USA. A 1960s 'Hippie Clinic' In San Francisco Inspired A Medical Philosophy
USA. A 1960s 'Hippie Clinic' In San Francisco Inspired A Medical Philosophy
Unlike many things from the 1967 "Summer of Love," the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic survived.
The clinic, now part of a larger network, still operates out of a second-floor office overlooking Haight Street in San Francisco. A steep wooden staircase leads to a warren of small but airy rooms.
One exam room still has a wall covered by a faded psychedelic mural, featuring a collage of famous rock stars, naked bodies and peace signs.
The decor used to be even more colorful, according to lab manager Pam Olton. She has worked at the Free Clinic for more than 40 years.
"Pink, aqua, Day-Glo orange ... all of these exam rooms were painted in those Day-Glo colors," she says.
The colors helped the young patients feel welcome, Olton explains, easing their drug-induced paranoia or just reassuring them that the clinic was a safe and sympathetic space. In the summer of 1967, and for years after, the Free Clinic treated the countercultural denizens of the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. They were often the patients that nobody else wanted. (npr – national public radio, USA, 30.12.2018)