CHRISTMAS 1967
Tue., August 31, 11:35 AM
When I read this morning’s post from Bev, about showing San Francisco to visitors, I was naturally reminded of my own last visit to that lovely city. Surely I had written about that myself. But if I did, I can’t find it.
It was December, 1967. Although I usually enjoyed celebrating Christmas with my New York friends, our work environment was going through some painful changes, and it was the last place I wanted to be. So I planned a vacation for myself, to stay first with my Aunt C’s family near San Francisco, after which I would spend a few days with my Cousin B and her family in Los Angeles. (I had plenty of vacation time available, though I scrupulously did not count Christmas as a holiday. I could afford to consider it an ordinary work day, not that anyone noticed.)
My uncle was a wonderful host, driving me to all sorts of landmarks. I remember his painstakingly ma- neuvering Lombard, the “crookedest street in the world.” And on Christmas day, we went to vist the well publicized Haight-Ashbury district. People’s sense of the world varies from one locality to another; not only were they surprised to hear that New York also had a “hippy problem,” they were amazed that we in New York knew about theirs. In that little town outside of San Francisco, almost no one read a daily newspaper. In New York, many of us read more than one.
In any case, off we went to Haight Street. Keep in mind, this was more than forty years ago; I would imagine it is not the same today. Evidently the local street cleaners had pretty well given up on trying to keep the place presentable, and it was “watch your step” wherever we went. But the air was festive, and local residents were actually dancing in the streets. The music came from plug-in record players propped up on window sills, because no one — at least, no ordinary citizens — had portable record players; and they were records, not tapes or CD’s.
I suppose many of the people we met were a little high, but we certainly didn’t see anyone who was truly out of it. They were just celebrating the holidays. Everyone was wishing everyone else “merry Christmas,” except for one fellow who greeted us with “happy Hanukkah!” I wondered how he knew, or was he guessing; then I realized I was wearing my new gold chai for the first time.
Can I convey to you how much fun it was, even accompanied by a couple of “older” people and four young kids? Suffice it to say, after all these years, I still remember it fondly. I shall have to ask those “kids” if they remember it too.
