TIMELINE of The Counterculture & Hippies

Mid-60’s
Some of the earliest San Francisco hippies were former students who became interested by the developing psychedelic music scene. These students joined the bands they loved, living communally in the large, inexpensive Victorian apartments. The Musical groupsJefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and the Grateful Deadall moved to San Francisco's Haight-Ashburydistrict during this period.

Summer of Love (1967)
The Human Be-In at Golden Gate Parkhelped to popularize hippie culture across the U.S. with the gathering of 20,000 hippies.Time magazine featured a story that described the rules of the hippie code: "Do your own thing, wherever you have to do it and whenever you want. Drop out, Leave society, leave it completely. Blow the mind of each straight person you'll be able to reach. Flip them on, if not drugs, then to beauty, love, honesty, fun."On March 26, 10,000 hippies came together in Manhattan for the Central Park Be-In on Easter Sunday. The Monterey Pop Festival from June 16-18 introduced the rock music of the counterculture to a wide audience. Scott McKenzie's song, "San Francisco", included the lyrics, "If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair",inspiring young people to travel to San Francisco, and distribute flowers to passersby.

Ongoing Revolution (1968–1969)
In April 1969,UC Berkeley had demolished numerous buildings near campus, intending to use the land to build playing fields and a parking lot. After a long delay, thousands of Berkeley citizens, merchants, students, and hippies took matters into their own hands, planting trees, flowers and grass to convert the land into a park. A major confrontation followed on May 15, 1969, and Governor Ronald Reagan sent the US National Guard to Berkeley for two weeks. Flower powercame into its own during this occupation as hippies engaged in acts of non-violent rebellion byplanting flowers in empty lots all over Berkeley under the slogan "Let A Thousand Parks Bloom."
In August 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Festivaltook place in Bethel, New York, which exemplified the best of hippie counterculture. Over 500,000 people arrived to hear the most notable musicians and bands of the era, among them Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Creedance Clearwater Revival, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Carlos Santana, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, and Jimi Hendrix.

In December 1969, a similar musical event took place in Altamont, California, about 30 mileseast of San Francisco. Initially billed as "Woodstock West", its official name was The Altamont Free Concert. About 300,000 people gathered to hear The Rolling Stones; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; Jefferson Airplane and others. Unfortunately, tragedy struck the event: 18-year-old Meredith Hunter was stabbed and killed during The Rolling Stones performance.

Aftershocks (1970–present)
By 1970, the 60’s zeitgeist(spirit of the times) that inspired hippie culture was weakening. The events at Altamont shocked many Americans. The oppressive political atmosphere that featured the bombing of the countryCambodia and the College shootingby the National Guardat Kent State University still brought people together. Although not as visible as it once was, hippie culture has never died out completely: hippies can still be found on college campuses and at gatherings festivals. Many embrace the hippie values of peace, love, and community, and hippies may still be found inbohemian (free spirit) districts around the world. "If these young people hadn't declared the possibility of a new culture, a new family," says poet Michael McClure, "a new tribe, believing in peace, nature, sexuality, the positive use of psychedelic drugs -- if they hadn't been there to broaden and deepen the hundreds of thousands and then millions of people who were broadened and deepened by this -- we would be in an even bigger stew."