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California Girl magazine (1973)

Contributed by Florian Hardwig on Mar 8th, 2019. Artwork published in .
California Girl, Premier Issue, 1973. Can you spot the LTypI?
Source: www.ebay.ca musicalblondie (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

California Girl, Premier Issue, 1973. Can you spot the LTypI?

Don Chamberlain was a pioneer of the radio “sex talk” genre with his groundbreaking “California Girls” program on KNEW/910. The program, which debuted in 1972, “candidly focused on issues important to, and only accepted calls from, women”. It was part of an explosion of talk shows that mixed healthy amounts of pop psychology and frank sexual discussion.

Housewives are turning off the morning television soap operas and tuning their radios into […] “California Girls.” Working women also are listening feverishly through transistor earplugs to callers telling Chamberlain about their “most memorable sexual experience,” and during their coffee breaks are dialing Don, whose fame has exploded like a bomb.— Claire Spiegel for The Stanford Daily, 18 October 1972

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen wrote that he walked the entire length of Market Street listening to California Girls, and he didn’t miss a word – yet he didn’t have a radio. — Wikipedia

The success soon spawned a printed magazine named California Girl. The logo is composed from Premier Lightline (Letraset, 1969), in tightly spaced and partly overlapping capitals, featuring its alternate high-waisted A. The selling line (“Entertainment for Women”) and the price is in ITC Avant Garde Gothic (1970), featuring many of its fancy ligatures and a Venus symbol (♀) for the O. Another contemporary sans serif, Harry (VGC, 1966), is used for the cover lines.

My mom was one of the women that listened to this radio program while she ironed clothes or did housework. This [magazine] was hers. She saved it. She thought she was being “so bad!” LOL. It features sex related articles and photos that were not norm for that day. — musicalblondie

California Girl, April 1973. “Honestly, the covers were better than the content.” —  is not in Avant Garde Gothic, but in  Solid.
Source: www.flickr.com Sean Flannagan. License: All Rights Reserved.

California Girl, April 1973. “Honestly, the covers were better than the content.” — @faroutcompany
For some reason, the year (1973) is not in Avant Garde Gothic, but in Desdemona Solid.

California Girl, June 1973. “Before Playgirl, there was California Girl, and it had a lot more style.” — @faroutcompany
Source: www.flickr.com Sean Flannagan. License: All Rights Reserved.

California Girl, June 1973. Before Playgirl, there was California Girl, and it had a lot more style.” — @faroutcompany

Club Membership Card. Claire Spiegel’s article from October 1972 mentions 22,000 card-carrying fans. The typography features an early use of  next to outlined  and .
Source: www.ebay.ca musicalblondie (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Club Membership Card. Claire Spiegel’s article from October 1972 mentions 22,000 card-carrying fans. The typography features an early use of Lee next to outlined Windsor and Helvetica.

Typefaces

  • Premier Lightline
  • Harry
  • ITC Avant Garde Gothic
  • Quaint / Desdemona
  • Windsor
  • Lee
  • Helvetica

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2 Comments on “California Girl magazine (1973)”

  1. Really fascinating — thanks for posting this!

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