Were the sixties really that great?

Well maybe what is great about the 60's is that those rules wheren't there. it created a bond between ppl that did want those rules fight for them. It made ppl realise things had to change. Sometimes you need a common cause to find friendship. Something ppl these days don't respect as much. Alot of ppl have become selfish and mean to others.

 

You bet your sweet ass! The 60s have survived like no other era! I'd go back in trice if I could. But, then, I can't so "these are the good ole days."

 

The acid use in the Haight and surrounding area was unparalleled, and God consciousness reigned supreme up to the Human Be-In. The Owlsey acid as it was released would morph the minds of whole communities, only the Leary acid in the east was as good. The 66' period was when the Haight was at its peak, not 67' as commonly thought, too much non-psychedelic use and too many wanna bees forming their own non unity and consciousnesss groups. Thats why the Haight collapsed to start with, and why the Diggers had the "Death Of Hippie" celebration. But the sixties were everybit what they were heralded to be, and more, a renaisance in Human Consciousness. To get a taste of divine consciousness was what it was all about, without that, Hippie meant nothing.

 

-Very True and good recall brother!-I was in the Haight in 65 to basically score some weed-thats where the college kids and the beats moved to and that is where the weed was-I ended up getting it at the house at 1090 Page-Big Brothers place and then the bands and the acid all came along and your right. By 66 it was in full swing and half the city was wiped out on Owsley!-lol-Very colorful!-It was a safe time and a good time to be young and living there. By 67' I hardly even went near the area anymore as too many runaways and people looking for an adventure hit the area-They can't be blamed though as anyone living in the Viet Nam -era of the draft was looking for a way out of that and into a new world-It was fun while it lasted-

 

Brother robspace, appreciate your come back. My comment about the wanna bees was a bit cynical, considering where my Consciousness now functions which is due entirely to my early Haight acid karma. Right after the Be-In I as well as others began running into new comers who seemed to want to form their own clicks and not really asking around about what it was really all about as far as the root acid ideaologies, like I did when I first went in the early summer 66'. Without the tripping producing the transcendental love as frequently, these young people wanting to stay alloof from the original energies grew over time and I clearly saw it bring that unbelievable thing that was Hippie in the early haight down to its knees. Of course, this did not apply to everyone, there were still plenty of "God Trippers" in the summer of 67'. But the speed and the so called do your own thing ethic spelled the demise of the culture, as well as alot of drug death, Janis and Jimmy for example. I can clearly see this "don't tell me what Hippie is or was attitude" today and I immediately think, " yeah, this is the karma that brought it all down. But there were alot of groovy and needy folks who came to the Haight longing for life, and I'm sorry to speak of them lightly. The Haight-Ashbury offered transcendental life dude, and it would be nice to bring it back, "in Masse", somehwere. Namaste, Yogi Bhairava

 

I lived down the coast and only came into the Haight for the good times and weed.I grew up there and as much as I love San Francisco at that time I would never again want to live in any big city-It was great back then because the acid was new and strong and the music and people were fantastic-No fights or fussin -lottsa lovin goin on-in the parks and over at the Fillmore and Avalon-It really was a magical time that is very hard to describe-It made that city feel like a small town with alot of closeness between people-For a few years San Francisco was the Disneyland of Northern Cal!

 

I can only speak for myself, but... Yeah. They were. It was a MUCH safer world to live in at the time. No gang banger hoods back then

 

Were the 60s really THAT great? I don't know, I guess they weren't as good as they seem now, looking back. But they were better than they seemed then, struggling through it. I reckon it depends on how you were effected by the things going on. Both the effect then and the effect on the rest of your life. Saw a lot of good being done, saw a lot of good people killed.

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

I'm not whinging about it coming back, I'm wondering what it was like. I'm happy enough without sitting half-naked in a field smoking dope, thank you very much.

 

Ummm....
Yeah, it was great, and yeah it was better.
Karma plays a big part in your role on the planet and when you were born.
Maybe it just wasn't your time.
Don't be bitter, drive on, make your own.

 

I'm not sure what all of you are talking about. I lived in the East Village toward the tail end of the hippy thing around 1969 'till 71 or 72, not sure, still can't remember which, and that's not from the acid I took, I did very little of that relatively speaking. I think I'm still in a mild state of shock over all the violence I experienced in the neighborhood and dismayed by how many hard core heroine addicts I knew there. A lot of music but not that much "free" music. Like nobody had any money.

On the other hand despite all the shit that was going down and right in the midst of it too, there was a little hard core sharing going on and a little peace and love being spread.

