This rockumentary is an excerpt of the CD-ROM Haight-Ashbury in the Sixties! released in 1996 (the first interactive CD-ROM to combine history with licensed music from popular bands). This 2-disc CD-ROM set, produced and directed by Tony Bove (now out of print), included video clips, images by hundreds of artists (including Alton Kelley, who designed the artwork for the package), and words from the Haight-Ashbury and the San Francisco Oracle (edited by Allen Cohen), and music by the Grateful Dead, the Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin, and Tom Constanten. (See Credits for details.) Haight-Ashbury in the Sixties! was acclaimed in reviews (New York Times, USA Today, S.F. Chronicle, etc.) at a time when interactive documentaries and musical experiences were new to the digital media.

Part 1: Introduction to the history of the Haight-Ashbury of San Francisco in the 1960s, featuring images collected by Allen Cohen, narration by Raechel Donahue, music by the Grateful Dead, and video clips of interviews with the Dead, Chet Helms, Allen Cohen, and others. This material was originally presented in CD-ROM format by Tony Bove and Allen Cohen (produced by Rockument.com). See Credits.

Coming soon:

Part 2: The Birth of the San Francisco Oracle

The San Francisco Oracle, true to its name, was one of the first underground papers and the first psychedelic newspaper, and it spread the word of change throughout the hip community.

Part 3: The Human Be-In

The various youth movements came together in one particular event, the Human Be-In in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, in January of 1967. Allen Cohen, co-founder and one of the editors of the S.F. Oracle, was one of the organizers of this event, billed as The Gathering of the Tribes, in a "union of love and activism." This event is still celebrated today, in the form of the Digital Be-In.

At the first Human Be-In, the San Francisco bands played, including Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, and Quicksilver Messenger Service. Poets Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Lenore Kandel read, chanted and sang. Timothy Leary gave his most memorable speech, telling everyone to "turn on, tune in, and drop out!"

Dr. Leary was one of many important speakers of that special day, in which the free speech and radical left movements of Berkeley, represented by Jerry Rubin, combined with the lifestyle, poetry, arts, and music of the hippies, represented by Michael Bowen and Allen Cohen, and forged bonds with the Diggers, who were the social conscience and backbone of the Haight, while the Grateful Dead played "Morning Dew".

Part 4: Haight-Ashbury Music and Poster Art

The music of the Haight-Ashbury is special for me. I grew up in the Sixties, and some of these artists and musicians were my heroes, in the true meaning of the term. They stuck their necks out and risked everything to bring us this music.

The Haight-Ashbury's music scene thrived and continues to shine like a beacon of the psychedelic age, as everyone now knows the music of the Grateful Dead, the Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin, Quicksilver, the Steve Miller Band, and friends from Berkeley including Creedence Clearwater Revival and Country Joe and the Fish, and many other lesser-known but amazingly talented bands. And just about all of them owe their existence to the legendary, nearly-forgotten, first acid-rock-western band, the Charlatans. The first rock poster was drawn by George Hunter and Mike Ferguson of the Charlatans for their shows at the Red Dog Saloon. Wes Wilson, a printer and artist, developed many of the motifs of the early posters along with Alton Kelley, Stanley Mouse, Victor Moscoso and Rick Griffin.

Many of the poster artists cranked out poster and handbill designs quickly for hastily-scheduled concerts at the Fillmore and Avalon ballrooms. And yet, despite (or perhaps due to) the quick work and druggy atmosphere, the poster art of this period represented the pinnacle of 20th Century poster art, and the innovations inspired a cascade of rock posters and concert handbills produced all over the country by many brilliant artists.

Part 5: Acid Test Graduation

Right before the Haight district succumbed to overpopulation, rip-offs, heroin and speed epidemics, and rapists, the original pioneers of the lifestyle bade the Haight-Ashbury a sort of farewell party, the Acid Test Graduation, sponsored by the Pranksters and presided over by Ken Kesey.

Many people from the original Haight-Ashbury community, including Kesey, moved up to the northwestern region of the U.S., many settling in Oregon and Northern California. Others fled to the calm deserts of Arizona and New Mexico. Many others dug deeper into the urban landscape or hopped over to Berkeley.