The Haight, San Francisco, USA

Orphans of the Summer of Love


Creepy-Graffiti II
Another eccentric painting illustrates the ever creative and dissatisfied Haight Avenue.
out legs
Passersby stroll along San Francisco's famous Haight Avenue
Tattoo & Skateboard
Skater leaves a tattoo studio.
enigmatic walk
Passerby walks along a street decorated with esoteric paintings.
double well protected
Couple about to leave Haight Street by motorcycle.
summer of 67
Psychedelic storefront celebrates the hippie past of Haight-Ashbury Streets.
hat saleswoman
Hat store maid Frankie Zmetra.
Creepy Graffiti
Graffiti on a street in the Haight-Ashbury district.
neo-punks
Neo-punks tour Haight-Ashbury.
Haight-style Shiva
Haight decoration inspired by a psychedelic god Shiva.
Moved Treadmill
Passersby at a yellowish Haight-Ashbury intersection.
chic evasion
Facade of the Piedmont boutique.
Wasteland 1660
Passerby leaves a fashion and design store on Haight Street.
mustache sign
Original signage at the intersection of Haight and Ashbury Streets.
Nonconformity and creativity are still present in the old Flower Power district. But almost 50 years later, the hippie generation has given way to a homeless, uncontrolled and even aggressive youth.

We walk along Ashbury Street and are about to enter one of its many alternative shops when a girl runs out the door and crashes to the ground.

Screams sound both male and female and, soon after, a man in his fifties appears who grabs her by the long blond hair and expels her for the walk, despite the detaining action of another client who we quickly understand to be his partner and accomplice.

"You didn't steal anything did you?" He visibly interrogates the owner of the boutique nervously as he removes objects from his coat and suitcase pockets. “You have to explain to me where all this came from! Coincidentally, they are only products that I sell here in the store”. We can no longer see you ahead! Bunch of unprincipled useless! Disappear once and for all!”.

If it's not for one reason, it's for the other. Conflict set in at the beginning of the 70s, when the Haight became a kind of California Shangri-La for dreamers, vagabonds and the outsiders of society at large. Since then, it has only gotten worse.

Sign, mustache, Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, USA, United States.

Original signage at the intersection of Haight and Ashbury Streets.

The Beat Past of Haight and Ashbury

In the XNUMXs, members and supporters of the Beat Generation flooded North Beach, illuminated by the restless, nomadic spirits of Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and Jack Kerouac.

At a certain point, there were no more vacancies in the houses from this neighborhood and many took advantage of the fact that Haight-Ashbury had entered into decline – with countless houses abandoned after World War II – and proved to be a very affordable option in the city.

The Beat Generation set the tone for liberation from false morals because they ruled the nation, and by the mid-60s, Haight-Ashbury was about to become the seat of the Summer of Love Council.

Summer '67, storefront, Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, USA, United States America

Psychedelic storefront celebrates the hippie past of Haight-Ashbury Streets.

It was to its streets that John Phillips of Mamas & the Papas called the country's hippies and non-hippies to converge with flowers in their hair. Janes Joplin, the members of the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead all lived within walking distance.

They knew the local community and welcomed the newcomers with their psychedelic and demanding rock music, and so did the Diggers, a local anarchist community famous for its street theater and providing meals to needy residents.

The Flower Children Disqualification in San Francisco

Times have changed, like San Francisco and the Haight. Frisco has confirmed itself as one of the freest and most creative cities in the country. And the neighborhood is all that and also one of its really valuable historic areas in terms of real estate, where a mere Victorian house can cost more than two million euros.

Legs, chic, Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, USA, United States America

Facade of the Piedmont boutique.

But money is only easy for part of the population of United States. The growing prosperity achieved through unbridled capitalism has given rise to a more than obvious socio-economic disparity.

If, in the 60s, it was easy for Flower Children to survive on almost no income by dividing rents of a few tens of dollars, sometimes with dozens of other sympathetic tenants, today, as we walk along their sidewalks, we are forced to meander to avoid the crowd of marginalized and homeless youth who camp there.

We are told they are known as gutter punks (Gutter punks). Wear dirty dreadlocks and nose rings or mohawk colorful and lush and spray-painted faces. A few hundred meters away, several clans are calling us to ask for money with more or less creative approaches, but always determined.

