In 1967 I was miserable at Berkeley High School. I was a tiny cog in a wheel containing over 3,000 students. The wheel was crushing me. Racial tensions were palpable and uncomfortable. Cliques were exclusive little clubs and I felt like I didn’t belong in any of them....

The Bay Area had several notable newspapers that thrived during the Sixties, offering an alternative to the standard-issue local rags. They reflected the opinions and perspectives of the counterculture. The Berkeley Barb was founded in 1965 by Max Scherr, the owner of...

People’s Park was a precarious battle waiting to happen. The air was already charged with visceral tension. On the government’s side, there was a desire to pull the plug on the Vietnam War protestors and politically radical groups. On the activist public’s side, there...

There were contradictory values of freedom of individual expression, being unique, looking unique and doing your own thing, and being part of a tribe, taking part in a collective mindset to think for the good of a group, to live communally and to share whatever you...

On June 9, 1967 I turned sixteen. My parents marked this birthday with some major fireworks: tickets to the entire Monterey International Pop Festival. It was taking place the following weekend. I would be at one with a giant group (I’ve since seen figures ranging...

By 1968, sexual mores, and the amount of information about sex had changed considerably. Pioneers of sex education and research began loosening myths and prejudices. Human Sexual Response by Masters and Johnson had been published in 1966, shedding a scientific light...

I do believe that Hell exists for people who have religions, because they are afraid of going to Hell. But people who are in spirituality have already been there. We are living in both right here. We are living in heaven and living in Hell. Which one do you choose?...

Rock ‘n’ roll was where the power was. It could be seen by anyone, and if you wanted to raise money for anything from the Vietnam Day bail to the Democratic Party, you ran a rock dance. —Ralph J. Gleason For every concert and happening at which I cavorted there was an...

The Trips Festival: First Large San Francisco Rock Gathering A new, exciting, subversive, dangerous purple haze of music and music-based culture was enveloping Berkeley and San Francisco. The earliest warning signals came to me from Laura Allan, a beautiful and...