@MissBigelow
Solstice jam lights up Conservatory of Flowers with ’60s spirit.
In the summer of 1967, former Secretary of State George Shultz was definitely not frolicking in Golden Gate Park with flowers in his hair. He was teaching economics at MIT University prior to his storied tenure overseeing the national budget, the Treasury and later, assisted the end of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
But surrounded by far-out fronds and exotic blooms amid the Conservatory of Flowers’ steamy environs at the Surrealistic Summer Solstice jam and spectacular “Photosynthesis” light show, his wife, Protocol Chief
Charlotte Shultz, shared that her “secretary” thought the historic 50year-old scene sounded pretty cool.
“I explained to George what happened here during the Summer of Love, and he thought it was a great idea to celebrate this anniversary,” she said. “Especially, he said, the world needs a lot more love now and San Francisco, a city of love, can lead the way.”
This city-sponsored tribute set on the verdant grounds fronting the conservatory, a landmark 1879 woodand-glass greenhouse, featured a rollicking, free concert curated by Hardly Strictly Bluegrass producer
Dawn Holliday that sizzled with sponsored Meyer Sound, another 50-year-old institution founded by sound wizards Helen and John Meyer.
Technically, the VIP confab inside the conservatory was also free. But a majority of those guests had previously ponied up the cash to bathe the Victorian-era beauty in artful, flower power illuminations for 30 minutes every night at sundown, now through Oct. 21.
The fete was a bit of a belated birthday bash for former Mayor Willie
Brown, who sparked the lights’ fundraising in March when he asked friends to donate to the project in lieu of presents.
Dreamed up by Ben Davis, founder of Illuminate, which established Leo
Villareal’s Bay Lights as a permanent exhibition on the Willie L. Brown Jr. Bridge, a partnership blossomed among Conservatory Director Matthew Stephens; San Francisco Recreation & Parks General Manager Phil Ginsburg; S.F. Parks Alliance CEO
Drew Becher; and Obscura Digital lighting artists, who created the groovy show inspired by conservatory flora and ’60s-era iconography such as doves and mandalas.
“The conservatory looks like a blank canvas waiting for light activation that’s consistent with the energy that happened in the park 50 years ago,” Davis said. “This project sets a template for what’s possible when a city and its people work together in that Summer of Love spirit.”
While the project is termed a “temporary installation,” it’s been designed so that the possibility of permanence wafts overheard like a cloud of medicinal herb.
However, unlike 50 years ago, as Recreation & Parks Commission President Mark Buell pointed out, smoking — of any substance — is no longer legal in Golden Gate Park.
“In 1967, a year before I was drafted to Vietnam and drove my VW bus to Oklahoma for induction, there were pockets of smoke everywhere in the park,” he recalled with a laugh.
Other guests savored their ’60s recollections, too. At least the parts they remember.
“One of our first dates was to see the Grateful Dead at the Warfield 33 years ago,” said Katherine Feinstein, who with her husband, Rick Mariano, wore the band’s colorfully trippy Tshirts. “Or was it 34 years? Oh, God, I’m old!”
Former Supervisor Angela Alioto, resplendent in a tie-dye T, was busted in 1967 by her brother, Thomas, for attending the Human Be-In at the tender age of 15.
“Later that year, I was sitting at the corner of Haight and Ashbury with
George Harrison, Bob Dylan, who was reading poetry, and somebody else,” she said, with a laugh. “That proves it really was 50 years ago because I have no idea who that other person was.”
Arriving in her psychedelically adorned Summer of Love Rolls-Royce,
Donna Ewald Huggins said her art car is a tribute to her music-loving parents who encouraged their kids to experience the city’s vibrant ’60s music scene — even dropping them off at Avalon Ballroom or the Panhandle. Joby Pritzker, a technology investor with his family’s Tao Capital Partners and chairman of the Marijuana Policy Project, was born too late for the Summer of Love. But he revels in that ’60s spirit, thanks to his parents,
Susan and Nick Pritzker, who introduced him to the music of the Beatles and Grateful Dead.
“It’s not often I can walk to the park wearing my Grateful Dead medallion and tie-dye velvet coat,” he says, modeling his threads from Love on Haight. “Burning Man is the gathering for my generation. And a lot of tech entrepreneurs and engineers get inspired by a similar vibe there.”
But Willie Brown had everyone else’s reminiscences beat: While living in the Haight, working with then-S.F. Public Works Director Ed Lee on changing licensing issues for Huckleberry House (which was founded to assist runaway Summer of Love teens), he actually knew Janis Joplin.
As darkness fell, organizers prepared to flip the switch. But first Mayor Lee paid tribute to the exhibition’s artistry and San Francisco artists.
“I love our artists because they represent our city’s culture and values. Tonight Obscura Digital artists have changed this conservatory canvas into a kinetic piece of our cultural history,” he toasted. “Here in San Francisco, we still believe in love; we still believe in building bridges; we still believe in protest. And we will continue to be a beacon of hope at home and a beacon for the rest of the world.”