Old Hippie Here

Lots of young people on these forums, and that's great. Have been wondering if there are any original hippies from the Woodstock days? Are you out there, or do I have to feel ancient by myself? LOL

 

welcome Lucy!! I was born in 58 so not quite Woodstock vintage but just wanted to say hello!!!

 

Hey Chickie,

Just found this forum and its a blast from the past. do you dig it? I grew up in the late 60's and early 70's.....man i thought id never make it.... its so cool to see the hippie way come back in style but i guess it never went out for some of us. if you got any questions about the past just ask away........peace, ti

 

Hi mimosa - I was a little young for Woodstock myself - I was 13. However, even at that age, I loved the music.

Ti-stick - Great name that you picked! I also grew up in the late 60's - early 70's. Graduated high school in 1972. I totally agree that it is so cool to be able to interact with those who share the experiences of that time period. Here's the thing, though. In my case, "you can take the girl out of the 60's, but you can't take the 60's out of the girl." The "peace, love & happiness" days of yesterday will always be ingrained in me. It is in my personality, my political views and my outlook on life in general. I even have my long hair! Yes, those were good days, and I do not regret a single moment of them!

 

Hey Lucysky,


I see the Beatles influenced you too...... I remember my cool P-coat and Beatle boots.....and wearing my super bells. Living in the Midwest in the 60's and 70's styles didn't show up here until 6 months to a year later than on the coast. The first time i did pot was so groovy....boy did i get the munchies. My favorite stoner food was pizza and a little Boone's Farm Apple to wash it down. Wow, back then the only worry about making love was not to get pregnant... remember the slogan.."Make Love not War". Later gator!

Peace, Ti

 

Ti,

I am just sitting here grinning ear to ear just remembering everything you just mentioned. Such fond memories! Speaking of the Beatles - I used to own a store in West Palm Beach called Penny Lane. The address, and I'm not kidding you, was 1892 Abbey Road. How cool is that?

 

Lucysky,


Wow chickie thats way cool! Of all the Beatles albums my favorite is Sargent's Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band followed closely by the White Album..... The Beatles were probably the best rock n' roll band of all times with Hey Jude the best song they wrote....of course thats just my opinion. I really blew it once as i had a chance to see the Beatles in concert at the Indiana State Fair and didn't go.....little did we all know that would be their last concert they performed together....bummer.

Ive still got some of my paisley shirts and pants from the 70's...someone told me they are worth some money now on Ebay... I haven't had one on in a while but maybe ill see if they still fit. Time and effects of gravity have a way of changing people......lol Peace, Ti

 

FINALLY! someone from indiana. its so cool that your a hoosier and u went to woodstock, mr.ti. message me cuz id like to hear more about it

 

I didn't catch woodstock as I was in highschool. I did do the maui scene from 70 to 75 in different styles including a stint on Makena I believe starting in late 71. I then became a town hippie living it Fred Kobataki's rooms and apts in Lahaina behind the sugar mill. I also lived in Pukalani and HailiMaili. I went to Mauna Olu collage for a semester in Paia. I also did a stint in Redondo Beach Ca. during that time and Cocoa Beach.

 

Lucysky-- I'm an original hippie-- but never made Woodstock-- just Haight-Ashbury and Greenwich Village in 1967.

 

Thudly - I also used to hang out in Greenwich Village in the 60's! West 4th Street, Filmore East, etc. Those were the good old days!

 

I had a loft at 6 Bleecker St, right across the street from The Palace Hotel, a wino bar that later became CBGB's. I used to drink Ballantine Ale with the winos. Later, in 1968, I tended bar at The Blue Moon Cafe, down near Cooper Union. I also lived at 25 Bleecker, and briefly at 305 Elizabeth St. in Little Italy. I had an old 1950 Chevy and I used to distribute The East Village Other all around the city every week. I had more fun than was decent! What fucking wild days!

