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.[1][2] 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.[3][4] An episode of the PBS documentary series American Experience referred to the Summer of Love as "the largest migration of young people in the history of America".[5]
For the concurrent period of the 1967 race riots, see Long hot summer of 1967. For other uses, see Summer of Love (disambiguation).Date
1967
~100,000 (estimated)
- A surge in 1960s counterculture in the United States
- Inspiration for the Second Summer of Love in the United Kingdom in 1988
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.[4] Many hippies took interest in ancient Indian religion, such as Hinduism and Buddhism. While the Summer of Love is often regarded as a significant cultural event, its actual significance to ordinary young people of the time, particularly in Britain, has been disputed.[6]