Discover SF - Haight Ashbury Street Fair & Comedy Day

WhatsApp: https://chat.whatsapp.com/J063PZxP0WE5BLU0gwl3Ll ----------------- You must have seen this iconic image somewhere, yes, that is Haight Ashbury, a neighborhood known for counter culture, and histories. Haight Ashbury is where the Summer of Love happened in 1967. Also Grateful Dead, Hippies, counter culture etc.. The Victorians are still there, and so are the record stores, the vintage shops, the head shops and the murals. It's a genuinely great six blocks to walk. And on this Sunday, the Height Ashbury Street Fair would hold its 47th event. We will be there, a walk through history. Our day: coffee at 11:30, an easy walk up into Buena Vista Park for the view, then down through the fair with a few stops where we tell you what actually happened on each corner. At 2:15 we walk out the far end into Golden Gate Park for Comedy Day — a completely separate free festival that happens to land on the same Sunday, five minutes away, in its 45th year, with 50-plus comedians. Blanket on the grass for the afternoon, then dinner in the Inner Sunset for whoever's hungry. Two unrelated free festivals, one Sunday, five minutes apart. That's the whole reason we picked this date. What we'll stop at Buena Vista Park. The city's oldest park, 1867, and a real forest in the middle of San Francisco. The crest is where they lit the fire, and it's one of the best views in town. One more thing nobody tells you: when the city moved its cemeteries out in the 1930s, WPA crews lined the park's drainage gutters with leftover marble headstones. They're still there — you can read names and dates off the stones under your feet. 710 Ashbury. The Grateful Dead's house from 1966, raided October 2, 1967, everyone arrested, front page news. Private home now, so sidewalk only and keep it down. 635 Ashbury half a block up is where Janis Joplin lived. The Psychedelic Shop on Haight. The Thelin brothers opened it in January 1966, before there was a scene to sell to. It's where the funeral was organized, and where Ron gave away every last thing on the shelves the day it happened. Haight & Clayton — the Free Clinic. Opened at 558 Clayton in June 1967 on a single argument: health care is a right, not a privilege. Thousands of kids had arrived with no money and no doctor, so somebody built them one. The free clinic model spread across the country from this corner. Of everything the sixties made here, this is the piece that lasted — not a sound, not a look. An institution. The Panhandle, one block north the whole way, where the funeral ended. Free concerts on a flatbed — the Dead, Big Brother, Jefferson Airplane, playing for nothing. The Diggers handed out free food here every afternoon, on the theory that if you can just give things away, you should. Amoeba Music, 1855 Haight. In a converted bowling alley since 1997, still one of the largest record stores anywhere. Not a plaque, not a museum — somebody's actual job. And the fair itself, which started in 1978 with Supervisor Harvey Milk's backing. That's a full decade after everything above, when the Haight had been through hard years and people were trying to bring it back. Worth knowing while you're standing in it. What's under your feet isn't the Summer of Love — it's the people who stayed after. \ The day 11:30 — Coffee To The People, 1206 Masonic Ave. Right at the fair's east gate. Couches, bookshelves, been there forever. Say hi, get a coffee, meet a few people before we move. 12:00 — Up into Buena Vista Park. A gentle climb through the trees to the crest. Introductions happen here. 12:45 — Down Haight Street through the fair, stopping at the places above. Six blocks, no rush, nobody marching. 2:00 — Out at Stanyan. 2:15 — Hippie Hill and Robin Williams Meadow. Five minutes into Golden Gate Park. The slope above the meadow is Hippie Hill, where the drum circle has been going more or less continuously since 1967 and will be going on Sunday. We set up at the bottom of it for Comedy Day — a separate festival with its own organizers, in its 45th year, 50-plus comedians, noon to 5pm, also free. Blanket down, and that's where we are for three hours. 5:00 — Comedy ends. 5:30 — Optional Dinner in the Inner Sunset. Fifteen minutes through the park to 9th & Irving, which is nothing but places to eat. We'll pick on the day and split across a couple of tables. Come if you're hungry, peel off if you're done. No reservation, nobody counting. Join TownFlame, Make Life Happen. Liability Waiver: Participation in TownFlame events is voluntary and involves social interaction in public spaces. Activities are designed to be inclusive and respectful. Participants assume all risks and release TownFlame, its organizers, volunteers, and affiliates from liability for injury, illness, or damages, except in cases of gross negligence or intentional misconduct. 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