Hippie Influx Irks SoHum So Much They Petition for Relief From County Supervisors in 1969

Sign above  Meagher's Trading Post Saloon in Myers Flat. [Photo by Kim Sallaway]

Sign above Meagher’s Trading Post Saloon in Myers Flat. [Photo by Kim Sallaway, date unknown]

In October of 1969, 111 residents of Southern Humboldt allegedly signed a petition requesting relief from what the Times Standard of the time called a “mass infiltration of hippies into that area.”

The petition was presented at the regular meeting of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors. It stated, “We don’t know what you can do to help us but felt you should become aware of our problem and our sentiments on the subject.”

The petition described the problems the newcomers were causing. “Many residents have come upon them bathing in the nude and having intercourse on the beaches of our rivers and ocean,” complained the residents. “We are concerned with their utter lack of regard for the moral, health, and sanitary codes.”

Screenshot from the Eureka Times Standard Wednesday, October 29, 1969

“Hippie Influx Irks South Humboldters” was the headline that day. [Screenshot of Wednesday, October 29, 1969 Times Standard front page]

The petition claimed that it wasn’t just residents but also “our local law enforcement bodies [who] are very unhappy with our local judge and the lack of sentences he imposes on the hippies when brought into court on dope charges and other charges.”

Not only were the hippies splashing about in the nude some of them raised the hackles of the independent local residents by taking government assistance. “How many of them are on the welfare rolls?” the petition asked. Then it answered, “According to our store clerks, girls who work in the local hospital and the druggists, their number is many.”

Furthermore, the petition decried the lack of code enforcement. “Many shacks and dwellings are going up in the brush around Whitethorn and other areas without any building codes or permits or sanitary regulations. We feel they should abide by the same laws, rules, and regulations we the tax payer do.”

However, according to the screenshot of a Redwood Record clipping that we were not able to find the original of in the online search we did, some of those who had supposedly signed the letter said they had not signed it. “An investigation by the Redwood Record into the validity of the petition and the circumstances under which the signatures were obtained has revealed that a number of persons who signed the petition were unaware of the cover letter,” the Record claimed.

Screenshot of the Redwood Record of an unknown date.

Screenshot of the Redwood Record of an unknown date.

The Record’s investigation lead them to believe that the signers may have thought they were only agreeing to a letter to the editor not a petition.

And, local law enforcement may not have been contacted at all. A spokesperson for one of the law enforcement bodies, according to the Redwood Record, Lt. Eric Denton, commanding officer of the Garberville California Highway Patrol “emphatically denied” any “problem whatsoever with the local court in regards to Hippie cases or any other cases.”

Here is the letter to the editor of the Redwood Record on October 9, 1969 that apparently sparked the petition that was sent to the Board of Supervisors:

To the Editor, (Redwood Record October 9, 1969)
The concern shown by a local young ladys letter to your paper last week is felt by many residents in Southern Humboldt. The recent hippie increase in this area is noticed by even the most casual observer.

We, the undersigned, concur that the activities and mannerisms of the “back to nature” “flower children” are a deterrent to the aesthetic serenity and cultural aspirations we desire for our homeland.

Particularly in our area, tourism is being promoted to the hilt; people, families who will come and stay a while to awe at the beauty of out forest and ocean shores. How can we justify our earnest desire to hold them when on the other hand we permit the opposite of our aspirations to clutter the backgrounds.

We in Humboldt County feel that we cannot financially afford the loss being suffered by their presence.

(Signed by 111 people)

The Board took no action on the petition, but there was a stir about it in the community. This reporter can remember the discussions even though she was a mere child of nine at the time.

Sign in Laytonville [Photo by Kim Sallaway]

Sign in Laytonville [Photo by Kim Sallaway]

Note: Particular thanks to the reader who sent in the original clippings and to Kim Sallaway, Southern Humboldt’s wonderful photographer who has documented so much of our local history. [Click here to follow him on Facebook]

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Ivory tower
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Ivory tower
4 years ago

“We in Humboldt County feel that we cannot financially afford the loss being suffered by their presence.”

