After spending six days in Los Angeles, on 7 August 1967 George Harrison, his wife Pattie, Neil Aspinall, Derek Taylor and Alexis ‘Magic Alex’ Mardas, flew to San Francisco, where they walked around the hippie district of Haight-Ashbury.
Photo: Grant Jacobs
Photographs tell the story of this great visit by one of the Fab Pied Pipers; it is one of the best-known moments in The Great Novel. The crowds that gathered, well-meaning though they were, pressed upon the English visitors and made life difficult and a little dangerous. George didn’t enjoy Haight-Ashbury, yet it was right and inevitable that one of Them should have been there in those times.
Anthology
The visit to Haight-Ashbury wasn’t the purpose of their time in San Francisco; they had gone there to visit Pattie Harrison’s sister Jenny Boyd.
We also went to see my sister Jenny, who was living with a friend in San Francisco. We flew there in a private Lear jet with Derek Taylor and Neil Aspinall and were met by a limo, then picked up Jenny, and we all went to have lunch. Afterwards we thought it would be fun to go and have a look at Haight-Ashbury, the district that had been taken over by hippies. Musicians like Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin lived there, and it was the LSD capital of America. On the way, Derek produced a tab. Would we like some? Since we were going to Haight-Ashbury, it seemed silly not to.The area is named after the intersection of two streets, Haight and Ashbury, and as we approached, the driver said he wouldn’t drive down the street itself, he’d park among the side-streets. It seemed a little odd but we didn’t argue. We got out of the car, the acid kicked in and everything was just whoah, psychedelic and very… I mean, it was just completely fine. We went into a shop and noticed that all these people were following us. They had recognised George as we walked past them in the street, then turned to follow us. One minute there were five, then ten, twenty, thirty and forty people behind us. I could hear them saying, ‘The Beatles are here, the Beatles are in town!’
We were expecting Haight-Ashbury to be special, a creative and artistic place, filled with Beautiful People, but it was horrible – full of ghastly drop-outs, bums and spotty youths, all out of their brains. Everybody looked stoned – even mothers and babies – and they were so close behind us they were treading on the backs of our heels. It got to the point where we couldn’t stop for fear of being trampled. Then somebody said, ‘Let’s go to Hippie Hill,’ and we crossed the grass, our retinue facing us, as if we were on stage. They looked as us expectantly – as if George was some kind of Messiah.
We were so high, and then the inevitable happened: a guitar emerged from the crowd and I could see it being passed to the front by outstretched arms. I thought, Oh, God, poor George, this is a nightmare. Finally the guitar was handed to him. I had the feeling that they’d listened to the Beatles’ records, analysed them, learnt what they’d thought they should learn, and taken every drug they’d thought the Beatles were singing about. Now they wanted to know where to go next. And George was there, obviously, to give them the answer. Pressure.
George was so cool. He said, ‘This is G, this is E, this is D,’ and showed them a few chords, then handed back the guitar and said, ‘Sorry, man, we’ve got to go now.’ He didn’t sing – he couldn’t have: he was flying. We all were. I was surprised he could even do that.
Anyway, we got up and walked back towards our limo, at which point I heard a little voice say, ‘Hey, George, do you want some STP?’
George turned around and said, ‘No, thanks, I’m cool, man.’
Then the bloke turned round and said to the others, ‘George Harrison turned me down.’
And they went, ‘No!’
And then the crowd became faintly hostile. We sensed it because when you’re that high you’re very aware of vibes, and we were walking faster and faster, and they were following.
When we saw the limo, we ran across the road and jumped in, and they ran after us and started to rock the car, and the windows were full of these faces, flattened against the glass, looking at us.
Wonderful Today
Also on this day...
