People back in the Hippie Era...

I have a question for you hippies who were there back in the 60's and 70's. Was every hippie a true hippie? Or were some people doing it just for the image, not being true hippies themselves? I ask this because I find it hard to imagine so many unique, free spirited people who were seriously concerned about the world they lived in. I mean I look at the people on the earth these days, people like emos, goths, moshers, preps, and I see many fakes among them. People who are just dressing like them to fit in, without really feeling the vibe. Were there fake hippies back in the 60's, who were just acting to look cool, or were you all real?

Thanks for reading, much love,

Emelia

 

I would agree with your statement that some people were altruistic and desiring to live for the betterment of others. Others were merely doing it, as will always happen, because everyone else was doing it. A classmate of mine, years later, said, "Oh, come on, I just did what everyone else was doing." I was aghast. I realized how serious I had been, and continue to be, in my ideals: People come first over things; we need to care for one another in sacrificial love; it's not how big our paycheck is, or our house, or our car, but what's in our hearts, what kind of person we are. Go for being real over putting on appearances and just going with the crowd.

 

authenticity is always an issue when you're dealing with people.

 

The mass LSD use of the early Haight era did not let artificiality reign for long. And this is also what brought about the loving energies, because every ones egos were cracked open.Always remember that the LSD basically made the hippie culture what it was. It opened the minds of man and women to new arenas of life, consciousness, sharing, and what it really was to be a human.
As the years ticked by into the early seventies, as the acid use waned out, yep, sure enough wannabees began to surface that were what we called "plastic". Most of them ended up doing bad dope.Peace, Love and Flowers, Y.B

 

When I was growing up (oh Lordy that phrase sucks)...
I do remember some schoolmates "dressing the part" but when it came time to show what you were made of, you could easily see who believed that we are all one family on this earth, which to me is the definition of a hippie.
Some did drugs, some did not.
It's what's inside that counts!

Imagine-it's easy if you try

 

cool, thanks everybody, you're giving me a real idea of what it was back then
much love!

 

It was all in degrees. I would have to say that the true 100% ideal hippies were kind of rare. There were however many, many, people that shared differing degrees of hippie idealism. I was one of those. For several years I looked very much the hippie, none of it intentional. I very much lived a hippie lifestyle. That's just who I was. Many of my ideals were what many would consider hippie. On the other hand, being a young male, I was often irresponsible and too often was more concerned with sex and drugs than lofty ideals. I certainly wasn't "plastic" as I made no efforts to dress, act, or in any way appear as something other than what I was; a young man who sought peace,freedom, friendship and adventure among people considered hippies by others standards.

 

High Emelia,

I don't think it is so much a matter of being "fake" as it is not knowing how to
proceed to make your dreams a reality.

It's really hard to express what it was like back then. There was this incredible
evolutionary (revolutionary without violence) energy in the air. Change was
happenning. It began with protest (which is all the Media EVER showed) and
evolved into a real attempt to create a new economy and culture that scared
the hell out of the Establishment.

It's very different now. There's much more control. You couldn't create a
commune if you wanted to: Building, Health, and Safety Codes and Zoning
Regulations are far more extensive and there's much more enforcement.

In Okanogan County (just east of the crest of the North Cascades in
Washington State, the most rural county in the nation, you can't even
have an outhouse as of a few years ago. A modern septic system is
required....

So people who want to do something real for positive change have it
much harder now.

Littlefoot

'Peace, like a river flows.'

 

What is the measure of a true hippie? It's hard to say.

There were a lot of people back then who looked and acted the part of hippies, but perhaps only because it was trendy then.

I would have to say that a true hippie doesn't care if being a hippie is trendy.