And the filth kept flowing until it filled the swamp.

Jesus, Chris
Guest
Jesus, Chris
4 years ago
Reply to  Ivory tower

I didn’t get anything about Humboldt, until I was called “an old hippie” by a Fire Chief from Garberville… I then understood the deep-seated hatred of outsiders, the provincial paranoia, and the fact that new people would be new, for decades…

The comments below are not even slightly disguised, and reveal the remains of 50-years-later attitudes of the local characters and the kinda ignorant hicks that still infest the area…

The hippies all sold out, and the ones remaining in SoHum now vote Republican and want top dollar for their white-market products…

I leave you to your prejudice and hatred, SoHum!

Yeah,sure
Guest
Yeah,sure
4 years ago
Reply to  Jesus, Chris

Some of this is plain old trolling.

And I don’t know one “old hippie” that has sold out and is voting Republican, and I know a lot of old hippies.
Sounds like you have a bit of a bias of your own going on…

notheroldhippie
Guest
notheroldhippie
4 years ago
Reply to  Ivory tower

What a sad horrible existence you must have.

notalothaschangedq
Guest
notalothaschangedq
4 years ago

Sounds like nothing has changed.
except the hippies of yesteryear have split into two groups.
Rich dope growers and poor heroin addicts.
Gone are the idealistic hippies experimenting and creating an alternative society.
Now we just have rich dope growers and the biggest population of total looser sohum has ever seen.
The community is literally dieing because of the homeless heroin junkie problems.

Rod Gass
Guest
Rod Gass
4 years ago

Untrue. We’re seen as positive rather than not.

“Gone are the idealistic hippies experimenting and creating an alternative society.”

Takes one to know one.

Littlefish
Guest
Littlefish
4 years ago

Diesel, go home!

catbus1974
Guest
catbus1974
4 years ago

The idealistic hippies experimented and created an alternative society. This mingled with the product of “The Greatest Generation” and the ones before, and the ones after.. The ubiquitous product is called “now”, or “this”.
Make a mess, clean it up.
Or sit on your hands and enjoy or join in the constantly complaining symphony of “Not me”.
f**k Monday

chinaguy
Guest
chinaguy
4 years ago

Do not think you are very clear on what a ‘hippie’ is or was. VERY few became “”rich dope-growers” .
And meth? Hardly a hippies drug of choice, sorry.
BTW- its called pot or weed these days. ‘Dope’ dates you pretty badly.

Festus Haggins
Guest
Festus Haggins
4 years ago

Please believe me, they still irk a lot of us.

Kristi Nicola-Clark
Guest
Kristi Nicola-Clark
4 years ago

I remember talking about being a hippie and my then teenager said, “You were a hippy”. As if that was a thing of the past and not something to be said with pride. I remember the frustration of locals with people on welfare, dirty hippies, etc. But I think, as time went by, we all had more in common with each other. Rednecks became pot growers and hippies became upstanding community members. My motto is you have to judge people one at a time.

Really?
Guest
Really?
4 years ago

Or the standards dropped to a lowest common denominator… In some cases maybe rose to the lowest common denominator.

Yeah,sure
Guest
Yeah,sure
4 years ago
Reply to  Really?

Sounds like you weren’t here. What she says is true.

chinaguy
Guest
chinaguy
4 years ago

Well said.

