Fifty Years On From The Summer Of Love, Haight-Ashbury Still Sings Those Weird Songs Of Hope

Half a century later, Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco is worth a visit. It was here the greatest mass experimentation of 'inner revolution' took place, as the summer of 1967 began: Around 100,000 people had gathered, with the famous motto 'turn on, tune in, drop out', which was introduced by Timothy Leary, who had been a promoter of LSD as the gate to individual willing to 'change within'. 

Regardless of whether LSD or other mind-altering drugs — such as peyote or mushrooms — would take the lead, the mood of the era was of shaping a 'counter-culture' that defied the norms of the elder generations; and stood against what Bob Dylan had labeled 'masters of war'. 

Manifesto itself was made visible in Monterey Festival, which introduced a brand new way of interpreting the world with pioneers like Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, and the Mamas and the Papas. 

The summer of 1967 was an optimistic, heady time, following on from the beat generation’s championing of sexual liberation and freedom, and the Trips festival in San Francisco the year before, when 10,000 people watched the Grateful Dead perform, many of them high on LSD, having heeded the festival flyer’s words: “The audience participates because it’s more fun to do so than not.”

That summer was the contribution of America to Europe's more violent and politicised 1968, telling the planet that 'to change things externally, you have to begin by changing yourself'.

It was a pacifist movement, which rejected nationalism, gender inequality and social injustices. But soon, its ideals were destroyed to a great deal by hard drugs, although the message remains, as the world experiences each summer with more hatred these days, as strong as ever.

How is it now in Haight-Ashbury with Ferlinghetti's legendary City Lights books store at its epicenter? 

Here is a different trip after 50 years.