HAIGHT-ASHBURY |
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It was through Corky (not his real name) that I ended up staying at the house on Oak St. The day we met, we really fell "in like" with each other. There was a mattress outside behind the store. As I recall, we may have had a small audience that first time! (I must have forgotten to tell my parents about this and they encouraged me to keep making things and selling them there on the weekends.) Members of the Haight-Ashbury Street band, AKA Oceola, lived at the Oak St. house and I was thrilled to be able to ride in the back of an old beer truck with musicians and their equipment along with anyone who was to be a "guest" at their gigs. I adored this dude....he was a really trippy guy, probably 21 years old. He didn't talk much but I amused him, I think. Didn't realized my own "trippiness!" One night we were all packed up in the beer truck on our way to The Family Dog, one of my favorite places to go to. The Family Dog was also host to Steven Gaskin's "Monday Night Class," which I will explain later. It was a drive up The Great Hiway right on the beach. You never saw so many converted buses in your life! Lots of people made a home out of old school buses so they were mobile as well as having a place to hang their hat. I don't even really remember who was playing that night. I was totally starry-eyed as he stood behind me, both of us watching the bands, with his arms around me. He was so much taller than I and we were "as one," moving to the music. Man....that was so sexy to me. Most of us had imbibed in electric koolade on the way to the gig and we were pretty high. I was very careful, even in those days, never to take much of anything till I was sure of the effects of the drug, and I often remained "straight." Corky and I saw each other on and off for some time but never got serious. There were too many other places to go and people for me to meet! Fun times singing, dancing and playing with the folks on Oak Street. At one time, Haight Street was wired for sound. The whole street was hooked up to speakers and they played live music, often at the store I sold my stuff at. The music continued even after the speakers had to be taken down. I met this guy named Chuck who was much older than I, around 30ish, who asked me to marry him. I was wondering where that came from, and then I realized that the dude was pretty burnt out. He wrote me letters that I can hardly believe made it to my parents house because of the way they were addressed. I still have one of the letters and may scan it in to the sight. It was totally confusing, most likely since he said he was on 10 hits of acid! Well, I didn't marry him, but within a week he had found another girl to marry him. The "marriage" took place at the store and was hysterical~basically because Chuck was so serious about it. He used a cigar band for the wedding ring and they had fish & chips next door for their wedding dinner! Hmmmmmmm, I wonder whatever happened to him and his bride. One of my favorite people was a guy named Gypsy. He had really long, dark hair and wore a beret. He had a bounce in his step and managed to be everywhere. He was a happy person and one couldn't help but feel good when he was around. He knew everyone. A few times we stayed the night together at the house on Oak. St. I haven't seen him since about 1970 and we never stayed in contact. He was a really neat guy~very different! |
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