North west
Guest
North west
4 years ago

It was all of Northern California that was invaded.
Heck we bought goats and sold milk to friendly crowd but there was a nasty batch that fallowed

So Completely Over Them
Guest
So Completely Over Them
4 years ago

“Hippy” was given a funeral in the park in ’67. Should have been left dead. The posers who grabbed that moniker and then inflicted their “freedom” on everybody did a great disservice. They accomplished here what they did in the Haight-Ashbury….Having a wonderful experiment to celebrate themselves then leaving in their dust a broken and ugly scene full of addicts, parentless children, drugs and garbage. Don’t forget that many “hippies” were from wealthy families just living an experiment in selfish hedonism, running back to their mommy-and-daddy money whenever they wanted. Sure they took over SoHum, then acted arrogantly self-righteous to the actual locals while they blew up huge grows and turned our area into a major commercial production area openly welcoming to various foreign criminal organizations. Hippies are elite and full of themselves, spiritual masters of smelling their own farts. Do not be fooled by their colorful mandalas and carnival smiles. They have no sense of truly inclusive community and they have no work ethic. They will take what is yours and act like it is sharing…

AGhoster
Guest
AGhoster
4 years ago

I feel like ‘self righteous “progressive”‘ applies in this assessment, of then(way back), just before now(post 96) and now. Obviously locally, and easily applied to a large portion of general American society.

I don’t think it’s prejudiced to lump them all together in this judgement, because they’re all different, exhibiting the same behavior.

Because of the ones inclined to come here, I’m leaving the state (west coastal states all together) to get as far as I can from the mentality of the people who are drawn to the area. They’re not all the same, and good riddance to me I suppose ha

Kathleen Rogers
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Kathleen Rogers
4 years ago
Reply to  AGhoster

Come to coastal Maine, like we did 20 years ago. You will never look back.

Yeah,sure
Guest
Yeah,sure
4 years ago

Seriously, you know how many kids of ranchers and upstanding citizens are dead from drugs or drank their life away? They were some of the worst.
Many of the so called “hippies ” were college educated and integrated and started many successful businesses.
It sounds like many of you commenting here were not here at the time or were in diapers.
Drugs and alcohol are equal opportunity life destroyers and hippies definitely weren’t the only ones partaking.

Angela Robinson
Guest
Angela Robinson
4 years ago
Reply to  Yeah,sure

Pretty much this.

“Local” (in Humboldt and Trinity counties)since I was seven, the locals were doing just fine in their messed up lifestyles. The junkies I knew were local boys and girls that I went to school with. A probably urban legend kind of story was that heroin was so plentiful was because the big foreign ships would come into town for the pulp mills, etc. And that there was only one Customs Inspector so it was easy. That may be completely untrue, but it was the story I heard as a teenager here.

The bars were crazy, lost several friends to drunk driving in the hills and in town. I moved to Alaska at one point and some friends told me to be careful because it was so rough. Got there and said, laughing, “Sh*t, you guys have never been to Eureka”.

Yeah,sure
Guest
Yeah,sure
4 years ago

You are attributing “hippie” to growers and situations you don’t like.

Jeffersonian
Guest
Jeffersonian
4 years ago

Fifty years has passed since the hippie invasion and Humboldt is a social and environmental catastrophe. Of course California govt. is to blame for a lot of the deterioration. The big blow was Gallegos and the 99 plant rule for personal medical use. A completely naive man. That overwhelmed the area with even more counterculture misfits and megagrows, with the attendant violent crime. But even the supervisors think the extra tax money is a good tradeoff. How ignorant. The hated hippies are looking good compared to the current mess and there is no end in sight to the deterioration. Cost can never be measured by the cash currency of greed.

The more things change, the more they've changed.
Guest
The more things change, the more they've changed.
4 years ago
Reply to  Jeffersonian

Humboldt County’s biggest loss has been its natural habitat. Not only from outright deforestation, but through the continuing practice of plantation logging. Ironically or not, people involved in that big money industry are the stereotypical hippy haters.

commenter
Guest
commenter
4 years ago

Nice research Kym…
The date of the Redwood Record article was November 6, 1969,
if that matters…
There were definitely good hippies and bad hippies…
Fake hippies and “real” hippies…
Maybe hippie is just a name, a label after all…
How this area was and how it evolved in the last fifty years could be a good topic for a serious discussion…

Rod Gass
Guest
Rod Gass
4 years ago
Reply to  commenter
Martha
Guest
Martha
4 years ago

Didn’t take them long to destroy a beautiful area. Imagine how quick the entire country would degrade if Bernie was elected… Thankfully that will never happen but it’s disturbing to think the same social decay that ruined southern humboldt could possibly destroy our entire country.

