It’s a hippie day for Chris & Pearl

A friend of mine took me hippie-dancing in Central Park once, and I found it such a liberating experience, a wonderful release, so full of positive energy that I couldn’t wait to go again. When I heard about the weekly Drum Circle gathering (30+ year-old circle) in Golden Gate Park, I immediately put it on our SF-To-Do-List.

On Sunday, Chris and I decided to spend the day at Haight-Ashbury as we hadn’t been back since our first visit in 1998:

First stop: Amoeba Records. A number of people had told me recently that it was their favorite record store in the world, and after seeing it, I can understand why. For music aficionados, it *is* the store to be, simply because their selection is so comprehensive. I was especially impressed when checking out the Jazz section: not only do they have a huge CD section for each musician, the CDs are broken down by specific record labels.

Second stop: Thrift-store shopping. Every other store on Haight St is some form of a second-hand store. Fantastic deals are yours if the timing is right; last week, I bought a nifty coat for 12 bucks (though I must admit that the dry-cleaning costs were a whopping $9). One of my favorites on Haight & Cole, La Rosa Vintage, sells vintage wear from ‘20s flapper dresses to ‘50s circle skirts to ‘70s pimp suits. They also carry hats, shoes, ties, and scarves to complete each vintage look.

Third stop: Lunch. Chris and I lunched at Crepes Café on Cole – excellent sandwiches and crepes for a good price. A funny aside: we passed a church that had a large poster hanging above the entrance that read LIVE PRO WRESTLING EVERY SATURDAY. Yeah I know, only in Haight-Ashbury.

Fourth stop: Drum circle in Golden Gate Park. Chris decided that he’d had enough “hippie” for the day so he went home. I hadn’t had my fill yet so I picked up my hippie friend to go hippie dancing in Hippie Hill (whoa – there’s a lot of hippie going on there!)

Because it was a cold, gray day, the drum circle was much smaller than I anticipated. In fact, when Will and I first got there, there were only 5 drummers present with no one dancing in the circle. We watched the hula-hoopers hooping to the beat of the drums for a bit and discussed Buddhism (it seemed fitting!). After about half an hour, I convinced Will to get his drums and play with the circle. And upon our return from his apartment, we happily discovered that the circle of drummers grew to about 15 people. Still no dancers so I decided to start the dancing myself! I must have danced on my own for a good 45 minutes – so free! so liberating! so positive! I was completely lost in my own world – before I pulled in some random people to join me in the dancing. We stayed for about two hours, enjoying the beat and the energy. In the process, I made a number of friends whom I promised to see again next Sunday!

Wow – maybe I *am* turning into a hippie; I seem to be in the right city for the change after all. My deadhead brother would be proud!