Neo punk, young, dog, Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, USA, United States America

Neo-punks tour Haight-Ashbury.

We read on their little cardboard posters “Please help us to be sober (un-sober)” or “We also accept beer and weed”.

These second-rate Americans often become aggressive towards passersby. They block the passage while playing their guitars and jambés, as the clock at the intersection of Haight St and Ashbury St that always reads 4:20, the International Bong Hit Time, sends.

And they intimidate those who dare to try to break through or simply insult those who have no intention of satisfying their requests. "Die yuppie!" and “Where has the spirit of the Summer of Love gone” are frequent offenses and complaints.

If, for the new rebels, the past they never lived continues to serve as a justification, many of the true protagonists of the Flower Power era no longer have the patience to feel compassion.

Wasteland 1660, young man crossing street, Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, USA, United States America

Passerby leaves a fashion and design store on Haight Street.

Flower Children vs. Flower Children. The Growing Conflict in Haight-Ashbury

It is something that should be forgiven them if only because, among so many other mischiefs, part of the vast outlawed community of Haight uses the flower beds of their homes as a bathroom and throws used hypodermic syringes into a small lake nearby which they now call Hep-C lake.

“Many of us who still live here were Flower Children…” Robert Shadoian, a 58-year-old retired family therapist, complains to the press. “… then we grew up. That's what they should do. At some point, there are responsibilities that must be taken on. You can't be high 24 hours a day and expect the world to take care of us.”

Crosswalk, Pedestrians, Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, USA, United States America

Passersby at a yellowish Haight-Ashbury intersection.

The Power to Denigrate the Causeless Rebels of Haight-Ashbury

The presence and extreme attitudes of the community misfit cause other, less visible damage. Residents and entrepreneurs have invested serious money in businesses that they deliver a lot of energy to, but part of the potential clientele is driven away by the feeling of inconvenience associated with the neighborhood.

In 1977, Dr Sami Sunchild, an artist and environmental and social activist, purchased an old hotel with Victorian architecture and renamed it “Red Victorian”. Its objective was that the place would bring together the main ideals and historical movements in that area.

Today, the hotel's Peace Café hosts the World Conversations held on Sundays. Right next door, at the same time, it is common for groups of irreverent skaters to roam the surrounding roads, delaying and provoking condescending drivers.

Tatoo skate, Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, USA, United States America

Skater leaves a tattoo studio.

Owners decorate and supply boutiques, shops and cafes to revolutionize fashion and create creative and welcoming atmospheres. But it only takes one of the marginal clans to elect the entrance to one of these places for their perch for their financial viability to be threatened.

In one of the most libertine cities of the USA., the authorities have difficulties in dealing with this situation. It's just one among many others. The various local medical marijuana clubs, for example, require a prescription and a 30-day waiting period.

Still, they continue to offer smiles to many false patients.

Constructive Resistance and the Hope of Some

Despite its shocks and disappointments, the Haight inspires the most persistent. Further on, we enter a curious hat shop where we meet Frankie Zmetra, the angelic-looking maid who serves customers.

We ended up photographing her and then, during a long conversation with several interruptions, we heard her view of the problem. "They may be ragged outlaws but they have a right to exist and to their revolt." I, for my part, do not use them as an excuse.

Hats Store, Saleswoman, Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, USA, United States America

Hat store maid Frankie Zmetra.

I love this neighborhood and I bet what I can on it.” Now I work here at the store, but at the same time I'm launching my own clothing line. I'm also a model and I'll have everything for sale through a blog that I'm developing.”

At first glance, none of the gutter punks seems to have conditions to pursue dreams of the kind.

In the same play in which ex-Flower Child Robert Shadoian witnesses, a beggar named Jonah Lawrence complains that it should be the residents who civilize themselves. “I'm always told to get a job. And I answer: "do you happen to have clothes that you can find me or a place to take a shower so that I can look for a job?"

It is common to find teenagers who do not adapt to the white collar world in which families live, who flee from sexual abuse and parents with drug and alcohol problems.

