Big Sur In The Sixties?

It occurred to me that I've been on hipforums for several years now and while there have been many threads about Haight-Ashbury, I don't recall anyone discussing another hippie Mecca of the 60s, Big Sur. Was anyone on hipforums there, or knew someone who was there and had stories to tell?

 

I get chills just thinking about the place.

 

um, what was it????

 

I was there.

 

You were there? Okay.

Uh...tell us more?

 

I was going to say more but didn't have time, so made a short comment so I could find my way back. By the way, you didn't say much yourself.

 

Sorry, hope I didn't offend. Whenever you're ready I'd really like to hear about your experiences, as I'm sure many other forumers would like to hear.

As for me I wasn't there, I grew up on the east coast, was a high school hippie but didn't turn 18 until 1972, so I pretty much missed all but the tail end of the movement. At the time it was all happening California might as well have been on the dark side of the moon. Wish I could have been there but I wasn't. Still, I love to hear about it.

 

No problem, still short on time more later.

 

The Big Sur coast was (and is) one of the most beautiful places on earth. I never lived there, but took the coast highway many times from Santa Barbara, where I went to school, to Santa Cruz and of course, San Francisco.

I'm not sure where exactly in Big Sur you mean, but Santa Cruz was always a big gathering place, both on the UC campus and on the beach. We usually picked up hitchhikers and always had a good time there. It's a big tourist destination, so the streets were very crowded and there was always something going on.

I'm not sure of the meterological reasons, but Santa Cruz was always sunny and warm even as the rest of the California coast was foggy and cold, until you got to LA and San Diego. So people got naked on the beach and had lots of fun.

 

Hey Granny. I passed thru there a number of times in the late 60s-early 70s. Camped above highway one and don't think I ever saw more stars at night except maybe up on Haleakela on Maui. Hundreds and hundreds of hitchikers coming from somewhere going to somewhere else. I picked up as many as I could and camped ,traveled with and got to know many fine hippy folks along the way. I lived in Santa Cruz for a while before the earthquake --damn shame what happened with all the old buildings.Does anyone remember that little store/cafe that had the "NO HIPPIES ALLOWED" sign prominently displayed in the front? Big Sur is really nice,but if you're the nervous type,you better ride in the trunk or put a bag over your head! Those that have been there know what I mean. Those were the days---yes -

 

Damn, I had forgotten all about this thread!

I drove thru Big Sur about 10 years ago and was blown away by the scenery, but had no idea where the hippies had been staying. Anybody got any pics from those days?

 

The one thing that I'm really familiar with, about Big Sur is that it had a Zen Buddhist monastery located there. There was a monk by the name of John who used to come down to the Haight all the time. He was basically looking for recruits and he crashed at my pad a couple of times. What I remember about him the most was that he used to bring a fungus that he harvested off the trees with him. It was extremely hallucinogenic and I believe that they used it during their meditation. He also had a strain of cannabis that to this day I would still consider one of the best that I had ever smoked. We had great times getting stoned together but he never converted me to join the monastery.

Granny Longhair: you didn't happen to be the one of four girls [ university students ] that gave me a ride from San Francisco to Santa Barbara one Sunday evening [back in Jan.'68]? These four girls purchased two lids from me and were on their way back to Santa Barbara. I was thinking about going to Venice so I took the opportunity of getting a ride with the four girls as far as Santa Barbara. The one thing I remember the most about the trip was that the girls wanted to test the grass. So all we did was smoke ourselves silly and then we happened to come across a traffic accident that kept us tied up for about an hour and when we finally got to where the cops were, we tried so very hard to keep our faces straight. Two of the girls were nice enough to let me crash in their living room that night. Ring any bells G Longhair???

PAX

 

Wasn't me, I'm afraid. Although if you spent much time hitching around Santa Cruz, I'm sure we saw you. We would have picked you up. I was a junior in '68. We went to Santa Cruz quite a bit cause my roommate's family lived there, plus we liked the beaches better.

I vaguely remember the monastery. It's in Carmel, I believe?

 

It's too bad that it wasn't you. We would have had a lot of funny stories to relive. I never hitchhiked to Santa Cruz as I had no friends living around there. The only place I would hitchhike to would be to Topanga Canyon and Venice.

I don't know if anybody here has ever read a book titled " A Confederate General at Big Sur". Very amusing and well worth the read. It would also give you a good idea of what kind of people lived there.

PAX

 

im only 24 but man do i wish i could have lived during that era

 

My friends and I are planning a trip down there after we graduate general studies at the U. I need to find some sweet hippie out there to tell us a million stories while we fish&smoke. :]

 

Well, I am, aye... little too young for those days, but I can say Big Sur is a beautiful place along the west coast. As I was doing my west coast tour last year I stopped by there a few times to get sucked into that weird energy that flows through there. Hanging out at 13 stones and camping right off the route 1, nestled up in some tree's just below the road.. I even found my lady there too. It's a weird spot... I really get lost there. People were wonderful too, lotta family hidden out there.

Santa Cruz.. eh, cool spot, blown up. Too many wingnuts, hehe.. and I was 86'd.. never date a wingnut from Santa Cruz.

Interested in hearing more stories of this area... as for it's where I spent most of my time when I was on the west coast.

 

Yes, those were the days. And I know what you mean about the highway. But it's not so bad if you don't try to drive too fast

 

Yes, drive slowly and carefully, and not too stoned, or you'll drive over a cliff!

 

I was hitching up the coastal highway to SanFran when two guys picked me up and asked if I needed a place to stay for the night.

I said yes and it turns out they were camping back in a redwood forest with a whole bunch of other people. The forest was owned by the parents of a young man who had taken a little too much acid and had not come back down. So they let hippies stay on the land because their son seemed to enjoy having them around. He would come and sit at your fire for a while without saying any thing and then get up and leave, I guess to go keep others company at their fire.

I remember finding a big chunk of redwood and was thinking it was a really big find and worth some money, when I pointed it out to my friend, he calmly pointed out we were in a redwood forest, I looked around and noticed every tree around us was a giant Redwood and we both laughed.

Also he cooked up some beans and we put some brown sugar on them and I remember thinking that they were the best thing I had ever eaten.

There was a plum tree a short distance away and every morning people would gather there and eat the plums for breakfast.

Also one guy had a guitar and developed a music style that you could dance to and some would dance in the evenings while he played.

I stayed about a week and headed on to SanFran but sometimes wonder what would have happened if I’d stayed.

It was Big Sur summer of '67