Summer of Love
The Summer of Love was a major social phenomenon that occurred in San Francisco during the summer of 1967. As many as 100,000 people, mostly young people, hippies, beatniks, and 1960s counterculture figures, converged in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district and Golden Gate Park.
More broadly, the Summer of Love encompassed hippie culture, spiritual awakening, hallucinogenic drugs, anti-war sentiment, and free love throughout the West Coast of the United States, and as far away as New York City.
Hippies, sometimes called flower children, were an eclectic group. Many opposed the Vietnam War, were suspicious of government, and rejected consumerist values. In the United States, counterculture groups rejected suburbia and the American way and instead opted for a communal lifestyle. Some hippies were active in political organization, whereas others were passive and more concerned with art (music, painting, poetry in particular) or spiritual and meditative practices. Many hippies took interest in ancient Indian religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
Quotes about the Summer of Love
[edit]- [Summer of Love was] the defining moment of the hippie movement.
- Brooklyn Vegan (June 16, 2017) [1]
- A February article in Newsweek called what was happening “a psychedelic picnic.” As more people began to move to the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, countercultural leaders realized they needed to organize for the influx and created a council. In April, the council held a press conference urging America’s youth to come be part of what was happening in San Francisco that summer—it was time for the Summer of Love.
- Teresa Nowakowski of Smithsonian Magazine (January 14, 2025) [2]
