New York Ace
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''New York Ace'' was an
underground newspaper The terms underground press or clandestine press refer to periodicals and publications that are produced without official approval, illegally or against the wishes of a dominant (governmental, religious, or institutional) group. In specific rec ...
founded in New York City in late 1971 by ex-''
East Village Other ''The East Village Other'' (often abbreviated as ''EVO'') was an American underground newspaper in New York City, issued biweekly during the 1960s. It was described by '' The New York Times'' as "a New York newspaper so countercultural that it ...
'' staffers to fill the void created by the demise of the ''EVO''. ''Ace'' was published by 21-year-old Rex Weiner and edited by 18-year-old Bob Singer. Published biweekly in tabloid format, the ''Ace'' had a print run of 6,000 copies and never succeeded in attracting advertisers. Staffers included
P.J. O'Rourke Patrick Jake O'Rourke (November 14, 1947 – February 15, 2022) was an American libertarian political satirist and journalist. O'Rourke was the H. L. Mencken Research Fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute and a regular correspondent for ''Th ...
,
Tom Forcade Thomas King Forçade (September 11, 1945 – November 17, 1978), also known as Gary Goodson, was an American underground journalist and cannabis rights activist in the 1970s. For many years he ran the Underground Press Syndicate (later called t ...
,
A.J. Weberman Alan Jules Weberman (born May 26, 1945) is an American writer, political activist, gadfly, and inventor of the terms "garbology" and "Dylanology". He is best known for his controversial opinions on, and personal interactions with, the musician ...
,
Jay Kinney Jay Kinney (born 1950) is an American author, editor, and former underground cartoonist. Kinney has been noted for "adding new dimensions to the political comic" in the underground comix press of the 1970s and '80s. Kinney was a member, along w ...
, Yossarian, D.A. Latimer, R. Meltzer, Coca Crystal, and Jim Buckley. Steve Heller, art director of ''
Screw A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to f ...
'' magazine, moonlighted as art director of ''Ace''.


Publication history

The first issue of ''Ace'', produced in Weiner's Thompson Street apartment on a shoestring budget of a few hundred dollars, was dated Dec. 22, 1971. Despite the infusion of $5,000 by a financial
angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inclu ...
at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, which financed the acquisition of a ratty basement office on 17th Street with four battered desks and a single IBM Executive typewriter, the paper soon fell into financial difficulties and could not pay its New Jersey printer, resulting in its suspension in the summer of 1972. The paper attempted to stagger on for a while but by 1973 Rex Weiner had given up, and with Deanne Stillman started a new enterprise, the New York News Service, an alternative news agency. Jim Buckley characterized the ''New York Ace'' as "an amalgam of writers bent on one goal—to wipe out the ''
Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...
'';" but in the end it was the ''Voice'' and its imitators that survived. Coming on the heels of the successive failures of the '' New York Avatar'', the ''
New York Free Press New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
'', '' Rat'', and the ''EVO'', the demise of ''Ace'' marked the effective end of the underground newspaper era in New York City."The Underground's Ace in the Hole"
Jerry Bledsoe, ''New York Magazine'', (June 5, 1972), p. 55-57. Retrieved Nov. 9, 2010.


See also

*
List of underground newspapers of the 1960s counterculture This is a partial list of the local underground newspapers launched during the Sixties era of the hippie/psychedelic/youth/counterculture/New Left/antiwar movements, approximately 1965–1972. This list includes periodically appearing papers of ge ...


Notes

Defunct newspapers published in New York City 1971 establishments in New York City Underground press {{NewYork-newspaper-stub