Credit: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Fifty years ago, a confluence of events took place in Northern California that would lead to “the Summer of Love.” Thousands of hippies moved to the San Francisco neighborhood Haight-Ashbury to, as Timothy Leary put, “turn on, tune in and drop out.”

Today, the Rock Hall opens a new exhibit that chronicles that social phenomenon. The exhibit includes Jimi Hendrix’s purple velvet jacket and the recording console used for his “Summer of Love” recordings, a guitar belonging to the Grateful Dead’s Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, clothing worn by the Mamas and the Papas’ Michelle Phillips, concert posters from the Fillmore and Avalon Ballroom, and original artwork by Jefferson Airplane’s Marty Balin.

The Rock Hall’s Library & Archives located on Tri-C’s Metro Campus will feature a companion display of concert handbills.

The exhibit runs through the end of the year.

This article appears in Jun 21-27, 2017.

Jeff has been covering the Cleveland music scene for more than 25 years now. On a regular basis, he tries to talk to whatever big acts are coming through town. And if you're in a local band that he needs to hear, email him at jniesel@clevescene.com.

One reply on “Rock Hall Opens New Summer of Love Exhibit”

  1. Any time there’s a story about May Fourth (the Kent shootings) online, the comment boards are still infested with folks who want to “kill all the Communist hippies”…fifty years later. Amazing. And sick.

    Chuckles the Clown

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