Two weeks into fall, the Summer of Love was officially over — but in case anyone hadn’t gotten the memo, a group of Haight-Ashbury residents marched through the streets of San Francisco today carrying a coffin to symbolize the “Death of the Hippie.” Said one of the organizers, “We wanted to signal that this was the end of it, to stay where you are, bring the revolution to where you live and don’t come here because it’s over and done with.”
Meanwhile, in London, The Beatles were putting the finishing touches on “Blue Jay Way,” overdubbing cello and tambourine. Timing-wise, this makes a kind of sense, as “Blue Jay Way” was written on the same U.S. trip where George visited SF during the Summer of Love and was grossed out by all the “spotty youths.” In my head I am imagining a montage of all the worst parts of the SoL — the streets lined with strung-out, homeless, hungry kids — as George sings, “My friends have lost their way.” Let the last shot be of the “Death of the Hippie” parade, and then we can move on to the next thing.
The pic you chose here wasn’t actually from the “Death Of Hippie” event–it stems from an earlier Digger event, “Death Of Money”, on December 17, 1966. It’s easy to confuse them though because they carried a coffin for both events.