Thanks for that wonderful article. I was trying to think of a way to answer
Devon’s question, but that did it much better than i could ever have done.
Nancy Lynn seabreeze.stl@xxxxxxxxx
From: N K Shackelford
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2017 2:25 AM
To: ourplace
Subject: [ourplace] Re: The Summer of Love
The Summer of Love
Click Here to play the soundtrack of Summer of 1967
Summer of Love 1967 Hippies
The Summer of Love refers to the summer of 1967, when an unprecedented
gathering of as many as 100,000 young people converged on the Haight-Ashbury
neighborhood
of San Francisco, creating a phenomenon of cultural and political rebellion.
While hippies also gathered in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, and
across Europe, San Francisco was the epicenter of the hippie revolution, a
melting pot of music, psychedelic drugs, sexual freedom, creative expression,
and politics. The Summer of Love became a defining moment of the 1960s, as the
hippie counterculture movement came into public awareness
Kathy Aydelotte
Runaway Kathy Aydelotte age 16. Many news accounts did not give her correct
name due to her age. Exclusively here at The 60s Official Site we have her
real name. Married now she is Kathy Castro and also admits still being somewhat
of a hippie but "more responsible." Thanks Kathy for this now famous photo
from the past and the story behind it.
During the Summer of Love, as many as 100,000 young people from around the
world flocked to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, Berkeley and other
San Francisco Bay Area cities to join in a popularized version of the hippie
experience. Free food, free drugs and free love were available in Golden Gate
Park, a Free Clinic (whose work continues today) was established for medical
treatment, and a Free Store gave away basic necessities to anyone who needed
them.
The Summer of Love in 1967 also presented a recognition of great music during
that summer. Although I don't consider myself a hippie, I did have friends
who considered themselves a hippy. This period of time although many from the
60s generation did not recognize or support it, needs to be recognized here
on this site because it was a part of the 60s generation history.
The ever-increasing numbers of youth making a pilgrimage to the Haight-Ashbury
district alarmed the San Francisco authorities, whose public stance was
that they would keep the hippies away. However Adam Kneeman, a long-time
resident of the Haight-Ashbury, recalls that the police did little to help,
leaving
the organization of the hordes of newcomers to the overwhelmed residents.
College and high-school students began streaming into the Haight during the
spring break of 1967. City government leaders, determined to stop the influx
of young people once schools let out for summer, unwittingly brought additional
attention to the scene. An ongoing series of articles in local papers alerted
national media to the hippies' growing momentum. That spring, Haight community
leaders responded by forming the Council of the Summer of Love, giving the
word-of-mouth event an official-sounding name.
The mainstream media's coverage of hippie life in the Haight-Ashbury drew the
attention of youth from all over America. Hunter S. Thompson labeled the
district "Hashbury" in the New York Times Magazine, and the activities in the
area were reported almost daily.
The movement was also fed by the counterculture's own media, particularly The
San Francisco Oracle, whose pass-around readership topped a half-million
at its peak that year.
The media's fascination with the "counterculture" continued with the Monterey
Pop Festival in June 1967, where approximately 30,000 people gathered for
the first day of the music festival, with the number swelling to 60,000 on the
final day. The song "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair
)" written by John Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas and sung by Scott
McKenzie was initially designed to promote the Monterey Pop Festival.
"If you're going to San Francisco,be sure to wear some flowers in your
hair...If you're going to San Francisco,
Summertime will be a love-in there"
"San Francisco
" became an instant hit (#4 in the U. S., #1 in the UK) and quickly transcended
its original purpose by popularizing an idealized image of San Francisco.
In addition, media coverage of the Monterey Pop Festival facilitated the Summer
of Love, since large numbers of fledging hippies headed to San Francisco
to hear their favorite bands, among them
Jefferson Airplane, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Otis Redding, The Byrds, the
Grateful Dead, The Who, and Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis
Joplin.
When the newly recruited Flower Children returned home, they brought new ideas,
ideals, behaviors, and styles of fashion to most major cities in the U.S.,
Canada, Britain, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.
On October 6, 1967, those remaining in the Haight staged a mock funeral, "The
Death of the Hippie" ceremony, to signal the end of the played-out scene.
Summer of 1967 hippies
This is from a neat 60s site, whose link is:
http://www.the60sofficialsite.com/Summer_of_Love.html
It's obviously the link for the article, but you could just put
http://www.the60sofficialsite.com/
and quite probably get onto the site and find what you want to read about.
Nance
On Fri, Feb 24, 2017 at 12:20 AM, Devon Wilkins <theharness@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi, everyone. Call me stupid, but I don’t really understand why the summer
of 1967 is referred to as The Summer of Love. Later today, I’ll be putting the
finishing touches on my latest Goin’ Like Sixties special, in which I’ll
feature tunes and tidbits from 1967. I really feel that I should have a little
understanding of why the year got that name. I was definitely around then, but
I guess I just didn’t get it. Thanks. Devon.
--
N K Shackelford
--Walk on faith and trust in love - Michael Reed--
