1967 Rhodes Map of Haight-Ashbury, San. Francisco - Hippieville U.S.A.

This is a 1967 Elinor Rhodes map of the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, California during the Summer of Love. The map depicts the neighborhood from Shrader Street to Masonic Avenue and from Page Street to Waller Street. All the businesses along Haight Street are identified, complete with their addresses, from 1811 to 1342 Haight Street. Some of these businesses are labeled with pink text, although it is unclear what sets these establishments apart from the others. Some of the well-known staples of the neighborhood, including The Psychedelic Shop, are included. The Diggers, a local 'community anarchist' group based out of the All Saints' Church on Waller Street is also noted. The Diggers believed in a free society, and built a free medical clinic, established a free store, and gave out free meals on a daily basis, all of which were run by volunteers and donations. A decorative border surrounds the central map, which is depicted as being drawn on a piece of paper being unrolled by two hippies. Flowers stretch across the top of the map, while newspaper clippings adorn the bottom.

Hippies and the Summer of Love

Per a definition provided on the map's verso, 'a 'hippie' is a member of the 'Now' culture [and] believes in individuality, in immediacy, and in togetherness and love, but most of all in the senses'. Also called Flower Children, hippies were generally suspicious of the government, rejected consumerist values, and generally opposed the Vietnam War. The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that centered in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco during 1967. Over 100,000 people descended on the neighborhood from a wide-array of backgrounds: college kids, vacationers, teens, and even partying military personnel from nearby bases. Psychedelic rock music also was central in hippie culture in Haight-Ashbury, including the music of The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Big Brother and the Holding Company. The neighborhood could not handle the massive influx of people, and the community quickly suffered from overcrowding, hunger, drug problems, homelessness, and crime. People began to filter out of the neighborhood by the fall, and those remaining in the neighborhood even held a mock funeral declaring 'The Death of the Hippie'.

Census and Publication History

This map was drawn by Elinor Rhodes and published in 1967 by W.T. Samhill of Sausalito, California. An extremely rare find, we have been able to locate only one other known example in the collection of the Library of Congress and only one other instance when it has entered the private market.