Haight Ashbury Part 2: Sex, Drugs & Rock ’n’ Roll
Welcome back to Part 2 of my Haight-Ashbury series. In Part 1, we dug into the neighborhood’s early beginnings. Today, we’re diving into the Haight’s most infamous years: the 1960s. Think counterculture, chaos, and the legends who put this neighborhood on the map.
Haight Ashbury Part 1: From Sand Dunes to Painted Ladies
Long before the Summer of Love, Haight-Ashbury was all sand dunes, fog, and a dream called Golden Gate Park. Cable cars and grand Victorians soon followed, transforming the “Outside Lands” into one of San Francisco’s most storied neighborhoods—where even the trails of Buena Vista Park still whisper the past.
North Beach Part 3: Beats, Booze & Vesuvio Nights
The sailors and shanghai tunnels gave way to espresso bars and poets. In the 1950s, North Beach became the heartbeat of the Beat Generation — where Vesuvio Café and City Lights Bookstore turned rebellion into art. Jazz, poetry, and late-night philosophy defined this new era, and the echoes of that creative fire still linger in The City’s most literary neighborhood.
North Beach Part 2: Plague, Panic, and a Ripper in the Fog
In 1900, North Beach faced a threat far darker than its wild Barbary Coast past — the bubonic plague. Fear spread through the narrow streets as quarantines, rumors, and even whispers of a West Coast “Jack the Ripper” gripped the neighborhood. Out of fear and loss, a new North Beach emerged—resilient, redefined, and ready for its next reinvention
North Beach Part 1: The Barbary Coast & Shanghai Nights
Before cappuccinos and gelato, North Beach was San Francisco’s Barbary Coast—muddy streets, gas lamps, saloons, and shanghai gangs. The Saloon on Grant Avenue, open since 1861, still echoes that wild past with live blues and a hint of rebellion. Step inside, and you’re standing where The City’s original nightlife was born.