Monday, May 3, 2010

Scenes From The Sixties

After computer viruses and tornados and oil spills and condo anguish and last night's thunderstorms, I'm ready at last to show the photos I intended to show a week ago.  These were all taken by my first husband who was attending the University of San Diego at the time.  He was part of the original radical hippie movement and the photos are from anti-war demonstrations in San Diego and Europe.

Lynn took this photo at the local militant hippie clubhouse.  You can tell that from the Malcolm X and Che Guevara pictures on the wall, plus the longhair is wearing a beret.  Nice butt, too.

Here we have four San Diego policemen armed and ready for action against the crazed drug-fueled hippies.  I think the one on the right is hoping that he'll get some good shots of braless hippie girls.  From the serious look on his face, though, I'm pretty sure that camera was actually going to be used to identify potential terrorists.  I'm also pretty sure those bags slung on their hips contained gas masks, so they were probably hoping for expecting trouble.

This motorcycle cop looks pretty damn sexy.  "Arrest me.  PLEASE!"  (And check out the gangsterline and VW bug on the street, not to mention the Harley Electra-Glide!).

Actual 60's protest demonstration in progress.  Note frizzy hair.  Note pumping fists.  Note sign on left that pretty much covers anything and everything the U.S. was accused of being against back then.  Things haven't changed much in 40 years, have they? 


Lynn and his girlfriend (who became his first wife) went to Europe during all the unrest in the States.  Look what they found!  A bunch of longhair hippie scumsters in Denmark, beating drums and carrying signs that say "Bosses! Come out of the ghetto!" and "You are a victim of society's impact role monster!"  Well, Google translator had a hard time with that one, but you get the gist.  Just in case you couldn't figure it out, the "Fyldepenne" sign says "pens".  Duh. 

Lynn also took photos of the mellow side of hippie life and I'll share those this week. 

Grooooooovy!

9 comments:

  1. Wow, groovy is right!

    Funny how it was the drug crazed hippies protesting back then, now it's the tea-crazed "patriots" this time lol...

    Do you think protests actually make changes?

    Maybe I have become cynical in my old age. =)

    Excellent photos...

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  2. I was never part of the really radical protests but remember them well. The violence scared the poop out of me. Crazy Time of our lives!

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  3. Great photos. I was not a big protester but my girlfriends and I headed to Berkeley during the People's Park riots to check out the action. Dumb move on our parts. Think I'll go put on my Buffalo Springfield album....For What It's Worth.

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  4. Really cool photos! I can't wait to see the others!

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  5. Great photos, I always thought I was born ten years too late, I was a small child when all this was going on.

    And oh, two words.

    Motorcycle. Cop.

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  6. Cool photos! Looking forward to seeing the mellow side :)

    I wasn't doing much in the 60's (not born yet), so it's fun to see the photos & hear the stories behind them.

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  7. Wow, do those bring back memories! Being a little church-going Okie back then, the only exposure I got to hippies was through the Nightly News with Walter Cronkite, but seeing these pics reminds me of all that I missed out on! In fact, on my second day of college, someone was smoking hash outside the student union and I didn't even know what it was! But I do love those photos! Great job!

    Liz

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  8. Very groovy indeed! Loved seeing these pics!

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  9. Love the photos! I did the Million Mom March, but that's about all I've done in the protest department. If I was older than 3 in the 60's, I'm sure I would have protested, too!

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