

Sky River Rock Festival The Sky River Rock Festival and Lighter Than Air Fair was a historic rock festival first held on a raspberry farm on the Skykomish River outside Sultan, Washington. The 1968 rock festival was held between August 31 to September 2. It was the fir ...

s and concerts at Eagles Auditorium. Frequent contributors included Tom Robbins, while

Walt Crowley Walter Charles Crowley (June 20, 1947 – September 21, 2007) was an American historian and activist from Washington state. He first entered the public sphere in Seattle through his involvement with the social and political movements of the 1960s, ...

was responsible for much of the paper's freewheeling design. The

Blue Moon Tavern The Blue Moon is a tavern located on the west edge of the University District in Seattle, Washington, United States. It opened in April 1934, four months after the repeal of Prohibition, and has been visited by many counterculture icons over t ...

and the

Last Exit on Brooklyn The Last Exit on Brooklyn was a Seattle University District coffeehouse established in 1967 by Irv Cisski. It is known for its part in the history of Seattle's counterculture, for its pioneering role in establishing Seattle's coffee culture, ...

coffee house functioned as the paper's unofficial hangouts. In 1970 Robert Glessing reported that although the paper did not pay salaries it was providing food and housing for 11 full-time staffers. After the demise of the ''Helix'' several former staffers, including Crowley and Roxie Grant, went to work at a new community center called the U District Center, at the corner of NE 56th and University Way. Several attempts were made by different groups in Seattle to launch a new paper to take the place of the ''Helix'', including the ''New Times Journal'', ''Puget Sound Partisan'', ''

Sabot Sabot may refer to: * Sabot (firearms), disposable supportive device used in gunpowder ammunitions to fit/patch around a sub-caliber projectile * Sabot (shoe), a type of wooden shoe People * Dick Sabot (1944–2005), American economist and busi ...

'', ''Seattle Flag'', ''Seattle Sound'', and the ''Sun'', but none succeeded in recapturing the spirit or the success of the ''Helix''.''Rites of Passage''
p. 186. Crowley and Dorpat later went on to be two of the three founders of

HistoryLink HistoryLink is an online encyclopedia of Washington state history. The site has more than 8,100 entries and attracts 5,000 daily visitors. It has 500 biographies and more than 14,000 images. The non-profit historical organization History Ink prod ...

, along with Crowley's wife Marie McCaffrey.

Notes

{{reflist

External links

Complete scan of the Oct. 23, 1969 issue of ''Helix'' (on archive.org)
Alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States Newspapers published in Seattle Independent newspapers published in the United States Biweekly newspapers published in the United States Defunct weekly newspapers Defunct newspapers published in Washington (state) Publications established in 1967 Publications disestablished in 1970 1967 establishments in Washington (state) 1970 disestablishments in Washington (state)

See also

Notes

External links