Summer of Love
Jack Kerouac's 1957 novel On the Road ignited a spark that would eventually consume San Francisco. The Beat Generation authors of the 1950s had already flourished in the North Beach area before the summer of 1967 arrived. Those who gathered in Haight-Ashbury during that year allegedly rejected the conformist and materialist values of modern life. They adhered to the psychedelic movement with an emphasis on sharing and community. The Diggers established a Free Store while Haight Ashbury Free Clinics was founded on the 7th of June 1967. Medical treatment was provided there for free to anyone who needed it. Hippies sometimes called flower children were an eclectic group. Many opposed the Vietnam War and were suspicious of government power. They rejected consumerist values and opted for a communal lifestyle instead of suburbia.
A celebration known as the Human Be-In took place at Golden Gate Park on the 14th of January 1967. Artist Michael Bowen produced and organized this gathering which drew approximately 30,000 people. It was at this event that Timothy Leary voiced his famous phrase turn on tune in drop out. This phrase helped shape the entire hippie counterculture by voicing key ideas of 1960s rebellion. These ideas included experimenting with psychedelics and practicing communal living. Political decentralization became another goal alongside dropping out of society entirely. The term dropping out became popular among many high school and college students. Many would abandon their conventional education for a summer or more of hippie culture. The San Francisco Oracle announced the gathering as a new concept of celebration beneath the human underground. A revolution could be formed with a renaissance of compassion awareness and love.
Newsweek printed a four-page four-color article titled Dropouts on a Mission on the 6th of February 1967. Time magazine followed up with an article called Love on Haight on the 17th of March 1967. Newsweek returned to the story again on the 12th of June 1967 with The Hippies are Coming. Activities in the area were reported almost daily by national outlets like the San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle. Hunter S. Thompson termed the district Hashbury in The New York Times Magazine. The pass-around readership of the San Francisco Oracle is thought to have exceeded a half-million people that summer. Media coverage of events like the Monterey Pop Festival facilitated the Summer of Love. Large numbers of hippies traveled to California to hear favorite bands such as the Who and Grateful Dead. Approximately 30,000 people gathered for the first day of the music festival at Monterey. The number increased to 60,000 on the final day of that event. By spring some Haight-Ashbury organizations including Diggers theater had responded by forming the Council of the Summer of Love.
Timothy Leary became a major advocate for the recreational use of psychedelic drugs after losing his untenured position at Harvard University. He started taking psilocybin in the late fifties which is a psychoactive chemical produced by certain mushrooms. Leary endorsed the use of all psychedelics for personal development alongside colleague Richard Alpert. Author Ken Kesey advocated the use of LSD after participating in a CIA-started experiment in 1959. Kesey bought an old school bus painted it with psychedelic graffiti and dubbed his group the Merry Pranksters. They traveled across the country hosting acid tests where they filled containers with diluted low dose forms of the drug. Cannabis started to be much used during this period as well. New laws were subsequently enacted to control the use of both drugs despite user efforts to oppose them. Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir commented that Haight Ashbury was not about drugs but about exploration. He stated finding new ways of expression and being aware of one's existence mattered most.
Behind the Iron Curtain hippies inspired a counter-cultural movement known as Flower Children. These individuals took inspiration from hippies in fashion beliefs and protest while facing repression under a pre-Perestroika Soviet Union. The culture supported MDMA use and some LSD use during the summers of 1988 and 1989 in Britain. This renaissance of acid house music and rave parties became known as the Second Summer of Love. The art had a generally psychedelic emotion reminiscent of the 1960s era. In Denver Chet Helms held a Human Be-In in City Park with the goal of harnessing the Summer of Love vibe. Five thousand people attended the event which featured performances by bands like the Grateful Dead and Captain Beefheart. Ken Kesey and Timothy Leary were reportedly in attendance at that gathering. Bruce Bond states it is not like the Summer of Love ended in Frisco but moved east to Denver instead.
During the summer of 2007 San Francisco celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love. Over 150,000 people attended the 40th anniversary concert held in Golden Gate Park on the 2nd of September 2007. It was produced by 2b1 Multimedia and the Council of Light. By the beginning of 2017 the council gathered about 25 poster artists for the 50th Anniversary planning. Only 10 submitted finished art before the project stalled due to new rules from the San Francisco Parks Department. New rules prohibited the council from holding a free event of the proposed size. The PRD later hosted an event originally called Summer Solstice Party renamed 50th Anniversary of the Summer of Love two weeks before commencement. That event had fewer than 20,000 attendees from the local Bay Area. In Liverpool the city staged a 50 Summers of Love festival based on the 1st of June 1967 release of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
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Common questions
What was the Summer of Love and when did it occur?
The Summer of Love was a 1967 social phenomenon in San Francisco where approximately 100,000 young people gathered to embrace communal living and psychedelic culture. The event took place during the summer of 1967 with key activities occurring from January through October of that year.
Where did the Human Be-In take place on the 14th of January 1967?
The Human Be-In occurred at Golden Gate Park on the 14th of January 1967 and drew approximately 30,000 attendees. Artist Michael Bowen produced and organized this gathering which helped shape the hippie counterculture movement.
Who founded the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics and when were they established?
Haight Ashbury Free Clinics was founded on the 7th of June 1967 to provide free medical treatment to anyone who needed it. The Diggers also established a Free Store while Hippies called flower children rejected consumerist values for a communal lifestyle.
How many people attended the Monterey Pop Festival during the summer of 1967?
Approximately 30,000 people gathered for the first day of the music festival at Monterey and the number increased to 60,000 on the final day of that event. Large numbers of hippies traveled to California to hear favorite bands such as the Who and Grateful Dead.
What happened to the Summer of Love in October 1967?
The Death of the Hippie ceremony was staged on the 6th of October 1967 to commemorate the conclusion of the event with a mock funeral. Organizer Mary Kasper explained the intended message behind the theatrical production before participants left to join the back-to-the-land movement or resume school studies.