Psychedelic Hashbury

The Haight-Ashbury District was the epicenter of the hippie and psychedelic movement of the 1960's. Drugs, sex, rock'n roll... But even though hippies may have willingly adopted Kerouac as an icon of their ideal of life, he never recognized himself as such during the movement. Quite the opposite! Thus the confusion in the terms Beats, beatniks, and hippies... Several big names of the era have lived in some of these beautiful Victorian houses of the District such as the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, or Janis Joplin... Today, Haight-Ashbury, now highly commercialized, is just a shadow of its psychedelic days, and hardly anyone but the young and trendy are found there, or else young derelicts, who don't have much to do with the hippies of the 60's anymore.

Farther on, I'm going to breath in some fresh air around Golden Gate Park, adjacent to the Haight. It was in this park that the Summer of Love of 1967 occurred --- where preparations are now in the works for a celebration in a few days (yes, another anniversary). While in Golden Gate Park, I stumbled across this partial violet-colored head rising out of the earth! Delirious and fantastical, like out of a Moebius film...