By Richard Ivanhoe, HANC President
After focusing on the San Francisco Budget, Rezoning, and Muni Service Cuts in our last three meetings, we decided to go a little lighter for our first meeting of the summer. Our topic will be Counterculture. A dictionary definition of counterculture is “a culture with values and mores that run counter to those of mainstream society.” For many, “counterculture” means the movements of the 1960s and 1970s in which the Haight-Ashbury played a major role.
Last summer, the San Francisco Planning Department adopted the “Citywide Historic Context Statement for Counterculture (1965-1975).” The last weekend of May this year, the Counterculture Museum opened at the corner of Haight and Ashbury, in the former RVCA space. Its website announces “Our mission is to promote a deeper understanding of countercultural movements—from the Beat Generation, hippies, the civil rights movement, women’s liberation, LGBTQ+ rights, and beyond.” Diagonally across the street, is the Doolan-Larson House and Storefronts. San Francisco Heritage, who now owns the building, “is inviting teams to propose a public-serving cultural use for this ensemble of buildings.” HANC has also had a prominent role in counterculture, including the freeway revolt, the 409 House, and the recycling center.
We invited the proprietors of the Counterculture Museum to present at our July meeting, but they are unable to attend. Tia Lombardi, from San Francisco Heritage and the Doolan-Larson House has agreed to join our meeting and will explain the process for deciding the future uses of the building. San Francisco Planning's Melanie Bishop (Senior Preservation Planner, Citywide Cultural Resources Survey & Landmark Designations) will attend and discuss the Citywide Historic Context Statement for Counterculture and historic evaluations for properties in the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Commercial District. We will also present information on HANC’s contributions to the counterculture.
Join us on Thursday, July 10, at 7:00 pm, in person at the Park Branch Library, 1833 Page Street (between Cole and Shrader) or online (see accompanying article).