In 1973 Pat & Mike Dwight founded WAVELENGTH - A free, non-political and non-salacious, general-interest tabloid published twice monthly. Pat Dwight
23615 El Toro Road
Lake Forest, CA
92630
| Monday | 9am - 5pm |
| Tuesday | 9am - 5pm |
| Wednesday | 9am - 5pm |
| Thursday | 9am - 5pm |
| Friday | 9am - 5pm |
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The WAVELENGTH SAGA In 1973, my best friend and spouse Mike and I lived in Laguna Beach, CA. Motivated by the artist colony ambiance and creativity everywhere around us, we settled in quickly and pulled from recent experiences imported from jobs we had in Texas, to begin our new adventure. What else would we do but found a newsprint magazine called WAVELENGTH? A free-to-the-reader, non-political, non-religious, and non-salacious, general-interest tabloid published twice monthly. Mike was the editor and I the publisher. With a very frugal beginning Mike and a friend remodeled a house in Long Beach to pay the printer for our first issue. From then on paid advertising covered the magazine printing costs. Distributed widely throughout Orange County - from Anaheim to San Clemente and into Long Beach - 100 copy bundles of WAVELENGTH were dropped on Friday to numerous chain record stores, novelty shops, themed clothing shops, electronics businesses, stereo distributors, convenience stores and liquor stores. Patrons picked up the publication on their exit from the establishments. WAVELENGTH became a driving force for many friendships that emerged during 1973-1975 and far beyond. The tabloid magazine brought enormously talented and really, really fun young people together in Laguna Beach. Those who donated their work to the magazine formed a special connection where we all grew from that era and built many lifelong bonds thereafter as well as richer and more lucrative lives. Today, Bill Ogden, a renowned local nouveau style artist and lettering technique called “the southern California” look, designed the original WAVELENGTH masthead logo … A very lucky coup for us. Lifelong friend and today a renowned sculptor, Eric Johnson brought remarkable sketches and prints to WAVELENGTH, always depicting his quirky trademark flair most notably in his unique Itsy Man character. Dear friend and caricature artist Bob Myers collaborated on the infamous DEEK of the WEEK column, which highlighted a person who, usually a politician, movie star or music icon had actually been a DEEK that week – more so than the general imbeciles in public view. In the early days, critically acclaimed artist and photographer Jacques Garnier brought multiple talents including poetry, short stories, and photographs to our team. Garnier’s major bodies of work share many common elements. While all of Garnier’s projects have a documentary flair, the major bodies of work often focus on the frayed edges of society. His most famous piece - "The Great Picture," which is the largest photograph ever made, hung for nine months in the Boeing Aviation Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at the Smithsonian Institution. Eclectic describes WAVELENGTH perfectly. It contained short stories, lots of graphics, cartoons, poems and a knocked out, full-page front cover image (photo or artwork) on every issue. Throughout this journey we encountered some extraordinary talent. Regular contributors began dropping off or mailing their contributions and we soon had galleys filled with diverse material … as the ravenous bi-monthly WAVELENGTH production pace intensified. Through this three-year journey we learned a tremendous amount about the mechanics of art reproduction, photography, printing and publishing, and hard work. The original office was on 333 Third Street. With expansion, we moved around the corner to 203 Ocean Avenue to accommodate our new typesetting equipment, a fully functional darkroom and additional staff. In early 1975, as a result of WAVELENGTH, personal opportunity wooed Mike and me into more mainstream jobs and very reluctantly, we said farewell to publishing and laid WAVELENGTH to rest. We are both proud of this unique accomplishment. The memories of our publishing experience remain the craziest and most fun we’ve ever shared. The unforgettable people we came to know enriched our lives forever.
