About John Wilcock

“John Wilcock was talking about his two lives. In the first he is one of the most widely read travel writers in the world, oracle of the nitty-gritty of inexpensive, traditional tourism; in the second he is an apostle and chronicler of the radical underground.”
— David M. Alpern, “At Home With John Wilcock, an Influential Man Nobody Knows,” New York Times, February 4, 1973

“The underground press, which flourished in the ’60s, actually had its origins in the ’50s, when weekly newspapers like the Village Voice were first published. John Wilcock founded the Voice, and was instrumental in the development and production of many underground newspapers during the ’60s, including the East Village Other, Oz, and the LA Free Press. He also founded the Underground Press Syndicate and helped develop ideas for High Times at the first editorial meeting. In fact, he was a major contributor to the first issue of High Times, which identified him as “the elder statesman of the underground press.”
— “High Times Greats: John Wilcock,“ High Times, September 20, 2020

“John Wilcock is the Zelig of ’60s counter-culture publishing and a missing link in the narrative of those socially, politically, and culturally critical times. He was co-founder of The Village Voice, East Village Other (EVO), Other Scenes, and the Underground Press Syndicate, which codified the term “underground” for alternative publications. He contributed to a dozen other periodicals, was a pioneer of original programming on public access TV, a prolific travel writer, and a member of Andy Warhol’s Factory.”
— Steven Heller, “John Wilcock: The Puppet Master of ’60s Underground Newspapers,“ Atlantic, March 15, 2012