When I wrote this earlier this year, I was sitting in a classic San Francisco house that is almost a carbon copy of the Grateful Dead’s first house in the Haight, where I stayed when I first came to San Francisco 50 years ago.

My granddaughter watched Netflix with her grandma, and our very curious grandson asked a lot of questions about what I am doing. He turned 11 on January 4 and is showing me stories he has written. I do believe he is destined to be a writer (or anything else he believes that he can be).

Both of our San Francisco grandchildren are very involved in their community. They go to a fantastic school, where we attended a “project open house”. My 13-year-old granddaughter was showing “inventions that matter” that can help the homeless, and our grandson and the rest of his class were showing how to “get our voices heard in the political arena”.

All that I saw brought me back to the 1960s, when we believed we could change the world—and here we are, 50 years later.

When I first came to Frisco all those years ago, I crashed at the Dead’s house. So much happened in that week. I spent an evening at the Matrix club with Janis Joplin; I also met Steve Miller there. And I am not sure how, but I met Joseph Allen “Country Joe” McDonald (of Country Joe and the Fish fame, with their trademark “ ‘Fish’ Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag” song) as well, and we have been friends ever since.

That week, I attended the first Human Be-In, too, at Golden Gate Park (the precursor to all the Vancouver be-ins), and I also got to know famed promoter Bill Graham, who, I believe, is the godfather of all 1960s promoters. The week was a blur (very hard to remember everything), but the three posters you see here are copies of the originals that we still have to this day. Janis, Steve, and Joe all offered to sign the posters, but I said, “No, thanks,” (just a tad full of myself). These posters, plus many more, would become my tools to remember that time.

I was in San Francisco for about a month. The primary reason we come to the city now is to visit family. However, as a child of the ’60s, I always attempt to do what business I can. I never get done all I want I do but just do what I am able to.

Our eldest daughter, who lives in San Francisco with her family, is always puzzled as to why I spend so much time talking about the ’60s when, given my age, it represents such a small part of my life. I have given this a lot of thought and have finally figured it out. My life as a whole is about my family, which is everything to me. I now realize that that decade was a different time, a time when many of us tried to change the world, a time that also represented a different time and a different world. I was fortunate to survive and get a second chance.

It’s not a great explanation, but it is all I have. We learn from our history. There was a lot of insanity in the ’60s, but there was more good than harm that came from it. I was fortunate to have lived through those times, and it is the ideals from that time that I try to pass on: peace, harmony, caring for all humans as equals, and, above all, the environment.

Please enjoy these posters, and, as Scott McKenzie sang: “If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.”

Meanwhile, I will continue to work on 50th Summer of Love projects this year. Hopefully, all eight of our grandchildren will work on the 100th Summer of Love Celebrations and remember their grandfather fondly.