OCTOBER 6th - The Death of the Hippie




This day in 1967 was the Death of the Hippie ceremony held after the Summer of Love in the Haight-Ashbury District of San Francisco. Despite the name, The Death of the Hippie was not some anti-hippie protest held by red-blooded conservative meat-eaters who wanted to set fire to patchouli oil and end free love. It was held to announce that the rest of the hippies should cease to come to Haight-Ashbury regardless of whether they were wearing flowers in their hair. So it was actually more of a notice that said “Hey guys, sorry you missed the Summer of Love here in San Fran, but it’s over now. You should just embrace our communal ideals of love and sharing coupled with our mind expanding attitudes towards drugs and sex in the places that you live and bring the hippie movement nationwide.” The whole movement proved to have some staying power, aided by bands like The Grateful Dead, Phish, and Widespread Panic. I get it. Psychedelic drugs and being one with nature and loving each other and all that. There are worse ideals to chase after. But [Spoiler Alert] Wyatt and Billy getting shot up at the end of Easy Rider, kind put an end to any thought I had of heading west to live on a commune. But the hacky sack dudes who still wear Birkenstocks and only ever raise their voice if you are harshing their mellow? Well you’ve got to respect them. Although I doubt they care if you do. Because the Death of the Hippie was actually just the beginning. Even though hippies do not believe the man-made construct of time.

WARNING: One day a hipster will read this and organize the Summer of Ironic Cool in some place that’s too cool for you to know about. I doubt it will last a whole summer though. Some guy will show up wearing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shirt unironically and the whole thing will shut down.

This day has been Marked.

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