Graffiti, creepy, goddess, mural, Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, USA, United States America

Another eccentric painting illustrates the ever creative and dissatisfied Haight Avenue.

As common as the fact that many cannot escape similar fates. Some arrive from other states of the USA hopeful of finding the famous solidarity of the 60s.

But they quickly realize that, barring one or two exceptions, in the Haight, the people who care about them are the rest of the homeless.

Key West, USA

The Tropical Wild West of the USA

We've come to the end of the Overseas Highway and the ultimate stronghold of propagandism Florida Keys. The continental United States here they surrender to a dazzling turquoise emerald marine vastness. And to a southern reverie fueled by a kind of Caribbean spell.
San Francisco, USA

San Francisco Cable Cars: A Life of Highs and Lows

A macabre wagon accident inspired the San Francisco cable car saga. Today, these relics work as a charm operation in the city of fog, but they also have their risks.
San Francisco, USA

with the head on the moon

September comes and Chinese people around the world celebrate harvests, abundance and unity. San Francisco's enormous Sino-Community gives itself body and soul to California's biggest Moon Festival.
Alcatraz, San Francisco, USA

Back to the Rock

Forty years after his sentence ended, the former Alcatraz prison receives more visitors than ever. A few minutes of his seclusion explain why The Rock's imagination made the worst criminals shiver.
Big Sur, USA

The Coast of All Refuges

Over 150km, the Californian coast is subjected to a vastness of mountains, ocean and fog. In this epic setting, hundreds of tormented souls follow in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac and Henri Miller.
Florida Keys, USA

The Caribbean Stepping Stone of the USA

Os United States continental islands seem to close to the south in its capricious peninsula of Florida. Don't stop there. More than a hundred islands of coral, sand and mangroves form an eccentric tropical expanse that has long seduced American vacationers.
Miami, USA

A Masterpiece of Urban Rehabilitation

At the turn of the 25st century, the Wynwood neighbourhood remained filled with abandoned factories and warehouses and graffiti. Tony Goldman, a shrewd real estate investor, bought more than XNUMX properties and founded a mural park. Much more than honoring graffiti there, Goldman founded the Wynwood Arts District, the great bastion of creativity in Miami.
tombstone, USA

Tombstone: the City Too Hard to Die

Silver veins discovered at the end of the XNUMXth century made Tombstone a prosperous and conflictive mining center on the frontier of the United States to Mexico. Lawrence Kasdan, Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner and other Hollywood directors and actors made famous the Earp brothers and the bloodthirsty duel of “OK Corral”. The Tombstone, which, over time, has claimed so many lives, is about to last.
Miami beach, USA

The Beach of All Vanities

Few coasts concentrate, at the same time, so much heat and displays of fame, wealth and glory. Located in the extreme southeast of the USA, Miami Beach is accessible via six bridges that connect it to the rest of Florida. It is meager for the number of souls who desire it.
Little Havana, USA

Little Havana of the Nonconformists

Over the decades and until today, thousands of Cubans have crossed the Florida Straits in search of the land of freedom and opportunity. With the US a mere 145 km away, many have gone no further. His Little Havana in Miami is today the most emblematic neighborhood of the Cuban diaspora.
Grand Canyon, USA

Journey through the Abysmal North America

The Colorado River and tributaries began flowing into the plateau of the same name 17 million years ago and exposed half of Earth's geological past. They also carved one of its most stunning entrails.
Mount Denali, Alaska

The Sacred Ceiling of North America

The Athabascan Indians called him Denali, or the Great, and they revered his haughtiness. This stunning mountain has aroused the greed of climbers and a long succession of record-breaking climbs.
Juneau, Alaska

The Little Capital of Greater Alaska

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Monument Valley, USA

Indians or Cowboys?

