I remember those days so very well. I’m now 54 years old. At that time I was an impressionable young 16/17 year old. I went to both pop festivals. I lived off 13th street in a drug rehab house…….named Renewal House. I met a guy there named Robert Straight, But everyone called him “Decent”. I married him in Piedmont Park in the gazebo June 21, 1970 or 71. A guy named Michael Spraidlin? or Spraitlin? married us. The Allman Brothers played in the park that day…….
Someone later told me the wedding was filmed by one of the local news channels and to this day I wish I had a picture to show my daughter. There are alot of memories of those days. I thank the Lord I made it through. I have scars from those days and the old saying goes–if you play you may end up paying. Wish I had a picture of that wedding………
Thanks adavi
Well, I was rather rebellious as a teenager to start with. Out of control sexually, hated to live at home, and I guess you could blame it all on the Beatles.HA HA My mom took me and my sister and a friend to see them August 18, 1965.. I was 12! They were at the Atlanta Stadium. From that time on I was hooked. I started smoking pot when I was 13/14 and started tripping on acid at 15.I was a wild child. Older friends took me to the strip and one experience led to another. My sister was a groupie to several bands at the time. I remember a club named Richard’s…. Lynyrd Skynyrd first played there.
How could I ever forget? Piedmont Park whose various bridges I slept under as a 14 year old runaway. On whose grass I lost my virginity one humid southern night to a big hippie girl who went by the name Wild Honey Sunburst. The park’s fountains became bathtubs for the homeless young freaks of the day.
This big blond was constantly in the company of small slim brunette named Canary- a self-professed “coal-burner” from Memphis. They had a room in a boarding house.
Hey do you remember that Fish and Chips on the Strip? It was open 24 hours I think and was shelter for many during bad weather and that movie theatre that showed that movie theatre that never took down those Funny Girl posters.
Then there was the live Drag Theatre on the corner (or maybe a bar)…. I stayed with a dope dealer for awhile who had an apartment in a cool brick building. There were French doors inside and he hid the dope in the ….. I remember it was a big place and the rent was something like $75.00 per month. He didn’t beat me up when he discovered that some of the MDA was missing. He was a much older man… about 27!
Who didn’t at one time or other sell “The Bird”. I used to sell somewhere on Roswell Rd. at the city limits I think. Some guys were turning tricks in the parks for $5.00 (bj only) and others were “rolling the queers” as they sought sex partners at night.
What was it all about? Freedom? For me think so. There was in those times a collective spirit of change and love and revolution which hasn’t been matched since. It was as if everyone was tuned in to the same psychedelic channel. The free concerts in the park… the headshops with hand-written signs “no-rip-offs”. There was that old victorian house that the Black Panthers used as their headquaters. Just so many memories.
Thank God for guys like Carter Tomassi whose black and white photographs let us step back in time for a moment to remember where we’ve been.
Jimmy M
Oh, my; I am so sorrowfully out of touch. I did not know that John Cippolina had died. He in particular, as well as QuickSilver Messenger Service have been a part of my personal story (you know, the one that makes folks politely drift away when they hear it coming for the fourteenth time) since 1968.
Actually, it was with John’s mother I first spoke. He was in the shower. She relayed conversation back and forth, at the end of which I was very excited: John had invited me to the Avalon for their gig that night–guest list, see us in the dressing room (which was not “back” stage, but out front, back a ways, and adjacent to the dance floor). Reason being–I was under recent indictment (May ’68; this was maybe mid-late summer) for “refusal to submit to physical examination for the purposes of induction into the armed forces of the savior of the free world…lada,lada, lada). The purpose of the meeting at the Avalon was to see if there were some way that QSD could play for–my trial!
Well, that never happened, even though John thought it worth looking into. I always have remembered (obviously) the way they treated me. I think John said, in response to my gratitude for inviting me to meet with them, something about how they were only musicians–but I was really stepping out to fight against that war that truly exemplified the “Pride of Man.” (That, of course, was the song that gave me the idea.) So I miss him, I miss the easy confidence that somewhere, probably in Marin Co. he’s getting old (we were born the same year), regrouping with the old crew. But he’s not.
I offer this tribute so that others of his fans may know that he cared about the humanity of this planet, in those dangerous (but truly alive!) days. -greg gregory
Greg convinced the jury and got his CO at the same time as Joan Baez’s husband David Harris was denied his. Greg moved to Atlanta and wrote for The Bird and was an early mover and shaker in the Little Five Points B.O.N.D. neighborhoods organization that laid the groundwork for making the neighborhoods humanly liveable.
