Haight Ashbury Festival

This Sunday, our group went to the Haight Ashbury Festival on Haight Street in San Francisco, shown above.  Besides the fact that it took over two hours to get there by public transportation from Berkeley, it was a blast!  Similar to festivals in St. Louis like Earth Day, the street was lined with booths selling food and merchandise, except that there was a much greater emphasis on marijuana.  See examples below:

I thought that all this was hilarious because it’s something I would never see in Missouri, especially with police officers and children walking around!  Needless to say, the festival was filled with tons of hippies, some who were around in the sixties and new recruits, too.  I thought the atmosphere was really fun, but I have a feeling some people were getting a bit of a culture shock.  I was surprised when, after passing by all of these delicious and exciting food vendors, some students I was with decided to get McDonald’s instead... Come on, people!

San Francisco can definitely seem weird to some people, especially tourists or new residents.  Nudity is legal here, so it isn’t uncommon to see naked or barely-naked people strutting around without a care.  I haven’t seen anyone completely nude yet, but I hear that at Gay Pride, which is in a few weeks, I’ll see my fair share.  Some other notable sitings: cross-dressing men, women wearing thongs, and a man, pictured below, wearing a pink unitard and riding a unicycle.  This city is unquestionably unique and crazy, but I love it!