First Advisor

David A. Horowitz

Term of Graduation

Winter 2007

Date of Publication

2-6-2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.) in History

Department

History

Language

English

Subjects

Hippies -- Oregon -- Portland, Neighborhoods -- Oregon -- Portland, Culture conflict -- Oregon -- Portland, Counterculture -- Oregon -- Portland, Lair Hill (Portland Or.)

Physical Description

1 online resource (2, iii, 110 pages)

Abstract

The youth explosion of the mid-1960s that spawned the hippie counterculture also bred fear among older Americans, many of whom viewed the cultural dissenters as immoral, deviant, and criminal. Some in the ranks of government shared this view and felt duty-bound to oppose the counterculture. This thesis examines one example of a municipal government and the series of policies it pursued to address the threat of a "hippie invasion" into the Lair Hill neighborhood in Portland, Oregon in 1968. The central question will be to determine whether these policies were enacted in pursuit of the stated goals of improved public safety, or whether they were substantially influenced by animosity toward those with differing ideological and cultural perspectives.

The catalyst for the conflict in Lair Hill was an article in a Portland newspaper in the spring of 1968 that indicated that the hippies that had invaded San Francisco in the summer of 1967 would be relocating to Portland for the summer of 1968. The press estimated that twenty thousand counterculturists would descend on the city, and it was assumed that many would gravitate to the Lair Hill Neighborhood, which was the hub of the hip community. Although the invasion story was based on a rumor, it was reprinted at the national level in Newsweek magazine in May 1968, creating the potential for a self-fulfilling prophecy.

As the weather warmed in the summer of 1968, a growing number of young people flocked to Lair Hill Park. With two to four hundred hippies congregating in the park every afternoon and evening, Portland residents became increasingly concerned at the phenomenon and feared that the growth of the hip community was getting out of hand. Therefore, the city fathers took steps to thwart the formation of a district that might potentially evolve into one much like Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco. The City of Portland responded by invoking a park curfew aimed at rousting hippies from Lair Hill Park, as well as initiating a building inspection campaign designed to condemn and destroy as much housing as possible in the bohemian neighborhood.

Rights

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44611

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