- 2023: Paul McCartney announces Brazilian tour dates
- 2019: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Ryman Auditorium, Nashville
- 2016: Paul McCartney live: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford
- 2014: Paul McCartney live: EnergySolutions Arena, Salt Lake City
- 2010: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Greek Theatre, Los Angeles
- 2003: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: DTE Energy Music Theatre, Clarkston
- 2001: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Meadowbrook Musical Arts Center, Gilford
- 1998: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Helsingin Jäähalli, Helsinki
- 1995: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Chastain Park Amphitheater, Atlanta
- 1992: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: California Mid-State Fairgrounds, Paso Robles
- 1972: Wings live: Gröna Lund, Stockholm
- 1969: Recording, mixing: Come Together, The End
- 1968: Tape copying, recording: Hey Jude, Not Guilty
- 1963: The Beatles live: Springfield Ballroom, Jersey
- 1962: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (evening)
- 1962: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (lunchtime)
- 1961: The Beatles live: Litherland Town Hall, Liverpool
- 1957: The Quarrymen first play the Cavern Club
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
I was there…about two yards away from him… the day they took that iconic photo in the posters of George and Patti[?].
Hi there, Where was the sit down with George part at in the panhandle? I mean what area of the panhandle was it in?
The sit down was probably in the top of the Panhandle in closest proximity to the park proper but I wasn’t there. I was only within ‘touching’ distance of him and Patti on the corner of Haight and Ashbury as the crowd was turning down Ashbury toward the Panhandle. But that was enough to remember for a lifetime.
What the hell was George thinking? That he wouldn’t be noticed? Gimme a break!! He also missed the obvious. Drugs were made more available to mere children than Bazooka bubble gum was because the powers that be would MUCH rather have prospective revolutionaries preoccupied with watching the colors of the leaves change than with actually figuring out AND FIXING a totally screwed up system (i.e. capitalist/nuclear family/authoritarian/based on greed not need/etc). DRUGS were intentionally available to DERAIL the revolution. And even at that the hippie agenda finally made it thru to mainstream America … altho it is now “too little too late.” The planet likely can no longer be rescued. Had they listened THEN it could have been. To live in greater harmony with our mother earth, with the diverse cultures around the world REALLY IS ALL WE WERE SAYING…and “they” (the establishment) obliterated a vital movement in its prime. Shame on all who participated in wiping out a caring culture.
I don’t buy it. Conspiracy theory talk. Psychedelics have been and always will be the biggest enemy against the conventional thinking that reinforces the “system”. Now, if you wanna talk about cocaine and heroin being introduced to thwart a revolution, then that is totally believable.
The drug culture was financed and supported by the KGB. Found this out in the great book on the history of the CIA, Legacy of Ashes. But I guess from the tone of your post you would have liked to given up your personal liberty to a Soviet style politburo.
There’s more than ashes coming out of your ears.
You didn’t really read the article, did you.
After reading your comments it occurs to me that maybe, just maybe, you’ve consumed way too much of whatever has been made available to you over the years. I think you were what George saw too much of that day in San Francisco. He saw the light. It is never too late.
“The planet can likely no longer be rescued”? Are you kidding me? The planet’s not going anywhere, WE are! Every species that has existed on this planet has gone (or will go) extinct. Humans are no exception, & it’s incredibly arrogant to think that we are. There’ll come a day when we’re gone, & then the planet will correct any damage we’ve done to it, for it is a self-correcting, ever-evolving system. It’ll shake us off like a bad habit. Nothing lasts forever, everything is finite. Case closed!! Jeez…
I know precisely where I was that day ! George and troupe stopped by my office on their way to GG Park ! I was working in the music business at that time and he had some personal business to take care of on his way there. One of the greatest days of my life ! Thank you Tom, Bob and Bob !
The black and white photo was taken by Grant Jacobs. Credit where credit is due.
Sorry, I didn’t know the source. Thanks for letting me know. I’ve added a credit to Grant.
wouldn’t he have dealt with many hippies previously? why did haight take him by surprise?
in a way this presages the manson murders and the way they “ended the 60s” cuz the manson family was a bunch of spotty kids on lsd
There are a number of factors.
The hippie scene in London during the late 60s was vastly different from the one in the US. There was far less violence over the pond. There’s a video on YouTube where George discusses their trip to the haight. George went in Aug of 1967. He said he thought it was going to be a “bunch of groovy gypsy people selling works of art.” However by the time George got there, the scene had been washed out with bad drugs and bums. It was actually the Monterey Pop festival which essentially made haight ashbury a household name overnight. While many of the local bands got famous, the small neighborhood couldn’t handle the massive overcrowding. Some SF music historians might tell you The Human Be-In in Jan of 1967 was the last great SF festival.
