The infrastructure of a scene
A neighbourhood needs more than a crowd to function as a community. In 1967 the Haight had a set of shops, publications and volunteer services that gave newcomers somewhere to go and something to read, and that held the district together while the number of visitors grew. This article looks at the best-known of them. Some details, such as exact opening and closing dates, vary between sources, and where memory is uncertain it is noted.
The Psychedelic Shop
The Psychedelic Shop, at 1535 Haight Street, was opened in January 1966 by the brothers Ron and Jay Thelin. It sold books, posters, incense, pipes and other items, and it served as a meeting place where visitors could get information, leave messages and attend poetry readings. The shop was a founding member of the Haight Independent Proprietors, the merchants’ group. Its back room was used as a quiet space for meditation, according to several accounts. The Thelins became influential figures in the neighbourhood, and the shop was reportedly closed in the autumn of 1967, around the time of the Death of Hippie ceremony, as a sign of unease about the commercialisation of the scene.
The Print Mint
The Print Mint sold posters and prints, and it supplied the dance-hall and psychedelic rock posters that spread the look of the period. It had a Berkeley base, and a Haight Street outlet put its goods in front of visitors. The company later published underground comics, which became a notable part of West Coast counterculture publishing. As in other shops, the posters were both art and commodity: they made the scene visible, and they sold well to tourists.
The Haight Ashbury Switchboard
The Haight Ashbury Switchboard operated as a message and referral service in 1967. Callers and visitors could use it to find a place to sleep, a ride, a job, a doctor or a lost friend. In a district with no formal welcome service, and with a large and changing population, this kind of central information point was practical and widely used. The Switchboard was run by volunteers, and its records are not extensive, so it is better described as a simple but effective service than as a large organisation.
The Oracle
The San Francisco Oracle, which began publishing in September 1966, was the neighbourhood’s own newspaper. It was edited by Allen Cohen and produced by a group of writers and artists, and it became known for elaborate multicolour printing and mystical, poetic content. It announced the Human Be-In and carried essays, poems and artwork. About a dozen issues appeared before it ended in 1968. The Oracle was a leading example of the underground press, and it circulated well beyond the Haight, helping to attract visitors to the district.
The Diggers and their free store
The Diggers took their name from a seventeenth-century English group that tried to share land and goods. In the Haight they ran a free store, a place where clothing and household goods could be taken without payment, and they served free meals in the Panhandle in the afternoons, often a stew made with donated food. They also arranged free shelter where possible. Their theatre-like actions and anarchist ideas, associated with the policy sometimes called Digger politics, made them both admired and controversial. The Diggers saw the free store as a challenge to commerce, as much as a service. For many young people with no money, though, it was a practical lifeline.
The Grateful Dead house
The Grateful Dead lived and rehearsed at 710 Ashbury Street, a Victorian house, and the band became closely associated with the neighbourhood. They played free concerts and took part in neighbourhood events. In October 1967 police raided the house on a drug charge, an event that received press attention and added to the sense that the district’s honeymoon with the city was over. The house was a focus of attention for fans then and has been since, though it is a private residence.
Other services
Besides these, the district had cafes, small music venues, an informal network of crash pads and, from June 1967, the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic, which provided care to those who could not pay. The clinic’s founders drew on the energy of volunteer doctors and nurses. Its story is closely linked to the social problems of the summer, which are discussed in a separate article.
Making sense of them
Looking at these institutions together shows something that popular images miss: the Haight of 1967 had a working, if fragile, structure. Residents ran businesses, wrote and printed newspapers, answered telephones and cooked meals. Many were unpaid, and most depended on donations, so the system strained as the crowds increased. Some of the hippie entrepreneurs who started businesses also faced a dilemma about how far to commercialise, a debate that shaped the autumn of 1967.
Even the groups that were most open to newcomers could not match the numbers that arrived. The institutions were vital to the scene, and they were also evidence of how fast it grew beyond what the neighbourhood could support. The San Francisco Sound and other cultural products drew a spotlight, but this unglamorous infrastructure made daily life possible.