Book(s) About the Late 60s, Hippies and How it Ended

Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock-and-Roll's Legendary Neighborhood
by Michael Walker

 

I suggest the abbreviated version “Charlie Says” movie. It captures the exploitation of the 60s idealism quite well.

 

For 'how it ended' part of your query, try Weird Scenes Inside The Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & The Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream by Dave McGowan.
For the general jist of the scene, from horses' mouths, Days In The Life by Jonathon Green

 

Joel Selvin's books on

Altamont
The Haight
The Summer of Love
The Grateful Dead

Barry Miles: Hippie

Barney Hoskyns: Beneath The Diamond Sky: Haight Ashbury 65-70:
https://www.amazon.com/Beneath-Diamond-Sky-Haight-Ashbury/dp/0684841800/ref=sr_1_11?crid=1EIJASD5GZH4H&keywords=barney+hoskyns&qid=1579000385&s=books&sprefix=barney+hos,stripbooks,411&sr=1-11

Peter Coyote: Sleeping Where I fall

Carol Schlanger: Hippie Woman Wild: A Memoir of Life & Love on an Oregon Commune

Yvonne Daley: Going Up the Country: When the Hippies, Dreamers, Freaks, and Radicals Moved to Vermont

 

Seconded! High watermark of 'sixties' journalism. No contest.

 

Fantastic book

 

I enjoyed Joel Selvin's books on San francisco. Summer fo Love which is a general overview of the music scene with focus on teh better known bands.
He also did the text for the Haight the book of JIm Marshall photos of the scene & a couple of years back he did Altamont.

Ed Sanders did one of the definitive books on the Manson killings in The Family.

Vernon Joynson has done books on several areas of music from the mid 60s to the mid 70s.

there are autobiographies of a lot of artists from the scene I read Jorma Kaukonen's one last year and Bill Kreutzman's the year before. Phil Lesh's was quit enjoyable as was grace slick's. & I really enjoyed Darby Slick's though really not sure how available it is having bought it about 30 years ago.

 

See "The Giuliani Administration".

 

In case that wasn't a clear answer - it wasn't a voluntary shift in NYC culture. When Rudy Giuliani came in as mayor he completely transformed the Times Square area. Totally cleaned it up. That was the beginning of the end as far as NYC having any real charisma. It's totally cookie-cutter now. Eventually only the wealthy will be able to afford this city.

 

And now Ulster and Dutchess counties are unaffordable. Everybody has moved up from Brooklyn in the past 5 years. Billionaires have bought up everything. Cost of housing has more than doubled since I moved here 8 years ago. Every week some new hipster boutique opens up. Rich, smug looking 30 somethings in high priced coffeehouses staring at their computers. They killed Brooklyn and now they’re killing upstate.

 

After '86 is when things seemed to level out and the genres became fixed. '83 was the last year I liked Top 40 radio much.

 

Woodstock NY is similar.

 

OMG. How good was "Echo in the Canyon"?
There's a great soundtrack from that too.
I highly recommend it.

 

I really, really liked it. I even bought the soundtrack the next day. Again, that documentary is what started this whole craze for me and what prompted me creating the thread.

 

My one word answer: heroin. More and more hippies became junkies – and that was the end of their movement. Of course it was more complex, e.g. part of the movement became political in a radical, violent way.

 

That’s how it is now. A playground for the rich. In some ways I like the city more now than when I lived there in the 70’s. It’s much cleaner and safer. However, there’s little of the funky charm left. All the cool little bookstores and hangouts are gone. Everywhere are corporate chain stores. I only get into the city a couple times a year as it just costs too much to visit. BTW- I left in 1982. At the time I was paying $350/month for an apartment in the East Village and that’s the most I’d ever spent for rent in NYC. My income now is maybe 3 times what it was back then but the rents have gone up 10 fold.

 

Yeah, from the brief things I've read it was really a heroin vs marijuana thing. Heroin is a "me" drug and marijuana is a "we" drug. The "me" drugs took over and destroyed the collaboration, the creativity, workmanship, etc. As you said, it was probably more complex than that but I think there's a lot of validity in it. It all just got out of control. The whole situation was completely volatile. I suppose it just couldn't last.

 

I am hoping and praying that we will see a similar flowering soon akin to what happened in the 60’s. I’m not hopeful. But something has to give. We are sliding headlong into fascism here in the states. Everywhere there is evil, greed, fear, racism, antisemitism, ignorance and stupidity, and a large portion of the populace is cheering it on, while every day brings more environmental devastation. Things must change and they will, but the transition is not going to be smooth or pretty.

 

Tony, I recently read Ed Sanders' "Fug You", an autobio but revealing
on how different people mixed from the east coast to west coast scenes.
It focuses largely on his band, The Fugs, but it includes anecdotes about
a lot of groups, the cross-pollination, the peace movement, poets and their
muses, politics, etc. Recommended.

 

Well, there's always been evil about, but these days it's organized.

 

I grew up here and I still live here. Admittedly, NYC is a lot safer than it was in the 70s and 80s. That was a real concern. It was dark. It was dirty. It smelled. There was a lot of crime. There were certainly areas you 100% avoided. That really isn't the case now and I guess that's a good thing. But still, I do miss a lot of the flavor that NYC had. And that flavor came from poverty, honestly. When you have nothing to lose you kinda just let it all hang out. It's all you have. You can't afford a canvas? Paint on a wall. Can't find a wall? Paint on a subway car. Art was everywhere it could fit. Now, well, not at all... unless it's officially commissioned by the city. To me, that isn't in the spirit of art. I mean the Keith Haring mural is now "Crack is Whack Playground". Seriously. It has a placard and everything. I highly doubt that's what Mr. Haring had in mind when he painted it. Everything is just so watered down now. There's no bite.

Also... I'm not a parent so that has some affect on my opinion here. If I had children I might feel differently about the whole safety thing.

 

Quite right. And well funded.

 

Wonderful book. I saw Ed about a year ago. He said not to worry, that America will survive Donald Trump. I wish I had his optimism.

 

My sister's PhD. Thesis was on the Back to Land movement in Appalachia. While the majority of "hippies" eventually went straight and got mainstream jobs, some headed for the hills to escape urbanity all together. https://textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/wvhistory/files/pdf/17_wv_history_reader_turman-deal.pdf

 

The only thing I really believe in and trust absolutely is that the pendulum ALWAYS swings back. Of course we'll get through this. And things will go in the other direction. Then they'll come back again. It's always been this way and always will, whether it's presidents, music or what have you. Baggy jeans will be back too, haha.