Ashbury St & Haight St

Haight-Ashbury began as something more than just a cheap place to live and eat. However, in the 1960s the neighborhood was transformed when musicians, artists, and dreamers found refuge in the community and turned it into a safe haven for the counterculture. The Grateful Dead are the cornerstone that launched the Summer of Love movement in the city, as the band originated in this neighborhood. A symbol of the counterculture movement and the birthplace of hippie culture, San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district has its roots in the Summer of Love of 1967, but still promotes peace and unity with shops, cafes, and museums that remember its history today. Thousands of young people flocked to the neighborhood in the late 1960s to take part in a growing movement that placed peace and love above war and conformity. Long hair, beards, flowers, drugs, and freely expressed affection made the movement famous, and much of it happened right here in the Haight-Ashbury district.