Real Paper is first published in Cambridge.

The alternative weekly is published by striking former staffers of the Cambridge Phoenix from offices at 10B Mount Auburn Street. The strike began on May 14, 1972, after editor Harper Barnes was fired for the second time in two weeks by soon-to-be ex-publisher Richard Missner. There are two stories regarding the origin of the name of the paper: one is that it describes how it differs from the Cambridge Phoenix; the other that it was chosen over another suggestion, the Real Thing. Owned and run by the staff for its first 2 and 1/2 years, Paul Solman is the first editor. A movie loosely based on the strike is released in 1977.* The paper is purchased by a group that includes David Rockefeller in 1975. Its last issue appears on June 18, 1981.