Summer of Love: 1967

poster art for concert at Winterland

      The De Young Museum of San Francisco has a special exhibition dedicated to the Haight Ashbury days in San Francisco of 1967, aka the Summer of Love.  Well, the trip down memory land for many visitors was a walk through the history of a period of great social upheaval in America, and San Francisco was at the forefront of this movement.  With photos, objects, graphics/posters, the story unfolds front the beginnings of the rock music period sometime in the early '60's when the Bay Area began to develop as a focal point of protests(over nuclear arms and Vietnam).
     While not much is seen from the UC campus protests, the San Francisco scene was part of the sentiment founded on the student protests and activism.  It was also characterized by the use of marijuana and LSD(still legal) and other psychedelic drugs(psyllacybin, mushrooms, and heroin).
     Many photos of famous musicians highlighted the galleries.  Prominent among them were posed fotos of the Grateful Dead, The Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Carlos Santana, Creedence Clearwater, Big Brother and the Holding Co.(Janis Joplin), and Bob Dylan.
      Photos of the Haight St. scene were especially interesting, given the time period and its position (location) in the City itself.   What's missing is ancillary coverage of the California scene of the time:  Ronald Reagan was governor in Sacramento, Willie Brown(future mayor) was in charge of the California Assembly(house), and all kinds of nefarious characters were roaming the streets in disguise of hippies, religious zealots(Hare Krishners), seekers, and runaways.  The local establishment authorities were overwhelmed to say the least.
      The graphics were amazing.