OOC: This thread is completely open – I especially invite “newbies” or writers I’ve yet to have the pleasure of writing with to join, but all are welcome. Start when you want, drop when you like. All I ask is that you respect other writers and have fun!
Background: Haight Ashbury is actually an intersection of two streets in San Francisco. Beginning in 1964, a group of young people began to gravitate towards this neighborhood. They believed in living against the standard norms of the day. They pushed the boundaries of society. They listened to music their parents hated. Their clothing was strange and unusual. They came to be known as “hippies”. Eventually, this small area of San Francisco started to grow and swell as more and more young people came to the city and found refuge and solace here.
The actual neighborhood is quite small: just 5 city blocks that stretched along Haight, beginning at the end of Golden Gate Park and ending at Buena Vista Park. Along this street hippies would gather, work in various shops, or hang out in the apartments above those shops. Numerous bands were just getting started, and had “pads” in the neighborhood – Grateful Dead lived on Ashbury, and Janis Joplin lived not far from the neighborhood.
Hippie Hill, located at the very eastern edge of Golden Gate Park, and the official beginning of Haight Ashbury, was the central meeting place and social gathering spot. Not really a hill, it is a slope that leads into the park and has plenty of shady spots where people can gather to talk, to play their guitars, to sing, to drop out. Just north of Haight is part of Golden Gate Park called the “Panhandle”. A narrow strip of park, it is here that many bands who reached enormous success, such as Jefferson Airplane, put on free concerts. Also, many protests were held here, as well as free meals given to those newly arrived.
For the most part, the neighborhood was peaceful. Charles Manson had a house just off of Haight – but his notoriety was as yet unknown. The community was small enough so they pretty much most knew most people, although newcomers were welcomed always.
The height of the community was reached in early 1967. However, in April of that year, there was an announcement that the upcoming summer would be called “The Summer of Love”. This swelled the ranks of the neighborhood to more than 100,000 people. “The Summer of Love” brought about the destruction of Haight Ashbury, and bands such as the Grateful Dead soon left for good. Many of the residents moved on as well, and the one of the strangest sub-cultures to hit America ended.
This is a story of that neighborhood, before its ultimate demise. When hippies truly believed they could tune in and drop out, when drugs were a part of everyday life, and the music was life’s blood to most who resided in the neighborhood. There was still an innocence that the establishment could be changed, that people could live outside of society’s boundaries without society intruding – they would soon be proved wrong. But, for now, peace, harmony, and love reigned supreme.
It is April 1967, and the announcement of the “Summer of Love” has just been made. No one knows of its impact on the neighborhood, but all are willing to open themselves to love – in any form that love takes.
Additional OOC: When people would come to Haight Ashbury, they often rejected the names their parents had given them and chose to use other names instead. Sometimes those names were ones they chose or were given to them based on their personality. Hippies were very peaceful, as a whole, and shied away from violence. (there were exceptions, yes) If violence entered the neighborhood, as it sometimes did in the event of race riots, hippies would congregate in Buena Vista Park, the eastern-most boundary of the neighborhood, so as not to be included in the melee. Also, depending on how this thread develops, I may interject as “Narrator” to announce free concerts, protest rallies, or other events that would have affected the neighborhood. If you want more information than what is contained here, please feel free to PM me and I will be happy to point you to web sites that give a good deal of information on Haight Ashbury during the time 1964 – 1968.
Background: Haight Ashbury is actually an intersection of two streets in San Francisco. Beginning in 1964, a group of young people began to gravitate towards this neighborhood. They believed in living against the standard norms of the day. They pushed the boundaries of society. They listened to music their parents hated. Their clothing was strange and unusual. They came to be known as “hippies”. Eventually, this small area of San Francisco started to grow and swell as more and more young people came to the city and found refuge and solace here.
The actual neighborhood is quite small: just 5 city blocks that stretched along Haight, beginning at the end of Golden Gate Park and ending at Buena Vista Park. Along this street hippies would gather, work in various shops, or hang out in the apartments above those shops. Numerous bands were just getting started, and had “pads” in the neighborhood – Grateful Dead lived on Ashbury, and Janis Joplin lived not far from the neighborhood.
Hippie Hill, located at the very eastern edge of Golden Gate Park, and the official beginning of Haight Ashbury, was the central meeting place and social gathering spot. Not really a hill, it is a slope that leads into the park and has plenty of shady spots where people can gather to talk, to play their guitars, to sing, to drop out. Just north of Haight is part of Golden Gate Park called the “Panhandle”. A narrow strip of park, it is here that many bands who reached enormous success, such as Jefferson Airplane, put on free concerts. Also, many protests were held here, as well as free meals given to those newly arrived.
For the most part, the neighborhood was peaceful. Charles Manson had a house just off of Haight – but his notoriety was as yet unknown. The community was small enough so they pretty much most knew most people, although newcomers were welcomed always.
The height of the community was reached in early 1967. However, in April of that year, there was an announcement that the upcoming summer would be called “The Summer of Love”. This swelled the ranks of the neighborhood to more than 100,000 people. “The Summer of Love” brought about the destruction of Haight Ashbury, and bands such as the Grateful Dead soon left for good. Many of the residents moved on as well, and the one of the strangest sub-cultures to hit America ended.
This is a story of that neighborhood, before its ultimate demise. When hippies truly believed they could tune in and drop out, when drugs were a part of everyday life, and the music was life’s blood to most who resided in the neighborhood. There was still an innocence that the establishment could be changed, that people could live outside of society’s boundaries without society intruding – they would soon be proved wrong. But, for now, peace, harmony, and love reigned supreme.
It is April 1967, and the announcement of the “Summer of Love” has just been made. No one knows of its impact on the neighborhood, but all are willing to open themselves to love – in any form that love takes.
Additional OOC: When people would come to Haight Ashbury, they often rejected the names their parents had given them and chose to use other names instead. Sometimes those names were ones they chose or were given to them based on their personality. Hippies were very peaceful, as a whole, and shied away from violence. (there were exceptions, yes) If violence entered the neighborhood, as it sometimes did in the event of race riots, hippies would congregate in Buena Vista Park, the eastern-most boundary of the neighborhood, so as not to be included in the melee. Also, depending on how this thread develops, I may interject as “Narrator” to announce free concerts, protest rallies, or other events that would have affected the neighborhood. If you want more information than what is contained here, please feel free to PM me and I will be happy to point you to web sites that give a good deal of information on Haight Ashbury during the time 1964 – 1968.
