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

Joe (1970) ORIGINAL TRAILER

 

You think? The damage being done will take decades to undue and the suffering resulting from that damage will be incalculable.

 

Yes....nevermind those annoying "top-less" chicks who charge/hardsell photos......times square is squeaky clean.

 

Compared to the way it used to be, it's Disneyworld.

 

The 1980'-90's crack fueled bombed out williamsburg brooklyn where I lived for it's low rent is now "missed" because it all went "north" rent wise....gentrification is such a dirty word....

 

Corporate yes certainly!the late 1980's times square was porn saturated......scary.

 

Where in Williamsburg? I was born and raised there, moved out, then moved back around 1982 and stayed until 2002.

 

The hippie/counterculture thing mainly existed in big cities on the West Coast and Northeast. It was a movement that had a lot of coverage by the media originating in those cities. I don't think people in the middle or South of America were ever that keen on it, other than enjoying some of the music and the younger people adopting some of the fashions and habits (including drugs), but not the whole lifestyle. Most cultural movements in history were mainly participated in by people living in more urbanized areas, and mostly by more affluent members of that society.

 

I lived on grand street.....store front.....$550@ month.......later in a loft on south 2and. Street....3 room mates at $1.100@ month.i loved being able to walk the williamsburg bridge on nice day......90% Hispanic back then.....lots of flavor and.....crack.i am a painter/sculptor and it was a cool place....then.

 

David Crosby said exactly what those of us who lived it know..... that era or period now called 'the sixties' really occurred from about 1965 to 1975. That period bracketed by Kennedy's assassination / Civil Right marches / start of the Vietnam war / arrival of the Beatles & British invasion - until the fall of Vietnam / Watergate / 'arrival' of disco. In other words it did not 'end' in 1970. In plenty of places around the country you could not clearly distinguish 1973 from 1965 culturally. When I lived in the rocky mountains in the 70's there were hippie communes where many had gravitated to from the big cities. If you time travelled to my high school in 1975 practically all us guys looked like we could be on a Creedence Clearwater Revival album cover. So don't limit your reading!

 

It was affordable then, lots of artists around, I had a large 3 room apartment for $150.00 in '82. There were a lot of storefronts throughout the entire neighborhood, but Grand is where a lot of the stores were.
We used to go to the south side when I was a teen to cop drugs. Back in the late 60's early 70's you didn't go there after dark alone or unarmed.
Last time I was there was a couple of years back to see Pere Ubu, and my how the old neighborhood changed.

 

Yes it was dangerous back when I was there(1985-1991) but I never had a problem walking back to my store front at 2a.m. drunk from the "L" train station after an evening in Manhattan.

 

Smells like teen spirit had more spirit than new wave.

 

In every form of escapism, which is what that community essentially was practicing, whether they knew it or not, the participants have to come back eventually. I suppose there were some who didn't but most had to. And it must be quite a rude awakening.

I watched a documentary about Woodstock movie recently and all I could think about what it must have been like to participate in such an event but then have to go back to 'reality'. You get a taste of what you've built up in your head to be a heaven but ultimately you can't stay.

I also remember thinking that this even was run so poorly. That to do such a thing and then expect to be 'bailed out' (food, supplies, etc.) is pretty messed up. If you want to build your own society and do things your way, you'd better be prepared and not expect everyone else to help you as you ditch their way of life.

 

this is a photo book by the great jim marshall. worth checking out.

https://www.amazon.com/Haight-Love-Rock-Revolution/dp/1608873633

 

It's not the damage as much as it is the way in which we approach it. Thinking needs to change. There's always been damage. Remember when everyone was SO worried about the ozone depletion? That was a huge thing. So... we had to change how we operated and we did. We are a very reactionary society. We act when we feel we must. So we DO act but it takes us time. Will we ever get to a point where it's "too late"? It's certainly possible.

 

Is there anything really worth reading on the scene in Vancouver? Just realising I know far less about that than i do about elsewhere.

 

I appreciate your post. I do realize that it didn't just end - SLAM. That there certainly were aftershocks felt for awhile. I'm sure in the big cities it was more a palpable change whereas in less populated / frequented parts of the country there were a lot more lingering effects which took longer to wear off. And of course there are always going to be those holdouts who never quite let go. I remember a few guys in my neighborhood when I was a kid who were definitely hanging out and still dressed like hippies. This was in the early 80s! But yeah, great points made. I definitely am not trying to limit myself to just the late 60s. I was just trying to make sure my compass was in and around the right spot.

 

I disagree very strongly, but we really can't get into it here.

 

That's fair. I'm certainly not the most political person in the world and admittedly I've given up on a lot on 'the process'. But that's me and neither here nor there. And also not in the spirit of the 60s thing for sure, haha. I've just been burnt out on lies. I don't know who to trust at ALL.

 

Nice to see younger generations seeking out info on my generation but a book & music just can't compare to actually living it & the 60s for some of us never really came to an end it just lost momentum & urgency...

Anyway you will want to seek out...

1.Ralph Gleason / The San Francisco Sound
2.Tom Wolfe / Electric Kool Aid Acid Test
3.Any 60s & 70s Hunter S. Thompson
4.Richard Brautigan did some heavy writing ala Beatnik on some mind expanding issues
5.Living With The Dead
6.The extremely rare periodicals "Evergreen"
7.Got A Revolution! book on JA
8.Although it lost its cutting edge quality during the early 80s Rolling Stone magazine's core 8 years (67-75)is very good also...remember the Viet Nam War wasn't over until 1975

Note: Seek out the Country Joe & Fish / Electric Waves Of Sound box set not only for the essential music but also the DVD "How We Stopped The War" & all the groovy ephemera

 

"The Afterthought" by Jerry Kruz possibly?

 

That Gleason book is essential, period interviews with just about every musician on the 60's S.F. scene .

 

One of my all time favorite movies. Saw it when it first came out.

 

I'll second this one.

https://www.amazon.com/Hippie-Barry-Miles/dp/1402728735