They came for the music, the mind-bending drugs, to resist the Vietnam War and 1960s American orthodoxy, or simply to escape summer boredom. And they left an enduring legacy.
This season marks the 50th anniversary of that legendary “Summer of Love,” when throngs of American youth descended on San Francisco to join a cultural revolution.
(Text by AP)
In this June 18, 1967 photo, Jimi Hendrix performs at the Monterey Pop Festival in Monterey, Calif. Fifty years ago in June 2017, the three-day concert in the San Francisco Bay area gave birth to the "Summer of Love'' and paved the way for today's popular festivals.
In this December 1969 file photo, singer Janis Joplin performs with her group Big Brother and the Holding Company. On drums is Dave Getz. The Summer of Love in 1967 marked a turning point in rock and roll history.
In this March 8, 1968 file photo, members of the rock group Jefferson Airplane pose in San Francisco. From left are, Marty Balin, lead singer, songwriter and founder, Grace Slick, vocalist, Spencer Dryden, drummer, Paul Kantner, electric guitar and vocalist, Jorma Kaukonen, lead guitarist, vocalist and songwriter and Jack Casady, bass guitarist. Summer of Love introduced America to the exciting new sounds coming out of San Francisco's local music scene. There was the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother and the Holding Company, which launched Janis Joplin's career, and Country Joe and the Fish, a psychedelic rock band.
In this Jan. 14, 1967 file photo, Timothy Leary addresses a crowd of hippies at the "Human Be-In" that he helped organize in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, Calif. Leary told the crowd to "Turn on, Tune in and Drop out". The event was a prelude to the "Summer of Love”.
In this Jan. 15, 1967 file photo, Timothy Leary, center, leads thousands in a song at the "Human Be-In" on the Golden Gate Park Polo Fields in San Francisco. Dennis McNally, who has curated an exhibit at the California Historical Society, says the national media paid little attention to San Francisco's psychedelic community until January 1967, when poets and bands joined forces for the “Human Be-In” which unexpectedly drew about 50,000 people. Leary stood on stage and delivered his famous mantra: “Turn on. Tune In. Drop out.”
In this June 21, 1967 file photo, people keep a large ball, painted to represent a world globe, in the air during a gathering at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, to celebrate the summer solstice on June 21, day one of "Summer of Love." City officials have rejected a permit for a planned free concert intended to mark the 50th anniversary of the famed Summer of Love in Golden Gate Park that had been planned for June 2017.
In this April 13, 1967 file photo, people gather in the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco. In 2017's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, which had been ground zero for the counterculture, two-bedroom apartments now rent for $5,000 a month. San Francisco remains a magnet for young people, but even those earning six-figure Silicon Valley salaries complain about the cost of living.
FILE - In this Oct. 6, 1967 file photo, a group of ‘hippies’ greets the sunrise with music from a hilltop in San Francisco, Calif. (AP Photo)
In this June 18, 1967 photo is the scene at the Monterey Fairgrounds during the Monterey Pop Festival in Monterey, California. Before Burning Man and Bonnaroo, Coachella and Lollapalooza, Glastonbury and Governors Island, there was Monterey Pop.
In this June 17, 1967 photo are two women at the Monterey Pop Festival in Monterey, California.