 

Yogi-you crack me up man!-That statement is so true and so funny- I love it! "The mass LSD use of the early Haight era did not let artificiality reign for long. And this is also what brought about the loving energies, because every ones egos were cracked open"-Ya know-we were what the media called HIPPYS- but to this day I have no idea what they were talking about in Life magazine-

If you remember right-in San Francisco' most of the guys with real long hair and the women with the real long hair and beads were older then us-They were alot of San Francisco college kids ( adults really ) who I think were the very beginning of the actual ' semi organized group of freedom thinking' acid eating' music loving people. The group at that time was so small on Haight Street that I could go down there to go to Big Brothers place on Page St. to get a matchbox of weed for 5 bucks(and Janis Joplin was practicing in the basement-she had not yet ever been on stage yet!) and going down Haight I might see 20 people that looked like "hippys"-Of course a year and a half later that number was up by about 50 thousand hahaha-really-

If I was looking for people like me or you that were on that street in 65 or 6-I would be looking for anyone who spent time at the Avalon Ballroom for several reasons-Chet Helms had just come out from Austin'Texas hitchhikoing all the way with a pimply face girl named Janis Joplin-Chet rents the Avalon to give Big Brother(Chet WAS Big Brother) and the Holding Company a place to play-Their very first-Janis started there and Chet was the manager-Before Chet 'there was no hippy dance halls and the Tripps Festival the same year was the first time a group that looked like this and got together to dance all night on Owsley acid-But it was Chet Helms in all of America was the first man to put it together-The Avalon was kinda like a club house for the new beatniks that ate acid- what the magazine later wanted to call hipsters then hippys-Chets cool group of people that ran the shows and were kinda like the pranksters were called the Family Dog-What a fun group people dedicated to the arts in the city-to giving people a safe place to come at night and let their hair down so ta speak-When the doors opened there was no mad dash for the door. People were all really mellow and smiling and speaking softly-there was never any drunks and I never even saw alcohol at all-I'm sure some people passed around some wine from time to time but I never once saw anyone get drunk or rowdy-I never saw any fights or anyone ever thrown out-This was a acid hall- not booze-we were all very high on Owsleys high -potent LSD-we all tripped our brains out in there and danced around in the dark with black lights and strobe lights and liquid projection all around-it was a few hundred very high people-every week and sometimes 2 or 3 times during the week we went-then we tried making school in the morning-high school!-I blew it in that department to my disgust and self loathing for years to come-drugs should never interfere with education- never-thats a problem when we are young-we don't listen to older people very well at all-we should-
That was the real beginning and a year later the party and the city just got too big to handle -the free concerts in the park were going on more and more but the size of the crowds was just more then the city could safely monitor and keep people safe. The police in San Francisco were some of the greatest cops in the world IMO-They put up with more BS from out of towners that got drunk and stupid and said and did things that would land them in jail anywhere else in America but were just warned and let go in SF. It was all just too big to handle now with all the influx of people-The feeling of closelness for those of us that were there at the Trips Festival and the Human Be-In could not last-It was just too many folks coming to town and no place to put them or enough food to feed them-

it was a very beautiful yet powerful statement though to see my shining Bagdad By The Bay filled up with so many smiling faces and all the young fresh faces in the park on a warm day and all the people playing their guitars and flutes and banging on bongos and tamborines and reading the Furry Freak Bros and smoking big fat doobies that took an once to feel ! lol-Hey-but that acid didn't take much at all!-matter of fact-(and I don't endorse drug use anymore) but that stuff was beautiful. You would drop one tab and wait about 30 minutes and then you better be with some real friends in a mellow area

-A usual trip on acid then was very' very' colorfuland could last all night! Do you know what the very first movie done in the world was that used this new format called TECHNICOLOR-? Do you know who made it and it's name?-It was FANTASIA and it was made and created by that old acid head Walt Disney!He had to have gotten his hands on some acid in the 50s-it was around-the government was testing it to be used as a really fun weapon-lol

the park was fine if it was a sunny day and you had good friends with you that were tripping too- but you did not want to be left alone in there after dark' big mistake.

