forty years on

the handbill for the human be in by stanley mouse

From Wikipedia:
The 'Human Be-In' was a happening in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the afternoon and evening of January 14, 1967. It led the way to the Summer of Love, that made the Haight-Ashbury area famous as the center of an American counterculture, and *
The Human Be-In was announced on the cover of the first issue of the San Francisco Oracle as "A Gathering of the Tribes for a Human Be-In." Speakers at the rally included Timothy Leary in his first San Francisco appearance, who set the tone that afternoon with his famous phrase "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out" and Richard Alpert (soon to be more widely known as 'Ram Dass'), and poets like Allen Ginsberg, who chanted mantras, and Gary Snyder. Other counterculture gurus included counterculture comedian Dick Gregory, Lenore Kandel, Jerry Rubin. The Hells Angels, at the peak of their 'outlaw' reputation, looked after lost children. A host of local rock bands such as Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service, who had played at the Fillmore and the Avalon Ballroom since February 1966, provided the music, and Owsley "Bear" Stanley provided massive amounts of his "White Lightning" LSD to the gathered masses.

Over the year 1967 more and more young people from around the country began flocking to San Francisco, until by the Summer there were between 100,000 to 200,000 there taking part in the "Summer of Love".*

*my father was there that day. so was my stepmother, though they wouldn't meet for at least another decade.