Have you witnessed any 1960's and 1970's time period and hippie era culture resurrections lately?
Why? Because I have.
Since I myself was born in the year of 1981, I was never alive and able to with-hold the first-person experience of the actual flower power, peace proponents, fresh drugs, free love, Woodstock's music festival and feelings of actual hippie culture. Thus, in today's times, you and I, and all of us can only experience hippie culture when it is passed down, and like a turtle decides to poke its head out.
An excellent example of a Hippie Culture Resurrection occurs in my hometown of Austin Texas. 1x a year in Pease Park circa downtown's 12th and Lamar Boulevard, a free and ALL welcoming daytime festival happens called Eeyore's birthday party. My actual hippie dad and his friends introduced me to it, as they have been attending it for decades. In essence, it's a day time party and freedom festival celebrating open-minded thought, personal liberties, fashionable costumes, and expressions, within a no judgment zoned park. While walking around this year, a neighboring festival attendee tried to denounce the atmosphere with the old, "Jesus Saves" sales pitch. I wasn't buying it and moved along. Eeyore's is an all-ages event with kids through retirees all peacefully conversing amongst each other and participating. Damm, it is fun! It harkens back to the hippie core and essence of the 1960s and 1970s. This slowing yet continual oozing release of 1960's and 1970's hippie vibes, is what has made and kept Austin, Texas cool and popular! It is a lesson on how history influences the culture of the present day. Yes, it's weird, but Austin, Texas remnants of hippie culture and lifestyle is what has made Austin, Texas the #1 best place to live 3 years running, according to the U.S. News and World Report.
One of the prettiest girls I was ever fortunate enough to have congenial relations with, I met about 4 years ago at the Eeyores Day Festival. I think I was 31 or 32, and she was a blonde, college-aged, adventurous, busty, and youthful glow of energy! She was so cute, pretty and fun. She is reminiscent worthy. We dated and went out a couple times, but she eventually dumped because she said as a thirty-something I was too old for her. Bummer. I saw on her Facebook feed, she would later become an actual flight attendant so she could adventurously travel the world. What a cool chick, eh?
The Pease Park Eeyores Festival is a liberating day and event. The main airy flat and level grounds are the most visible section of the park. This main section is welcoming to the sunlight and out in the open. The main zone is where the events take place. For example, there is an egg toss, a potato sack race, a maypole walk and a best-in-show costume contest for both kids and adults. The sunny side strip of both sides of Pease Park has different booths set up for food, face painting, and thirst quenching hearty craft beers. There are multiple loud banging drum circles throughout the park for patrons to literally "bang on their drums all day." This specific year's most lively and energetic section was located underneath a Multi-Colored Parachute. Underneath this multi-colored parachute the drums were a banging and the people, I included, were dancing and frolicking! Let's be honest, although there are ample sober folks at Eeyores, and it is a family and kid friendly event too, it feels as though a majority of the participants are under some sort of altered state. This year I was propositioned peyote from a 43-year-old friendly fellow. For your information, I declined. Whether this altered state is induced by alcohol, weed, mushrooms, peyote, or just being high on life, it's derived from some outside influence.
In staying with Eeyores as an example of flower power, hippie culture resurrection, lastly I'll describe the wooded section of Pease Park, in Downtown Austin. The wooded section of Pease Park geographically sits higher on the hill, above the main cleared grounds. This wooded section provides shade for visitors and privacy for those goers who are not comfortable imbibing, smoking, or being social in the main section. This wooded section is also my go-to location for free body paint. Yes, the artsy side of Eeyores is displayed too! So in my Eeyore's routine, I de-shirt, keep the shorts, shoes, and sunglasses, yet make artsy attempts to body paint my torso as a canvas. As a human, who is unlikely to ever succumb to tattoo culture, this naked torso display of body art is as risque as I'll get. As you can surmise, by now, Eeyore's 1x a year birthday party in the center of Austin, Texas is a top tier and fleeting example of a Hippie Culture Resurrection.
This is the part of the chapter, where I ask you for your recommendations and insights on places, neighborhoods, or events where the 1960's and 1970's hippie culture still remains? Does your city or town still permeate aspects of hippie culture? If so, how and where and perhaps why? I'm curious. Just like Drive-in Movie Theaters, despite their existence, they sometimes struggle to stay relevant and remembered.
Hmm...other places I can recall experiencing segments and feelings of the 1960s and 1970s hippie, bohemian culture was when I would walk certain streets in the East and West Village of New York. Specifically, I recall St. Marks in the East Village as being the gateway to the East Village, Lower East Side and Alphabet City. I often felt remnants of Hippie Culture in the East Village of NYC. On the flip side, some sections of the West Village possessed hippie vibes as well. Perhaps it was walking in the West Village along 7th Avenue South, and Bleeker street, which took me back to the remnants of the 1960s and 1970's hippie culture.
Other neighborhoods I personally recall as possessing an actual hippie vibe in my lifetime and personal visitations were the Haight Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco, CA and the Ocean Beach neighborhood in San Deigo, CA. Put beachy Jaco, Costa Rica, in there too!
In current times as of spring 2019, kids and youths are rarely actually hippies. They've been replaced by hipsters. Hipsters are usually in their 30's or 20's and sport casual, quirky fashion while making attempts to gentrify neighborhoods, chill at coffee and art shops, and ooze their own new age brand of cool. Today's hipsters can be stereotyped as creating their own trends, embracing social media and technology while trying to blaze their own path. The CEO of AirBnb is generationally young looking. Mark my words, I'm buying Airbnb stock when it eventually hits the IPO. Today's hipsters and millennials are NOT the Hippies of the 1960s and 1970s yet they are respected and embraced in society for their creative attempts to bring a safe and welcoming new culture to the world.
Even younger than hipsters are today's current high school and college kids, who have an uphill American Life battle facing their collective futures. For a reference on this paragraph google and follow the twitter feeds and positive change messages stemming from the absolutely honorable and social media famous celebrity youths: David Hogg and Emma Gonzales. I, GVM, would NOT trade ages or spots in the class system with their generation, despite the allure of youth. Why? They've got major obstacles and problems to solves in their future of 6 or 7 decades of life on Earth. What are the specific challenges you ponder? The youth of America faces major problems of global warming and earth pollution. Folks, pollution is disgusting to look upon and live within. You might not be able to afford an electric car, but you can afford to properly dispose of your own freaking waste! Here's another modern problem; the daily cost of living and housing is rising exponentially. For youths and myself included, buying, owning and maintaining real estate will be a pricey challenge. Life is getting expensive in 2019 folks, it just is. The Youth in America sadly face challenges of gun violence all around, from churches to schools, to the public realms. Guns kill people, and for some reason like cancer, the Government refuses to undergo chemotherapy and legislation to remove guns from the streets and the unretrievable death guns and weapons cause.
Comments
Post a Comment