Woodstock – The East Village Other

Prepping for Woodstock.

The East Village Other was a popular counterculture magazine published in New York City from 1965 – 1972. Politics, sex, drugs, and music were the talk of the times, so it’s not surprising that the publication would extensively cover The Woodstock Music and Art Festival. The famous three-day event was held on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm near White Lake, New York, from August 15-18, 1969 and saw an attendance of around 450,000.

This edition of the East Village Other was published on August 13, two days before Woodstock’s opening act. An anonymous map to the festival is presented, though in the somewhat ‘unique’ language of the intended audience. Roads twist and turn, often morphing into something else entirely! Signs of what was to come are incorporated throughout the psychedelic image – musical instruments, peace signs, tents, and marijuana. As for the nude women crawling from tubes marked GLEE – well, I wasn’t there, so I can’t say.

A careful review of the map shows that there are some practical directions, assuming that my interpretation is correct and the ultimate destination is somewhere between points a and b (center left). The contents are equally interesting, featuring a double-page photograph spread by John Hilgerdt and a quarter-page advertisement listing the headlining acts, among numerous other articles. “Well over 100,000 tickets, mostly for all three days, have been sold already, guaranteeing the largest turnout ever for a rock show.” – pg. 14 The issue (and corresponding event) were so popular that a reprint was published the following week, with an updated date of August 20th on the front cover.

Sources: David Rumsey Map Collection; Cornell University (P.J. Mode Map Collection);