tides

via Free Spirit

 San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run… but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant.… {...}

There was madness in any direction, at any hour. If not across the Bay, then up the Golden Gate or down [...] La Honda… You could strike sparks anywhere. 

There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning.…

And that, I think, was the handle—that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting—on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave.…

So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark—that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.

Hunter S. Thompson

Allen Sommerkindern und Blumenmädchen empfehle ich, auf der Tumblerseite des gleichnamigen Shops Free Spirit vorbei zu schauen. (Ihr Name ist doch herrlich altmodisch, so à la 1968 San Francisco; bevor die Welle der Ekstase in sich zusammenbrach...). Auf jeden Fall finden sich hier schöne, inspirierende Fotos. Im Geiste der kommenden Streetparade und vergangener Tage sage ich da nur "open your mind, you beautiful people"!

To all the children of the summer and the flower girls I can recommend to have a look at the Tumblr site Free Spirit. (Isn't the name just exquisitely old-fashioned, in the style of 1968 San Francisco; before the wave of ecstasy collapsed on itself...). However you'll find beautiful, inspiring pictures. In the spirit of the upcoming Streetparade and bygone days all I can say is "open your mind, you beautiful people"!