 

Sorry to hear that-I can only tell you my experience from growing up in San Francisco and the way it was there-I was in New York in 1970- Me and my buddy were there overnight waiting to catch a flight to Europe-We wanted to visit the Village-We did and we tried to score some weed- We got ripped off on that and then got held up at gunpoint!-Same night!-San Francisco was a great place to be prior to the summer of love-Those were the real HIPPY YEARS!- Once it became public what we were doin out West-millions headed for SF and crashed our party-everything that came after the the first half of 67' was not anything like what came before-We had lots of acid and great music and it was all free or next to nothing-There were not alot of people on the streets and nobody sleeping on them up intil the Summer of Love-Before that' there were enough crash pads to house people that were in the Haight Ashbury-I don't remember ever seeing anyone sleeping on the streets or heard of any violence or rip offs or any of that prior to the summer of 67-For me-my freak flag was flyin in the city by the bay before that summer of (mass invasion)love-San Francisco has and is the artistic and cultural capital of North America-it has always been a place of free speach and new ideas-perfect place for a new idea like growing your hair real long' eating lots of acid' listening and playing lots of music and making love to lots of willing women-What more could an 18 year old boy ask for?-I was lucky enough to be of the right age at the right time in the right place to have experienced this wild time. No regrets whatso ever-I learned more about people and life in a few years than I ever would in school-Eduction is very important and the original hippys were mainly San Francisco state college kids-not runaways but students-of course you never heard that in the press-the beats and the college students were the first hip group to occupy the Haight Ashbury-and the idea was to be self sufficent- not government checks but self employed making leather goods or art work etc.-We wanted to seperate ourselves from BIG BROTHER' not take checks from him as many people did later on-this was due to the overcrowding which put a huge strain the local available resources-Not enough jobs for the millions coming through-Probably a third of America came to the Haight Ashbury to site see or stay-New Yorkers are used to millions of people in a very small area-San Franciscans are not-it's just not that big of an area-so- yes-the early 60s were fantastic-every group in the world that was any good played at the Fillmore in San Francisco and it costs 3 bucks to hear 3 bands on any night of the week-I saw Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett and two other groups for 3 bucks-the Dead-The Airplane and Country Joe for 3 bucks Cream and The Vanilla Fudge 3 bucks-The Birds The Doors and Janis Joplin 3 bucks-and they gave ya a free poster to take home-which I had a ton of and are now worth alot-sadly I didn't hold on to them-o-well-I have the memories-which are even better!

 

One of the biggest acts of rebellion and considered a threat to the Ozzie and Harriet lifestyle was The Beatles. They were considered soo radical when they first came to America. They were the fiest band with long hair and loud rock and roll guitars blasting.The mothers and fathers of America were in shock!-Anyone over 30 basically hated them for the most part. The young people' especially the girls loved them. After seeing them I started letting my hair grow-That must have been 62 or so-But then before them it was Elvis in the 50s-He was hated the older people when he first came out. Long greasy hair and shakin hips. This stuff seems tame today with all the garbage people are passing off as talent. Too many groups get by on flash not substance-I give you Kiss as a great example. Lousy musicians IMO-Even though the Beatles and Elvis looke real different and maybe had a gimick ie. long hair and the hips. They also were great musicians. Good enough that all the older people started listening and liking their music. They overcame alot to get there and they had the talent to back up the attitude and look they put out there.Any of the flash-glam groups of the 70s and 80s owe alot to these people -they broke down barriers and made looking different ok!-Before the Beatles it was kinda boring with everyone looking alike. After the Beatles got going all clothes and hairstyles and music went through great changes-Yes-the 60s also gave this country many changes in looks as well as attitude.And San Francisco was the greatest place on Earth to look any way you wanted-So we did! lol

 

I say it is over-rated by most young hippies. How many times have you heard a kid say 'I should have been born in the 60's'?

 

the 60's and 70's were magical for young hippies. there was apark by my home in mass. free music ,drugs and love. No gangs and issuse just all were one

 

the thing about the 60's is that some really important ideas broke through to the public consciousness...and that's when things really began to change. it was an exciting time and a catalyst that resulted in alot of good social-cultural changes we still enjoy today. it's a process that's still unfolding.

 

was 1967 better than 2007? is the pope a catholic dude? difference between then and now ... we acted we didn't react ... how many us marines refuse to fight in iraq? how many us guys burnt their draft card in '67? nuff said.

