Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco. Wandering around the center of 60’s counterculture, searching for vestiges of hippie culture.
When I think of San Francisco, the word “liberal” comes to mind. Currently, there is a strong image of the free atmosphere associated with Silicon Valley, an advanced IT area south of San Francisco, but this is probably due to the fact that San Francisco was the center of counterculture in the 1960s.
To put it simply, it is a rebellion against the existing society, such as drug use, sexual liberation, anti-war, and the fusion of Eastern religions and philosophies. In terms of locations, there is the North Beach area, which was the center of the activities of so-called “Beat Generation” writers, and the other is “Haight-Ashbury”, which I describe here, which was the center of “Hippie” culture.
The term Hippie, a symbol of the counterculture, came around 1966 to refer to young people living in the Haight-Ashbury area, who expressed opposition to the government that was promoting the Vietnam War at the time. It has manifested itself in life and culture. The keywords include “nature,” “love,” “peace,” “freedom,” “sex,” “psychedelics,” “LSD,” “marijuana,” “yoga,” “India,” “Buddhism,” and “Zen.”
This Haight-Ashbury location is about 2-3 kilometers west (southwest) of the downtown area, where there are skyscrapers. Haight-Ashbury is the name given to the intersection of Haight Street, which runs east-west, and Ashbury Street. Haight Street ends in Golden Gate Park to the west, and from this end to the east, shops line both sides of the street for about 1 km, giving a sense of the counterculture.
The shops lined up include restaurants and markets, as well as vintage clothing stores, souvenir shops, and shops selling oriental items. There are stores that sell flashy psychedelic clothing reminiscent of the counterculture, as well as stores with flashy paintings, but these may be fewer in number than in the past. By the way, marijuana is now legal in California, so there are marijuana shops as well.
So, what to do when visiting this place?
I would like to list a few.
Seeing a hippie-looking person walking by.
My last visit was in 2024, and although there are not as many people there as before, I can still see people who remind me of hippies.
Long hair, shabby jeans and T-shirt. People standing on the street, some with guitars in their hands, others sitting on folding chairs and chatting. There were also people wandering around with rectangular box cars, symbolizing hippies, parked on the street. Most of these people are older people, guessing over 50 years old.
Hippie is a culture in terms of ideology, but the way is also in appearance, and you can probably understand that “this is what hippies were like”. If you have the courage, you might even try “talking to them”. I do not have any trouble talking to people, but I feel like the hurdles are a little high because this is in a big city, and unfortunately I have not been able to talk to them in this place.
However, when I stopped near a hippie-looking person, he called me “Investor”. I also heard this word “Investor” in a town “Arcata” in northern California. In a sense, it sounds like a discriminatory term, so I think it is better not to get involved when words like this come up.
Wander around the store.
I recommend you to go into a store that you feel some interests without hesitation. The staff are used to tourists, and it is a big city, so it is rare to start a conversation like you would in the US countryside, but I would like you to step into the store. Rather than a store with a lot of customers, your target may be one that is empty. Maybe you can have a talk.
Visit the place where “Jerry Garcia” and “Janis Joplin” once lived.
In 1967, a social phenomenon called the “Summer of Love” occurs in this place. Hippies influenced by the new lifestyle flocked to Haight-Ashbury. The number is 100,000. They lived together here and enjoyed free love.
Rock artists who became symbols of this Summer of Love include the “Grateful Dead”, “Jefferson Airplane” and “Janis Joplin”. There are houses on Ashbury Street where Jerry Garcia and Janis Joplin, who were central figures in the Grateful Dead, lived.
Since counterculture and music closely relates, and anyone who knows these two person should visit. The house has not changed since the 1960s. Both appear to be inhabited. It is just a short walk from Haight Street.
Amoeba Music
A record/CD store on the west end of Haight Street. Records and CDs line up in a one-story warehouse-like building. I look out over the grounds from a slightly higher place where the accounting counter locates. The area is probably 70m x 70m. It is a refreshing view. Although there are fewer record and CD stores due to the advancement of online stores, it seems that there are still many analog enthusiasts, and I could see many people buying CDs inside the store.
Band posters (rock posters) are on the wall. This band poster is a culture that has continued in the US for a long time, and it is fun just to look at it. By the way, in addition to this location, Amoeba Music has locations in Berkeley, Los Angeles, and Hollywood.
Happening
During my visit in 2024, as I was walking down Haight Street from west to east towards Amoeba Music, I saw two naked men standing in front of the painted wall of a building at the intersection of the streets (Shrader Street). Muscular men. Both are wearing sunglasses, only wearing a cloth over genitals, so it looked like they were completely naked.
I thought it was some kind of performance, but there were no people around. I remember seeing something similar to this when I visited in 2017. It might be a good idea to pay attention to your surroundings when walking. By the way, when I wandered around Amoeba Music and came back, these two men were gone. It happened around 3pm when the sun was high.
San Francisco has a good public transportation system, making it easy to get around. Haight-Ashbury is also just a bus ride away from the center of Down Down. If you have a interests in the culture of the 1960s, please visit.
Visited in 1988, 1998, 2016, 2017, 2024.
Basic Information
■ Name : Haight Ashbury
■ Address : San Francisco, USA
■ Homepage : https://www.sftravel.com/neighborhoods/haight-ashbury
