The purpose of this project is to understand California within the context of a brief and specific cultural history. California, of course, can be understood in many ways, but understanding the brief phenomenon of the Haight District during the summer of 1967 in San Francisco will help bring about a greater understanding of what draws people to California.
The summer of love itself served as a rejection of American culture and ideals and sought to embrace a more simple existence founded on the principles of love and peace. For all the fuss that was made about what happened on the streets of Haight and Ashbury, the objective of most people who moved into the neighborhood seems to have been to experiment with a new way of living where life wasn’t about obtaining more money, but rather understanding oneself and trying to enjoy life peacefully. This represents an important event in history because it was an isolated social revolution in which people completely changed their individual priorities. People, by the thousands, got up and moved away from their everyday lives to be a part of this place because it offered something that couldn’t be found anywhere else.
It has become clear to me in my research that many prominent figures were essential to the movement and to the allure of San Francisco itself. There were many artists, poets, activists, and musicians that drove the movement forward and gave it true purpose. This project seeks to uncover what the ways in which the works and actions of these prominent figures inspired youth from across America to congregate in one small region of San Francisco. This will be achieved by collecting resources such as; photographs, interviews (print and video), poetry, and writing.
The World They Imagined 