In it heyday in the early 1980s, an issue examining the stolen rubbish of two prime ministerial candidates sold over 20,000 copies.

[4][5] Inspired by Kristiania Bohemians, surrealism, Dadaism and existentialism, at its peak in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the magazine had a greater circulation than Klassekampen and Ny Tid.

[5] All editors worked as volunteers and the magazine was early in its support of issues such as gay rights and the legalization of cannabis.

[6] Gateavisa published work from Christopher Nielsen, Stig Sæterbakken and Merethe Lindstrøm.

[7] The magazine achieved notoriety in 1981, when it published an article about the stolen rubbish of the two prime ministerial candidates Gro Harlem Brundtland and Kåre Willoch.