Romance loomed in the dreams of every teenager when I was growing up as talk of surfing and living on the beaches of sunny California filled our conversation. I dreamed about it, too. With movies like Gidget, who could not dream of life on the beach?
Dancing parties with music on the beach in the moonlight, clam digs, bonfires and beautiful people with all the fancy surf boards occupied my fancy. I don’t believe I stand alone.
This was a dominant part of the evolving culture coming out of the fifties and sixties that emerged into the full rock and roll days of the seventies. After woodstock, the music and the people became one and developed into the fastest awakening generation in recent history.
If there was a cause, the young folks clamored behind it. I was also part of the crowd, with flowers painted on my cheeks and wearing my bell bottomed jeans and my cool Indian head bands.
Here, we will explore together the California craze that grew out of those years and discover the connection to the hippies from San Francisco.
