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The Summer of Love, a gathering of visionaries, romantics, and advocates for peace, started in June 1967 in the Haight neighborhood of San Francisco, CA.
According to the California Historical Society [1], “The spring and summer of 1967 brought nearly 100,000 outsiders, activists, and dreamers to San Francisco. These young people traveled far and wide to jzoin a community of artists, musicians, poets, and radicals who would change the world- influencing popular culture through music and art; launching the natural and organic foods movement; protesting war with peace and love; and ushering in an era of greater connectivity.”
So how did this summer of love begin?
Just a couple months before the summer of 1967, new laws were passed to ban the usage of the hallucinogenic drug, LSD. On January 14, artist Michael Bowen advertised an event in the San Francisco Chronicle featuring speakers such as Timothy Leary, a psychologist known for advocating the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs, Gary Snyder, an environmental activist, Lenore Kandel, a female poet, and social activist, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, as well as musical performers including Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, and Big Brother and the Holding Company.
Over 25,000 free spirited and open minded people crowded the Golden Gate Park to partake in copious amounts of LSD while peacefully enjoying the rally. The event was so monumental it drew national media attention which in turn attracted thousands of newcomers (mostly hippies with nothing but the clothes on their back and students out on spring break) to the quant San Francisco neighborhood.
[2] “The local government, in an attempt to warn hippies to stay away from the city, unintentionally brought even more attention to the hippie haven. Soon, local residents responded by taking action to form the Council of the Summer of Love, establishing a name for the phenomenon. The locals, who anticipated problems stemming from the massive influx of people established housing, sanitation, music and arts events, a free clinic for medical treatment and even a free store providing basic needs for the neighborhood visitors.”
After months of media hype, hundreds of thousands of hippies, students, activists, and anyone looking to get away from the norm found their way to the California coast. [3] “They streamed into San Francisco by rail, car and thumb, packed into VW vans and on foot, ready for whatever was about to happen. They came cradling their youthful idealism; some even wore flowers in their hair, as a popular song that summer suggested.”
Why are we sharing this with you and what does it have to do with JBugs?
Well, it’s pretty obvious that we love anything and everything to do with classic Volkswagens and the sixties just so happens to have a lot to do with the popularity of the classic VW Bus!
The Summer of Love and basically the entire decade of the 60’s is the reason the VW Bus is known as the hippie van.
[4] “’The hippie movement fell in love with the bus for a few reasons,’ says McKeel Hagerty, classic car market expert. ‘It was cheap to maintain, easy to work on, and big enough to live in.’”
It was large enough to carry a substantial amount of hippies from state to state in search of the free life. With the air-cooled engine placed in the back of the bus, not only was there plenty of room in the cab for the driver and its passengers but the drive was less noisy and not as hot. The VW Bus was also a comfortable ride due to the independent suspension. Additionally, because of their size, the VW Bus had above average fuel consumption, especially compared to the trucks being offered in the United States at the time.
Being comfortable, having a considerable amount of space and not using a lot of fuel are great qualities for a vehicle on a long road trip, especially for those people who came with nothing but the clothes on their backs in search of free love, free spirits and open minds.
Who would’ve thought that a German engineered vehicle would be part of one of the greatest American cultural revolutions?! But if you think about the crowd at the Summer of Love festival, the Bus makes so much sense. [4] “The Bus flew in the face of traditional social culture. It was anti-style, anti-success, and rebellious.”
The Bus may represent anti-success, but the Summer of Love festival was such a huge success that for many years after, people gathered together once a year to commemorate the moment.
Last year marked the 50th year of such a monumental occasion and every year since 1978, the quant neighborhood on Haight and Ashbury celebrate the legacy left behind by free thinkers, nonconformists, and unconventional characters.
If you’re in a far out mood, we highly recommend visiting the Summer of Love street fair in June of next year. Sorry to break the news a couple months too late but we thought this was a perfect topic to add to our summer themed blogs. At least you have a good amount of time to plan an epic trip (pun can be intended if you’re about that life).
While you’re waiting for the fair of a lifetime, be sure to check out www.JBugs.com for everything VW. We’ve got fun activities for the kids, how-to videos, installation guides and much more.
Until next time!
References
[1] California Historical Society. (n.d.). About the 50th Anniversary of The Summer of Love. [Summer of Love Online Bio]. Retrieved on 07/02/2018 from http://summerof.love/
[2] Holcomb, C. (2016). What Was San Francisco’s Summer of Love? [The Culture Trip Online Article]. Retrieved on 07/03/2018 from https://theculturetrip.com/
[3] Love, R. (2017). Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Summer of Love. [AARP Online Article]. Retrieved on 07/02/2018 from https://www.aarp.org/
{4] Stewart, B. (2017). Peace, Love, & the VW Bus: The Story of a Boxy Legend. [Popular Mechanics Online Article]. Retrieved on 07/03/2018 from https://www.popularmechanics.com/
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