East Haight Street

Venturing down the east end of Haight street is an adventure in itself. The street is lined with shops that can provide you with anything you will ever need, as well as enough entertainment to last you a lifetime

The first store starting down the right side of east Haight street is called Skunkfunk. Skunkfunk is a store that focuses on organic clothing with an artistic twist. It provides fashion for those who have a somewhat urban style and are conscious about our planet. Skunkfunk sees fashion in a different light, and produces clothing according to style and sustainability.

 

The next store that will be passed is called Puff Puff Pass. The name says it all for this hedge shop, as incense fill your lungs when you walk in and your vision is filled with different shapes of blown glass, some pipes and some bongs. This store represents an aspect of the Summer of Love that was never exactly legal, but heavily apparent in the lifestyle of those who lived in the Haight and Ashbury district– Marijuana smoking.

 

 

Next on our right is a store called Pure Land, which again, smells of incense and is somewhat hazy considering the various reeds being burned. This store creates a sense of inner peace and centering of oneself as it has many artifacts from the Asian religions. Other than incense, this store has freedom tapestries from tibet, beautifully crafted jewelry, and clothing and bags made out of hemp.

 

Right next to Pure Land, continuing our walk down the eastern side of Haight is a quaint little panini shop, that serves breakfast and lunch paninis to those who work and live in the area. From personal experience, I highly recommend the chicken pesto panini at any time of the day!

P-Kok is directly to the right of the panini shop, and it provides some of the funkiest, most retro clothes on Haight, yet. From locally made, psychedelic jewelry to clothing to match, P-Kok takes tourists back to some of the craziest of times through the bright colors and fashions it displays inside.

Continuing onward, we will pass a bar called Trax Bar, where locals and visitors alike can go in and enjoy a cool, dark atmosphere while sipping on their favorite beer or cocktail. This bar isn’t a crazy raging bar, but a place for people to come together, listen to good music, and enjoy each other’s conversation.

 

 

 

Gypsy Street Wear brings the sixties alive by reviving some of the most rebellious fashions of the time. Situated right next to Trax Bar, Gypsy Street Wear is a great juxtaposition to the bar, showing off more intense colors and cuts of fabric through window displays.

 

 

 

 

Happy High Herbs is a smoke shop right next to Gypsy Street Wear. It has some of the most intricate and detailed bongs and pipes on Haight street in all. In addition to pieces, this store legally sells Marijuana to medical card holders. This store symbolizes an aspect of the sixties in that it contain Marijuana, but also shows how times have progressed in a sense that it legally sells the recreational drug, now.

 

 

 

 

Taking us back even further in the years is the Recycled Record store. This store has cases and cases filled with old vinyl records from the Beatle to the Stones, and every album they recorded at that. This store is a hub of preservation, considering that most people don’t even buy compact discs any more, but download music off of the internet.

 

 

 

 

Accompanying the concept of a record store is the shop right next to it: Bound Together Anarchist Collective Bookstore. To find bookstores at all anymore is rather difficult, but to find one with older books is even harder. Haight has been able to preserve so many aspects of the past through its shops, and artifacts like old books and records are among to two most coveted.

 

Crossing the street at the end of the block to head back up toward the Haight and Ashbury intersection, visitors will see the outside of a Chinese Immersion School. This elementary school is fenced in, but behind the chain links the walls are covered in colorful murals appealing to eyes of children, and mosaic tiles cover parts of the wall with notes of inspiration on them like “no way” and “we all deserve peace.” Regardless of when this school was established, it reminds us of a time that was scary, corrupt and violent– The Vietnam War. It was during this war that the movement of free love started on the Haight, and the fact that a Chinese Immersion school exists right in the midst of it all fortifies the message behind the movement, and inhibits the perspectives of the “hippies” that occupied and still occupy the Haight and Ashbury district.

Next to the school is a store called Jammin on Haight. This store has a lot of the amenities of the other stores, but also sums up all that makes the Haight and Ashbury district. It has books about the history of the Haight, clothing that represents the traditional style, and hand crafted jewelry and paraphernalia, as well. Aside from the items in this store, it’s workers are very friendly people who hold the virtue and rich history of the Haight dear to their hearts. Lets stop and talk to one of the workers before we move on: (Interview with Melanie—Employee at Jammin on Haight)

Me: How long have you been associated with the Haight?

Melanie: I am originally from the East Coast, but came to Haight and Ashbury in 1997 and fell in love. I moved out here a few years later, and although I don’t live on Haight, I have worked here ever since!

Me: How would you describe the culture on Haight and in the Haight and Ashbury District?

Melanie: I think that the Haight Ashbury district represents a time gone by, when there was lots of love and openness… and care for other people. I do believe that there are still people trying to preserve that.

Me: Do you feel like it still embodies the movements and atmosphere of the Summer of Love?

Melanie: I think that during modern times a little bit of that has fallen away, but a lot of the elders that are here, they give tours and still try to preserve it and keep it around.

Me: How do you feel the drug culture has transpired during the years?

Melanie: You definitely see a lot of that floating around, but back in the sixties, when LSD was still legal, that is when the birth of that really happened. It was a huge part of the psychedelic movement down here, but the issue is that it carried on even after it was made illegal. It is still here but I don’t think it is as prevalent—but I mean cannabis is practically legal in California now. It comes down to that it started here as a movement; there were a lot of chemists here, a lot of music that brought it, and people just went with it.

Me: So do you think that in the sixties people were just looking for a place to practice their free love and needed something to help them rebel against the government and the Vietnam War?

Melanie: I look at it like this: when you see those photos, of people who saw The Beatles for the first time… and there are women and they are screaming and fainting, and losing their minds—that was a time of innocence. People hadn’t yet been exposed to all of the food, the pharmaceuticals and all of the science that we have now. People were still naïve and innocent in a sense. And then comes this movement of music and love and openness, where as people of the before times were so rigid with themselves. It had to be the perfect family, and you had to do the right thing and dress right and live by your government. Then here comes this thought process that says ‘do right by you… do what you want in life and live by your dreams.’ I just see it that way… there was never an American culture that moved so many people.

Me: What is one characteristic or quality of this district that really draws you here?

Melanie: I think it is really the people. I mean, they are all crazy and wacky, but they really move you and inspire you to just let it out and live it up.

Getting thoughts from the actual residents and longtime lovers of the Haight really makes it magic and ambiance of the past come alive. One final thing we will see on our tour of the East side of Haight are small dedication Gardens scattered toward the end of the walk. These gardens are started around the base of trees and are caged in for protection. In each garden, plants are growing around pictures and other items of memorabilia regarding some of the Haight’s most famous visitors, activists, and homeowners. Amongst the various gardens, one exists for The Beatles, Janis Joplin, and The Grateful Dead.