I worked at the The Twelfth Gate starting in the summer of 1969 untill 1972 I think, and lived on 14th street. I was also in Daryl Roades and the HaHavishnu Orchestra from 1975-1976. I went to The Atlanta College of Art, the guy who ran The Catacombs went to the school also. I think he was called Mother David. He had a run in with one of the teachers and scared the teacher to death. He aimed a gun at him, the teacher started trying to talk him down, he shot it and out came pink flowers.There was also another coffee house called The Grand Central Cafe(something like that)on 9th St. I saw The Hampton Grease Band there for the first time in 1968. I lived in a sort of commune on 14th and then on 15th with Robin Feld, she, Ursula and I worked together after the church pulled out of The Twelfth Gate. It was exciting to see all the jazz bands come through, Elvin Jones, The Weather Report, Larry Coryell, Oregon, Macoy Tyner as well as Little Feat, Radar and The Grease Band, etc. You might want to contact Tony Garstein. He was the drummer for Radar and I’m sure he would have some pictures for you.
Gena
Greetings!
I have been waiting for the Internet to provide this project for 12 years!
I was there in ’69. Tried the Orange Sunshine, stayed with (biker) johnny Reb, next door to the catacombs, up the street from white columns, Ate Thanksgiving dinner in Piedmont Park before being returned to my home.
Spent much time on the strip between 1970 and 1972.
“Worked” at the community with Gypsy (biker) Vick (hippie) and Crystal and many others.
Then the bikers had a meet and the charter changed and Gypsy was replaced with Chains
Remember Bongo and Steve (the guy with the big cross)
Sunshine (was that Bonnie Raitt?)
Spade Bob, Poet, Runaway Richard, Mary (The Bridge) Flower and the other folks who lived in the apartments under the Salvation Army Girls Lodge (127 or 1127 11th street)
Jd, chili dog charley, smokey, marvin gardens (how could I forget that name,ever)
Here are a few places I didn’t see mentioned
General store (down 10th st. next to the alley)
G.B.’s an awesome restaurant for us (corner of 11th and peachtree after the Drag club closed) owned by Golden Boy I finally figured
The Bridge (metro atlanta mediation canter)up 11th street
Salvation Army Girls Lodge (behind G.B.’s)
The Bowery (a club I wasn’t old enough to enter) next door to the community center
our place outside the strip area – SHOTWELL
a couple of bands I didn’t see mentioned
celestial voluptuous Banana
Eric Quincy Tate
I hope this project really takes off!
I was little Bob. Now my friends call me cat as in
cheshire T. cat.
Hi,
What a great thing you are doing! I love it.
When did I first come to Atlanta? March 1970.
What brought me to Atlanta? My sister. I had run away
from boarding school. My sister came to DC and found
me, and I went to Atlanta to live with her.
When did I first visit the strip? March 1970. It was
such an experience. I remember very clearly the first
time I walked down the strip. I felt like I was home.
My best experience? The free concerts in the park. It
was always such a beautiful day when the bands played.
So many people. My best experience of all was an acid
trip in the park that I shared with my sister. We sat
by the water for hours…in the gazebo. My sister
died in an auto accident a few years ago. I felt
compelled to return to Atlanta and visit the park. I
sat in exactly the same place we had been during that
trip and remembered her.
Worst experience? When the police came down the strip
and started arresting people for “loitering.” They
beat people. I was arrested twice, once for loitering
and once for jay-walking. Then the police cleared out
Piedmont Park. It became a lonely, sad place.
What did I learn? I don’t know, really. It was a
defining time in my life. I thought it would go on
forever. I guess I learned that we can never really
have that time back again…though I would give
anything if we could. I sort of feel like a fish out of water now.
Julie
I don’t know if you are still collecting stories, etc., but on the off chance you are I thought I’d send mine along with the poster.
1. I first moved to Atlanta in the summer of 1968.
2. I moved to Atlanta to see what the whole Hippie movement was about and also to spread my wings and fly after two years of Jr. College in Bradenton, FL. Five of us drove to Atlanta from Bradenton. We got there in the early evening and started looking for a place to “crash.” We tried house after house on 14th St. Finally we went to the Catacombs, a blues bar on the corner of 14th St. and Peachtree St. We ran into a man called PaPa John. He invited us to dinner at his home way out somewhere. He had about 3 or 4 children and his wife made spaghetti for supper. We went back to the Catacombs after that and met a biker named Monkey who said we could crash at his apt. because he wasn’t going back there.
The next day I rented an efficiency apt. at 181 14th St. I met a lot of very nice people living there. While there I sold The Great Speckled Bird at various street corners. I also would spare change people for some cash. I remember meeting a guy named Beano who was somehow my cousin many times removed. He was from Mississippi. Two guys named Charlie and Stevie were acquaintances of mine then as well. I remember going to a 4th of July Parade and a bunch of us stopping the parade in a protest.
3. My best experience associated with the strip was the people. There was a community there that was caring and felt safe like a family.
4. My worse experience was moving out of the community to Peachtree Hills.
5. I learned from that time in my life that all people are family members waiting to be met.
6. Like I mentioned above, I lived at 181 14th St. for several months.
Peace, sally
This is a link to a website of the era. http://www.bandhistory.com has the history, music and photos of many of the period bands and their history leading up to the hippie era. I was in one of those bands and lived on the Georgia Tech campus from 1966-1970. We played some of the free concerts at Piedmont Park, as well as at “The Headrest” and “Funchio’s House of Rock.”