Iconic Western filmmakers like John Ford immortalized what is the largest Indian territory in the United States. Today, in the Navajo Nation, the Navajo also live in the shoes of their old enemies.
Talkeetna, Alaska

Talkeetna's Alaska-Style Life

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Las Vegas, USA

Where sin is always forgiven

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Navajo nation, USA

The Navajo Nation Lands

From Kayenta to Page, passing through Marble Canyon, we explore the southern Colorado Plateau. Dramatic and desert, the scenery of this indigenous domain, cut out in Arizona, reveals itself to be splendid.
Death Valley, USA

The Hottest Place Resurrection

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Mauna Kea, Hawaii

Mauna Kea: the Volcano with an Eye out in Space

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pearl harbor, Hawaii

The Day Japan Went Too Far

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Believers greet each other in the Bukhara region.
City
Bukhara, Uzbequistan

Among the Minarets of Old Turkestan

Situated on the ancient Silk Road, Bukhara has developed for at least two thousand years as an essential commercial, cultural and religious hub in Central Asia. It was Buddhist and then Muslim. It was part of the great Arab empire and that of Genghis Khan, the Turko-Mongol kingdoms and the Soviet Union, until it settled in the still young and peculiar Uzbekistan.
Host Wezi points out something in the distance
Beach
Cobue; Nkwichi Lodge, Mozambique

The Hidden Mozambique of the Creaking Sands

During a tour from the bottom to the top of Lake Malawi, we find ourselves on the island of Likoma, an hour by boat from Nkwichi Lodge, the solitary base of this inland coast of Mozambique. On the Mozambican side, the lake is known as Niassa. Whatever its name, there we discover some of the most stunning and unspoilt scenery in south-east Africa.
Lion, Elephants, PN Hwange, Zimbabwe
safari
PN Hwange, Zimbabwe

The Legacy of the Late Cecil Lion

On July 1, 2015, Walter Palmer, a dentist and trophy hunter from Minnesota killed Cecil, Zimbabwe's most famous lion. The slaughter generated a viral wave of outrage. As we saw in PN Hwange, nearly two years later, Cecil's descendants thrive.
Muktinath to Kagbeni, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, Kagbeni
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit 14th - Muktinath to Kagbeni, Nepal

On the Other Side of the Pass

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hacienda mucuyche, Yucatan, Mexico, canal
Architecture & Design
Yucatan, Mexico

Among Haciendas and Cenotes, through the History of Yucatan

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lagoons and fumaroles, volcanoes, PN tongariro, new zealand
Aventura
Tongariro, New Zealand

The Volcanoes of All Discords

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Indigenous Crowned
Ceremonies and Festivities
Pueblos del Sur, Venezuela

Behind the Venezuela Andes. Fiesta Time.

In 1619, the authorities of Mérida dictated the settlement of the surrounding territory. The order resulted in 19 remote villages that we found dedicated to commemorations with caretos and local pauliteiros.
Glamor vs Faith
Cities
Goa, India

The Last Gasp of the Goan Portugality

The prominent city of Goa already justified the title of “rome of the east” when, in the middle of the XNUMXth century, epidemics of malaria and cholera led to its abandonment. The New Goa (Pangim) for which it was exchanged became the administrative seat of Portuguese India but was annexed by the Indian Union of post-independence. In both, time and neglect are ailments that now make the Portuguese colonial legacy wither.
Cocoa, Chocolate, Sao Tome Principe, Agua Izé farm
Lunch time
São Tomé and Principe

Cocoa Roças, Corallo and the Chocolate Factory

At the beginning of the century. In the XNUMXth century, São Tomé and Príncipe generated more cocoa than any other territory. Thanks to the dedication of some entrepreneurs, production survives and the two islands taste like the best chocolate.
intersection
Culture
Hungduan, Philippines

Country Style Philippines

The GI's left with the end of World War II, but the music from the interior of the USA that they heard still enlivens the Cordillera de Luzon. It's by tricycle and at your own pace that we visit the Hungduan rice terraces.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Sport
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.
View from John Ford Point, Monument Valley, Nacao Navajo, United States
Traveling
Monument Valley, USA

Indians or Cowboys?

