Th 1960

′S Essay, Research Paper

Through out history the world has seen some generations that have made an

impact more than all of its predecessors. The decade from 1960 to 1970 was

definitely one of those eras. The people didn’t follow the teachings of its

elders, but rejected them for an alternative culture which was their very

own(Harris 14). Made up of the younger population of the time this new

culture was such a radical society that they were given their own name which

is still used today. They came to be called the Hippies. The Hippie

movement started in San Francisco, California and spread across the United

States, through Canada, and into parts of Europe (World Book). But it had its

greatest influence in America. During the 1960’s a radical group called the

Hippies shocked America with their alternative lifestyle and radical

beliefs.

Hippies came from many different places and had many different backgrounds.

All Hippies were young, from the ages of 15 to 25(Worldbook). They left

their families and did it for many different reasons. Some rejected their

parents’ ideas, some just wanted to get away, and others simply were

outcasts, who could only fit in with the Hippie population. “Under 25 became

a magical age, and young people all over the world were united by this bond”

(Harris 15). This bond was of Non-conformity and it was the “Creed of the

Young” (Harris 15). Most Hippies came from wealthy middle class families.

Some people said that they were spoiled and wasting their lives away. But to

Hippies themselves this was a way of life and no one was going to get in the

way of their dreams and ambitions.

Hippies flocked to a certain area of San Francisco on the corner of Haight

Street and Ashbury Street, where the world got their first view of this

unique group. This place came to be known as the Haight Ashbury District.

There were tours of the district and it was said that the tour “was the only

foreign tour within the continental limits of the United States” (Stern 147).

The Hippies were so different that the conservative middle class could not

relate to them and saw them as aliens. The Haight Ashbury district lies in

the very center of San Francisco. In the years of 1965 and 1966 the Hippies

took over the Haight Ashbury district(Cavan 49). There they lived and spread

their psychedelic theme through out the whole area. In the Haight Ashbury

district there were two parks that that all Hippies knew well. The most

famous of the two was the Golden Gate Park(Cavan 43). The single most

important event that put the Hippies on the map was held at the Golden Gate

Park. It was called the Trips Festival. The Trips Festival was a week long

festival designed to celebrate the LSD experience(Stern 148). Besides this

festival dozens of other events took place at Golden Gate Park, some of which

were free concerts by The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane and Anti-War

rallies held by Hippie political leaders. The other park is called the Buena

Vista park and is known for housing hippies at night and for socializing

during the day.

As the 1960’s progressed, the youth in America united. “In 1969 400,000

young people materialized for three dizzying days to listen to rock and blues

music, to wear funny clothing or no clothes at all, to talk, sing, dance,

clap hands, to drink beer or smoke pot and make love-but mostly to marvel

again and again that they were all there together” (This Fabulous Century

64). This festival was held in a small town in up-state New York and came to

be called Woodstock, after the town it was held in. Also in Greenwich

Village, New York Hippies had a place. The Village on every Sunday was known

to have hordes of singers with banjos and drums celebrating their youth

together(Stern 103).

One of the basic foundations of the Hippie movement was the flagrant use of

illegal drugs. There were many drugs that the Hippies used but none was more

used then marijuana. From 1960 to 1970 the number of Americans who had tried

marijuana had increased from a few hundred thousand to 8,000,000. The

majority of these new users were from 12 years old to college seniors(This

Fabulous Century 84). To some Hippies, drugs and music were the most

important aspects of their lives. Another drug that was prevalent in the

Hippie population was LSD. Some Hippies thought that “LSD puts you in touch

with your surroundings” (Cavan 114). But that was not what always the case.

On occasion a hippie would take bad LSD and would experience a “bad trip” or

would “freak out” (Cavan 115). When someone took bad LSD, freak out is

exactly what they would do and sometimes they never came back. Bad LSD was

so common that even at Woodstock people were having bad trips and freaking

out. Even with this bad LSD everywhere people still used it, they went as

far as to m

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