Original Rock Poster Art for Spirit / Jimmie Spheeris at the Golden Bear, Huntington Beach

1968. Ephemera. Very good. An extremely rare, one-of-a-kind hand-painted poster promoting the appearance of the band Spirit and Jimmie Spheeris at the legendary Golden Bear club in Huntington Beach, California, from August 13-19, [1968]. The Golden Bear did not issue many posters, particularly in the 1960s, and based on this rare survivor, they may have relied on handmade posters to promote upcoming acts at the venue.

This pen-and-ink and gouache painting is on cardstock cut out to follow the edges of the drug-inspired psychedelic image. This poster incorporates images of opium poppies, mushrooms, and marijuana leaves with a plume of smoke extending up the center of the poster. A gnome or wizard looks down benevolently from the top and a strange, large-eyed creature peers around both edges.

Bill Ogden designed several psychedelic posters for Southern California businesses in the early 1970s, made classic ads for the swimwear company Jantzen, and defined the surf-art aesthetic of the 1970s.

Original 1960s music poster artwork is rarely offered for sale.

24 by 29-1/2 inches (largest dimensions). Signed Ogden in the lower right of the central image.

NOTE: Dating based on Spirit setlists on setlist-fm. This poster gives Jimmie Spheeris's first name as "Jimmy", either in error or because he was using the typical spelling in 1968, four years before his first album came out. There is a crack in the paper in the lower third of the image; with pin holes in the corners, as one would expect. Generally very good. The poster is professionally framed in a shadowbox with an archival plexiglass front. Frame measures 27-1/2 by 38-1/2 inches. Plexi lightly scratched and frame dinged along the bottom edge.