Iconic Western filmmakers like John Ford immortalized what is the largest Indian territory in the United States. Today, in the Navajo Nation, the Navajo also live in the shoes of their old enemies.
Tabatô, Guinea Bissau, tabanca Mandingo musicians. Baidi
Ethnic
Tabato, Guinea Bissau

The Tabanca of Mandinga Poets Musicians

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Portfolio, Got2Globe, Best Images, Photography, Images, Cleopatra, Dioscorides, Delos, Greece
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

The Earthly and the Celestial

Mauritius Island, Indian voyage, Chamarel waterfall
History
Mauritius

A Mini India in the Southwest of the Indian Ocean

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Saona Island, Dominican Republic, Playa Palmilla Pool
Islands
Saona Island, Dominican Republic

A Savona in the Antilles

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Reindeer Racing, Kings Cup, Inari, Finland
Winter White
Inari, Finland

The Wackiest Race on the Top of the World

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José Saramago in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain, Glorieta de Saramago
Literature
Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

José Saramago's Basalt Raft

In 1993, frustrated by the Portuguese government's disregard for his work “The Gospel According to Jesus Christ”, Saramago moved with his wife Pilar del Río to Lanzarote. Back on this somewhat extraterrestrial Canary Island, we visited his home. And the refuge from the portuguese censorship that haunted the writer.
Celestyal Crystal Cruise, Santorini, Greece
Nature
Nea Kameni, Santorini, Greece

The Volcanic Core of Santorini

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Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Meares glacier
Natural Parks
Prince William Sound, Alaska

Journey through a Glacial Alaska

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Tequila, Jalisco City, Mexico, Jima
UNESCO World Heritage
Tequila, JaliscoMexico

Tequila: The Distillation of Western Mexico that Animates the World

Disillusioned with the lack of wine and brandy, the Conquistadors of Mexico improved the millenary indigenous aptitude for producing alcohol. In the XNUMXth century, the Spaniards were satisfied with their pinga and began to export it. From Tequila, town, today, the center of a demarcated region. And the name for which it became famous.
female and cub, grizzly footsteps, katmai national park, alaska
Characters
PN Katmai, Alaska

In the Footsteps of the Grizzly Man

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Bather rescue in Boucan Canot, Reunion Island
Beaches
Reunion Island

The Bathing Melodrama of Reunion

Not all tropical coastlines are pleasurable and refreshing retreats. Beaten by violent surf, undermined by treacherous currents and, worse, the scene of the most frequent shark attacks on the face of the Earth, that of the Reunion Island he fails to grant his bathers the peace and delight they crave from him.
Chiang Khong to Luang Prabang, Laos, Through the Mekong Below
Religion
Chiang Khong - Luang Prabang, Laos

Slow Boat, Down the Mekong River

Laos' beauty and lower cost are good reasons to sail between Chiang Khong and Luang Prabang. But this long descent of the Mekong River can be as exhausting as it is picturesque.
On Rails
On Rails

Train Travel: The World Best on Rails

No way to travel is as repetitive and enriching as going on rails. Climb aboard these disparate carriages and trains and enjoy the best scenery in the world on Rails.
Tombola, street bingo-Campeche, Mexico
Society
Campeche, Mexico

200 Years of Playing with Luck

At the end of the XNUMXth century, the peasants surrendered to a game introduced to cool the fever of cash cards. Today, played almost only for Abuelites, lottery little more than a fun place.
Fruit sellers, Swarm, Mozambique
Daily life
Enxame Mozambique

Mozambican Fashion Service Area

It is repeated at almost all stops in towns of Mozambique worthy of appearing on maps. The machimbombo (bus) stops and is surrounded by a crowd of eager "businessmen". The products offered can be universal such as water or biscuits or typical of the area. In this region, a few kilometers from Nampula, fruit sales suceeded, in each and every case, quite intense.
Rhinoceros, PN Kaziranga, Assam, India
Wildlife
PN Kaziranga, India

The Indian Monoceros Stronghold

Situated in the state of Assam, south of the great Brahmaputra river, PN Kaziranga occupies a vast area of ​​alluvial swamp. Two-thirds of the rhinocerus unicornis around the world, there are around 100 tigers, 1200 elephants and many other animals. Pressured by human proximity and the inevitable poaching, this precious park has not been able to protect itself from the hyperbolic floods of the monsoons and from some controversies.
Full Dog Mushing
Scenic Flights
Seward, Alaska

The Alaskan Dog Mushing Summer

It's almost 30 degrees and the glaciers are melting. In Alaska, entrepreneurs have little time to get rich. Until the end of August, dog mushing cannot stop.