Summer
Related: escapism - exotica - hedonism - tourism
cliché image of tropical island hammock
Definition
Summer of Love
The Summer of Love refers to the summer of 1967, particularly in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, when thousands of young people traveled to San Francisco from all over the world and hippie counterculture movement came into public awareness .
The beginning of the Summer of Love has popularly been attributed to the Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park on January 14 of that year.
John Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas took twenty minutes to write the following lyrics for the song San Francisco:
If you're going to San Francisco,
be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...
If you come to San Francisco,
Summertime will be a love-in there.
Scott McKenzie's rendition of the song was released in May, 1967. The song was designed originally to promote the June, 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, the world's first major rock festival, which was attended by over 200,000 people. "San Francisco" became an instant hit (#4 in the United States, #1 in Europe) and quickly transcended its original purpose.
During the Summer of Love, as many as 75,000 young people from around the world flocked to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, Berkeley and other Bay Area cities to join in a popularized version of the hippie experience. When these newly recruited Flower Children returned home at the end of summer, they brought new styles, ideas and behaviors to all major U.S. cities and European capitals.
The phrase "Summer of Love" (or, more accurately, the "Second Summer of Love") is sometimes used (particularly in the UK) to refer to the summer of 1989 and the rise of Acid House music and rave culture.
your Amazon recommendations