The counterculture movement of the 1960s emerged from the era that the United States entered into following WWII - an era of prosperity, conformity, and the glamorized idea of the nuclear family above all else. A huge number of young people looked at the ideals of that culture and thought “there’s got to be another way of living”.
The Beat Generation of the 1950s had laid the groundwork for the counterculture to build from. Writers and artists like Jack Kerouac & Allen Ginsberg celebrated spontaneous adventure, as well as romanticized open sexuality and individuality. Then came an explosion of political movements. The civil rights movement challenged racial segregation, the women’s liberation movement challenged societal norms that were placed on women of the time, the free speech movement on university campus’ questioning the ban of political conversation, and the rise of the antiwar movement with the start of the Vietnam war, leading youths to rebel against society and the government to claim their autonomy and practice nonviolence.
Then came San Francisco, and during the 1950’s, the North Beach community had drawn in many people who were experimenting with unconventional lifestyles. They would congregate in coffeehouses and dimly lit bars to share their stories & their art. With the amount of rundown Victorian houses and low cost for rentals, the area was indeed ideal. In the early 1960s, when a boom of tourism brought an influx to North Beach, the bohemians began to migrate. Haight-Ashbury was the next neighborhood over with affordable accommodations, and bands like the Grateful Dead & Jefferson Airplane began moving in. The scene really began to blossom with the music and artistic expression, and then the rise of experimental psychedelic drugs… the community of artists lead to an entire social infrastructure that spread. In 1967, the “Summer of Love” brought thousands to the Haight for concerts, free food, live art, poetry readings, LSD & political demonstrations.
The term “Flower Power” became popularized by the poet turned activist Allen Ginsberg as a peaceful protest of the war in Vietnam. Flowers became associated with resistance and nonviolence. That’s where the famous image of a flower being offered to a soldier comes from.
Later in the decade, a number of people from the counterculture movement began to branch out to more rural areas, with the interest of creating alternative communities and building more communal living spaces.
August 1969 highlighted the potential dangers behind these developments. A large group of mainly women, and a handful of men, had been recruited into a commune that became known as “the Family”. Lead by Charles Manson, an ex convict turned cult leader, they began their series of brutal murders around Los Angeles. This included the murder of actress Sharon Tate and her unborn child, her friends & a clock radio salesman as well as supermarket owner executives in the Los Feliz neighborhood. The family had been brainwashed by Charles Manson for years through excessive use of LSD and his long winded speeches while they were under the influence. Many saw this as the end of an era, as the “Tate-LaBianca murders” (as they became intertwined) exposed a dark side of the hippie commune lifestyle.
A week later, in late summer of 1969, the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival was hosted in Bethel, New York. Upwards of 400,000 people attended, far more than planned for, which inundated the surrounded areas, which were agricultural & farming communities. Many did not know what to do about this massive influx of people. Heavy rainstorms turned the grounds into fields of mud. What came out of it were legendary performances by Richie Havens, the Grateful Dead, Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker and Janis Joplin, among countless others. This became one of the defining images of the counterculture, and the climax to a movement that had been building for years.
All of this is the inspiration behind Coyote Botanica’s newest addition: Flower Child Bath Soak. The counterculture was, at its heart, about stepping outside the life you were told to live. Your bath becomes a tiny, private version of that idea. Flower Child is for creativity, sensuality, getting out of your own head. Most importantly, for remembering that you don’t have to live exactly the way everyone expects you to. So run the bathwater & turn up the music. Breathe deep and unwind, feel the flower power.
Hibiscus, rose, cornflower and blue lotus bloom alongside colorful botanicals, damiana, tangerine, patchouli, butterfly pea flower and a touch of shimmer, turning the bath into a little psychedelic garden. The addition of musk fills the space with the scent of wild, peaceful rebellion to fuel your creative mind.
Places of interest:
Haight-Ashbury & Northbeach of San Francisco
Berkeley, California
Los Angeles & Laurel Canyon
Topanga Canyon
Big Sur
🌼 old Volkswagens • crochet • hand-painted flowers • incense • vinyl records • leather sandals • battered acoustic guitars • wildflower bouquets • communal gardens • handwritten poetry • tie-dye • wooden beads • macramé • old cameras • patchouli oil • denim • bare feet • roadside fruit stands • dusty California roads 🌼