San Francisco’s Summer of Love events help you recall a pivotal time in American history
If you’re going to San Francisco, put some flowers in your hair, grab your John Lennon wire-rim glasses and gently wear some love beads — with the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love this year, it’s time to chill, man.
Here are places in San Francisco and the Bay Area to celebrate the Summer of Love:
Festivals, music and dance
Haight Ashbury Street Fair
If you need ’60s attire, find it at the Haight Ashbury Street Fair with booths of tie-dye, leather, arts, crafts and food. Bands play on two stages — one for headliners and one for alternative music — and kids can cavort in their own play area.
When, where: June 11. Haight and Ashbury streets, San Francisco
Cost: Free.
Info: Haight Ashbury Street Fair
Monterey International Pop Festival
The 50th anniversary of the Monterey International Pop Festival inspires another Monterey International Pop Festival on the same dates as in 1967. Eric Burdon & the Animals, Phil Lesh & the Terrapin Family Band, and contemporary musicians are scheduled to stir it up onstage.
When, where: June 16-18, Monterey County Fairgrounds, 2004 Fairground Road, Monterey
Cost: One day, $105; from $295 for three days. No strollers. You are discouraged from bringing babies in arms and infants.
Info: Monterey International Pop Festival
Summer of Love Dance Party
Do the Twist, Mashed Potato, Swim, Frug, Chicken, Dog, Shake and Watusi while the Beatles tribute band, Mania! The Live Beatles Experience, belts out Beatle songs at Pier 39's Summer of Love Dance Party. Non-dancing revelers can make crowns out of flowers — free, of course.
When, where: June 23, Beach Street and the Embarcadero, San Francisco.
Cost: Free
Info: Summer of Love Dance Party, (415) 981-7437
Marin County Fair
Sure, the Marin County Fair rejoices in bunnies, chickens, cows and carnival rides, but this year the theme is “Let the Funshine In!” with tie-dye and macramé contests, “Flower Power horticulture,” kaleidoscope creation and ’60s fashion shows. The fair’s evening concerts are all-out ’60s, spotlighting the Fifth Dimension, the Commodores, Sons of Champlin, UB40, Ann Wilson of Heart, Willie K (“the Hawaiian Jimi Hendrix”) and Happy Together with musicians from the Turtles, Three Dog Night and others.
When, where: June 30-July 4, 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael
Cost: Adults, 13-64, from $12 online and $20 at the gate; seniors, 65 and older, and children, 4-12, from $10 online and $15 at the gate. Children younger than 4 are admitted free. Reserved evening concert tickets, including fair admission, $50.Advance purchase of tickets is recommended.
Info: Marin County Fair, (415) 473-6800, www.marinfair.org
Summer of Love Sing-Along
Sing the songs of the ’60s at the Summer of Love Sing-Along in the Great Meadow of the San Francisco Botanical Garden.
When, where: July 21, Ninth Avenue and Lincoln Way in Golden Gate Park.
Cost: Adults, 18-64, $8; seniors 65 and older and youth 12-17, $6; children 5-11, $2; children younger than 4 admitted free.
Info: Summer of Love Sing-Along, (415) 661-1316, Ext. 427
Jerry Day
Jerry Day also celebrates the 75th anniversary of Jerry Garcia’s birth at the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater in McLaren Park, near where the mellow Grateful Dead leader grew up.
When, where: Aug. 6, 45 John F. Shelley Drive, San Francisco.
Cost: Free
Info: Jerry Day
Events
Analog Light Show Festival
Experience a live psychedelic light and music show like those that visually rocked the ’60s at the Analog Light Show Festival put on by the Berkeley Arts Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Light-show artists use liquids, reflective items and hand-painted slides to create the non-digital trip.
When, where: May 18-20, 2155 Center St., Berkeley
Cost: Adults, 19-64, $12; seniors 65 and older, students and children, 18 and younger, $8.
Info: Analog Light Show Festival, (510) 642-0808, www.lat.ms/lightshow
Summer of Love or Vietnam Summer?
As part of a series titled “Music, Art and Politics of 1967,” the Eric Quezada Center for Culture and Politics will hold a panel discussion about Summer of Love or Vietnam Summer? looking at the counterculture in relation to the politics of the time.
Where, when: May 31, 518 Valencia, San Francisco.
Cost: Free
Info: Summer of Love or Vietnam Summer?, (415) 881-7579
A Night With Janis Joplin
American Conservatory Theater’s A Night With Janis Joplin honors both the rock ’n’ roll singer with the powerful voice and those who influenced her: Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Bessie Smith, Nina Simone and Odetta.
Where, when: June 7-July 2, Geary Theater, 405 Geary St., San Francisco.
Cost: From $20
Info: A Night With Janis Joplin, (415) 749-2228
Psychedelic Soul: Black Cultural Awakening During the Summer of Love
The Museum of the African Diaspora presents Psychedelic Soul: Black Cultural Awakening During the Summer of Love, three panel discussions about the impact of political, social and cultural activity and activism on institutions in the 1960s.
Where, when: June 8, July 13 and Aug. 10 at the California Historical Society, 678 Mission St., San Francisco
Cost: $10
Info: Psychedelic Soul: Black Cultural Awakening During the Summer of Love, (415) 358-7200
Revisiting the Summer of Love, Rethinking the Counterculture
Northwestern University’s Center for Civic Engagement and the California Historical Society are putting on “Revisiting the Summer of Love, Rethinking the Counterculture: An Academic Conference on the 50th Anniversary of the Summer of Love,” looking at changes and effects today from the counterculture movement.
