Thought Paper #3

Eva Dunn

Professor Stacy Asher

Art 195

September 23, 2012

Psychedelic Questions, Dude

            In order to fully understand the outing that my San Francisco Signage class went on during Week Four, I needed to answer a few important questions first:

What is a symbol? Well, oftentimes a symbol is an object that stands as a representation of something abstract and important.  For example, the street sign at the corner of Haight and Ashbury is a symbol of an American movement during the mid-sixties in which a counterculture emerged.  The epicenter of this counterculture occurred in the area of San Francisco known as the Haight-Ashbury, hence the importance of the street sign at the corner of Haight and Ashbury.  By studying the countless signs surrounding Haight Street, I gained a higher understanding of what life was like during the counterculture movement of the ‘60s.

            What is counterculture?  Without defining and understanding this term, a person would not fully comprehend or appreciate the signage of the Haight-Ashbury and what it all embodies.  In general, the term ‘counterculture’ describes a movement in which people, often the young, reject established social values; or rather, people who are opposed to the conventional.  However, in reference to the movement in San Francisco, the term ‘counterculture’ describes the lifestyle of the people who were then proclaimed as “hippies” or “flower children.”  The Vietnam War, an event that pervaded this time period, had a huge impact on the counterculture movement.  The war convinced many of the counterculture youth that America had “lost its soul” and that the American Dream did not exist (Gustainis).  Therefore, the hippies lived their lives “rejecting the ethics of capitalism, conformity, and repressive sexual mores” (Gustainis).  In their dismissal of societal norms, these people indulged in none other than sex (due to the invention of “the pill”), drugs (LSD, marijuana, etc.), and rock and roll (The Beatles, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, etc.).  All people of a certain culture have ways of identifying themselves; in this case, the hippies donned themselves in colorful clothes, and, mainly due to LSD, decorated their surroundings with “psychedelic” signs and art (visually stimulating pictures, words, etc.).  This is why tie-dye became a huge fascination and identifier of the hippies and counterculture movement.

            How do we see the counterculture movement in the Haight-Ashbury today?  Walking down Haight Street, I can easily see that it is influenced by a specific culture.  Although much has changed since the counterculture movement, there are still remnants of the hippies every which way I turn.  Number one remnant: color.  Everything on Haight Street is full of color—the signs, the people, and the products.  The great deal of color is highly influenced by number two: drugs.  Drugs continue to influence a considerable amount of Haight Street.  There are homeless people holding up signs asking for money or weed.  There are countless smoke shops in which you can buy fancy lighters, pipes, hookahs, and much more.  Not to mention, the graffiti paintings, wall murals, and art in the Haight-Ashbury are also very influenced by drugs—especially marijuana, but also by LSD.  And finally, number three: the people.  Although “Art 195” is a class dedicated to reading signs, and people are not often considered “signs,” I firmly believe that a person who falls under a certain culture can represent that culture as an unconventional sign.  When walking though the Haight-Ashbury, I see homeless people, people with dreadlocks, people wearing tie-dye, people smoking weed, people donning peace signs or ‘60s band t-shirts, and people who are not afraid to break the norm and be themselves.  Isn’t that the moral of the movement?  The most important moral of counterculture: do not be afraid to break from the social norm.  Countless people in the Haight represent that very moral through the signage that is their appearance, their actions, and their beliefs.

            Where’s the conclusion? Oh yeah, that! To conclude, the counterculture movement was a very important time period in San Francisco and America in which people disregarded normal social values.  The people of the culture, or the hippies, define the movement with one saying: sex, drugs, and rock and roll.  Looking at the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood today, one will see remnants of that very colorful counterculture movement through the signage of stores, art, people, and more.  It is always important to appreciate the past when trying to understand the present.

Works Cited

Gustainis, J. Justin. "Counterculture." Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 3rd             ed. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 433. Gale Virtual Reference Library.                   Web. 23 Sep. 2012.