Where have all the hippies gone..."long time passing"

Tweet

I was listening to the Pete Seeger/Joe Hickerson song “Where have all the flowers gone” the other night (Peter, Paul & Mary version) and tonight the thought occurred to me, where did all the hippies go? (Once upon a time, you dressed so fine, didn’t you?”) Oops, that old Dylan line crept in somehow. Well, I wondered where they all went, those Flower Children of the 1960s and early ‘70s. How many ended up as corporate vice-presidents with a comfortable retirement? I suppose many of them died young though, drugs, alcohol, and more now of old age. Maybe some gave up and went middle-class with two kids and picket fence? Many descend on our area in July for the Oregon Country Fair, a real throwback to those days of yore. I am hoping that some are alive and well, still clinging to the ideals that led them into that life style. I am not sure he was a real hippie, but Chris Kimball, host of America’s Test Kitchen, followed the Grateful Dead around the country (as many “deadheads” did) and turned out well. Near Mapleton, Oregon, (about 20 miles from the Pacific Ocean) there is the Alpha Farm, a commune existing since 1972 and doing okay, it seems. They used to have a coffee shop and bakery in that little town that I would stop in sometimes. It was like stepping back into time. The Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco is a high rent district now, though the streets are shifty at night and littered with panhandlers daytimes. Know any old hippies or were you one? I could have passed at one time with my red beard and longish hair after the army, but was way too middle class. Here is a link to the Alpha Farm website if you want to know about a current working commune. http://members.pioneer.net/~alpha/