 

I grew up in the 60s and graduated high school in 1969. I share the same views as Luckysky. I've done my best to follow the Hippie Credo: Peace, Love, Rock-N-Roll and Flower Power. I am one of the original 60’s and 70s Flower Children and none of this seemed to make my parents happy (I don’t know how I made it out alive, but I did and I’m here to tell the tale, from what I can remember of it). I think it’s great, that some of your generation seem to poses the same ideals as we do.
On being a hippie
First let me clear up a few misconceptions about what a hippie is. Long hair does not make a hippie. There are plenty of longhaired rednecks now. Clothes don't make a hippie and the use of drugs definitely doesn't make you a hippie. Being a hippie has nothing to do with being rebellious. Native Americans would say it's Tafunka (a way of life). It's a matter of respect; Respect for others and their rights to be who they are. Respect for the Earth and all that dwell on it. It's even a respect for ones self. Allowing yourself to be who you are. Peace, affectionately yours, DDR

 

Dudley do-right says there are plenty of long-hair "rednecks". HEY!... I'm a red-neck! "Redneck" originally referred to farmers who worked all day in the sun and had sun-burned necks. Now, somehow, the term has morphed into short-hand for being an ignorant racist. Well, William Faulkner, Willie Nelson and many others all had rednecks at one stage of their lives, and nobody ever called them ignorant racists. (Though they did own pick-ups, dip snuff and drink corn-whiskey.)

Hell, I'm an ex-beatnik, ex-hippie and a stone mason who has a redneck right now!

 

Thudley & Dudley - (I'm rhyming today!) What a bunch of cool people on this thread! Thudley, you meant to say CBGB's, right? Dudley - I agree that being a true hippie today is a state of mind. Back in the 60's & 70's - Being a hippie WAS long hair, peace, love, drugs, rock n' roll, standing up for civil liberties. I have carried that idiology through to my adult years, and I still have my long hair. You can take the girl out of the 60's, but you can't take the 60's out of the girl!

Thudley - You have brought back fond memories! I remember having hot chocolate at a coffee shop on Bleeker Street when it was freezing outside. I used to frequent a head shop called Princess P.J., Inc. at 124 MacDougal Street. I used to go to the Electric Circus every weekend. What a wild place that was! Have you ever been there?

Some friends of mine had an apartment in the Village back then and their bathtub was in the kitchen.

One thing I have kept from the 60's - 70's in my rolling paper collection. What do you guys think of it?

 

Hey Lucy..... love your paper collection. Makes me think of the head shops that used to be around in the Yorkville Village. I'm sure you had them too. I wish I had saved some that I had, but alas just too greedy and used them for rolling. LOL

 

Yeah, LucySky, I meant CBGB's. I know the owner, Hilly Cristal, from the old wino bar days. I read in the paper he lost his building lease and the club's shutting down. The goddamn yuppies are destroying the East Village to put up high-priced condos and apartments. Oh well, those days are gone, only the memories remain.

You speak of a coffee shop on Bleecker-- I wonder if it was the one run by Dominicans? My buddy and I used to have credit there. When we were broke, they'd feed us breakfast and write a notch on the wall. When we had money, we'd repay them.

Did you ever go to Gem Spa on E. 10th and Ave. A (I think)? We used to get high and walk over on a Saturday night and get a big container of their home-made ice cream and a copy of the Sunday New York Times.

There used to be a combination head shop and artist/film-maker hangout at 8 Bleecker called "Pablo's Magic Theater". That's where we first heard Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band.

We had 10 speed bicycles and used to ride all over lower Manhattan late at night when there was barely any traffic. We'd go down to The Battery and ride the Staten Island Ferry to see The Statue of Liberty at night. Only cost a nickel (now, it's free).

Damn, I had fun when I was young!

 

Lucy, like you I turned 13 about 3 weeks before Woodstock. No matter where life has taken me or whatever thing I get into I always gravitate back to the hippie state of mind.

 

Lucysky (60's Flower Child),

You graduated high school the same year that I did (i.e.) 1972! But of course, you probably went to a different high school in a different state. My 60's/70's hippie experiences were mainly in Michigan, though, with one year in Tempe, Arizona (at Arizona State University). In 1973-1974, ASU had an undefeated football team and I went to most of those games. Tempe, Arizona was a wild place back then, with massive parties and "streaking" was popular. Hey, it's a hot desert! This was my most "Haight-Ashbury" type of experiences.