The most important factor is how LSD wasn’t made illegal until the tail end of 1966. Before LSD prohibition, the Haight area was known as the place where people went to safely and legally obtain psychedelic chemicals. That all changed with prohibition. Owsley Stanley was the sound engineer for the Grateful Dead and after LSD was made illegal, they became one of the top LSD distributors in the area. However, Owsley also sold Methamphetamine and practically got people addicted to their drugs. It completely changed the inner workings of the Haight Ashbury scene.
George wasn’t the only one who was confused by the San Francisco scene. In 1969, the Rolling Stones also decided they wanted to cash in on the haight scene by throwing a free concert in golden gate park. This never materialized. Instead, the free concert in golden gate park led to the infamous disaster known as the Altamont Free Concert. During the festival, a young black man named Meredith Hunter was killed while trying to storm the stage high on meth. The Rolling Stones were the ones who put on the concert, and they hired the Hell’s Angels to run security. However the Hell’s Angels ended up causing a lot of trouble. In the US, the angels have always been an outlaw biker gang. However, the hippies in the US kind of mythologized the Hell’s Angels as comrades in Anarchy. In the UK, the biker clubs of the time weren’t blatantly an organized crime ring like they are in the US and the Rolling Stones didn’t understand this.
Ultimately, it’s believed George took LSD himself before walking down the haight. When you’re under the influence of psychedelics, you may think about things more deeply or interpret things in ways you hadn’t considered before. I think George was high on acid and got worried he was contributing to the problem by being in The Beatles. Personally, I don’t really believe George was the problem. I kinda feel like he was just part of a completely different facet of the psychedelic movement. One which was completely removed of the Haight Ashbury scene. I also believe their interpretation of psychedelics completely changed after the haight. Psychedelics can be used as tools to improve mental health but it must be taken seriously.
He’d refused to take STP. when he’d gotten into Chevrolet/Oldsmobile. LSD made the lil American-Spanish guitar seem like Swiss cheese. Suede leather-jacketed Mezzogiorno or Canaanite looking fellow was to his left, a row behind him in Golden GP. At his left was a now cheerful Derek Taylor dressed as a ‘Hippie’. Hippies put guitar in his hands and shouted, “Play, play!” Two somewhat sullen, the larger maybe just quite curious; ‘towheads’ young women. He wouldn’t wish to take him home!
In 1968 Britannica ‘Book of Year’ he chastised Arnold Toynbee for praising the “flower children-‘do your own thing’” S.F.-Haight Ashbury culture of ‘67. “‘Give us money fr a blanket!’ Then these people were actually making fun of tourists! Give us money fr ….’.” “Harrison: these people should chop wood and keep on chaahpin!” He said they’d reminded them of “the Bowery Bums; gettin high fr ‘High’s sake”. He’d gotten quite claustrophobic depiste the suddenly “sunny”, “mid-desert” cheery grin with “hippie” Derek Taylor left of him in Golden G Park. “His” guitar felt like ‘Swiss cheese’ in LSD. effected hands. Britannica; “Mr. Harrison believes in hard work.” George and Patti were about petrified the 75-100m before they’d gotten to their friend’s Oldsmobile (?). George swore before the near crash and little fire on small plane that he’d never touch drugs, again. He’d overdo it on Brandy in the 1970s, maybe till ‘74. He’d be overcontemplative like Cannabis-L.S.D. little high. Not like Lennon who’d have Brandy Alexander, even Ulster/Scots whiskey (Lennon an Irish Campbell; great, great-great grandfather) and b? churlish-threatening.
So you have rich elite George arriving at Haight on LSD calling the hippies who loved him ” ghastly drop-outs, bums and spotty youths, all out of their brains” but he knew nothing about why they were there and getting stoned and dropping out of a total mid evil greed destructive system that was sending kids off to slaughter in a country they had no business invading , we wanted to change the greed slave system whos virtues were profit certainly not “well being peace and love , George you disappoint me really low IQ