Bob Hunter @ strictly personal @ THERE HAS been a lot of hype in the media lately about the famous Summer of Love. The Beatles’ Set. Pepper aibum has been re-released on compact disc, and | it was all ‘‘twenty years ago today ... } remember the Summer of Love quite well. I was there, you see, Indeed, I bought a Volkswagen van in the spring of 1967 and spent a couple of months fixing up the interior, I added an icebox, a sink, a water tank, closets, and a table and chairs that folded into a bed. Dragging along my then-wife and two small children, | set out on a self-consciously epic odyssey down into Mexico. My hair was somewhat long at the time, I admit, but it was a style at the time, and it shouldn’t matter, should it? Oh, but it did matter. There were hundreds of thou- sands of young Americans on the road that summer in what was called a ‘‘rucksack revolution,”’ although I doubt that they ever amounted to even one per cent of the population. Still, there was an army of them all right. Hippies they were called. And hippies they was. I kept being mistaken for one, but I was actually, all along, just a guy looking for material for a book. Still, quite by accident, we f wound up being part of what amounted to an exodus into San Francisco. Having picked up on all the media coverage, we were naturally as curious as anyone else about the legendary Haight-Asbury district. Ull never forget my first glimpse. Six blocks before you could turn onto Haight Street, ithe traffic jam began: tourists, like us, wanting to gawk at all the hippies. They were funny-looking, no doubt about it. We thought, since hippies were supposed to be non-violent and saintly, that there’d be no pro- blem parking our van on Haight Street and camping there. I suffered then—worse than | suffer now—from what I call the Canadian affliction abroad: in- sufficient paranoia. It was, we realized later, a crazy thing to do. There were hopheads and weirdos of every | imaginable mutation skulking the streets by night. ; No harm came. But we quickly tired of the Haight. After you've seen your first psychedelic poster, you've seen the gist of it all. It ” was an overcrowded, naisy 200, redeemed only by the fact that] there were, indeed, all these gen- ue, laid-back hippies all over the place. Most of them were just goof- ing off, but then so was I. The difference, | suppose, was that | never had any illusions about having to go back to work when the holiday was over. There were rustic worker-bee j hippies, to be sure, but they were mostly far, far away from Haight-Asbury, out in the bush trying to build a new communal civilization. it was never surprising to me that so many street kids got ab- sorbed by religious cults. They \. ze mostly into a religious trip to begin with. ‘‘Holy’’ was a big word with them. And ‘‘sacred.”’ You heard a lot about holy this and sacred that. We only stayed a few days, thanks. For one thing, the San Francisco nights are damp and cold even in August, and the van lacked insulation. We needed to go further south. One night at Maiibu Beach, a few nights later, 1 looked up to see the van surrounded by beach boys who wanted to beat up a hippie. It was only when they realized I had a baby in the back } that they decided to pass on the pleasure. , Jn Texas, I got warned out of a bar because I raust be a ‘‘Com- mie.’’ It was ray Canadian pass- port that betrayed me. But the hair was the give-away, Who else but a foreigner would wear long hair and sandals into a Texas j bar? j And later, at a campsite along the Pecos River, local hooligans threw beer bottles at us. The Summer of Love, as [ remember it, was actually just another Summer of Hate for the rednecks down south. In retrospect, it was dumb of me to wear anything other than a crewcut on such a journey. We lived for‘a total of three months in that van, about half the. time in Mexico. . When we got back, I took up karate. It is my legacy from the Flower Power and love beads era. There you are, a strange but true tale from 20 years ago today, Man guilty of phone theft A 48-YEAR-OLD Vancouver man received a conditional discharge and was placed on probation for two years after he was found guilty of theft under $1,000. July Naimitova was originally charged jointly with Ida Naimitova, 38, also of Vancouver, in connection with a Jan. 23 inci- dent in which a designer telephone was stolen from Woolco. A stay of proceedings was entered in the charge against Ida Naimitova. presents A CAREER NIGHT Are you interested in a Career in Real Estate Sales? Come and find out about our Canada Trust Real Estate “Career Development Program”. Thursday, June 18, 1987 at 7:30 p.m. in the Capilano Room INTERNATIONAL PLAZA HOTEL GARY BAILEY, Manager FRI, CMR, RI(B.C.) y WEST VANCOUVER BRANCH A 922-1244 or call PAT MUNROE, Manager, § FRE CMR, RI(B.C.) f NORTH VANCOUVER BRANCH 988-6131 : Warrant issued A BENCH warrant was issued Friday for a Vancouver man after he failed to appear in North Van- couver provincial court to answer charges levelled against him. Anthony Charles Podoba, 21, was slated 10 appear in connection with two April 7 incidents that resulted in the charges of theft under $1,000 and assault. Podoba was to appear before provincia] court Judge B.P. Byrne with counsel. LUXUR YY ——————— RENOVATIONS and KITCHENS == yO Acad Or “Estimates 987-3055 ring your plate up-to-date ___ Hfthe decai on your plate says “JUNE 87" your auto insurance and vehicle licence must be renewed by July 1. See your Autoplan agent this month to discuss your insurance needs and changes for 1987 ; Important reminder: all Autoplan transactions must be signed by the registered vehicle owner or a person with valid power of attorney. Remember, too: itis extremely important to insure your vehicle in the correct rate class. If it is improperly rated, a claim on Own Damage coverage (e.g., Collision, Comprehensive) could be denied and you could be required to repay Third Party claims paid on your behaif. INSURANCE CORPORATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA a want toe hook: best go direct to the people who really know? after all that’s all we dof come und see for vourself and meet the experts at our open house - June 18 6 pm to 9 pm wine and cheese served. call gour friendly North Shore CruiseCenter 985-7447 1823 Capilano Rd., N.Van.