Hippies in Haight-Ashbury

In the 1960s, San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood became a mecca for hippies, flower power and psychedelic drugs and music. Young people flocked to the neighborhood to be part of a counterculture movement that opposed the Vietnam War, embraced free love and was critical of middle-class values and establishment institutions such as the government and police. In Haight-Ashbury, hippies favored long hair, tie-dyed clothing and slogans such as "Make love, not war" and "Turn on, tune in and drop out."

The area of San Francisco now known as The Haight was mostly farmland before the cable car line arrived in the 1880s, connecting it to the rest of the city. By the early 1900s, the Haight had been transformed into an upper middle-class district of Victorian homes. However, by the 1950s, the neighborhood, named for the intersections of Haight and Ashbury streets, had fallen into decline and many middle-class residents had left. In the 1960s, bohemians and hippies, many of whom were San Francisco Bay Area college students, were drawn to The Haight, located next to Golden Gate Park, by cheap rents and available real estate.

By the mid-1960s, Haight-Ashbury, nicknamed "Hashbury," was home to a flourishing psychedelic music and drug scene. Musicians and bands such as Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane all resided in the neighborhood. The Haight was also home to a radical community group called The Diggers, who provided free food, free medical care and temporary shelter to those in need. The group, who espoused an anti-capitalism philosophy, also set up Free Stores, where people could get basic supplies at no charge, and organized free concerts and street theater events, including a Death of Money parade.

A Human Be-In, or "happening," held in Golden Gate Park in January 1967 attracted 35,000 people by word of mouth to hear counterculture figures such as Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg and bands including Jefferson Airplane. The Be-In was considered a prelude to the "Summer of Love" later that year. Haight-Ashbury captured the global spotlight during the Summer of Love, when thousands of teenagers and young adults from around the world descended upon San Francisco to experience the music, spirit and lifestyle of the counterculture.

The massive influx of people to the Haight during the Summer of Love led to a rise in crime and drug problems. As the neighborhood became overcrowded, the Diggers even staged a "Death of a Hippie" protest parade. Hippie culture faded in the 1970s, yet even today, largely gentrified Haight-Ashbury still retains some of its bohemian flavor.