I’ve been on a spree lately, featuring my favorite funky spots, including Atlanta’s Little Five Points and Los Angeles’ Venice Beach. So I couldn’t go to San Francisco without visiting hippie heaven in Haight-Ashbury.
A local on the MUNI told me that Haight-Ashbury has become very commercial (as evidenced in the feature photo, in front of a Ben and Jerry’s) and the “true” artists now reside in other areas of Upper Haight. But it still seemed like a great place to look around and browse the many vintage shops.
Haight-Ashbury was known as the center for the 1960s counterculture in the city. The “Painted Ladies” have been home to Janis Joplin and members of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane.
The vintage stores have items from the Summer of Love and the Betty Page store inspired me to throw a Mad Men party. I ended up buying a dress for one of the many upcoming weddings at one of the boutiques.
While The Haight may be more commercialized these days, you can still find certain “items” that you’re looking for. Medical marijuana is legal in California and San Francisco’s policy on smoking it in public is lax at best. But if you don’t want to get caught, stores like Happy High Herbs offer legal versions of the ones that made the area so popular in the first place.
I’ve been to the Haight but it strikes me as a cool place to visit
I meant to say “I never been to the Haight…”