In 1971 Robert Kantor opened a practice of law in San Francisco. In the summer of 1971 Robert began to represent the Street Artists of San Francisco where these artists were being arrested for selling their own art without a license. He discovered that the licenses were being arbitrarily withheld from the Street Artists with no hearings or even review of the art. Robert was successful in this matter effectively freeing his clients from criminal charges and obtaining a restraining order against the City and County of San Francisco, and legally enjoining the the police from enforcing their art licensing ordinance prohibiting the police from arresting the street artists for selling their own artistic creations without a license. He then worked with Mayor Joe Alioto, City Council members Dianne Feinstein, Robert Pelosi, Harvey Milk, Terry Francois and other San Francisco Supervisors to enact a new Ordinance enabling the licensing for the Street Artists. Robert Kantor became somewhat of a local hero and was frequently interviewed and featured in the San Francisco Chronicle and on local San Francisco television. But the real heroes were the Street Artists of San Francisco who were willing to risk everything, including fines and incarceration, to assert their rights to present their art to the people of and visitors to San Francisco.
