Digital Be-In History

HOW THE BE-IN GOT STARTED

As told by Sixties patriarch Chet Helms

THE ORIGINAL HUMAN BE-IN

The first Be-In had a lot to do with communities in San Francisco and Berkeley and their shared goals of anti-racism and free speech. The San Francisco contingent felt people needed to focus on themselves and make transpersonal changes, and when enough people made those changes, they would sum up to broad social changes. So that event was to celebrate ourselves and focus on personal transformation.

TRIBES

Other than demonstrations which tended to be confrontational, the only large public gatherings of people were in highly controlled, militaristic ways. We thought of gathering people as tribes, and wanted to create ways we could come together and share ou r thoughts, to marshal our forces and gather under one flag, so to speak. The idea that worked was to invite people to bring their flags, and what happened was that when people came together and put their flags down, they essentially became one

GRASS ROOTS PUBLICITY

Most groups didn't have enough money, which they mostly needed for publicity. The model that worked best was to ask all tribal entities to use in-house resources to advertise all groups. So at the bottom of larger groups' posters, you'd see "See You at t he Polo Fields," and the community kept building.

SUMMER OF LOVE

The Summer of Love came about as a response to the Human Be-In. As the summer of 1968 approached, we realized the Haight would be deluged with young people from all over the world. The "Summer of Love" was an ad hoc group who wanted to prepare support fa cilities and entertainment diversions for the anticipated crowds. The core organizers were my band, the Family Dog; Oracle, the first underground newspaper; the Diggers, who provided crash pads and fed people in the streets and started the first recycle free store called Free Frame of Reference on Page Street; and Straight Theater, a collective that showed underground movies hosted concerts, and offered dance and yoga classes in an old movie theater on the corner of Haight and Cole.

I want to emphasize the role of the churches in the area that helped us out with places to meet, shelter and food, and counseling. There was Hamilton Methodist, an Episcopal church and a Presbyterian church on Lyon and Oak. With their help, we founded Hu ckleberry House, a haven for young runaways.

SAN FRANCISCO HOSPITALITY

The Press started to focus on the impact we were having, especially on Haight Street. So with help from Mayor Joseph Alioto's administration, we organized a "Sweep-In" which we advertised with three-color posters, and cleaned up the street from stem to s tern. We had events at least once a week in the Panhandle, and finally we started getting permits.

To honor the 30th anniversary of the first Human Be-In, we plan a similar public outdoor event in the late summer or early fall of 1997 which we hope will refocus our generation and the generations of the two subsequent decades on a vision of a compassionate future.