Steve Wise is a long time member of The Great Speckled Bird staff. He is working on his book concerning the times and underground papers.
(This was shot on the very northern edge of Piedmont Park across from [The Great Speckled Bird] office at 240 Westminster Drive. and down the wooded hill from the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. We occupied that office from the fall of 1971 until May, 1972, when it was fire-bombed. My guess is that the pic was shot in December, 1971)
First row: Barbara Aiken, Stephanie Coffin, and Marjorie Jordan. Second row: Roger Friedman (wearing the ram’s horns), Robin Boult, and Bob Dorland [RIP]. Third row: Lucia Droby, Morris Brown [RIP], Teddi Vaile, and me. Back row: Ron Ausburn [RIP], Candy Hamilton, Zachary Coffin being held by Joaquín Eugene Guerrero, Charlie Cushing, someone hidden, Nancy Jones Presley, Blues (Michael Teece), and Carter Tomassi.
Wolfe and Patti Kunkle, Queen of L5PWilton Hugh “Wolf” Thomas, famous street personality of Atlanta Georgia, Little Five Points, know for selling of the Great Speckled Bird newspaper for decades. This image was made at The Great Speckled Bird Reunion at Complex B in Atlanta Ga. by T.W. Meyer.
In Atlanta during the late sixties and onward, a fixture on the local scene has been Wolfe Thomas, known simply as Wolfe, selling periodicals.
Tom Millican “Tom the Birdman” at 10th and Peachtree
Famous for his and Tom Millican’s standing at 10th Street and Peachtree selling first The Great Speckled Bird, then other less noble periodicals like Girls! Girls! Girls!, Wolfe was instantly recognizable by his height and blonde locks. One of the good guys of the street, hard at work at his post No matter the weather. Wolfe is always friendly, even if a bit grumpy at times, and is always ready to help out others in the street community.
Like so many of the hip folks, Wolfe transferred his allegiance to Ponce at Highland and Little Five Points to sell magazines when Midtown gentrified .
All recordings copyright the strip project
Coming into Atlanta
“It’s all happening at ‘The Zoo’”
The music changed and Beats became Hippies
Ed Knight
Feelin’ at home with the hippies
Atlanta street people
On The Strip
Atlanta’s digger, Bongo
Piedmont Police Riot
Cosmic carnival tales
A newspaper for the Homeless
Stre
et folks and Chili Dog Charlie’s
the last Birds
The 12th Gate and The Bistro
Jacob, street lawyer wino
bad times – the loitering laws
Little Five Points merchants
The Strip project
Wolfe sings Dusty Roads
Kudos to Bill Horrisberger for his earlier StoryCorp interview of Wolfe.Listen here.
Tom and Stephanie Coffin are among the most creative and industrious people you could ever meet. Since arriving here in the mid sixties for Emory grad school, they have contributed much to the quality of life in Atlanta. They were among the group that birthed and raised The Great Speckled Bird to be “the Wall Street Journal of Underground newspapers”, as 60 Minutes called them. Without The Bird it is unlikely Atlanta would have had such a counter culture.
All recordings copyright the strip project
Arriving in Atlanta
hard work of creating a newspaper
The Bird introduces counter thought to the region
The Bird introduces counter thought to the region
West Coast influences
The Albany Movement
stepping on the Atlanta stage
protective aura of a woman with small child
too hot at the Byron Pop Festival
trouble finding housing
Seattle roots and Beat bloodline
1968
Stephanie and son stroll The Strip
Stephanie with son Zac in stroller in front of Atlantis Rising on The Strip
2014 Zac Coffin by his sculpture at 10th and Peachtree
Caught for history
The Strip to 14th Street
Talkin’ to Tom Coffin
Atlanta’s Lorax; Tom speaks for the trees.
Tom was later the head arborist for Atlanta, charged with protecting our tree canopy. The developers were upset with him for doing a good job and not giving them free reign, so fellow travelers in city government fired him as incompetent. He sued the city and he won in court as a whistleblower on corruption. Now he continues the fight to keep Atlanta’s trees healthy through The Tree Next Door organization.
Debbie Eason came up with the idea of a FREE newspaper about all the activities in Atlanta, paid for BY THE ADVERTISERS! For a mother to work was still shocking. To be an editor was unheard of in those days. From her efforts was born Creative Loafing. Debbie was all over the area and has some interesting tales. Give her a listen.
There is nothing run of the mill about Rupert Fike.
His life sounds like a novel starting with the UGA SDS being taken as a joke at the Levitation of the Pentagon in 1967, to The Farm in Tennessee, a still running commune, by way of the Haight and the Saturday class and SNCC. Rupert is a writer, poet and philosopher handyman, among other attributes. And not only did he live it, he is a good story teller.
All recordings copyright the strip project
Meeting Stephen Gaskins
Kathy
Virginia-Highland
The Rainbow Family
Bust
The Strip
Driving Dr. King
Alley Pat
Officer Don
The Catacombs
Others enter
The Dead come to Piedmont Park and The Cosmic Carnival
Charlie Brown, Darryl Brooks and some friends came to Atlanta from Chicago. They quickly became part of life around the area. Charlie tells a good tale, so have a listen to Tale of The Chicago Boys.
All recordings copyright the strip project
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Lynard Skynard
The Bands
retire
Tom the Birdman
Little Five Points
VW
rest
It was noisy, but here are Charlie and Darryl at Manuel’s Tavern.
Haynes McFadden was typical of the experimental artist of the time. He came from the world of photography and got interested in color. He helped the Electric Collage Light Show rise to acclaim. He was involved in some of the early ‘scene’ in Atlanta. He resided in South Africa until his death. Haynes Carter McFadden passed away June 10, 2012 at 69, after having resided in Omaruru, Namibia, since 1998. He was a pioneer for the Baha’i Faith in Germany and Namibia, photographically chronicled a number of major Baha’i events and later focused on training and empowering Namibians through both his business and his Baha’i activity.
Here are his stories from his Atlanta days.
George was arrested for identifying a narc in Piedmont Park. Meanwhile…There was a police riot.
We stood and fought back: The Parks belong to the People.
We were lucky enough to get George to sit and tell us the story behind his part in what became a police riot. He was also on ‘the scene’ from the early days and sheds a lotta light. Listen in…
to the Little Five Points community where he co-founded Wax and Facts.
![First row: Barbara Aiken, Stephanie Coffin, and Marjorie Jordan. Second row: Roger Friedman (wearing the ram's horns), Robin Boult, and Bob Dorland [RIP]. Third row: Lucia Droby, Morris Brown [RIP], Teddi Vaile, and me. Back row: Ron Ausburn [RIP], Candy Hamilton, Zachary Coffin being held by Joaquín Eugene Guerrero, Charlie Cushing, someone hidden, Nancy Jones Presley, Blues (Michael Teece), and Carter Tomassi.](http://www.thestripproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/birdfolks.jpg)
