"Age is irrelevant. Ask me
how many sunsets I've seen, hearts I've love,
trips I've taken, or
concerts I've been to.
That's how old I am." -Joelle
Happy Birthday to me.
"Around here,
we don't look backwards
for very long...
We keep moving forward,
opening up new doors and
doing new things
because we're curious...
and curiosity keeps leading us
down new paths." -Walt Disney
My response to my friend Cheryl that said she lived in Haight Ashbury for a year 1968-69.
Cheryl Alexander what a time for you to be there. I went there quite by accident with three friends. It was around 1966. I remember walking the streets and thinking this was profound. I came home and told my sister I had experienced something so wonderful and I made drawings of the people I saw, long hair, beards, leather and beads. It changed me. I opened a hippie store about a year later in Pasadena with my cousin Pati and two friends Holly and Jack. Things were going on in southern California that probably wanted to mimic Haight Ashbury. There were stores opening on Fairfax like "I'm a Hog For You Baby" which sold hippie dresses for $13.00 and there were underground light shows on the weekends in that area. We did our best and tried too. We were in the basement of a Masonic Temple. There was an art gallery and our store "The Everyday Cartoon" and on the street level antique stores, a girlie theater and across the street a small shop run by a guy named David the Sandal-maker. We were on Fair Oaks avenue just a block or so from Colorado boulevard. It was seedy and grungy but we had hope. They kept telling us hold on, "this place is going to be very hip and cool." The "Free Press" book stored opened on the corner. There were a few stores opening . Fast forward thirty years and Colorado and Fair Oaks finally did become a booming, very cool area. We could not have waited that long. We had the shop for a one year lease. I guess you could call it my version of a "gap year". In the fall of 1968 I started UCLA and returned to complete my education as I had promised my parents I would do if they let me have the shop for one year. My parents had co-signed the lease. We always made the rent and they never had to give us any money. We sewed fantasy be-in type flowery dresses, a wall of earrings and love beads, incense and psychedelic mushroom incense holders. We took in consignment art. It was our nod to Peace and Love. On some sundays my sister and I would drive to Griffith park to watch the people gather. It was the time of weekly be-ins and love ins there. Our shop participated in a Fantasy Faire somewhere in Agoura hills. The Doors, Jefferson Airplane and other popular groups performed there. We took turns leaving our booth to watch the groups perform. It was a huge event and so much fun. My aunt made beautiful flower wreaths with ribbons for us to sell. It was a wonderful time to be young. I bet you've got great stories of your time in San Francisco. I used to take the $13.00 red eye flights and made frequent trips there. I have photographs somewhere of the peace marches we participated in. We did crazy things like hitch-hiking. Things I would never dream to do. It was a time where people wore flowers in their hair and flashed the peace sign to other long haired, torn jeans kids and they would drive by and flash the peace signs back. Those early days were so innocent. We believed in Peace and Love and that just believing in that would change the world.
See these posts for more about this time:
http://followbarbsbliss.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-long-time-ago.html
http://followbarbsbliss.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-everyday-cartoon.html
"May your walls know joy,
may every room hold laughter,
and every window open to great
possibility." -Mary Anne Radmacher
