FREE ESSAY ON HAIGHT-ASHBURY IN THE 1960S

HAIGHT-ASHBURY IN THE 1960S

The district of Haight Ashbury covered a five-block area starting at the Golden Gate Park
and ending around the intersection of Shrader and Haight The appeal of Haight Ashbury?
Simple; low rent, old Victorian homes, there were little shops everywhere, and a small
town good vibe atmosphere and a need for acceptance from ones like themselves. The appeal
of Haight Ashbury was simple: low rent, old Victorian houses, little shops everywhere,
small town atmosphere and a contagiously good vibe. In the 1960's San Francisco's Haight
Ashbury district was a national symbol through the lifestyle, the music, the people, and
the publicity they thrilled a generation of American youth and scared there Parents.
The mysterious drug agent lysergic acid diethylamide, also known as LSD, connected the
musicians, the hippies, and the love of Haight Ashbury (web site #3). Everywhere you went
in the city of San Francisco that decade, 1960s, you saw the word love. The drug LSD
opened a new window to the world for those who took it and followed the "visions" they
saw. Everyone there ate in the same restaurants, shopped for clothes at the same second
hand stores, even took the same drugs.
It wasn't until 1966 LDS became illegal (Web site #1). Drugs however weren't the only
thing going on at Haight-Ashbury. There was a new religion that also caught on as fast as
LDS it was buddaismn. The music also was a huge key point to the Haight-Ashbury
lifestyle.
Many musicians came out of Haight-Ashbury; influencing a generation of young people into
how and why the Hippies felt the way they did. The band The Greatful Dead owned a house
in the middle of Haight-Ashbury. They along with Jefferson Airplane held many free
concerts on the now famous Hippie Hill. 
"A handful of rock musicians acted as electric gamelons for this bizarre
New culture, both articulating the language, dress and style and spreading
Infection. And, in doing so, they changed the way music was played and
Heard around the world (web site #2)."
Over 160 other musicians and bands came out of the Haight-Ashbury area. Most however
didn't catch on as well as The Greatful Dead but in the streets they rang out.
Not only poets, philosophers, writers, and spiritual leaders came out of Haight-Ashbury.
Writer Anne Rice, then known as Anne O'Brian, wrote her now famous book Interview With A
Vampire there. Also the house at the beginning of that book is set in Haight-Ashbury (web
site #1). Charles Manson also lived at Haight-Ashbury for a while. He sang a bit and
slowly gathered the young females that became his "family" that killed so many people.
The people who hung out at Haight-Ashbury were some of the most creative people of the
time. The thing that was too bad about this was the Hippies were looked down upon and
most of these talents were never known by the nation. What little publicity
Haight-Ashbury got was unwanted. 
All the Hippies wanted was to be left alone. A book called The Love Book was illegally
made and sold at the Psychedelic Shop in Haight-Ashbury. The book told of the advage day
of a hippie. At first not very many were sold. Then the book sales skyrocketed when the
Psychedelic Shop was busted for saling the book. Allen Cohen was also arrested for the
writing and selling of the book. The publicity over the book drew even more people to
Haight-Ashbury. When Allen Cohen went on trial just about every artist, poet, writer,
philosopher, sociologist and spiritual leader in Haight-Ashbury came and spoke on his
behalf. In the end The Love Book won and the conservative San Francisco lost.
Haight-Ashbury became bigger then anybody had imagined. What happened in that small
neighborhood in San Francisco among a small circle of people will never fully be
understood. The lifestyle, the music, the people, and the publicity that generated from
Haight-Ashbury will always stay with the ones who experienced it and the youth around the
world who wanted so badly to be involved with it. The events they set up there once
started overtook them. To them it was just a statement of whom they were to the nation
they were something to fall in love with.
Bibliography
Bib Page
Internet sites
1. http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Maps/Map6.Haight.html Ed Stephen's Maps Created
11/8/2000 Looked up 11/11/00 
2. http://www.delerium.co.uk/index_l4.html Delerium's Psychedelic Web Of Sound Created
2000 Looked up 11/10/00
3. http://leda.lycaeum.org/Chemical_Families/Ergolines.7.shtml
lycaeum Created 1/16/2000 Looked up 11/11/00
Books
Beneath the Diamond Sky; Haight-Ashbury, 1965-1970 Barney Hoskyns. December 1997 Simon &
Schuster
Haight Ashbury Flashbacks Stephen Gaskin December 1990 Ronin Publishing;