If You Had The Chance To Go Back To 1969 At The Age Of 19 Would You?

Indeed. A sack 'a old-ass meat with an attitude!

 

yes it does.

Sorry, but you can't separate events like Woodstock from all the things I mentioned. If it were not for the negative things I mentioned, Woodstock most likely never would have happened.
This response applies to yogamat as well.

I'm just saying don't be so naive' concerning the times, you need to consider the entire gestalt to get an actual handle on the times.

I wonder if Shale shares that idea, or any other gay members. What about black members, you certain they want to go back to '69?
the only reason scratcho is so willing to go back to '69 is because he is your average American white guy, not so sure the same attitudes prevail with other folks, and at 29, he was bottom of the barrel concerning the draft, so for him it could be all well and good.

 

AVERAGE? Why I oughta--------------------

 

What!!??
I didn't mean your dick size.....
we all know you roofers be packin' big hammers.... :unsure:

 

Personally, I found the notion of Time Traveling to be the most offensive part of the thread.

 

the OP is Canadian.. LOL VIETNAM..

 

( An aside)By the bye--I joined the National Guard as I got out of high school with a bunch of dummies in '57. Went to 6 months active duty, didn't like it (to say the least!) ,so I quit. Well, as it turns out, you can't just up and QUIT the Guard because there is an 8 year obligation. Fancy that. Got drafted for my trouble and when given a physical--they found out my knees were bad. Got an honorable discharge. Average? Don't think so.

 

In agreement with noxious:

http://www.hipforums.com/forum/topic/386073-an-open-letter-to-young-hippies/?hl=%2Bopen+%2Bletter+%2Byoung+%2Bhippies

These posts pop up fairly regularly. I think it is relatively easy to be nostalgic for a time when you weren't alive. Especially when pop culture romanticizes that period.

I think most of the people on this thread saying yes weren't there in the first place and don't know people who were. Most of the people involved with Woodstock including the audience said it was a fucking disaster for example.

C/S,
Rev j

 

Hmm Well I was alive and well back in 69! Sometimes,just sometimes,its nicer to focus more on the positive side of things instead of the doom and gloom.Example....Woodstock.Ok maybe not "everyone"had a groovy time,like any festival you could attend,but there must of been a heck of a lot of people who did right?Some posters on this thread unfortunately only want to see the negatives.

 

It just seems to me the whole wanting to go back and relive it thing seems like the antithesis of what the hippie movement was about. It was supposed to be about fixing the present for a better future not "let's go back and drop acid with Jimi!"

They want to talk about the party without the blood, vomit, and hangover.

I'm not saying a lot of good didn't come out of it. But you have to sift through the bullshit too.

I was born in 75. Coincidentally the same year my dad got out of the navy and grew his hair and beard back. He started telling me about his friend Ray Lavasser who ended up radicalized fighting police harassment in Portland, Maine. Kids getting locked up for being out after curfew, radical bookstores getting flipped over. Harassed for walking with long hair etc.

Incidentally you could get out of a lot of legal trouble back then by enlisting.

Sinc the OP is Canadian he probably would have run into people interested in defending Canada from the yellow hordes as Cheech Maren put it.

I look back at that period from the next generation. Slightly salted down by punk rock. Which I also think was necessesary. In message I see very little difference in what The Clash and Rage Against The Machine were talking about a generation or 2 later and some of the more radical left fringes of the hippie movement.

I think these things were necessesary because they were a reaction to the stoner buffoonery that the hippie movement was becoming. Essentially I've turned into every punks hippie friend. The one criticism I keep hearing is about this whole "born at the wrong time, lets go back!" Bullshit.

Free love, free dope, and free food attracts freeloaders. I refer to them as parasite hippies. They latch on to the community and only take without giving anything back.

C/S,
Rev J

 

Regardless of what you mentioned----get to 76 and then say you wouldn't want to start over being young again. You're 41, so I'll wait around for another 35 years to hear you say it .

 

specifically 1969, i don't know. that's a hard one. on the one hand, i would love to have 13 years of my life back. especially those 13 years; the 20s are a great age to be alive. on the other hand, spending a good chunk of my life in a time before decent technology and music existed would be awful.

 

Lots of todays music is better than the music in 1969, Meagain. And a lot of it also is worse. Saying music of a certain decade is this or that is always a generalisation subject to personal taste, unless of course we're talking about 80's pop music

Anyway, if time travel would be possible and I would be 19 again (highly hypothetical question of course ) yes, I would love to experience the late 60's of the former century. But I would also dig going back to the 90's again as a 19 year old (I was 18 in the year 2000), which were just as groovy if you can dig it
I also would love to experience several decades in the middle ages. Nox, you can point out how terrible it was back then. Sometimes being asked such a question and answer with yes is not just about nostalgia. It is about being intrigued and if you could experience that era what facet of it one would be interested in experiencing most. You know, a good old fun question.

 

An interesting thread, and I can understand young ppl seeing the good of the era and not the bad, but It was the best of times - It was the worst of times.

