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As the hippie movement spread outward from San Francisco across the United States, Canada, and into Europe, Vancouver became a mecca for young people with alternative values and a lifestyle to match. Thanks to the influx of 7 500 "multicolored dropouts and draft dodgers selling hash pipes and love beads" (Vogel 103), Vancouver became known as the "Hippie Capital of Canada" (Macdonald 56), and in fact hosted the country's first be-in in Stanley Park in 1967. Kitsilano's Fourth Avenue, which was compared with the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, served as the centre of activity for the counter-culture.

Mayor Tom Campbell did not look fondly on the movement. He threatened to "shave the hippies" (qtd. in Vogel 103) and "issued stern warnings that Canada's youth were not welcome in Vancouver" (Vogel 107). Nonetheless, the atmosphere of rebellion, freedom, and optimism persisted in the city.

In this climate, a current of activism developed based on the hippie values of peace, love, and respect for the environment. In 1967, the Don't Make a Wave Committee was founded, which would later become Greenpeace. Today, more than five million members from across the globe belong to this organization.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Macdonald, Bruce. Vancouver: A Visual History. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1992.

Vogel, Aynsley and Dana Wyse. Vancouver: A History in Photographs. Vancouver: Altitude Publishing. 1993.

FOR MORE INFO

(CBC Digital Archives) Hippie Society: The Youth Rebellion.

Michael de Courcy's Hippie Vancouver 1967