Golden Sheaf Bakery - 1967

Artist Loren Rehbock is a San Francisco native who currently lives and works in a studio in Napa Valley.  He lived and and worked in Berkeley, California for over 30 years, creating rock posters like these and other posters for peace in the late 1960s. He later taught Art and Art History at Hartnell College in Salinas, and Watercolor at Merritt College in Oakland.

The Golden Sheaf was part of the growing “back to the land,” aspect of the hippie movement which involved natural foods, no preservatives or excessive packaging, and organically derived products. The original Golden Sheaf Bakery in Berkeley was started in 1877 and had a major role in feeding thousands of refugees from the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. It was sold to Wonderbread in 1909 and so the name was up for grabs. A sheaf is a bunch of stalks and ears of grain that are tied together after being cut.

Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin played along with Country Joe and the Fish. Films were also part of the entertainment. Ticket prices included an unusual offering of couples for $4.25. The Golden Sheaf hosted several of these events – a pretty unique form of promotion and outside the marketing budgets of most bakery/coffee shops.

This (and only this) much is known about Melvyn Q Watchpocket. They were Bruce Stephens, Ralph Burns Kellogg, and Charles Cockey, who was a member of the Jaywalkers before forming Melyn Q. Watchpocket with Stephens and Kellogg. They split up in late 1967 and Stephens and Kellog went on to form Mint Tattoo and later joined Blue Cheer.