Long flowing silver /gray hair. Salt and pepper beards. Hippie chicks in long tye-die dresses. Men in colorful tye-die shirts. Children in colorful scarves and hair ribbons. Tye-die everywhere! The long forgotten smells of marijuana and Patchouli Oil (mixed with Kettle Corn and BBQ meat.)
Click on the images below to view the full scene
Yes, Jami and I were guests at the 40th Anniversary of the Summer of Love in Golden Gate Park.
One good thing, this time no one took their clothes off....... that would not be a pretty sight!
On the first weekend in September, we headed to San Francisco to be participants in this momentous occasion. We had been there for the 30th Anniversary, and took along our "backstage passes 1997" just for fun.
Leaving a day early, we booked a room at the Seal Rock Inn, out by the Cliff House. The Seal Rock Inn is a wonderful 50's style motel, made famous in Hunter Thompson’s Fear and Loathing on The Campaign Trail. A beautiful place with kitchenettes, a patio with a pool, badminton court, ping pong tables and suites with couches that fold out to extra beds. Also a very nice restaurant. This motel is within walking distance of Golden Gate Park...(like right across the street!).where the Summer of Love (SOL) was to be held. Please visit www.sealrockinn.com. Tell them Jami and Randy sent you.
We went to Speedway Meadow the day before the anniversary event. It is a very large area, as big as 2 football fields put end to end. At one end the stage was going up and at the other end a very large and authentic looking tee-pee. We wandered around, took some "before pictures" and headed off to dinner.
Early next morning, Sunday, September 2nd, we walked through the Park to the "40th Anniversary of The Summer of Love".
Having been to the site the day before, we knew to follow a white, chalk marking made on a path that led to the backstage entrance. That is where the promoter of the event, Boots Hughston, had graciously put our names on the list as "V.I.P. Guests".
Next we headed out front to meet a good friend, Jeneen, who was to meet us by the tee-pee.
All along the field up to the tee-pee was now adorned with booths. Food booths, souvenir booths, poster booths, jewelry, clothes, head-dresses, spine massages, political booths, psychedelic painted buses inhabited by Jesus freaks, Hari-Krishna’s (it wouldn’t have been a SOL without them) and of course voter registration booths. Dave, a maker of Peace necklaces, said he has made 372,160 and distributes them for free. Jami got one for our daughter, Becky.
There was even a sign on a beautiful tree announcing "ATM convenience close by". Ahh, to be hip 40 years later!
Not finding Jeneen, it was time to go watch the show. The Sioux Indians gave a very moving and inspirational invocation and blessing. Backstage more people and rock stars were arriving.
Lester Chambers of the Chambers Brothers; Dan Hicks; The Charlatans; Merl Saunders; the original cast of "Hair" (Jami’s favorite, having seen the opening show on Broadway in New York while studying ballet at American Ballet Theater in the late 60's); Ray Manzarek of the Doors with Michael McClure; Canned Heat; Paul Kantner; Marty Balin and Grace Slick, some Hell’s Angels and many, many others.
Backstage had free food and wine...out front there was no alcohol allowed.
When we later tried to go out front once again to find our friend, there were now thousands and thousands of people...hundreds of blankets on the grass, crowds of people everywhere. Only looking at your feet and shuffling along kept you from stepping on someone accidentally. It is amazing that right about then Randy bumped into a long time friend of his, Mark, from high school days in Stockton. And a little while later, there was Jami’s brother, John Allen and his entourage!
We turned around and took John backstage to get his pass. It seemed that no other representative of the "Pranksters" were there. If you were, please write and share your experiences!
We also met Jerry Cimino and his wife Estelle , owners of The Beat Museum in San Francisco and ruth weiss, a renowned poetess who read at the event.
After the show, we all headed out to our room at The Seal Rock Inn for an impromptu birthday party for John (9-9-51). We had Twinkies and Oh-Ho’s for cake with candles.
Thanks to Jessica Loos (another San Francisco poetess) and Mark Slemmons ( a true friend from the high school years in Saratoga) and Judith Barnett (the guardian angel) for sharing John’s birthday with us.
Jami and I had always wanted to find the place that was the "original" Six Gallery, where Allen Ginsberg read "Howl" for the first time. We found it....it’s on Fillmore going toward the Marina. It is now a high end furniture store. The city of San Francisco has installed a nice pedestal in front of the store. It is located on the corner of Union and Fillmore. The original address was "3119 Fillmore" but 3119 no longer exists. Between 3115 and 3117 they knocked out a wall. The pedestal is right in front of "3116 Fillmore". Interesting!
Anyone who was in attendance that day, September 2nd, 2007 and would like to share your stories , please write to us. We’d love to read them.
Until next month, peace and Love to all!
(See you in 2017???)
Remember to click on the images to see the complete picture!
