Summer of Love

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This article refers to the summer of 1967. For the film of a similar name, please go to My Summer of Love. For the Beach Boys song, see Summer of Love (song).

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,[1] 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.[2]

Contents

[edit] Early 1967

Inspired by the Beats of the fifties, who declared themselves independent from the authoritarian order of America, the Haight-Ashbury 'anti-community' rested on a rejection of American commercialism. Haight residents eschewed the material benefits of modern life, encouraged by the distribution of free food and organized shelter by the Diggers, and the creation of institutions such as the Free Clinic for medical treatment.[3] Psychedelic drug use became but one means to find a 'new reality'. Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir comments,

'Haight Ashbury was a ghetto of bohemians who wanted to do anything—and we did, but I don't think it has happened since. Yes, there was LSD. But Haight Ashbury was not about drugs. It was about exploration, finding new ways of expression, being aware of one's existence.' [4]

The prelude to the Summer of Love was the Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park on January 14, 1967, which was planned by the Diggers as a "gathering of tribes".[5] The event was announced by the Haight-Ashbury's own psychedelic newspaper, the San Francisco Oracle.

"A new concept of celebrations beneath the human underground must emerge, become conscious, and be shared, so a revolution can be formed with a renaissance of compassion, awareness, and love, and the revelation of unity for all mankind."[6]

The gathering of approximately 50,000 like-minded people made the Human Be-In the first event that confirmed there was a viable hippie scene.[7]

[edit] Popularization through media and music

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.[8]

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.[9]

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.[10]

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.[11]

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.[12] 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.[13]

[edit] The summer

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.[14] 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.[15]

The Summer of Love attracted a wide range of people of various ages: teenagers and college students drawn by their peers and the allure of joining a cultural utopia, middle-class vacationers, and even partying military personnel from bases within driving distance. The large influx of newcomers began to cause problems. The neighborhood could not accommodate so many people descending on it so quickly, and the Haight-Ashbury scene deteriorated rapidly. Overcrowding, homelessness, hunger, drug problems, and crime afflicted the neighborhood. Many people simply left in the fall to resume their college studies.[15]

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.[9]

The phrase "Summer of Love" (or, more accurately, the "Second Summer of Love") is sometimes used (particularly in the UK) to refer to the summers of 1988 and 1989 and the rise of Acid House music and rave culture.

[edit] Literature

[edit] References

  1. ^ E. Vulliamy, "Love and Haight", Observer Music Monthly 20 May 2007
  2. ^ P. Braunstein, and M.W. Doyle (eds), Imagine Nation: The American Counterculture of the 1960s and '70s, (New York, 2002), p.7
  3. ^ M. Isserman, and M. Kazin (eds), America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s, (Oxford University Press, 2004), pp.151-172/
  4. ^ J. McDonald quoted in E. Vulliamy, "Love and Haight", Observer Music Monthly, 20 May 2007
  5. ^ T.H. Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties: Protest in America from Greensboro to Wounded Knee, (Oxford University Press, 1995), p.172
  6. ^ San Francisco Oracle, Vol.1, Issue 5, p.2
  7. ^ T. Gitlin, The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage, (New York, 1993), p.215
  8. ^ Stuart Maconie, "A Taste of Summer" broadcast, Radio 2, 9 October 2007
  9. ^ a b The Year of the Hippie: Timeline. PBS.org. Retrieved on 2007-04-24.
  10. ^ T. Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties: Protest in America from Greensboro to Wounded Knee, (Oxford University Press, 1995), p.174
  11. ^ Summer of Love: Underground News. PBS American Experience companion website. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  12. ^ T. Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties: Protest in America from Greensboro to Wounded Knee, (Oxford University Press, 1995), p.175
  13. ^ T. Gitlin, The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage, (New York, 1993), p.215-217
  14. ^ Allen Cohen
  15. ^ a b Gail Dolgin; Vicente Franco. (2007). American Experience: The Summer of Love. PBS. Retrieved on 2007-04-23.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links