2nd day in SF

9/29/11

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We woke up and decided to continue our tour of San Francisco. We went to -The Haight- an area made famous in the 60's because it was the geographical center of the hippies movement. Specially in 1967 namely the -Summer of Love year- many college students converged here to participate of the this growing counterculture. A subculture characterized by peaceful dogma, cultural tolerance, drug use, psychedelic music, anti war beliefs and sexual freedom. Psychedelic bands like The grateful dead and Janis joplin lived in the area. I should mention that indeed The Greenwhic village in NY was another focal point for this movement, but many of the bands that played in Woodstock 69 (greater NY) came from the SF area. 

In the Haight of 2011 you can see the remains of that movement but unfortunately clogged by the branding/spending/capitalistic way of living of today.  First, we visited the Red Vic a bed and breakfast known for it's peaceful dogma and art. We had breakfast there. Next, we walk around and  I happened to stumble upon a Puerto Rican Restaurant appropriately named Parada 22, I had to take a picture. Next we walk around and had coffee. 

We then moved on to visit Castro, a historical gem for the LGBT movement in the 70's. Indeed The Castro is the largest gay village and one of the first ones to have formed. It all started when Harvey Milk opened his camera store at 575. He store grew to become a social center of acceptance to those with homosexual orientation. This led him to become a leader in gay activism and run to eventually be elected the first openly gay official in USA. His story is fascinating and I encourage everyone to read about him. There we walked and looked around and just absorbed the feeling of freedom in the place.

The last place we visited was the Fisherman's Wharf because we knew it was going to be super touristy but we heard it was a place to eat fish. Son we dwelt to the Codmother and had fish and chips for lunch. The we stroll a bit more and left to camp at the beach in Big Sur.

When we arrived to BS there were no campsites available so we had to go to another campground close by. We cooked an excellent meal, using an aluminum pouch and opened a bottle of wine called monogamy, rightly title to commemorate the start of our 7 year relationship the last weekend of September 2004. 

:)