Haight-Ashbury was a peaceful district until the Summer of Love in 1967, which drew flower children, musicians, and protesters. Drug use increased, and by the mid-1970s, hard drugs, homelessness, and crime had taken over. Today, the area is a tourist attraction but still struggles with violence and drug use.
If you didn’t live in San Francisco before 1967, the district comprising the streets between Haight and Ashbury probably meant little. However, in 1967, the Haight-Ashbury district, as it began to be called, became a hotspot for a growing gathering of flower children.
The Summer of Love in 1967 brought many to Haight-Ashbury in particular. Some have come especially for the famous song “San Francisco”. Others came because Haight-Ashbury was the place to be to experience drug culture, free love culture, and to protest the US war in Vietnam.
Famous musicians of the time lived near Haight-Ashbury, including Janis Joplin and Jerry Garcia, the architect behind the Grateful Dead. Visitors flocked to Buena Vista Park and nearby Golden Gate Park.
The semi-migration of 1967 was initially relatively peaceful. The most widely used illegal drug was marijuana, although many also used hallucinogens. The peaceful nature of the district will gradually undergo a change, particularly with the introduction of methamphetamines. Those who quickly became addicted to forms of methamphetamine were potentially dangerous, and within a few years after the summer of love, the Haight-Ashbury was no longer safe to walk at night.
By the mid-1970s, “love” was over in Haight-Ashbury. Increased use of hard drugs, inability to maintain property, and homelessness meant that the district was one of the most avoided by the Franciscans. Groups that “grew up” on the Summer of Love, such as the growing number of gays and lesbians, have asserted their right to San Francisco’s Castro District.
However, most agree that the initial Summer of Love in 1967 had a particular energy and joy that has not been duplicated since. Most attribute this energy not to drugs but to a shared mindset about allowing people to be themselves. Except for social pressure from the authorities, there was little pressure to do anything. The flower children drew on Eastern religion, especially Buddhism, in their philosophy. So simply existing was a worthy pursuit. It was the Beatles’ Let it Be at the extreme in its pacifism.
That’s not to say some didn’t find the summer of love in Haight-Ashbury scary or traumatic. There have been rapes and the consequences of illegal taking of hallucinogens have caused accidents. There were also overdoses, filling nearby UCSF hospitals.
However, many note that the high number of people clearly on drugs should have been linked to a higher degree of crime. It just wasn’t. The principle of sharing, a hallmark of the hippies, tended to counter people’s need to steal or hurt others.
Furthermore, most of the drugs taken in 1967 were depressants. So most people were moderately sedated. It wasn’t until methamphetamines were introduced that the profile of the Haight-Ashbury began to change dramatically.
In the mid-1980s, Haight-Ashbury also became a gathering place for neo-Nazis, called skinheads. This made the area very dangerous for races other than the Caucasus. Much of the skinhead population has left the area, although this gang still holds some power in San Francisco.
Today, people still visit the Haight-Ashbury district as a tourist attraction. It has undergone many renovations and now the area has a commercial feel that most attendees of the 1967 Summer of Love would have found repulsive. It cannot yet be said that the district is one of the best areas in San Francisco. It attracts runaway teenagers and still exhibits problems with excessive violence, prostitution and illegal drug use.
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