What is Haight-Ashbury?
Haight Ashbury is a district in San Francisco, CA, named after the intersection of Haight and Ashbury Streets. This district is famous for its role as the center of the hippie movement of the 1960s. Hippies swarmed in to San Francisco’s North Beach, the “in” area of the time, a few years before the Summer of Love in 1967. Those who couldn’t find the space on the north side settled in the cheap, under populated Haight-Ashbury. And thus the district has become synonymous with the American counterculture of the 1960s.
Bohemia Paradise
The multistory houses in the Haight became a haven for hippies because of the availability of cheap and vacant rooms for rent/sale in the district. A bohemian subculture flourished around this time and still remains today.
Drug Culture Center
The Haight, and the rest of San Francisco, gained a reputation as the center of illegal a drug culture and “rock and roll” lifestyles by the mid-60s. By ’67 the neighborhood’s fame relied on the fact that it was the haven for numerous psychedelic rock groups and performers of the time, including the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin, all of whom lived a short while away.
Mainstream Coverage
By the Summer of Love, the music of the Haight was entering the mainstream and received more and more commercial radio play. Also cementing the psychedelic rock music into the mainstream was the Monterey Pop Festival in June, which also elevated local Haight bands to national stardom.
Time magazine did a cover story on “The Hippies: Philosophy of a Subculture” on July 7th, 1967. In August, CBS News did a report on the “Hippie Temptation” and other major media exposed the Haight-Ashbury district to enormous national attention. Thus, popularizing the counterculture movement to the rest of the country and later the world. Thousands of kids, many runaway teens, migrated to the district during the flower power movement. This altered the social structure of the neighborhood and changed the world’s views on San Francisco as a city.
Free Health Care for Hippies
Since the population was rising, the drug use increased as well. This caused a growing medical crisis caused by the drug use and lack of health insurance. Dr. David E. Smith opened the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic on June 7, 1967, making it the first free health care clinic without religious affiliation. His goal was to provide free medical care for everyone under the motto "Health care is a right, not a privilege". The clinic operated until 2007, and later moved most of its operations to the Mission District of San Francisco.
Haight-Ashbury Today
Today, the Haight still maintains its bohemian ambiance, although modern urbanization is visible, and supports independent businesses, if you ignore the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream located there. It’s still home to many independent restaurants and bars, clothing boutiques, booksellers, head shops and record stores. The main commercial area’s blends all different walks of life together just like it did in the 1960s.
The Haight-Ashbury Street Fair is held every second Sunday in June each year. Haight Streets gets closed down, between Stanyan and Masonic, and a sound stage is placed at either end.
Steps have been taken to reduce the constant increase of youth living on the streets. And the police and community help to maintain park curfews and “no-camping policies”.
