It’s not like San Francisco has a shortage of 50th anniversary commemorations of the 1967 Summer of Love squat-in, with a "Summer of Love Experience" exhibit underway at the deYoung, a Summer of Love nude parade last month, and an exceptionally groovy-looking psychedelic light projection show lending some Conservatory of Flower-power starting June 21. But the marquee-free “Summer of Love” concert in Golden Gate Park has had a bad trip, being denied a permit by Rec and Parks in February for a concert that would have been his past weekend, then getting denied again on appeal a week later. Though Rec and Parks had shown some recent receptiveness to the concert, offering the more far-out date of August 27 as a possibility, the Examiner reports that the Rec and Parks has once again denied a permit for the concert. With no other dates available, this whole effort now appears to have gone up in smoke.
The exchanges between event promoter Boots Hughston and SF Rec and Parks have been particularly acrimonious, and this permit denial was no different. The city department was particularly incensed that the event website claimed that permits had been approved, that tens of thousands of posters and flyers were already printed up, and that conditions the park requested of Hughston were not met. “You have not made progress on those important elements and the event is not yet close to being approved,” Rec and Parks permit manager Diane Rea told Hughston in a letter obtained by the Chronicle. “Rather than put the park and public at risk, we must deny the permit.”
According to emails obtained by the Examiner, Rec and Parks was also exasperated with Hughston’s hand-drawn map submitted for the event. (The drawn map, obtained by the Examiner, is depicted alongside a 420 event map produced for by a vendor from that event for comparison purposes). Hughston’s map identifies very little infrastructure, including one area marked as “fense”.
Google search results for the concert still show the event as scheduled (with two conflicting dates!), but a visit to the 50thSummerOfLove.com website contains a Love-lorn update. “Sanctuary City says ‘NO’ to the ‘Summer of Love 50th Anniversary Concert,” the website currently says. “City of San Francisco (6/3/2017) says no to our Summer of Love 50th Anniversary concert denying a second permit application accusing us of advertising the concert without permission. Other grounds for denial include the use of volunteers and refusing to use a production manager handpicked by their permits department, a pretext to privatization and cultural cootion [sic] of this event.”
While it’s a downer that the concert in the park likely won’t happen, it may be a blessing for the neighborhood. This thing had all the poorly planned makings of a landlubbed Fyre Festival in Golden Gate Park. Though our summer of endless Summer of Love homages grooves onward, hell no, we won’t be able to go to the big free 50th anniversary concert in Golden Gate Park.
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