Rodney Paul Tours

BRIEF
description

Walk San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood and hear about the events that led to the 1967 Summer of Love and the psychedelic music it produced

Length

Frequency

Format

Cost

Oragnization

First Offered

Related Info

2 hours

1-2 times per month, often on a Wed. and Sun.

Walking Tour (1.5 miles)

Optional donation ($20 per person suggested)

SF City Guides

2015

Tour Song List

Haight Food Options

FULL Description

The tour meets at the Park Branch Public Library (1833 Page St.) and we walk for 2 hrs., covering just under 1.5 miles.  We go through the Panhandle, which was the site of many free concerts and other hippie community events during the Summer of Love.  We visit the famous corner of Haight & Ashbury and take note that the street signs are placed very high off the ground, either to prevent theft or to make them easier for those under the influence to notice.  See map below for the precise route.

I discuss the early history of the neighborhood but focus on the hippie community of the 1960s and the psychedelic rock music that the neighborhood produced including bands such as Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and Big Brother & the Holding Company.  Between stops on the tour, I play more than 20 songs by musicians who either lived in the Haight or had important ties to the SF hippie scene.  To me, this music is the great legacy of that period, and I tell the story of how SF became a great city for rock music and launched a new era in which musicians gained much greater control of their music.

We talk about the circumstances and youthful energy that led to the formation of the hippie community.  Important neighborhood organization such as the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic and Huckleberry House were founded to address critical social needs.  But the influx of an estimated 100,000 people by the end of 1967 led to chaos and violence that would leave the neighborhood in shambles for many years afterwards.  In recent years, residents have invested time and money into renovating the neighborhood's unparalleled collection of victorian buildings.  Today, the neighborhood looks great but also features rents that put its housing out of reach for younger residents of SF.

Tour Route