Where, when: July 27-29, 44 Montgomery St., San Francisco
Cost: Adults, $125, students $50 for three days. Not recommended for children.
Info: Revisiting the Summer of Love, (847) 467-3047
Exhibits
On the Road to the Summer of Love
Curated by the former publicist of the Grateful Dead, Dennis McNally, and counterculture historian Alisa Leslie, the California Historical Society’s “On the Road to the Summer of Love” examines cultural influences luring tens of thousands of young people to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district and its focus on social revolution.
When, where: May 12-Sept. 10, 678 Mission St., San Francisco.
Cost: Adults, $5. Children younger than 18 admitted free.
Info: “On the Road to the Summer of Love,” (415) 357-1848
Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia
The Berkeley Arts Museum and Pacific Film Archive’s “Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia” explores the continuing influence of that counterculture on design, architecture and art. As seen through magazines, furniture and films, activists strove to create positive political, technological and ecological impact.
When, where: Through May 21. 2155 Center St., Berkeley.
Cost: Adults, 19 and older, $12; children 18 and younger admitted free. Adults with a child admitted free.
Info: “Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia,” (510) 642-0808
Jim Marshall’s 1967
The San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries have an exhibition by a photographer who was intimately involved in covering the iconic counterculture bands of the ’60s and the Summer of Love: “Jim Marshall’s 1967.”
When, where: Through June 23. City Hall, 1 Drive, Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco.
Cost: Free
Info: “Jim Marshall’s 1967,” (415) 252-2244
Summer of Love: Art, Fashion and Rock & Roll
The De Young Museum features interactive music-and-light shows, psychedelic rock ’n’ roll posters, colorful period clothing and photographs plus avant-garde films at its exhibit “Summer of Love: Art, Fashion and Rock & Roll.”
When, where: Through Aug. 20. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.
Cost: Adults, 18-64, $25, seniors, 65 and older, $20; students, $16, and youths, 6-17, $10. Children younger than 5 admitted free.
Info: “Summer of Love: Art, Fashion and Rock & Roll,” (415) 750-3600
Summer of Love: Jimi Hendrix
The Museum of the African Diaspora offers “Summer of Love: Jimi Hendrix,” with photos of the wild and legendary rock ’n’ roll guitarist in 1967, reminding viewers of the impact of black people on the counterculture.
When, where: Through Aug. 27. 685 Mission St., San Francisco.
Cost: Adults, 12-61, $10; seniors, 62 and older, and students and educators (with ID), $5; children younger than 12 and veterans are admitted free.
Info: “Summer of Love: Jimi Hendrix” with photos of the wild and legendary rock ’n’, (415) 358-7200.
The Hippies
The West Sonoma County Museum tells the tale of “The Hippies” and the “voluntary primitivism” of young people who escaped 1950s “consumerism and conformity” and came to two communes in the woods between 1966-73.
When, where: Through Sept. 4. 261 S. Main St., Sebastopol
Cost: Free
Info: “The Hippies,” (707) 829-6711
Lavender-Tinted Glasses: A Groovy Gay Look at the Summer of Love
The GLBT History Museum presents “Lavender-Tinted Glasses: A Groovy Gay Look at the Summer of Love” from a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender perspective.
When, where: Through Sept. 27, 4127 18th St., San Francisco.
Cost: $5; California students, $3.
Info: “Lavender-Tinted Glasses: A Groovy Gay Look at the Summer of Love,” (415) 621-1107
Walks and tours
Summer of Peace, Love & Anti-War
Stroll through the epicenter, the Haight-Ashbury District, to Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park on a Summer of Peace, Love & Anti-War walking tour while hearing about the antiwar movement and cultural changes from 1966-68.
When, where: June 10. Meet at McKinley Statue in Golden Gate Park’s Panhandle (at Baker), San Francisco.
Cost: From $10
Info: Summer of Peace, Love & Anti-War, (415) 881-7579
Haight-Ashbury Flower Power Walking Tour
On the Haight-Ashbury Flower Power Walking Tour you’ll walk in the tracks of Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead.
When, where: Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Meet at Stanyan and Waller streets, San Francisco.
Cost: Adults, $20; children younger than 10, free.
Info: Haight-Ashbury Flower Power Walking Tour, (415) 553-8542
San Francisco Love Tours
Ride in a psychedelically painted Volkswagen love bus with beaded curtains and orange shag carpeting on San Francisco Love Tours, and discover the continuing influence of hippie culture on San Francisco.
When, where: Daily. 2899 Hyde St., San Francisco.
Cost: From $48
Info: San Francisco Love Tours, (888) 419-5454
Magic Bus Tours
Between stops, Magic Bus Tours’ vividly hued buses show videos of the Summer of Love and the Human Be-In in Golden Gate Park. Passengers hear interviews with Jerry Garcia, Alan Watts and Allen Ginsberg, along with ’60s songs.
When, where: Through Sept. 30. Geary and Powell streets at Union Square, San Francisco.
Cost: Adults, 18 and older,$70; children, 5-17, $65; children younger than 5, free.
Info: Magic Bus Tours, (855) 969-6244
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