| Part of the hippie movement | |
Spencer Dryden, Marty Balin, and Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane performing at the Fantasy Fair, early June 1967
| |
| Date | 1967 |
|---|---|
| Location | Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco |
| Participants | Possibly 100,000 people |
| Outcome | Calm resolution Inspiration for the Second Summer of Love |
The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during mid-1967, when as many as 100,000 people, mostly young people sporting hippie fashions of dress and behavior, converged in San Francisco's neighborhood of Haight-Ashbury. More broadly, the Summer of Love encompassed the hippie music, drug, anti-war, and free-love scene throughout the American west coast, and as far away as New York City.
Hippies, sometimes called flower children, were an eclectic group. Many were suspicious of the government, rejected consumerist values, and generally opposed the Vietnam War. A few were interested in politics; others were concerned more with art (music, painting, poetry in particular) or spiritual and meditative practices.
Background
Culture of San Francisco
Junction of Haight and Ashbury Streets, San Francisco, celebrated as the central location of the Summer of Love
Inspired by the Beat Generation of authors of the 1950s, who had flourished in the North Beach
area of San Francisco, those who gathered in Haight-Ashbury during 1967
allegedly rejected the conformist and materialist values of modern
life; there was an emphasis on sharing and community. The Diggers established a Free Store, and a Free Clinic where medical treatment was provided.
Human Be-In and inspiration
The prelude to the Summer of Love was a celebration known as the Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park on January 14, 1967, which was produced and organized by artist Michael Bowen.
It was at this event that Timothy Leary voiced his phrase, "turn on, tune in, drop out".
This phrase helped shape the entire hippie counterculture, as it voiced
the key ideas of 1960s rebellion. These ideas included communal living,
political decentralization, and dropping out. The term "dropping out"
became popular among many high school and college students, many of whom
would abandon their conventional education for a summer of hippie
culture.
The event was announced by the Haight-Ashbury's hippie 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.
The gathering of approximately 30,000 at the Human Be-In helped publicize hippie fashions.
Planning
The
term "Summer of Love" originated with the formation of the Council for
the Summer of Love during the spring of 1967 as a response to the
convergence of young people on the Haight-Ashbury district. The Council
was composed of The Family Dog, The Straight Theatre, The Diggers, The San Francisco Oracle,
and approximately twenty-five other people, who sought to alleviate
some of the problems anticipated from the influx of people expected
during the summer. The Council also assisted the Free Clinic and
organized housing, food, sanitation, music and arts, along with
maintaining coordination with local churches and other social groups.
Beginning
An anti-Vietnam War march in San Francisco on April 15, 1967
Youth arrivals
The
increasing numbers of youth traveling to the Haight-Ashbury district
alarmed the San Francisco authorities, whose public warning was that
they would keep hippies away. Adam Kneeman, a long-time resident of the
Haight-Ashbury, recalls that the police did little to help the hordes of
newcomers, much of which was done by residents of the area.
College and high-school students began streaming into the Haight during the spring break
of 1967 and the local government officials, determined to stop the
influx of young people once schools ended for the summer, unwittingly
brought additional attention to the scene, and a series of articles in
local papers alerted the national media to the hippies' growing numbers.
By spring, some Haight-Ashbury residents responded by forming the
Council of the Summer of Love, giving the event a name.
Popularization
The media's coverage of hippie life in the Haight-Ashbury drew the attention of youth from all over America. Hunter S. Thompson termed the district "Hashbury" in The New York Times Magazine, and the activities in the area were reported almost daily.
The event was also reported by the counterculture's own media, particularly the San Francisco Oracle, the pass-around readership of which is thought to have exceeded a half-million people that summer, and the Berkeley Barb.
The media's reportage of the "counterculture" included other events in California, such as the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival in Marin County and the Monterey Pop Festival,
both during June 1967. At Monterey, approximately 30,000 people
gathered for the first day of the music festival, with the number
increasing to 60,000 on the final day.
Additionally, media coverage of the Monterey Pop Festival facilitated
the Summer of Love as large numbers of hippies traveled to California to
hear favorite bands such as The Who, Grateful Dead, the Animals, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Otis Redding, The Byrds, and Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin.
"San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)"
Musician John Phillips of the band The Mamas & the Papas wrote the song "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" for his friend Scott McKenzie. It served to promote both the Monterey Pop Festival that Phillips was helping to organize, and to popularize the flower children of San Francisco. Released on May 13, 1967, the song was an instant success. By the week ending July 1, 1967, it reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, where it remained for four consecutive weeks.
Meanwhile, the song charted at number one in the United Kingdom and
much of Europe. The single is purported to have sold more than 7 million
copies worldwide.
