Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Flower Power
In 1967 San Francisco witnessed the Summer of Love, including a 75,000-strong
Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park. People were drawn here - many with flowers
in their hair - by the acid-driven melodies of Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin,
Jimi Hendrix, and The Doors. Love was free, concerts were free, drugs were free,
even food and healthcare were free. Soon, however, public alarm, and too many
bad trips, caused the bubble to burst.
A Hippie Tour of Haight-Ashbury
Begin at
Alamo Square
, with the
Westerfield House • 1998 Fulton at Scott
Google Map
,
former residence of Ken Kesey, the writer and visionary who ar-
guably got the whole 1960s movement going. Walk up Scott, turn right on Page
and go to No. 1090, where Big Brother and the Holding Company got their start.
A block and a half farther on, go right on Lyon to No. 112, where Janis Joplin
lived for most of 1967.
Continue on to the Panhandle, an extension of Golden Gate Park, where in June
1967 the Jimi Hendrix Experience gave a free concert. Now turn left on Central
and head up to steep
Buena Vista Park
,
site of public Love-Ins in the 1960s and
1970s. Turn right on Haight and check out Positively Haight Street, 1400 Haight
Street at Masonic, one of the fanciest hippie shops.
Continue on to the famous Haight-Ashbury intersection and walk along Haight
to Clayton; at No. 558 is the much-loved Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, still im-
bued with the spirit of the 1960s. If you are tired or hungry, stop in for a snack
at
Blue Front Café
.
Refreshed, walk towards the park, turn right on Stanyan all the way to Fulton.
At 2400 Fulton stands the former Jefferson Airplane Mansion, which used to be
painted black. Finally, head back to
Golden Gate Park
and make your way to the
drum circles on Hippie Hill to groove to the tribal beats.
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