Tucson, Arizona was a major dope importation city (80% of USA), back then. It had one nickname of "Mafia Retirement Village". The University of Arizona is located there, with probably much partying there, also. At ASU I still remember the things that I was taught, despite partying. I have a partially photographic memory.

When I got back to my small hometown in Michigan (north of Ann Arbor) there was alot of partying too. But the best thing about the 60's/70's was that the hippie-type teens were all friendly, as if they were all part of one big happy family! In Arizona, they had that "southern/western hospitality" thing, plus the hippie movement, so people would invite you into their homes for a smoke and some food. At some parties, I even slept over a few times! Back in Michigan, it was similar. One big brotherthood.

Alot of people from New York and Michigan seem to retire in Florida. Your experiences were of Greenwich Village, which is cool! It was a Haight-Ashbury-type of area, but slightly different and unique in its own way. Parts of Detroit and Grand Rapids, MI had their little hip areas in the 60's/70's, but I wasn't a part of those scenes. I lived close to Ann Arbor, MI in the 70's, so I'd go there to groove. It's still hip there, but seems to be moving toward more yuppie. But the small town that I lived in had its own wild partying and tales! In the 60's, me and my family visited "Old Town" in Chicago. It was very hip back then, with Haight-Ashbury-type of stores, but I haven't seen any posts on this area. Any Chicagolander's have any "Old Town" hippie tales? Different cities had different tales and it's interesting to hear them all!

Nice cigarette paper collection, Lucysky! Do you have, or remember the following cigarette paper types: purple-colored, grape-flavored papers, pink-colored, cherry-flavored papers, mentholated-papers, perforated (with micro-sized holes) papers, hemp papers and Schiller's Gold (gold foil packaging)? Alot of variations, back then.

Yuppies are replacing the old hippie haunts? Solution: Make new hippie areas (but maybe in different locations)! In the movie: Psych-Out (1968/with Jack Nicholson), it showed a tourist taking pictures of hippies in the Haight-Ashbury area, then a hippie chick popped out a camera and took a picture of them! In psychology, it's called "mirror-imaging". It's like when a child will copy everything you do, just to irritate you. In the same movie, it showed a group of hippie protesters carrying blank signs! Fill in the blank. I guess?

I remember being called a "flower child" once, but "freak" was a more common word. In the 80's I was new wave/punk, but I still had 60's beliefs. I don't sell out my beliefs, like many have. They may regret their decison in the future and may wish to have 60's beliefs, back. Alot of teens on this website, want the 60's/70's back. I'm glad that I lived in them, though. I missed Woodstock 1969. It would've been cool to have become a part of that scene! Of course, I know people that have been there.

Thudly mentions "rednecks". Michigan definately has it's share. Alot in industrial jobs. Some look like Larry the Cable Guy! But if you treat people with respect, honor their beliefs and listen to them, you get that respect back! I get along alright with them. The hunting camo look is popular (via Ted Nuggent). The word "hillbilly" supposedly refered to Michigan potato farmers in the upper peninsula. But now, they're just "YUPPERS". Hiking boots are called "Yupper Tennis Shoes". Half of the population of Michigan is south of Flint, MI. You go north of Flint and you're in the great north woods. Don't get lost! Upperstate New York is similar. Adirondack Park is cool!

Peace, love and understanding . . .

 

I have been so busy doing eBay for the holidays, that this is the first time I have seen these messages. It's good to be back to share memories!

Thudly - It's a foggy memory, but I DO think that the coffee shop we used to go to was owned by Dominicans. You sound like you were a lot of fun! We should have hung out! I don't remember Gem Spa. I do not specifically remember the head shop you mentioned, but I don't there was a head shop in the Village that I was not in.

I thought the Staten Island Ferry was dirt cheap back then, and now it's free.

Yes, those days are gone - kind of. Why do I say kind of? Because living during that time period, and as a hippie, made me into the person I am today. I still have similar attitudes about things. I have strong political views, and a mellow personality. (And I still like pot! - LOL)

Peace!