And like an intricate mandala it was all intertwined, like walking the streets of India smelling incense and shit.

I was 25 in 1969, about half a decade older than the hypothetical age, meaning I already had adult history - finished my 4 years in the Air Force, working for a couple years in New Orleans as a security guard or a cop and in the process of dropping out, which actually took full Hippie conversion in 1970 - quitting my job, driving a VW bug to the Atlanta Pop Festival then to San Francisco and hitch-hiking back. Oh, and fucking all sorts of girls (and a few guys) because of Free Luv.



And, like all the other old hippies here have mentioned, if I was 19 in 1969 I would not have had my COMPULSORY military service behind me and would either be sweating the draft or on the lam to avoid it, which would not have been a fun thing. Fort Leavenworth Kansas is not a fun place to spend your youth.

So, mustn't forget the impetus for all the dropping out and rebellion against the establishment. Mustn't forget all the bigotry & injustice of the era for blacks, for gays, for stoners (a gleaning of grass seeds in your pocket was a felony offense - five years in the slammer).

I am glad I was there and experienced it - that I was lucky and didn't get busted or murdered.

 

one other thing that isn't widely publicized or known was from around '69 through about '75-'76 there was average of multiple HUNDREDS of airline hijackings annually.
At the height there were dozens being committed weekly, yet now when hijackings rarely happen, the feds want to stick a finger up grannies ass to look for nukes before she can get on a plane...LOL

 

Well, I know several people who were there in '69 and they all say it was the time of their lives. If you've seen the movie, how can you just dismiss it as a disaster? It's my biggest regret that I didn't go when I had a chance.

 

In a heartbeat. Heck yea, PEACE love AND good VIBES. Thanks for asking the question, VIBES. I certainly would.

I was in it and I was 18 through the year of 1969. Graduated High School class of 69. I did turn 19 at the very end of 1969.

Before moving to the San Francisco Bay area in Aug 69, my life was in the land of dune buggies in Southern California. Friends of mine and I would drive into the big cities to shows and we saw: Iron Butterfly; Lead Zeppelin; Who; Leon Russel; and others in 67, 68, 69. Even saw Niel Diamond and others at a teen fair in Hollywood. We went to a huge two day all day concert in Costa Mesa in Orange County by Newport Beach. I think the Newport Beach Pop Festival, I think it was summer 68, where there were dozens of groups each day but I was trippin' so hard that all that I can remember being impressed by was, "Time Has Come Today", Young hearts have gone their was. I been psychedelisized. Time! Coo Coo. Time,
The times were so free and easy back then. Life was alive.

My buddies had a big bedroom that was a remodeled one car garage with a door to the back yard and none into the house. They had a good stereo with a good turn table. We'd listen to Highway 61, and Blond on Blond, We're Only in it for the Money, Frank Zappa, We're Ten Thousand Light Years From Home, Stones. Fresh Cream, and a lot of other brand new albums. And we'd smoke and laugh and talk about heavy things. In my bedroom I had a good stereo too. I had had all of the Beach Boys 45s and 45s like Red Rubber Ball and This Diamond Ring and Windy, by the Association. When the Real Rock came out I couldn't listen to it loud. Had to play 'em low. On a visit to my grandparents apartment in Hollywood I went to a big music store and bought a real set of studio headphones. The big ear cover sound proof commercial kind. Nobody used headsets back then. I remember it was $35 bucks. That was a ton of money back then. As example my brother bought a brand new 100cc street Yamaha in 68 for $120. full price. From then on I could lay back in bed blaring my headset all most all of the way up. Couple of Jefferson Airplane albums. Loved them. First couple of Grateful Dead albums, Disraeli Gears, Cream. Children of the Future, and Sailor, by Steve Miller Blues Band. Great stuff.

After High School ended in 1968, when I was a junior, we all went on a road trip to Northern California. Into L.A. and up the coast highway. One of my best friends had an Uncle and Aunt who thought that it might be a kick to host 4 16 and 17-year-olds for about 5 days in there spare room. They were in a beach town, a couple of towns south of San Francisco. So, our main goal was to check out San Francisco one summer after the "Summer of Love" 1967. Also to hit the beach a couple of times while we were there. We made several trips in San Francisco seeing the sights and regular stuff and one afternoon we did spend 2 or 3 hours walking up and down Haight Street. It was a ZOO. Mostly people our age and older. The sidewalks were packed shoulder to shoulder 5 or 6 people across, for at least three of the seven blocks of the commercial span of Haight Street. It was Like on big amusement park or pier or carnival. All kind of smiles and colorful cloths. Young people everywhere. Everybody maken' the scene. Some were bumming and broke. Some were sellin' yellin, "pot" or "acid." Others were just out of the door and being in the flow of people. Other were drop-ins like us. Some lived close by and came there all of the time. Others had come from across the country or from across the seas. We wandered around for a couple of hours talking with some and checking out shops the likes of which we had never seen before. It was glorious to be there in the midst of it all. It was all too real. And everyone there had an ON feeling to them.