True story-one night me and my buddy came out of the Avalon a little early and we were super ripped on acid-We walked up to the corner to Van Ness boulavard and sat down on these concrete steps in front of a building there-it was about midnight-We were sitting there laughing and our eyes were huge with big black pools for pupils-Just then' this short'stocky oriental dude starts walking by and we laughed at him by accident-He took it personal and gave chase

He had the look like he wanted to kill us and I didn't know why except we had laughed at him-not really at him biut towards him-

Well-I forgot-before starting to chase us' he reached over and grabbed my hair' which was nearly to my waist and starts banging my head off the cement steps!-It was bleeding and I knew he would kill me- so we ran-he chased us for many' many blocks until we lost him. We made it to Golden Gate Park and chilled-We kick back on the grass-it was summer fortunately and just waited out the comedown-man-by then my trip was over and I was real happy to get home-So'what did I learn at the tender age of 18-never laugh at somebody that you don't know.-And don't trip late at night in a big city-always stay in a safe

enviroment-How many people' especially young girls are attached while high?-When your high you can't defend yourself and it makes getting away really hard to do-I would say not to trip at all- but' if you really think you want to do that' then do mushrooms-they are free and safe if you don't get the wrong ones or eat too many-And never do them alone!

-You never know when something can go wrong and you need help-Be with close friends that are mellow-If you have any questions about these or any other drug I'll be glad to answer them if I can-Ask me here or email me-Rob

 

Dude, reading your rundown here was like a time machine ride. I was only fourteen in 66 and was brought out west by a couple of older cousins I had who were in the air force in Sacramento. My Dad was a rich doctor back home so they guarded my every travel when in the Haight with them, because it would have caused so much family shit if my old man found out that they had snuck me out to San Fran. You see, my parents were divorced and I was in my moms custody;she was cool so she allowed my trips to visit my cousins. No one had a smidgin of a clue we were runnin around the Haight.
I was only out there for a few weeks at a time, and as I said in those periods of time I was with my cousins who made sure I did not get in trouble.
I remember one time we dropped some sunshine while standing outside the psychedelic shop. We were all just hanging around waiting for the acid to come on, all of sudden I noticed my cousins were gone, nowhere to be seen.
About that time, i started getting this really fucked up feeling in my stomach, man like that fuckin acid was coming on real strong.
Like I'm looking around trying to see anyone I knew, when i didn' t even know who I was.
All of a sudden, I shifted completely into another level and I'm feeling like I'm one with God. Everything was God, especially the Haight/Ashbury neighborhood. It was weird, even the buildings were this God. This happened alot years later, but this was the first time to have something like this happen and it was really heavy.
I'm wanting to freak out but it was really just a state, nothing scary. So I figure I'll make a move, so I start walking down Ashbury towards Page where there weren't many people.It was close to sundown but not quite dark.
The freakin colors were streaming down the sidewalk in front of me, like living snake ribbons, with this God experience carrying me along like I was in a bubble or something.
I get to the street corner and stop, man I was too freakin high, the fuckin colors were roaring through my head by now.
Then, wouldn't you know it, I turned and looked down Page to the west and there stood my cousin Ron, standing there rapping to a dude. Man was i glad to see him. I could not hardly walk by now. I walked up grinning and Ron says, what the fuck are you so happy about man? Then he remembers, Oh shit, you dropped a while back, how are you feeling man? I didn't say shit, but was just glad to be able to stand up.
Ron was scoring some weed at that point, and was ready to split. So we started walking down Page, to turn down Ashbury to get to Oak street where we had a place to crash that night. As we walked the freakin sidewalk was liquid, and the colors were flying out of the trees. The experience with God i had, was diminishing, replaced by the intense color hurricane that was blowing though my head.
But, I remembered enough of the God thing to ask my cousin, "hey man, you remember that chick a few months back that had come back from the avalon that night, crying because She had an experience with God? Yeah little brother, I remember. Well, man, the reason I was looking for you back there was because the same thing had happened to me up on Haight Street.
We both looked into each others pupilless eyes and he said, "wow, man thats cosmic, like too much". The story of the avalon chick I will post on another thread, its cool.