 

Great points for sure.The young people of the 60s were doing everything new. and that was [art of the excitement. In San Francisco' the very first "underground" radio station went on the air-KMPX 'started by a local AM disk jockey named Tom Donahue who was wanting to play all the new San Francisco bands music like the Jefferson Airplane' Moby Grape' The Grateful Dead Big Brother And The Holding Co. w/ Janis Joplin.-Quiclsilver Messenger Service' Blue Cheer' The Beu Brummels' Steve Miller Blues Band' Sly And The Family Stone' The Chambers Bros.'Loading Zone' Clover' Santana'Country Joe And The Fish'The Charlatans' Tower Of Power' Sons Of Champlain'Cold Blood'Doobie Bros.-and many' many more that I can't remember now. We had so many good bands in and around the city that they not only did not have enough big halls to play at but the local AM stations would not play their music. It was considered either too long for AM or too far out for the public. It was' and most of it was written and sang for a pretty select audience.-Listen to White Rabbit-it ain't about a bunny!-lol-we ' the local people were doing some new ' experimental stuff call LSD and the bands were all on the same page as the audience.. It was like one big private party.Everyone was welcome to the show but if your head was not being fed' then you would really feel out of place. We all danced around in see through clothes-thank you ladies! and had pupils so dialated they looked like small soccer balls!-Those women are now all grown up and are soccer moms!-They used to be soccer-eye ball babes!-Nobody was drunk and I can't even remember seeing much alcohol at one of these party's.-I suppose they would be like a rave. Only' much few people. The band playing would be The Grateyul Dead and Big Brother w/ Janis Joplin and there was maybe 400 or 5oo people!-nice-very comfortable and safe and nobody ever got in fights. No yelling or screaming and the party went from about 10 PM till the sun came up many nights. The bands made very little money but they loved playing for us and we loved them back. It was just somthing you had to have seen to believe. There was really alot of love in the air. Of course I was there doing research for a book that somehow never got written! lol now' that was before the Summer Of Love (67') and it was magical and it was not planned or predicted' it was always a spontaneus thing. Of course later on it became more of a business and it started losing it charm and surprise but thats to be expected. The world and the magazines saw this good time going on and spread the word. and as we know' all good things gotta come to an end.

The difference today is that back then we would have been out in the streets stopping the war along time ago.-Bush would not have been allowed to overide the congress and blatantly lie to drag us into a war. The people of the 60s were devided on the Vietnam war for years. For a long time it was US against THEM. The split was keeping the war dragging on. When US and THEM finally became ONE BIG VOICE instead of two' and we all finally decided that it had to end' ONLY then did the sh-- hit the fan!-But it was only after the majority of America spoke up that the leaders started to take the protests and anti-war crowds serious. They were about to have a major protest on their hands that would have been bloody. They already were-Kent stae and others were deadly but there were alot more coming when the "straight" establishment of this country got behind the long haired' bra burning (thanks ladies!) draft card burning population then it ended. That time has come again-Bush now has the vast majority of not just this country but every country telling him to stop the war but his stupid ego maniac mind- set and fear of looking like a looser is stopping him from doing what the peiople are demanding. Bring our people home now!-Bush is going down in history as the worst president we have ever had' and I lived through some bad ones like Reagan and Johnston!-America can still be the bad ass on the block but need not ever flex muscle unless it's attacked. 9-11 was a good reason to kill those that did it-but we haven't-why? Because either those that did it don't have any oil fields in their back yards for us to plunder.or we still don't know who all was involved. How can we' after 6 years not have the culprits swinging from a noose? Do you think if it was say-Japan that hit us on 9-11 that we would still be there?-No-they have no oil! I suppose we could take over alot of Honda factory's and maybe get some cheap puters and software- maybe a great deals on Pokeyman but-If there's no oil-we don't want it!-If any country out there that has oil under it's dirt so much as blinks at us right now-we're going in!-I'm sure we already have plans to expract the oil out of Mexico!The pipes are probably already been dug coming into a San Diego refinery!-I am so looking forward to the day we don't need that stuff. That day will be here eventually.I believe the time has come again for all the people of this country to say stop-We have gone as far as we can and done as much as we possibly could to help these people-It's their turn now-Sink or swim-We as a nation tried but now e are caught up in the middle of a fight anf it's time to bring our people home.-We need security at home now more then ever.-If this makes me a liberal-so be it-I can live with that-I'm not anit defense just anti bad decisions' which Iraq was from day one.

 

Sixties were quite bad in my region, you know... Franco fucked a lot of people, above all, those living in Catalonia, it was sad, but people were so good on manifestos and those marchings... I think they were more powerful than the people of today, who isn't really into politics and the idea of improving our world, and I'm sorry for that...

 

one good thing about the sixties is that people talke to one another face to face ...less bullshit than there is on the internet .....