1968 - 1969 High School year, a senior. As I had said, the class of 69. It was more of what I had mentioned above. Hanging with friends, music, smokin', once in a while going to concerts, The only thing that I forgot to mention was that if you drove to the beach or went to the pool all of the girls were in string bikinis. But I'm not going to kiss and tell. In June school ended. All done. Caps and gowns and then get right on the buses for the senior trip to grad night in Disneyland. Bused home and school's out for ever.

Just before graduation I had a talk with my art class teacher. He asked me what I was planning to do after graduation. I said that I had no idea. Go try and find a 3 dollar to maybe as high as 4.50 dollar an hour job doing something. Who knew? Maybe go and join the Marine Cops. That pays something. He laughed and said running up onto beaches straight into machine gun fire didn't sound like the best available job description to him. That gave me pause. I had never thought of going to college. I had always been a D average student. I didn't know if I would even have a high enough grade average to graduate in June. I was always great with A+ grades in Art classes. Also A+ grades in Drafting and Architecture classing. I was also taking choral music classes in my senior year, and getting A+ in those semesters. Turns out that in the very last semester of my senior year, which is all that they really count for your graduating grade, I got a D in English and a D in Math and a C in Phys.Ed. for 3 out of 7 classes and the other 4 elective classes were all A+. Crazy! A student who was always F average or D average had Made The Dean's List! A B+ average. So I did end up with the grades to go to any college. Absolutely Insane.

Not believing that I could ever even think of college, I asked my art teacher about college. I asked him where he went to college. (The San Fransisco Bay Area). And then I ask him to tell me all about it. What he told me sounded so very cool. He was from the Beat Nick times. The Beat generation. He told me about his very high-end Art College that was just a few miles south of the University of California at Berkeley. It was a private Art College that costs money and was hard to get in to. However, he said, his old college roommate just happened to be on the college admissions board. He sent him a glowing letter of recommendation about me. I was accepted and I was sent registration forms. My mom said that there was an old saving account from some insurance money that could cover one whole year of tuition, so I was blown out of my mind. 1969 - 1970 was covered. I was really going to the San Fransisco Bay right across the bridge. A bus ride or a short drive. Unbelievable. Unreal. That summer a family friend got me a job at an open quarry iron mine. It was brutal. Temps 110 to 120. June, July, and the first part of August. It was tough work but I loved it. Everybody there at that mine was getting Teamster Union wages. As a bottom rung kid I was getting $7.00 an hours which was unbelievable at that time in that area. The maximum that anyone could expect would have been $5 in that area. In the second week of August I left town with over 300 dollars cash in my wallet. That was a ton of cash. And I had no idea of what I was going to do. Can you spell A-D-V-E-N-T-U-R-E ? How about blind adventure.
Nobody would do that in this day and age. Today you have to go through a credit check to rent a new apartment.

It was about the time of Woodstock. First or second week of August 1969. Two friends were driving up to the Bay to go to a junior college on the S.F. peninsula. They dropped me and my backpack off at my new college and I waved goodbye as they drove off. I had no idea of what I was doing. REALLY. I had my sleeping bag if things happened that way. I went into the admin building to register and I met a guy and he was looking for a roommate. I was his guy. He was a Drummer who had lived two houses down from Les Paul, and his Dad had signed the Rolling Stones, the Who and many others. He knew all about who would be playing in San Francisco every weekend. I didn't even have to think. Every Friday and Saturday night he had planned.
Boy did I luck out. The big concerts cost $3.00 each. $6 per weekend. Each show was three groups. Go and look at http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com
You'll be blown away. Check Carousel Ballroom , Winterland , Family Dog amongst others. Every Friday and Saturday night we were at the best of these three group shows for 3 dollars each. What a Life!

Art college wasn't to shabby either. They had a brand new building that was an all girls dormitory. Turns out that 70% of each years freshman class are girls. I can't argue with that. And it was a killer awesome art college. Totally unbelievable. Nothing to compare it to. An artist's dream. An 18-year-olds not dream but acid trip. Beyond describing.

And the Haight-Ashbury was still there but happening lesser. You needed to look around to find the GOOD people. But the flow was still alive.

After 1974 there wasn't a good party to be found. Believe me, I looked. I was always looking. By 71 and 2 the Haight-Ashbury had become mostly speed freaks and junkies. Raw Death.
By 1973 it had evolved once again and that is when I jumped off of a hippie bus and moved into the commune "The Church of the Good Earth". (as featured here on this website: Hipforums.com). At the time the commune people were painting the Jefferson Airplane mansion. It was a different scene then. A little more hard core. But it really had come back to life. And we are still alive and as a friend of mine says, "We are everywhere."

Would I go back to the greatest Renaissance that mankind has ever known?
We landed a man on the Moon for F*** sake.
Hell yes and in a nano-second. Everything since that time has been Republican shit boring. Dull, go to work slave and pay your taxes, like a good pinon. No Life.

Age 19 and 1969? Hell yes. Let me live again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!