 

The Avalon Ladies-That would make a nice title for a nice song about those fantastic hip mommas at the Avalon-
They were pretty and had colortful' day-glo faces and see through blouses with no bras and long flowing colorful dresses and sandles-
Thys smelled great' Patoulie oil and jasmine and really long pretty hair and beads-lots of beads and braceltes and a crystal necklace
Man-I really miss these Earth Mothers-The women of the Avalon were very loving' spiritual and fun to be with- and fun to love. Those were the real hippy chicks and in 66-I was 17 and and having a blast with these ladies who were mainly older -college age .' which was fine with me ! lol-
As many times as I was in the same rooms as Janis Joplin at the Avalon or in the park or in the lobby of the original Fillmore' I never got to meet her-I did drink beer with Grace Slick backstage at the Winterland and met Marty Balin -but never got to say hi to Janis-she was the female voice of the 60s! IM0-sShe rocked harder then any other female in history-To watch her jump up and down and land on the right notes was incredible to see-such power in that little body!

 

This story goes with the above clip about the "God Trip" in the Haight.
It was early 66. and I was in the Haight again with my older cousins scoring some acid, or at least they were, I was just along for the ride.
It was late, around two or three a.m. I was crashed out in an old rockin chair in an upstairs room, while my cousins were downstairs smoking. I had not done acid yet, nor smoked weed. I was a young big eyed kid tourist getting "hipped" by my older kin.
A noise attracted my attention, as I heard a group of people coming into the house downstairs. There seemed to be a problem or something, as one of them seemed to be crying or something. As they all got inside I sat up to see if I could hear what the heck was going on.
"I'm ok, I'm ok you guys" the lady said, "it's just that I'm a little overwhelmed", the lady said. "I'm, ok", and then she started crying again, a very soft gentle sobbing, I would call it. "Well if you're ok, why do you keep crying?", someone with her would ask. It's unbelievable man, it's just so unbelievable, I never thought that I would experience God like this, man its so fuckin beautiful, it makes you want to cry for Joy", she told them.
By now I was really intrigued as to what was happening, and I was really ease dropping on the incident downstairs.
A guy that was with the group asked, "Is she freaking?", no man, no way, I'm not freaking, like its fantastic what I'm going through, like everything is God man, all of us, everything, she exclaimed loudly this time.
This really perked me up, because I now knew what was going on, this chick was having some kind of LSD experience with God, at least thats what i got from the middle of the night ruckus.
After a while I went downstairs to find my cousins. They were kicked back stoned, and the other group of freaks had gone into another room to crash.
As we left for Sacramento, I asked my older cousin Ron about the girl.
He said yeah man, She was having some kind of acid expereince with God, and it was evidently pretty heavy. They had all had been at the Avalon Dance hall tripping when the womans experience had begun.
People have experiences with God, on that stuff?, I asked them, referring to the LSD.
Well yeah man, thats kind of the basis for the whole LSD thing, at least from Tim Leary, and a few others. But some people don't have the experience.
So as we rode the eighty miles to Sacramento to their apartment they ran down what they knew about the spiritual aspects of LSD.
And even though the LSD trip on Haight Street outside the Psychedelic Shop described above, that I had with what I took to be God did not happen again for several years, little did I know that LSD would form the corner stone for the life time of consciousness transformation I was to later undergo.
Today it seems as though it is almost pollitically incorrect to discuss experiencing God on acid, but if my memory serves me correctly, hippie was all about getting a glimpse of the mystical state exclaimed by the yogis of India.
I owe my current status of life as an initiated Tantric Yogin to those brave souls who dared to cross the stormy mental seas of consciousness with LSD. May they live forever. Peace, Love, and Flowers yb