Police, often heavily armed, were a constant presence on Telegraph Avenue in the late-’60s and early-’70s, arresting those suspected of criminal activity as well as those (such as photographers and journalists) who were thought to impair police action.
Photographer Nacio Jan Brown—working sometimes for the Associated Press and the San Francisco-based Good Times, and sometimes on his own Rag Theater project—often captured the moment when police collared and arrested someone.
Nacio Jan Brown, photograph from the rolls of Rag Theater project, c. 1969-1973.
An archconservative candidate for mayor vilified Telegraph as "a magnet for perverts, dope addicts and degenerates"
The Telegraph Ave Summer Project brought health clinics, jobs and food to the street
The motion and life of Telegraph Avenue, in a photograph jammed with contrasts
Flanked by a middle finger and question marks
In an altered pair of eyeglasses, a skewed sense of humor
The Telegraph Avenue scene in black and white
In a photo, a window onto the handicrafts revolution
An abbreviated moment of dress-up and dreaming
Girl? Woman? "Nymphet"?
In a card game, street hustle and performance art
"People were just drawn to her"
Thomas Farber's poetic and sharply etched portrait of life on Telegraph Ave
A popular place to wile away the hours: on the sidewalk facing Moe's Books
A young woman tends to the hair of a young man
A magical moment on Telegraph, captured serendipitously by photographer Nacio Jan Brown
Two ways of living on the Ave -- on the move, and planted in place
From Nacio Jan Brown, a dog's eye view of Telegraph
An image that asks the eye to roam over it
Looking up from an underground comic
On the street, with a dog nestling at her feet
A moment in the churn of Telegraph Avenue life
Addicts, ex-addicts, doctors, and merchants gathered to wipe out heroin on the Ave
A sign of changing times on the Ave: a new drug treatment project for those ensnared by hard drugs
Death, taking a hit
An older man lifting up a woman's shirt, in a jumbled-up moment on the Ave
The hammer comes down on a long-haired denizen of the Avenue
The photographer Nacio Jan Brown found himself at the center of the story
Many young people were rounded up within five minutes of arriving in Berkeley
The Barb punched back against police roundups of runaways
In the aftermath of a Telegraph Ave protest, the crowd disperses
The broader specs on the Berkeley Free Church 'crash pad' program, which housed over 7000 people in its first year
Berkeley Free Church's careful in-house instructions for the popular crash pad program
Police rousted 175 runaway teens to push them out of town — and found a telling postcard in one raid
A sober 80-page study of life on the street, arguing that 'hippies' were not a large fraction of the homeless
Telegraph Avenue's business owners and its "Commune" met for two nights to hash out their difficulties
The Telegraph Ave Summer Project brought health clinics, jobs and food to the street
In a photo, a window onto the handicrafts revolution
A remarkable survey of the accessibility of Telegraph's businesses — complete with beautiful illustrations and smart solutions
Addicts, ex-addicts, doctors, and merchants gathered to wipe out heroin on the Ave
A sign of changing times on the Ave: a new drug treatment project for those ensnared by hard drugs