The Blue Unicorn Coffee House

Discussion in 'Back to the Garden' started by Klink, May 6, 2009.

  1. Klink

    Klink Member

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    Greetings fellow travelers!

    By chance would anyone out there have a picture(s) of the Blue Unicorn?

    Have searched for some time, and either film was sold for spare change or the exposures have all been set to stoned, not to photos..

    : )

    Peace

    Phillip

    (Lived on Cole Steet couple doors up from Haight from '65 until '68)
     
  2. max1144

    max1144 Member

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    Yes, I am sure I have some Blue Unicorn photos in the basement. I lived on Page street from 67 till early 69 and I practally lived at that place. I had classes at UCSF on Mon, Wed, and Fri. which left a lot of time to stay stoned at the Unicorn. I also played and electrafied clevecord a few night a month--I was paid in hot spiced apple cider.

    Max
     
  3. Klink

    Klink Member

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    Hello Max,

    we must have passed each other more than a few times : )

    Some good times were had by many.

    If you get a chance to post some pics, that would be

    groovy!

    : )

    Cheers,

    Klink
     
  4. max1144

    max1144 Member

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    I will dig some of them out for you. Do you remember Robert Hunter, he hung out at the Blu U during 66 thru 68? He wrote most of the songs for Greatful Dead. He's still alive and living on a high hill south of SF. He is the only one from that era that I have kept in contact with.

    Max
     
  5. Zenbo

    Zenbo Member

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    This was Bob Stubbs' first business, IIRC. He went on to start The Phoenix (Sundance Incense & Trading Co.), one of the Haight's truly great head shops. I worked as Bob's business manager at the Phoenix (some time after it had moved down towards Stanyan in the old Safeway from it's original location, which had been destroyed by fire.....the Phoenix indeed!) around 1975, shortly before, business having gone down to very little other than wholesale, he decided to move back to Maui. Heard he passed away in the early '90s....RIP Bob, you were (and are) one of the Who's Who of the Haight.
     
  6. ChasM23

    ChasM23 Member

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    Hey, max1144, Klink, Zenbo;
    It sounds like you may have been there when I was. I remember the Blue U, as well as some other landmarks that are no longer there. I just recently took a tour of the street on Google Earth, hoping to find something familiar. The only I found was that the black and white checkerboard around the bottom of the old Drogstore Cafe is still there. I contacted the current tenant, The Magnolia Pub, and started a little dialogue. Also, if you remember the Straight Theater, one night in the spring of '69, I and some of the guys from our place chased a guy up to the roof, who was tripping out and thought he could fly. His old lady begged us to try to get him down before he hurt himself, but we didn't make it in time, and he did a backflip off the top of the fire escape ladder. He lived, but wound up paralyzed from the neck down. Bummer, I know. Seagulls Fish and Chips is gone, too. I think there's a pink boutique where it used to be, but I can't remember for sure if it was between Shrader and Cole, or Shrader and Stanyan. I DO know that the old Denny's at Stanyan has been replaced by a McDonald's. I remember sitting at that Denny's counter one night, nursing a cup of coffee, and tripping on speed for about nine hours.
     
  7. juliabean

    juliabean Guest

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    Hey, my dad always tells me about the Blue Unicorn ceiling, he says it was the sistine chapel of San Francisco. Could you please send me any of the picture that you have. I know it would mean the world to him to have just a short glimpse of his crazy past in the San Francisco Bay Area. Thanks a million.

    -Julia
     
  8. Telepath

    Telepath Banned

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    Hey! Where are the pics?
     
  9. Genie5487

    Genie5487 Guest

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    Bob Stubbs and I were together when he opened the Blue Unicorn. A friend of ours named Jim Silks painted the Unicorn sign that was out front. Does anyone have a picture of the front of the building with the sign?
     
  10. hodad

    hodad Guest

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    I would also love to see some pics of the Sundancer---those would be great to see---
     
  11. ecwinslow

    ecwinslow Guest

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    Let's get this conversation renewed! A former Fell St. resident (from back *then*) mentioned the Blue Unicorn, and then just now I was typing with another former local who said he *owned* the BU from around 1969-1973 or so. One Dennis Waterman. Is this right?

    And those pictures still didn't surface? :) (I wish I was camerized back then...)
     
  12. askento

    askento Guest

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    ECW,

    That is not at all correct. DW's memory must be failing. In 1969 DW was a kid from the boonies. But first a brief chronology: Bob Stubbs owned the BU until 1965 when he sold it to Herb Jager. Herb owned the BU until midnight 12/31/69. He sold it to Jerry and Janet Lane from Arizona and they ran it into the ground. They kept it until the mid 1970s when there was nothing hip nor cool left to the BU.

    There are three players in the DW saga: DW, partner #1, and partner #2. Partner #1 put the entire deal together, he was the only one who knew all the players and all the numbers and had worked in/ran the place for a few years. #1 connected DW and #2. It was to be an equal three-way partnership. On the day of purchase DW and #2 bought it a few hours before the scheduled time of sale, thereby cheating partner #1 out of the deal he'd put together. Immediately after DW and #2 took over, there was a minor revolt and many regulars stopped going there, preferring instead the Sacred Grounds a few blocks away because much bad blood had been created by the BU swindle. DW and partner #2 hung onto it for a few years and it became not much more than a daytime crash-pad. DW left it all to #2 to take care of, but would stop by at times to get some money. They had no idea what to do with it and it died a tragic death. I think you've got the picture.

    I know, I was there from 1965 on and knew all the players very well. There are many people still around who also know this story . . .
     
  13. askento

    askento Guest

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  14. Ranger

    Ranger Hip Forums Supporter HipForums Supporter

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    Fish & Chips was about midblock between Clayton & Cole on the north side. The I was there, in 2005 or so it was a Chineese resturant.

    Does anyone recall the couple who played fiddle and Irish pipes or a couple known as Ragged but Right?
     
  15. ChasM23

    ChasM23 Member

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    Since we're remembering the street here, does anyone remember exactly where Seagull's Fish and Chips used to be in 1969? I seem to recall that it was on the north side of Haight, just east of Shrader. Am I correct? Anybody know what it is now?
     
  16. dixie_pixy

    dixie_pixy HighMandi

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    Would love to see these!
    Wish we could go back to those days my friend!
     
  17. Ranger

    Ranger Hip Forums Supporter HipForums Supporter

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    Seagull's was the second storefront on the south side just west of Shrader. When I left SF 7 1/2 yrs ago the space was a burrito shop and still the best food deal on Haight.
     
  18. TurtleDan

    TurtleDan Member

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    That would've been Tom Hobson and his GF Barbara. I played a few gigs with them there. I reconnected with another guy who knew them....Kilo has some recordings and photos here: http://www.raggedbutright.com/
     
  19. Ranger

    Ranger Hip Forums Supporter HipForums Supporter

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    Thanks FurtleDan,
    i'm remembering the nights Tom & Barbara would come over to Fell St. and play late in the evening. I see Tom has passed are you in touch with Barbara or Kilo?
     
  20. Sonoma Boy

    Sonoma Boy Guest

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    I worked at the BU from the spring of 70 to 71. I got to know a lot of folks from the time. Wally Healy & Bob Stubbs used to come in a lot, as well as Herb Jaeger. I knew Jerry & Janet Lane, pretty easy to work for. The scene in the Haight was dying out at the time. There were a lot of students from USF that used to hang out, poetry & folk music were still going strong. I knew Jane Voss & Faith Petrie as well as Rosalie Sorrels & Mike Heinz. Have lost touch over the years, though.
     

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