When I moved to San Francisco in 1984 as a young 20-something, I knew I would make the Haight my home. I lived in a handful of places early on and eventually rented a flat on Cole Street, moving only once in the 25 years that followed.
Haight Street was on my radar from a pretty young age. Growing up in Washington DC, the place I longed to be was sunny California. Its allure was sold through TV shows like the Mod Squad and commercials for Coca-Cola. But it was black-and-white photos in magazines like LIFE, of the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and other colorful characters that drew me in. Dressed in winter coats, feathers and sandals — clearly in a state of seasonal amnesia typical of San Francisco — these images captured my imagination and wouldn’t let go. Freedom to be yourself was and is vintage Haight, and I have been a number of different people living here; The young 20-something newbie dancing at the iBeam, the freelance photographer who took photos of neighborhood street performers,
like sword swallower Captain Don,
street goddesses in steampunk fashion,
musicians including Dave Grohl whom I spotted near Belvedere Street in the ‘90s … (He said he had a girlfriend who was a photographer and patiently obliged).
In the early 2000s, I was also the mother of a toddler who practically learned to walk on Haight Street, and who was very enchanted by the neighborhood street life … at eye level. Young stoners always greeted her sweetly as they sat leaning against storefronts along the sidewalk.
As she got a little older and saw the occasional person passed out, she would turn to me casually and say: “Mommy are they dead?” with a sense of curiosity and not concern, because she didn’t know what it meant — to be dead or passed out. As a young adult, she’d get her first retail job on her beloved Haight Street, at Haight and Ashbury, no less. She has witnessed a lot of beauty and sadness on that corner and advocated for Narcan pens for businesses on the street when someone OD’d on heroin this past summer. In her own way, she is continuing the legacy of the Haight; looking out for your neighbors and the greater good of the community. [Speaking of greater good, big shoutout to Dr. David E. Smith, Founder of the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic in 1967!]
Almost 4 decades have passed since I moved to San Francisco. So much of my personal history is intertwined with this neighborhood that in a weird manner, I feel a sense of ownership. It’s my version of Haight Street now. I’ve been the observer with a camera and a witness to the delightful and sometimes dark moments the Haight has had to offer. A longing for love and peace ‘60s style still draws thousands of people here, and in a way it’s a shared ideal that still binds us, 50 years later, and is at the heart of the Haight.
I’m thrilled to be a part of this all-women edition of Haight Street Voice. “Season of the Witch” conjures up a fantastic feeling of unapologetic, supernatural feminine energy that has been a part of the Haight and reflected in psychedelic art and music for a long, long time.
