Emmett Grogan (c. 1943–1978) was a founder of the Diggers, a radical community-action group of Improv actors in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, California. The Diggers took their name from the English Diggers (1649-1650), a radical movement opposed to feudalism, the Church of England and the British Crown.
The San Francisco Diggers were a legendary group that evolved out of two radical traditions that thrived in the Bay Area in the mid-1960s: the bohemian/underground art/theater scene, and the New Left/civil rights/peace movement. The Diggers combined street theater, direct action, and art happenings in their social agenda of creating a Free City. Their most famous activities revolved around distributing free food[1] ("Free because it's yours!") every day in the park, and distributing "surplus energy" at a series of Free Stores (where everything in stock was without a price tag).[2]
The Diggers coined various slogans that became part of the counterculture and even the larger society, such as, "Do your own thing" and "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." The Diggers ultimately inspired Abbie Hoffman[3] to undertake a similar venture on the Lower East Side of New York City during the mid-1960s. The Diggers of the 1960s also inspired present-day Food Not Bombs groups who distribute free food to the hungry.
Grogan's penchant for personal myth-making and distrust of the mainstream media made it difficult for reporters to acquire more than a few details of his life. He wrote in Ringolevio that he had traveled to Europe to escape the Mafia and lived there for several years; in reality, after high school in Brooklyn, he attended Duke University for one year before moving to San Francisco. Grogan was also the author of Final Score, a crime novel. He married the French-Canadian actress Louise LaTraverse and had one son, Max.
Emmett Grogan sang back-up with Ramblin' Jack Elliott on "Mr. Tambourine Man" written by Bob Dylan.[4] Dylan dedicated his 1978 album Street Legal to Grogan.[5]
On April 6, 1978, the 35-year-old Emmett Grogan was found dead on an F Train subway car in New York City, the victim of a heart attack possibly induced by chronic heroin use.[6]
Grogan shunned media attention, and became increasingly suspicious of those who sought publicity. In Ringolevio Grogan discusses the 1967 Human Be-In, criticizing counterculture luminaries Timothy Leary, Jerry Rubin, and especially Abbie Hoffman.[7]
Grogan thought the HIP merchants were the primary beneficiaries of the event as he writes, "The HIP merchants were astounded by their own triumph by promoting such a large market for their wares. They became the Western world's taste makers overnight..."[8]