got out of military 21 jan 69. 3 years 4 mo. 21 days. 13 mo SAE..its funny I still use the date miliary style.. At that time you could not buy a job in north alabama.. drew 26 weeks unemployment a whopping 44 dollars per week. I cant tell how I came by more funds. I had a 53 ford car frick conversion with a cad engine I payed 395 for it. I bought it from a lifer while in Ga.... a 54 f100 with a 409 cost a little over 500. a circle track 60 ford with a 427 engine that I purchased from phil bonner. Round track races 4 to 5 times a week within 100 miles of the house. drag strip 3 days a week. lots of street racing. Some Mary Jane and a little lsd and my favorite speed or diet pills.high test fuel was 35 cents a gallon and you could eat a meal for 1.50. It took to about mid 70 for the rest of 69 to get to north alabama. then it went wild. I got a real job in 76 I then sobered up no drugs no boose. now I am old but have some great memories. we grew up and later became adults during the best times. In the last 5 years I have gone to 34 funerals. lost a lot of friends. Bobby..
I was one a dem peace lovin' hippies, but I still joined up in '70! Remember the phrase "fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity"? I remember being able to run 12.5:1 slugs in my daily, maybe E85 will make it to my town so I can do that again! (this oil spill might actually have some influence on that) What Mazooma said; all the partying in the world, but there was always that dark cloud. Hell, I remember the conversation coming around to that many times. And it was never the same after that fiasco with the Hell's Angels, wasn't that at Altemont? I only had one friend who made it to Woodstock, thumbed it from here, but that was second nature for that guy!
I have the Woodstock movie on V.H.S. Maybe I'll watch it again tonight while nursin' on some cold ones and a fifth of old No.7....
Great stories everyone, Thanks for sharing. THANK YOU to all who served our country. I was 12 and thought all was normal, growing up on a farm in MN.I still enjoy the music from that time!
Summer of '69 for me down under was spending as much cruising time in my '35 3 window coupe as possible... ..... I was not quite 17. Yes, it's a Pontiac... And I still own it.
As has been suggested before, the pop media version of 1969 is certainly not the norm. Tie dyes, afros , beads and a joint hanging out the mouth was not the norm and was generally an aberration even in large metropolitan areas. As has also been stated, cronkite, brinkley, leary et al sucked and were merely propagandists for the downfall of America. Just look around if you dont agree... But to the original question, a great resource is right here on the HAMB. Look at period photos right here and look at the crowd. Look at the parking lots in the backgrounds. Such is a much better representation of what things actually looked like than some piece by newsweek.
There was a lot of anti "Hippie"/protester sentiment also at that time. In May of 1970 a fellow I knew came into the Mighty Mo and said hey, did you hear the score? What score? National Guard 4, Kent State nothing. He thought it was funny. Most of us didn't but it wasn't all drugs, sex and rock & roll. There was a pretty good backlash also.
Sad four kids had to die because of fear,,from both the protesters and the national guard,,HRP <object width="480" height="385"> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/A-EqF7p7aGU&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></object>
Fuckin' A I almost remember '69. If you remember that year you weren't there. I wore bell bottom Levis, T shirts and no shoes most of the time. Drove a '58 Buick Roadmaster with tweaked 364. Cigarettes went to 35 cents a pack, major bummer. The psycodelic Supermarket on Portland was the place to hang out and get free crackers and peanut butter and they were beginning the People's Fountain right up the street. Everything that was with it was called the people's whatever it was going to be. Oh yea I was in love with Grace Slick, who wasn't. You should see her now what a freakin' whale. Farm out maaan outa state. I mean Groooovy Oh yea wide wale cordoroy was cool and even though I never really dug hippies I did like hippy chicks.