Events
New York City
In Manhattan, near the Greenwich Village neighborhood, during a concert in Tompkins Square Park on Memorial Day of 1967, some police officers asked for the music's volume to be reduced. In response, some people in the crowd threw various objects, and 38 arrests ensued. A debate about the "threat of the hippie" ensued between Mayor John Lindsay and Police Commissioner Howard Leary. After this event, Allan Katzman, the editor of the East Village Other, predicted that 50,000 hippies would enter the area for the summer.
California
Double
that amount, as many as 100,000 young people from around the world,
flocked to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, as well as to nearby
Berkeley and to other San Francisco Bay Area cities, to join in a popularized version of the hippieism. A Free Clinic was established for free medical treatment, and a Free Store gave away basic necessities without charge to anyone who needed them.
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 an alleged cultural utopia; middle-class vacationers; and
even partying military personnel from bases within driving distance. The
Haight-Ashbury could not accommodate this influx of people, and the
neighborhood scene quickly deteriorated, with overcrowding,
homelessness, hunger, drug problems, and crime afflicting the
neighborhood.
Use of drugs
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.
After losing his untenured position as an instructor on the Psychology Faculty at Harvard University, Timothy Leary became a major advocate for the recreational use of psychedelic drugs. After taking psilocybin, a drug extracted from certain mushrooms
that causes effects similar to those of LSD, Leary endorsed the use of
all psychedelics for personal development. He often invited friends as
well as an occasional graduate student to consume such drugs along with
him and colleague Richard Alpert.
On the West Coast, author Ken Kesey, a prior volunteer for a CIA-sponsored LSD experiment, also advocated the use of the drug. Soon after participating, he was inspired to write the bestselling novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Subsequently, after buying an old school bus, painting it with
psychedelic graffiti and attracting a group of similarly-minded
individuals he dubbed the Merry Pranksters,
Kesey and his group traveled across the country, often hosting "acid
tests" where they would fill a large container with a diluted low dose
form of the drug and give out diplomas to those who passed their test.
Along with LSD, cannabis
was also much used during this period. However, as a result, crime
increased among users because new laws were subsequently enacted to
control the use of both drugs. The users thereof often had sessions to
oppose the laws, including The Human Be-In referenced above as well as
various "smoke-ins" during July and August, however, their efforts at repeal were unsuccessful.
Funeral and aftermath
Mock funeral notice
By the end of summer, many participants had left the scene to join the back-to-the-land movement
of the late '60s, to resume school studies, or simply to "get a job".
Those remaining in the Haight wanted to commemorate the conclusion of
the event. A mock funeral entitled "The Death of the Hippie" ceremony
was staged on October 6, 1967, and organizer Mary Kasper explained the
intended message:
We wanted to signal that this was the end of it, to stay where you are, bring the revolution to where you live and don't come here because it's over and done with.
In New York, the rock musical drama Hair, which told the story of the hippie counterculture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, began Off-Broadway on October 17, 1967.
Legacy
Second Summer of Love
The "Second Summer of Love" (a term which generally refers to the summers of both 1988 and 1989) was a renaissance of acid house music and rave parties in Britain. The culture supported MDMA use and some LSD use. The art had a generally psychedelic emotion reminiscent of the 1960s.
40th anniversary
During
the summer of 2007, San Francisco celebrated the 40th anniversary of
the Summer of Love by holding numerous events around the region,
culminating on September 2, 2007, when over 150,000 people attended the
40th anniversary of the Summer of Love concert, held in Golden Gate Park
in Speedway Meadows. It was produced by 2b1 Multimedia and the Council
of Light.
50th anniversary
Illumination of the Conservatory of Flowers on June 21, 2017
In 2016, 2b1 Multimedia and The Council of Light, once again, began
the planning for the 50th Anniversary of the Summer of Love in Golden
Gate Park in San Francisco. By the beginning of 2017, the council had
gathered about 25 poster artists, about 10 of whom submitted their
finished art, but it was never printed. The council was also contacted
by many bands and musicians who wanted to be part of this historic
event, all were waiting for the date to be determined before a final
commitment.
New rules enforced by the San Francisco Parks and Recreational
Department (PRD) prohibited the council from holding a free event of the
proposed size. There were many events planned for San Francisco in
2017, many of which were 50th Anniversary-themed. However, there was no
free concert. The PRD later hosted an event originally called “Summer
Solstice Party,” but it was later renamed “50th Anniversary of the
Summer of Love” two weeks before commencement. The event had fewer than
20,000 attendees from the local Bay Area.
In frustration, producer Boots Hughston put the proposal of what
was by then to be a 52nd anniversary free concert into the form of an
initiative intended for the November 6, 2018, ballot.
The issue did not make the ballot; however, a more generic Proposition
E provides for directing hotel tax fees to a $32 million budget for
"arts and cultural organizations and projects in the city."
During the summer of 2017, San Francisco celebrated the 50th
anniversary of the Summer of Love by holding numerous events and art
exhibitions.
In Liverpool, the city has staged a 50 Summers of Love festival based on
the 50th anniversary of the June 1, 1967, release of the album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, by The Beatles.
