90024_8797_Summer_of_Love_01
Here's an 8mm home movie of San Francisco life during the summer of 1967, the so-called Summer of Love. The shots are quite varied, even experimental, as the descriptions below try to convey.
Clip begins with American flags waving in the wind. One of the flags is superimposed over what appears to be grazing cattle, a parked motorcycle, and human faces.
Two men chat with each other. Scenery passes by quickly, as if we are looking out from a moving vehicle. Police officers ride horses. Red and blue light bulbs hang in relative darkness.
An Hispanic-looking young man approaches the camera, scowling in jest.
The camera zooms-in to an image of Russian politician Vladimir Lenin, whom we see from the side, reading a manuscript while apparently holding a pen or pencil. He looks rather pensive.
The same Hispanic-looking young man walks toward the camera in a backyard. He is wearing a fancifully-patterned yellow, green, and purple dress shirt, which is gathered by a dark belt, and brown slacks. As he looks to the left and to the right, the scene cuts to different images, including: an American flag, a military cover possibly for the US Marines, a red and white ferry boat runs through a harbor, an Asian-looking boy stares at the camera with one eye while his other eye is bandaged, a photo or drawing of a skull, and a young white woman smiles as she carries a purple umbrella behind her.
Other images seen, all of which seem somewhat random, include: a double Ankh pendant, close-ups of a young man with a thick beard speaks in the direction of the camera, a photo of Malcolm X, and a man lays on the ground as if ill.
A black man with white hair and a white beard works on a very large painting. With his paint brush, the black man appears to be creating eyes on a group of soldiers who may be shooting their weapons.
A painting that is beside the one that the black man is working on reads: “WHEN I WAS 7; HATE KILL; GERMAN JAP; NOW MY SONS ARE PAST; 7-TO-15; HATE KILL RUSS; CHINESE VIET; PLEASE PLEASE STOP.”
Another painting nearby shows a person with a hobo stick over its shoulder, holding onto the neck of someone who seems to be lying down. A fire appears to be burning in the background.
Yet another painting shows a scene of peace-making. Uncle Sam carries a sign that reads “LET’S GET OUT OF VIETNAM!” The Statue of Liberty carries the sign “END WAR" and "LIBERTY AT HOME!” A crowd of peace protesters walk into the distance; some from the crowd carry signs with peace symbols and “PEACE” signs. The top of the painting shows a white dove with the words “US PEACE FORCE” on its belly, and a smiling sun seems to crown the head of the white dove.
Young Asian-American men wear slick updos as they stand on a crowded San Francisco street.
Hippies hangout on a street next to cars; some hold crosses and protest signs.
A black man dances in a pink robe next to protesters marching. A girl looks outside a window.
One sign reads: “LBJ OPEN YOU MIND OPEN YOUR HEART END THIS !!WAR!!”
A black guy plays the bongos while the footage, apparently stuck, oscillates quickly back and forth. The camera pans upward to a woman in a window, watching the activity on the street.
A large Ojo de Dios, i.e. God’s Eye, is seen; this is basically a flat, multi-colored square made out of a yarn-like fabric. Looks like a kite.
The camera shakes and wobbles as it shows people and signs.
People with Allen Ginsberg watch from a balcony.
Hippies ride on a large, slow-moving truck. A sign in the foreground says “BRING OUR BOYS HOME.”
Crowds are seen in close-up; they stand shoulder to shoulder.
Several people in the walking crowd carry balloons.
A young man with shades plays a guitar; the shot is quite shaky. He is one person in a sea of people.
The young Hispanic-looking man seen earlier is seen with a girl friend. Both appear to be in a stadium, possibly Kezar Stadium, which is very near to Haight Street and Stanyan Street.