Summer of Love 50th Anniversary

Summer of Love 50th Anniversary
3075 17th Street, San Francisco, CA  94110
415-871-9852 (phone) – 415-383-2216 (fax)
50thsummeroflove.com, summeroflove50th@yahoo.com


What:           50th Anniversary of the Summer of Love, San Francisco
When:   October 2017
Where:  Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA
Admission:      Free
Promoted by:  2b1 Multimedia Inc and the Council of Light   415-871-9852
Non-Profit:     NBPF Inc, a 501(c)(3), a tax-exempt organization
Sponsorship Contact:  Ross Rylance – 615-582-6243
Web Site:       50thsummeroflove.com
Facebook:       50th Anniversary Summer of Love – https://www.facebook.com/groups/50SOL/

SUMMER OF LOVE PROCLAMATION

There are moments in time when a word or thought has such power it changes history; a generation so involved in the moment it becomes unstoppable; a spiritual awakening so profound that its very conception shatters perceptions, halts the world and makes people from all nations take notice.

It began with a simple four-letter word – LOVE! In the 1960s this word became synonymous with a generation and city called San Francisco. It was a concept, a belief deep in the hearts of all who were there (and those who wished they were). It began with Ken Kesey, the Merry Pranksters and their bus “Furthur”, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the Beat Generation. They gathered in places like North Beach, Haight Ashbury, and in cities like Palo Alto, Berkeley, Seattle, Portland, New York and L.A. These pockets of counter-cultural, anti-establishment individuals questioned authority and their surroundings while searching for the real meaning of life and deeper truths. These small communities of like-minded individuals and their “families” of communal creativity focused on poetry, art, folk music, jazz, and rock ’n roll, demanding to be free of societal restrictions, restraints and hang-ups.

Then one summer it happened! “We Were Everywhere!” The pureness of thought exploded exponentially and there were now millions of us. This event, this historical moment, which included most of 1967, became known as the “SUMMER OF LOVE.”

During this period the Peace Movement was born, with the “Human Be-In” in San Francisco and then the “Love-Ins” in New York.  Anti-war demonstrations occurred everywhere and college campuses erupted with thousands of people protesting the draft. The American Indians took Alcatraz, the Black Panthers took Sacramento and the Brown movement demanded social change. Even the Olympic athletes stood up with fist raised to show solidarity with the winds of change. This startled our government, a president was impeached and a war was stopped. An entire generation stood up and shouted “Hell no, we won’t go!”

During this period change was occurring on multiple levels, giving birth to a variety of social movements: the Free Speech Movement, the Free Love Movement, the Women’s Movement, the Gay Rights Movement, the Sexual Revolution, the Spiritual Movement, the Farm Workers Movement, the Environmental Movement, the Ecology Movement, the Animal Rights Movement, the Student Movements, the Civil Rights Movement and the Anti-War Movement.

The message was clear – the world was uniting behind one principle and one thought – LOVE! – and its affirmation of PEACE, COMPASSION and UNDERSTANDING. The word was brought forth by musicians such as Peter Paul & Mary, Donovan, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane and then carried on by many English musicians like Eric Clapton, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

In the midst of this freethinking environment a renaissance of gifted geniuses emerged with the likes of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. New concepts and inventions touched every segment of society: the transistor silicon wafer, the calculator, the personal computer and the internet. The international community was in awe of this explosion of creativity. All this started with a simple word, a simple thought – LOVE! And a generation of freethinking people who were willing to stand up and be counted while proudly proclaiming their willingness to be different.

This period of change is commemorated by celebrating the
 “SUMMER OF LOVE”
It stands for:
Truth and individual freedom.  Freedom of expression.
Freedom to make a choice – sexually, spiritually and socially.
Our right to be different.  Our right to refuse to fight without judging those who did.
Creativity, love and respect for all things.  Our right to make a difference.
Our right to think independently.  Our willingness to share with others.

Brought me to tears remembering.

The good old days.  They certainly changed my life.

In 1965, I was working at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, California.  I had a house near Windansea Beach and the Pump house (see about the pump house gang in Thomas Wolfe's book "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test".  

During that time, I attended art happenings and an acid test by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters.  LSD had not been outlawed then and I got turned on and about a year later dropped out.

I took off in my Triumph TR-3 roadster and headed North. I stayed only a day or two in San Francisco and then left for Portland where I stayed for a couple of months.  I met a few hippies there but then having read "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac, I decided to check out Denver and there I met another whole group of hippies.  Several of them are still friends of mine today. In fact, one of them was the source of this post on the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love.

After a couple of months in Denver, several of us went in a caravan to San Francisco and ended up in the Haight Ashbury.

I'm not sure that I'm going to attend this event  but I will certainly be celebrating.

I love your story papa chango!