In December the Laundromat opened on Peachtree near Tenth. By this time half a dozen hip stores had opened along the strip. Their merchandise was commercially manufactured, few community people worked in them, and the profits went to the owners. The Laundromat opened lo provide a non-profit outlet for community-produced goods. About twenty people opened the Laundromat as a cooperative in which all decisions would be made together. Community residents could sell their wares through the Laundromat with only a 10% charge for overhead.
Over the winter the Midtown. Alliance held weekly meetings at the 12th Gate. Other community projects developed out of the Alliance. Churches pledged money for a “Youth hostel” to provide temporary housing for freaks coming into town. The money became available in January but the churches have been unable to locate a real estate man or owner who will rent to them. A Catholic monk and a Georgia State student got together to develop a runaway program, The Bridge, to help young runaways work out some arrangements with their parents. In June they found a building but the city condemned it so they are now operating out of the community center. Hip Job Coop was opened on Tenth Street to help kids find jobs and provide an outlet for community goods. Jobs are hard to find, though. and although Hip Job has survived it hasn’t been able to get the store together enough to provide a real alternative to the straight hip merchants.
On the strip Atlantis reopened and two short order food establishments, Chili Dog Charlie’s and Tom Jones Fish&Chips, provided a focus for the street. Early in the Spring kids gathered along Peachtree to claim the street.
By the time Atlanta had elected a “liberal” mayor, Sam Massell. In February Massell had agreed to meet with the Midtown Alliance to work out ways of avoiding hassles in the coming Summer. He seemed to be committed to a different approach from the police enforcement policy of his predecessor. Bu then city employees went on strike and Massell “friend of the poor” used everything in the book to screw the strikers. A number of hip community residents participated in activities during the strike and they began to wonder what kind of liberal Massell was.
Early in the Spring things picked up on the strip. Large crowds gathered on Peachtree. But there were intimations of violence against freaks by outsiders. Girls being raped on side streets. The police would do nothing. The Alliance formed a community patrol to provide some protection. In late May, Chili Dog Charlie’s was bombed.
During May a young music promoter had planned a “Peace Festival” to be held the first weekend in June, was planned as a way for the community to come together to begin a summer of peace – a memorial service to those killed at Kent State, Jackson State, and Augusta. As the weekend approached the city refused to issue a permit for the park. Mayor Massell was going to make a policy statement about the “hippie problem”. Later it turned out that he feared riots from what he said he didn’t want two going on at once – one on the strip and one in the park.
He almost did have a riot. Because of the violence on the Strip, the rapes and attacks, most people at the time did not want police protection. But Massell after a rap about protecting people’s rights, announced that he was sending in 64 cops. And that night, he did. On the Strip kids freaked out and fled to the park for a community meeting. At the meeting I expected the same old phony hassles of “peace” freak vs. “violence” freaks, but the community was together. Everyone wanted the Strip back and three to four hundred marched back to the strip to reclaim it.
At first the cops made few arrests, but that soon changed. For the third summer in a row, kids were arrested for loitering, jaywalking, etc. Bongo was arrested taking a cop’s badge number. He was convicted by the same judge Jones who had been so candid in 1968.
Early one Sunday morning, after the Cosmic Carnival, police raided Fish&Chips and arrested 21 for loitering, including the manager and assistant manager.
This weekend a kid was sitting on the sidewalk about a foot inside the property line of the Metro skinflick. The owner, who was president of the Tenth Street Businessman’s Association, told him to move. He moved off the property line. A cop came up and said,” do you want him arrested?” The owner said yes. The kid was taken inside the theater and beaten when he protested his arrest. A crowd gathered in front of the theater. The glass on one of the doors was pushed or kicked in. The owner came outside with a pistol and shot in the direction of one group of kids.
So there it is, the same old story of harassment from the city, police. Straight businessmen. But things are changing on the strip. Every time the cops begin to bust, the odds are that the community will protest the arrest. During one bust kids were freed from the cop car. In others bottles have been thrown. The community is not going to tolerate police harassment.
Other things are changing too. The community is uptight about all the heroin on the Strip. Kids have seen how smack destroys hip communities. This week a smack dealer was physically told to stay out of the community. The Community Center is now located at 1013 Peachtree. It is working with lawyers who will represent kids in harassment arrests. The Clinic continues , helping kids with regular medical problems or kids who have bad trips or want to try to get off smack. The twelfth Gate has become more of a community institution – the one place where community bands can play and even make a little bread. The Laundromat survives, supporting around 200 community craftmakers.
Many of the community’s struggles have been successful. Community institutions have been developed. The park is ours, although we still may have to fight to continue to have music there. The street is ours too, despite the constant fight to protect it. Most importantly the community is coming together in a real way – not just during a crisis as in the past. The future will be a struggle, but if we stay together we can make it. It really is just about that simple.
-gene guerrero jr.