Kevin Moore: Yes, the word I used was “downslide”. The summer of love was ’67. That was the year of Monterey Pop – which was a very peaceful, proto-Woodstock sort of festival, with a lot of bands, big musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, but also Indian musicians and folksy-spiritual artists too. What Elaine would say is that the hippie movement was – or is – a media-driven movement. The publicity from ‘67 drew in a lot of kids to San Francisco, and what they found when they arrived wasn’t some blissed out utopia, but harder drugs, unwed mothers, flop houses.
Eugene, Panhandle, Haight - Ashbury, 1968.
Being from San Francisco, and living in the Haight, she knew the reality was different from the media’s depiction. I think she was deeply sympathetic toward the people. She was almost stationed there as an objective eye. They were people she saw around the area. She’s definitely among them, but she was a little older, about 30 at the time. The people in the book are all 16, 17, 18-years-old…It’s amazing how young some of them are – to have made this sort of life decision.
About the age I was brave enough to go to college, they’d gotten on a Greyhound Bus to San Francisco with no money. It reminds me that it was a time when people took bigger risks. There was less to lose, maybe. The US was pretty fucked up at that time. There was more of a malaise that set in in the 70s, but this was definitely the beginning of it – the fallout from this cultural experiment.
Couple with Child, Golden Gate Park, August 1968.
I think it was a very self-conscious first step into being an artist photographer. That may also be why she didn’t release it until now. Like a lot of artists, she maybe has some trepidation about releasing something so personal. I think it’s the most personal series she ever worked on.
Frank French, 16, Panhandle, Haight - Ashbury, 1968.
Most of what you see or read about at the time about the hippie phenomenon portrays it as sloshing between utopian and depressing. I think it was both of those things. I think this work is a subtle mix. There’s a lot of range in the photos between people who do indeed look lost or troubled and others who just look like typical, breezy, easygoing young people. There’s that fashion-y, sexy side to it too. But I think that’s a facade. You see these eruptions of sadness and melancholy and alienation. In fact, in almost every single one of these photos you can see a bit of that. I think that’s what makes it a great body of work.
Group on Stairs with Cat (Shari Maynard, 19, Red Pappas, 18, Stefanie Wyatt, 17, Michael, 20, and Sean Herrick, 18), Haight Street, August 1968.
I think we want a lot from these portraits – we want to see some sort of youth revolution, to see hope or a movement that’s ready to assault the problems of the world. People feel desperately right now that there’s a need to get off this capitalist suicide mission we are on, to change the way people socialise with each other.
John C. Maynard (JC) in Front of Drugstore Wall, Ashbury Street, 1968.
Linda, Straight Theater, 1968.
Shenandoah Jordan, Super Adaptoid, Lady Glorious, Matthew, and Steve Culligan in a Convertible,Haight Street, August 13, 1968.
Katrinka Haraden (Trinka), 19, Haight Street, 1968.
