A Walk Through The Haight One Day in the 1960's-Mid -60's in San Francisco
The era of Haight-Ashbury in the mid 1960's as anyone would gather, was unique unto itself.....the street Haight was the focus of little 'hippie"mecca as it were-shops were -so not run of the mill and that's what made it so cool...many had incense burning...there was a certain brand and smell that seemed to be in 9 out of 10 shops and sometimes just wafting other times festooning you like a deep fog...which seems at times to be overbearing as a opposed to any mystical experience, but as with the era-to each his own.
Many madras and tiny paisley designs...some solid colors used as wallpaper or at the least adorning walls.
There were books on many different religions, yoga, cook books both organic and different based foods, like brown rice etc.
Joan Baez could pop up playing at Haight and Ashbury
There would be many varieties of incense and sometimes incense burners from porcelain to faux golden in Buddhas shapes to animal shapes many were from India and some from Asia. There were books too on anarchy, 1984, how to resist the draft, reincarnation, different spiritual and sometimes just a mix of interesting books some never heard of, others very different.
Now in your travels thru the Haight (most locals used that as opposed to Haight-Ashbury) you would find the panhandle,
which was considered an extension of, a handle of Golden Gate Park, an it ran parallel to Haight street about several blocks apart. It was a small strip of curbed land about a block or so across--all grassed with trees too. People would wander or stroll about and yes you would find conga-bongo players here and there. Many times with both incense and pot smoke wafting through the air.
There were impromptu concerts you'd have just pop up, the Dead, Santana and Jimi Hendrix
it is said. At times just on the grass, i remember power supplied once by extension cords that came from a house and were duct taped across the street.
Running into Janis Joplin or Grace Slick or their band members was commonplace.
I assume there were other ways generators of that date and time as such. Always fun and a surprise, there may have been flyers once in while, which would be very cool collectors finds.
While at the time the establishment wanted to portray any anti-war or establishment as bongo playing and/or pot smoking commies, you had eye-opening experiences that let you know there was an entire world out there, that was more that a scant geography lesson you had in schooling. Acceptance was the rule not the exception-which was part of the conscientious that if didn't beckon you, one would become more keenly aware of it. There were non-traditional religions one may have vaguely hear of, or been aware of but that was about the extent of your knowledge there. as i mentioned there were shops that had books about, if not the owner of the shop practitioners themselves....Buddhism Hinduism, spiritualism and many self-awareness and some based on philosophy or certain psychology gurus, well at least to them, which we were less judgmental, but i will admit both myself and Bart did fling some sarcasm around between ourselves, more for humor than judgement or being ill-spirited. We really reserved that for those who considered themselves "heads" which equated to be at the height of being hip-the epitome of coolness, which being so swept up in their own coolness tended to miss that they became a parody of themselves and became more apparent they wouldn't know cool if it bit them on their respective asses. Now this was the exception not the rule here, but truth be told, that was an act of rebellion , on our part against the same type of know it all arrogance
of the establishment
The peace and love movement as it was called and hippies did something that changed the dynamics of America, Traditions that were just accepted-were rejected-poverty was not by accident-racism was not acceptable.
Activism came to life in a larger spectrum of society, the youth leading the way, a dynamic that seems to be at the point of coming in to change dynamics today.
Make love-not war-don't accept being drafted-people came together and organizations to help those who wanted to change the world-freedom was not selective
, or else it hasn't freedom. Smoking pot did not have you putting on stocking masks and robbing 7-11's or ransacking suburban neighborhoods, but a side-effect that was very true was you began to question things, you began to find you mind go into critical thinking-very nontraditional. Truly the only violence within the community were usually the bikers-Hells Angels or Gypsy Jokers, this was prior to the incident at Altamont although there were smaller acts before then.
Unique various accents were heard often if not daily. So real life interactions, not what we saw on television or in theaters. United Kingdom accents were know, but then Scottish or Irish were new. Then African and from different countries within.
Japanese, Filipino, Chinese Swedish, German, Spaniard, Australian, Indian and many many others.It was a global world, sans the agenda of globalization. I digress...
people handed out alternative papers many anti-war-establishment-draft and about various lifestyles and politics
On one of our wandering about the Haight, as there were shops that would pop-up on the side streets too, in the opposite direction of the panhandle. My road dog Bart and I chanced upon a little shop that was run by people in a commune who were vegan and organic farmers. It was an organic juice shop
that had some veggies and handmade goodies for sale, but its focus was the organic juices. So clean it defied any speck of dirt. They had their own organic, from their farm fruits and veggies. That's was my first experience watching a champion juicer at work, there were several and i liked the organic watermelon juice was my pick and remained so, even with the samples they gave us. Its was about a 2 1/2 gallon jar and it was $1.25 and you got 25 cents back for the empty bottle. so really only a buck. And as they juiced it in front of you, you really could appreciate the organic smells and product. But, sadly the imbued smart to want organic foods took a cavalcade decades to kicks in.
People panhandled and there was no judgement, but gave the establishment media fodder to demonize as hippies being shiftless and pot smoking somehow working in there we subversives to try and stop the war or tradition.
People hitch-hiked and seemed to make it to their destination without any fanfare of serial killers. Kind people handed out food, and you could go to areas in Golden Gate Park where there were picnic deals and many times be offered food.
And yes people us bubble wands to make big bubbles or little ones.
Incense was always here and there. And conga and bongo players and an aire of unity, badly needed now, not settling.
As i mentioned my road dogs dad was the book reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle and was always interested in our stories of our ventures. We told him of the stores that just gave things away for free....so out of curiosity he ventured down Haight street to the Be-Free store and other venues and later in one of his pieces in the chronicle he said the be-free store gave out free-be's.
more later there's a story of how i got (happily) forced to have my girlfriend at the time move in with me because she had rented a room in the Haight and to use the phrase of that time, become my old lady
smiles
and the speedway meadows free concerts in Golden Gate Park
and venues like the Avalon Ballroom, The Matrix and Fillmore were around...dance your heart out
the DEAD hanging out
hippy hill where George Harrison showed up one day
and in Berkeley
and at gathering a big ball was kept afloat by all the people pushing it around