Good luck on your project.
Todd Merriman
While I had spent most of my life in Atlanta, I left to go to school in Macon, GA. There I found a whole new world. I had always liked “different” music, but a lot of it was being made in Macon. I had gone to the Municipal Auditorium in Atlanta, sat in the “white only” balcony to see Jimmy Reed, Ray Charles, and many others while in high school. But, I was introduced to The Magnolia Ballroom and Peacock Lounge during college. In Macon, we hung out at the gay bar, the biker’s bar, the black jazz club, the trucker’s lounge & really listened to R & B, and the beginnings of Southern Rock. I let my hair grow — and got rid of the bleached blond look. T-shirts and jeans, brighter colors and pierced ears entered my life, along with opposition to our involvement in Vietnam, and actively trying to integrate my college and Macon.
During a visit home — Atlanta— I discovered the Illien (sp?) Gallery and then, the Stein Club. After meeting a lot of people at the Stein, I decided to move back to Atlanta, and go to grad school at GA State. Living just off Piedmont, I could walk home at 2 AM from the Stein with no problems. I knew the folks at the A & P, the hardware store, the bakery and the deli. It was small town life, but, oh, so different !
Music was available all up and down the Strip. The Atlanta Pop Festivals, seeing Stevie Winwood and the “British Invasion” at the old Fulton Stadium, Little Feat on 10th St., shows at the Sports Arena, the Great Southeastern Music Hall—-such great music ! Then, there was soccer at the Stadium —- and those pre-game parties– and rugby games and parties ! The big Atlanta Snow left about 15-20 of us “trapped” in a house on Piedmont, across from the Park. Survival parties would set out for the liquor store at Ansley Mall, and come slipping and sliding back with cases of beer, etc.
During all of this, there was the Stein. My home away from home where I could always count on finding friends, something interesting to talk about, meeting people from all over the States and elsewhere, discovering new places to go, finishing a pitcher while my clothes were washing/drying at the Laundromat…….the place where, when some of us started having kids, getting married, etc., the management built a beer garden with swings and a sandbox ! Both my children learned to walk at the Stein, rolling around in their little yellow walker, and then being helped out of the walker and picked up a million times by all their friends there at the Stein. The Stein spawned other parties —- Orphan’s Thanksgiving, the Opera Party, 4th of July, the Halloween Costume Party, the Kentucky Derby Party — all fun and a little crazy. We would wander off to Rose’s Cantina, the Chinese place on the corner of 10th, down to the Fox to see The Grateful Dead, to “the Park” where I heard the Dead and the Allman Bros. playing together about 10 feet away from me, but always coming back to the Stein to start the evening, end the evening, or both ! Suzanne
Larry Ortega :When I was 15 years old, my dad, who worked at Emory University in Atlanta, gave my friend Cynthia and me two tickets to see this guy named Pete Seeger, a folk singer who I had never heard of. (I think that my dad thought that folk singers were wholesome!). Cynthia and I piled into a small auditorium on campus, and sat on the floor. As we sat there, a college student came to the microphone and told us that earlier that day, the National Guard had shot and killed four students at a little college in Ohio called Kent State, during a protest against the war in Vietnam. Then, Pete Seeger came out and sang his heart out, and we all sang with him. That night my life changed, and I have never been the same. I have been to his concerts since then, but I don’t think that anything will ever match the power, and the sadness, and the awe that we all felt that night. Pete Seeger and I share this stupid belief that children should be nurtured, and not shot down by their own government. The last couple of times that I have seen Mr. Seeger on television, he has mentioned that he was losing his voice in his advanced age. He isn’t losing his “voice,” at all. It’s right here.
I grew up in Atlanta, literally–from 66-67 I was playing Army wife, then came home and worked for Delta till 68 then off to Kansas to play army wife again–thats where I got the Bird in the mail. Back to Atlanta in 69, and stayed. My Bottom of the Barrel days interspersed that–I remember meeting my husband in SF in April 68, buying beads and a brass peace symbol in the Haight. The peace symbol still hangs in my car–Jeff Espina has/had the beads! We knew the owners and were there a lot–also==was it the Carousel, or something, that had a sliding board onto the dance floor? That was definitely 67/68.
I think it was pre-68 when the Bird did a class-action suit because the postal service tried to shut them down for running ads for abortion centers. I was one of the “class” with about 6 other women, but we never had to go to court, cause the PO just let it die.
And pre-67, before they tore down al lot of DT housing–dated a Tech guy who lived right on 75/85, and we would climb out on his roof, thru the kitchen window, smoke, and groove on the cars on the freeway.
My daughter was born in 1970, and I do remember taking her to a Jerry Rubin thing at Piedmont park–she couldn’t have been a year old, cause we dropped her out of her stroller, and she still brags she is the youngest person with her pix taken by the FBI.
Jeani Jessen