Favorite memory of the 60's?

I have lots of wonderful memories from the 60's, not all of which had to do with the hippie era. The hippie era didn't really start until the mid-60's, anyway. The first half of the decade was really just an extension of the 50's.

In no particular order:

1. losing my virginity in the parking lot of my town's only club.
2. my senior prom
3. the Beatles on Ed Sullivan
4. graduating high school
5. leaving home to start college
6. the arguments with my parents over staying out too late
7. the arguments with my parents over the length of my skirts
8. the first time I ever got drunk
9. the first time I ever smoked a joint
10. my university classes, which opened my eyes like nothing before
11. anti-Vietnam demonstrations on campus
12. graduating college and moving to Berkeley
13. the Vietnam Moratorium march in San Francisco
14. becoming an elementary school teacher
15. the death of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King
16. Sgt. Pepper
17. the summer of 1967 and my love affair with that sweet Australian boy

 

Smoking dope in public, tripping on the streets in Wash DC and being able to cash in coke bottles to buy enough gas to get to the beach. Road trips, waking up stoned and trying to figure if you were still flying or the sun was just really getting it on. A general sense of peace and contentment most of the time. Good friends, good times and great memories.

 

Another 4-year-old thread bumped into my view. How did I miss it for so long?

Anyhow, my 60s didn't actually start until 1970.

From 63 to 67 I was in the U.S. Air Force. From 67 to 68 I was mostly a security guard in New Orleans. Nov 68 to Dec 69 I was a cop.

But even as a cop I was exploring the counter-culture around me in the Quarter. Used to hang out at the 7-Seas Bar on St. Phillip St. where all the long haired, dope using guy were and their Hippie chix into all sorts of new-age stuff. I intuitively felt more connected to these ppl than to the cops.

So, by 1970 I quit the police department. Didn't get a steady job but packed up and went on the road. My Independence Day was July 4, 1970 at the Atlanta Pop Festival in Byron GA. Then on to San Francisco to spend the coldest summer I ever knew (glad I took my cop P-coat - I wore it often that July).

Then back to the Southeast, where I built my shack in the woods on my Dad's farm and lived a very simple hermits life. Then back to New Orleans to crash with friends and get menial "right livlihood" jobs where a guy with long hair could work.

I was a bit older than the usual Hippie crowd, but there were enuf contemporary Bohemians with whom to relate. (plus scarf up on some of that underage Hippie-runaway-girl pussy that always seemed to be throwing itself at me )

I did all my drug explorations between 70 & 73, then quit. Got tired of waking up on the floor I guess.

So my "60s" lasted from 70 to 73, but it never stops. The experience shaped me and I guess I am still living it today on many levels.

 

I remember the sixties as a magical, sad time in my life. My mother died then and I woke up. I found that most of the wannabes that thought they were hip were phonies, and most have sold out or died of over doses. . Most of the truely hip just went away to another place and another time. I did my share of wandering, finding a really cool time in Champaign/ Urbana , Illinois. Hippie town right on Campus town, what a cool place to be. Carl Park on sunday afternoons, the wonderful jams, blue grass, blues, and folk played there. I miss those days. I often wonder what ever happened to Doc , Deb and Hard hearted Hanna.

 

I can dig it,, well put, well said,, But Daves still not here

 

In the 60's, I was a straight-arrow, straight-A's student who never got high (or had sex). I graduated high school in 1970, so my 60's didn't begin until I came to MIT that fall.

However, I can think of two positive memories to share from the 60's.

First was my Dad taking me to the New York World's Fair in August 1964. The lines were long, but the pavilions of corporations like Ford, GM, General Electric, AT&T were incredibly amazing and I suppose inspired me later to go to MIT.

Also, leaving the fair one day, there was a monorail that took us past the outfield of Shea Stadium and I could see that it was completely packed. I was an intense baseball fan, so I knew that it wasn't a baseball game. Later I found out the Beatles were playing.

Another memory happened in 1968 I think. I went to downtown DC with a friend who was a bit more hip than I was. I was 16. We went to Georgetown to see the hippies. It was great! We went to some avant-garde art galleries that were mind-blowing. One, I remember, had an amazing thing created out of laser beams and mirrors. Then we went to a hippie record shop, and as soon as I walked in, I was blown away because the featured LP was "Two Virgins" and right in front of my eyes in plain sight was the album cover of John and Yoko full-frontal naked. I couldn't believe it. I think it might have been the first time I saw an uncircumcised penis, and I was also stunned by Yoko's big floppy breasts. I had no idea the album existed.

In the back of the store was a small, dark area separated by a beaded curtain and in this space was a waterbed. It was a place for listening to the music. There were black lights and day-glow posters and incense.

This was my first experience of the counter-culture.

 

Actually, my first experience with the counter-culture was in DC in 1966.

I was stationed in Ft. Meade Maryland (NSA) and on pass we would drive into DC and hang out at DuPont Circle. At that time it was the jammin place with long-haired guys, guitars, incense and other smokes wafting in the air. I was quite str8. We were there to pick up chicks, who also seemed to hang out in abundance. DuPont circle had a bad rep in those days but guess that's why we servicemen would go there.

 

the first time i'd ever tried smoking weed

 

Taking acid on a saturday afternoon and then trying to finish a genetics project at MUN. Needed to separate the male and female fruit flies. Damn, somehow I forgot to drop in the stuff that put them to sleep. They all flew away. Needless to say, I learned not to take acid when doing genetics experiments.

That reminds me of the last period on Fridays, Chemistry 101, organic chemistry-the prof always showed a movie for next weeks lab. Me and another mate took acid on friday 13 weeks in a row. A great start to the weekend