50th anniversary of the Summer of Love

[Oss Rae]

On Saturday September 23 I attended an event in Golden Gate Park celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Summer of Love. Here's a short write-up I did about it for Indybay (San Francisco's IndyMedia site).

www.indybay.org/newsitems/2017/10/01/18803351.php

More than ever I think it must've been an amazing period to experience first-hand.

[Roberta]

It was! Summer of 1967 I spent living in a small sleeping porch of my brother's apartment on a "sidewalk street" (Park Place if memory serves) in Venice, and holding a clerical job at a NASA educational support office at the corner of Pico and Main in Santa Monica. I had applied in Columbus Ohio to a "federal jobs for college students" program, giving them the address I would be at, and being placed there. Hard to imagine such a program now. Our office ran a "Spacemobile" or somesuch program, introducing school classes to NASA space explorations. My commute consisted of walking down the beach, past the Cheetah etc. and weekends brought be-ins/love-ins on Venice beach. Details are pretty hazy but I will never forget the groovy feeling.

Nice article and great pictures, thanks for bringing it all back to me Ross.

[Oss Rae]

I've heard Venice referred to as a "little San Francisco," and even now there's still strong activism there. What is/was the Cheetah?

In August of 1967 my dad went up to S.F. and participated in a peace march (I still have pix of it). My mom wanted to go, but she was pregnant with me. The march ended at Kezar Stadium, where he recalls stuff being thrown at them.

[Sharon W]

I didn't move to Venice until Oct. 1974. I lived on Vista Place, another sidewalk street between Main and Pacific. Park Place is very near. Roberta, if you had stayed in Venice we might have know each other 30 years longer! It was very interesting living there, with drum circles on the beach every night. The 1972 Kris Kristofferson film "Cisco Pike" was filmed in the neighborhood.

[Roberta]

Would have been cool had we met in Venice, Sharon! When I returned to L.A. after college, I entered the UCLA orbit and didn’t have a car for quite a while, and Venice was too long a bus ride.

Oct 11, 2017 18:11:53 GMT -8 Oss Rae said:

I've heard Venice referred to as a "little San Francisco," and even now there's still strong activism there. What is/was the Cheetah?

rockandrollroadmap.com/places/where-they-played/los-angeles-area-venues/the-cheetah-club/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aragon_Ballroom_(Ocean_Park,_Santa_Monica,_California)

[Sharon W]

I lived in Venice until 1981 when Bill and I married. It was a great time and place to be young.

[Oss Rae]

Oct 14, 2017 20:07:16 GMT -8 Roberta said:

Oct 11, 2017 18:11:53 GMT -8 Oss Rae said:

I've heard Venice referred to as a "little San Francisco," and even now there's still strong activism there. What is/was the Cheetah?

rockandrollroadmap.com/places/where-they-played/los-angeles-area-venues/the-cheetah-club/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aragon_Ballroom_(Ocean_Park,_Santa_Monica,_California)

Interesting!