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Dope dealers every few closed doorways whispering code slang for whatever products they were selling to those who walked by --- Psst ! Sunshine. Acid. Matchbox. The south and shady side of the street was much less populated, frequented primarily by people doing errands, shopping in the shops such as the pre-hippy locals and the rich and more affluent hippies.
People hung out either on the street or in Golden Gate Park. The original movement involved an ethic and aesthetic of complete change of lifestyle: from food, such as going to a macrobiotic or vegetarian diet, clothes --- many times home made or concocted from cheap thrift store hand-downs, a change in political and religious philosophy with an emphasis on far-east traditions.
There was a rejection of the affected fake and phony imitative cultural personifications, and an emphasis upon everything natural --- the natural world and natural self. Out of that period came the advent of ecology, recycling, attitudes that were anti-pesticides, pro natural and organically grown food, non-overuse of antibiotics and an emphasis on good diet. Some of the ideals of the hippy were self-sufficiency , equality, sharing, creativity and crafts, anti-war, peace, love and living a simple, modest, non-materialist lifestyle.
But for me I didn't stay in the Haight long. I hung out a little with the people of the kitchen floor. They did yoga once a week and I would join them in an attempt to learn the art of meditation. Tried to do the cross-legged Buddha posture but one leg went numb, from the knee down the shin to my ankle. I decided I wasn't cut out for that. We had a falling out when I said something a little conservative having been in the army and all over Europe while they were Antioch Ohio College kids, and suddenly I could feel I wasn't welcome anymore. Again I was a fish out of water.
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