Pictures and more gab!
As soon as I got out of high school, I hitchhiked to San Francisco to see what Haight-Ashbury was all about. I was so thrilled when I arrived, but then my traveling pal chose to take off to LA with all our "pooled" money. So there I was in SF with no money and no street smarts at all! I headed down to the Digger's place. A panhandler had turned me on to the possibility that they would take me in. They did. I soon became the gardening expert. God, they didn't even know how to plant potatoes! They thought you bought a package of seeds.
It was the first time I was really away from the farm. I did some things I wish I hadn't, and didn't do some things I wish I had! But for all its faults, the 60's was an exciting time. The Vietnam War was killing young guys our own age and it seemed so appalling that we couldn't stop it. We, as a generation, were divided almost as the generation of the Civil War was. I felt like I was in some Primordial Soup and everything was evolving! I could barely believe my luck that I was a part of this "wild ride"!
I panhandled and got money for The Avalon and The Fillmore. I went to see all the great bands and smoked whatever was being passed down the line! Sometimes a big jug of Red Mountain was passed down too. Ugh...never did like wine. Soon the walls and ceiling were just too groovy to not get lost in them! I would lay back on the floor and just get carried away by the light show and the music. You always got a free poster that advertised the next concert when you went in. It was hard to hang onto it during the show, so everyone was scooping them off the floor before they went home.
I went to an anti-war rally in Berkeley and almost got my head busted in! The cops were definitely angry and ready to show us who was boss. I am 4'11" and at that time, weighed about 95 lbs.so I was no match for a big, burly cop. But smack me on the head with a billy club is what they did anyway! All I was doing was wearing an old army jacket I had bought at a surplus store. It really set them off! They told me to hand it over and since I had bought it, I saw no reason why I should. So we argued and since I am a very stubborn person, I wouldn't give in. Next thing I knew, I was getting smacked on the head. Well, that made all the people around me mad, so they started smacking the cops back. I made a hasty retreat and therefore, kept my jacket! After all, the nights get chilly in SF and I needed it. Especially since I had left the Digger's pad and was now sleeping in an abandoned building. That's another story I shall tell sometime. The 2 AM raids, the flashlights smacking heads, the hollering.
When I went to Haight-Ashbury, I wanted to be part of all the stuff I was hearing about. It sounded so exotic and strange. I was never like the other kids in school. I just sensed that I would meet people like myself in the Haight. Well, I did. We had so much in common! I got to talk about feelings and thoughts, beliefs that were contrary to the norm. It felt so good to be listened to by my peers! I couldn't be honest about my thoughts in high school. I would start talking and you could see them withdraw immediately. I wasn't talking total anarchy or anything...just emotions about racism, God, politics, the war, etc. They all acted like you should just do what was expected of you. To question things was too risky. I felt like I was suffocating when I was in high school. Haight-Ashbury didn't last, but a lot of the freedoms I discovered there have carried through life with me. I am so glad that I don't have all that baggage! I don't worry about my clothes being the correct fashion. I don't care if people like me...the ones who do are my friends. Simple as that! I'm content to just finish out my life being myself.