I wasn't a "Hippie" but I sure got called one a lot,,I was 19 in 1969 and I guess it was the white Peace sign painted on the rear axle pumpkin on my jacked up straight axle falcon and my long hair,,those days are long gone,,but my hair is still slightly over my collar and I am still a rebel,,just older and wiser HRP
That summer, my neighbor bought a "used car" for $4,000! Sure, it was a 289/Webers Cobra...but $4,000?... Oh, man....I couldn't belive that someone would spend that kind of money for a used car. went round corners like it was on rails....
I had just turned 10 but knew Kent State was real close. Dad had a "hippy/gearhead" working for him with a COPO Camaro so whenever it was at the house I'd jump in it after school and abuse that Hurst shifter making 100's of "passes" sitting in the driveway. I thought he was the coolest thing ever so imagine my surprise after Kent State at our normal Sunday family get togethers to hear my grandfather say something to the effect of,they should have shot them all. I made detailed plans for an escape if/when the military showed up at my school... So yes,there was a backlash and it was kinda confusing for a 10 year old.
The one phrase I remember most was " I Do ". My wife and I celebrate 41 years this year. Oh there were some less significant things like Woodstock, and Landing on the moon, and Tate/Labianca. But that's what I remember most.
For 6 month's in 1969, I was on a ship (USS WHITESANDS) with a bathascaph (TRIESTE ll) looking for the USS SCORPION SSN 589. She sank a year earlier off the Azores coast.
. . I think all of us had our own private 1969 [those of us who were living in '69] and my particular 1969 certainly was tie dyes, afros, beads, psydelics and joints hanging out the mouth. Not everyone had this experience in that year I realize fully....but I and my friends did....and it also consisted of wrenching on my old Pontiac, working part-time jobs, meeting my future wife [who had hair down to her waist] and partying. I suppose the news on TV had something to do with the way we lived back then...trying to keep up w...as it turned outith the hippy life we saw in California while living in Portland, Oregon ...as it turned out, Portland was prolly as "hipy" as any place in sunny Cal that time. Pork'N Beaner nailed it with his description of the "fountain" in Portland....and long hairs lined up on any freeway ramp in town with their thumbs out....hitchiking was HUGE. Wish I'd taken a few photos of Portland in '69. I did take some photos of New York in '67...wild stuff. I'll never forget attending the "banana festival" on a 3 day pass in '67 a park in NYC...it was circulated that dried banana peels would get ya high when smoked. Well, all the cops thought we were all smoking banana peels at this big festival one afternoon..we weren't. It was hilarious! I took photos of it...a huge conga line snaking through the park passing joints of "banana peels" up and down the line....cops looking on. Not banana peels ...heh heh. Da Man never caught on.
I was two in '69. Dad had finished a stint in the Guard and was a whisker away from being shipped to Nam. How my life might have been different if he had not finished his time before the war escalated. I was lucky. Too many kids my age lost a Dad, uncle or brother. There's a hole in that generation that can never be filled. Whether the war was a catalyst, or just another indicator, Mom and Dad said the world changed around about '69-71. Prior to that, life in America was good, optimism abounded, prices were low, work was easy to find and paid well. There was always hope for the future up to that point. After that it was a steady decline in just about every aspect of life. I didn't realize it at the time, but even as a kid in the 70s I sensed that something wasn't right.
Good observation, crisser. I was 24 in 1969 and took part in a lot of the stuff being described here. It was a lot of fun and I have memories that I wouldn't trade for anything, BUT from the vantage point of 2010 it does seem that, as you said, there has been a steady decline in just about every aspect of life. What the hell happened?
I was born in '73 but the more I read about the late 60's the more I think that there was an unintended backfire of what was trying to be accomplished. Govt. got bigger, meaner, and dumber while the protesters were trying to stop that exact thing. I am building my car in a late 40's style and kinda dig that era... tho I gotta say present day is pretty cool eg. I am on a computer "talking" to the whole world. And as much as a few D-bags have tried to undo it the USA is still a great country.
Love the newspaper artical, now if they only would of printed it that way................and also the part about Viet Nam in the lower right corner.
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