I was just sitting here on this drab Saturday thinking about some fond memories of my youth. Although I wasn’t born in Atlanta, I’ve lived here since I was 5.  I’ve seen Atlanta grow and grow and grow.  I truly believe that air-conditioning was the ruination of the South.

My hippie experience started when I was 15 and went on a family trip to San Francisco.  My aunt would take me down to the Haight-Ashbury look at the “hippies”.  WOW! I felt such a connection with them.  One day while visiting my family, I struck out on my own and went down to Golden Gate Park.  They were having some sort of concert there.  The people were unlike any others that I had met in my whole young life. I spent all day there.  When I returned, my Mom had our car packed and they whisked me away.  I was changed for life.  From then on, I didn’t care what people thought of me because I knew there were some people out there who were totally accepting.

Fast forward to 1969.  I had heard rumblings of hippies down on P’tree St.  I had to check it out.  My girlfriend and I would make up stories to our parents. We dressed “respectably” in their eyes and have our “hippie” clothes in our trunk. We changed at a gas station and we would head straight for the strip.  I spent many wonderful afternoons and nights there.  I remember getting thrown out of the Waffle House on 14th St. just for the way we were dressed.

I remember the riot in the Park, the overturned police car and the big clash on the baseball field between the “freaks” and the cops.  When I went home that evening it was on the news and I was in a panic that my parents would see me there.  My Mom watched and said “see what could happen to you if you went down there”.  I just kinda smiled.  I saw Canned Heat at the Sports Arena, The Allman Brother, Alice Cooper, The James Gang and many others at the Municipal Auditorium. Grand Funk Railroad, Ted Nugent at the Agora Ballroom.I love the “strip” and all the things that went along with it.  Met my first lover there.

I felt that things started to go bad around 1971 or 1972.  You couldn’t trust just anyone anymore. The park became dangerous after dark.  You had to watch out for thieves. It just wasn’t the same anymore.  But it was so much fun while it lasted.  I miss it.- Deborah Taylor