Yeah,sure
Guest
Yeah,sure
4 years ago
Reply to  Martha

Awwww, atta boy, got your pro Trump bs worked into the conversation.
Desperation.

Dot
Guest
Dot
4 years ago

As a 1969 ‘Hippie’ immigrant into southern Humboldt, it took 2-1/2 years and a baby before my neighbors would talk to me.
But in my still strongly conservative rural mountain corner of the county the subset of original Hippies is well regarded for their hard work and community involvement. Particularly as volunteers. From VFD to EMS to working the polls to CERT …you name it. Over time we have found our common ground in spite of our differences. And we work together as a community.

Lynn Cobb
Guest
Lynn Cobb
4 years ago

The “Hippie scene” of the 60’s can only be in history, one time. Never again. All others are copies. Mentally ,the kids of that time can never be copied. Baby boomers, rock and roll, make love, not war. The innocence from that time . Most grew up and became regular people. Unfortunately, growing took over the mountains and we have what we see today. Crime, filth, greedy people. How much money does one need! What we have today are “earth children,”all dressed in green, grey colors, hiking all over looking for days gone bye. It’s an age thing. 16-25. Self imposed homelessness, all looking for the 60’s heyday.
Sorry all gone!

Swine
Guest
Swine
4 years ago
Reply to  Lynn Cobb

Clearly you know nothing of tour life

Jeff
Guest
Jeff
4 years ago

I was a sophomore in 69. My parents owned the laundromat in Redway then. I remember riding the “activity” bus from Miranda to Redway after sports practice, and having to clean the laundromat every day after school. The “hippies” used to leave the machines & floors filthy. Ugh, I don’t miss that chore…lol

Denmom
Guest
Denmom
4 years ago

First it was the native Americans that got slaughtered, then it was the back to landers, and now it’s the homeless. So hum should be ashamed of their history!

W.H.
Guest
W.H.
4 years ago
Reply to  Denmom

every civilization is built upon the graves of previous ones. the native americans killed one another en masse, and many took slaves. same with the central americans, even practicing human sacrifice on a scale that would make you retch.

to kill, exploit and steal is universally human.
technological superiority allowed Europeans to do it better .

Its'me
Guest
Its'me
4 years ago

The smell of pachewly oil in that laundromat sometimes would take your breath away. I would head out the door and go sit in the car or head up the street past Darlas Beauty shop and Branscombs Appliance to play in the neat old cars in the junk yard or wonder around in Western Auto next to Mendes Market. It smelled better outside away from the Bull Duram and Pachewly those were some smells now let me tell yah!

Yeah,sure
Guest
Yeah,sure
4 years ago
Reply to  Its'me

Not every hippie word patchouli oil and FYI, it was Top tobacco they were smoking. Or Bugler. Cheap and strong.

Mike
Guest
Mike
4 years ago

Most of us were too busy building our homesteads and building a life to spend much time in town. We lived like the grandparents of the rednecks, sharing with neighbors, close to the land, no electricity, making everything out of wood that was at hand or bought from Burl Keeting. Must have been hard for the locals to square that one.

Yeah,sure
Guest
Yeah,sure
4 years ago
Reply to  Mike

You are so right. It was a pain in the ass to go to town, no one wanted to, but at some point you’d have to go and “stock up.”

Ernie Branscomb
Guest
4 years ago

Come ah tie-dyed hippie, Yippie Yay Yippie Yay!

Canyon oak
Guest
Canyon oak
4 years ago

A problem with migrant incursions, is that they have inevitably abandoned one place, to inhabit another.
This doesn’t speak very well to the ethic of commitment, when migrants(hippies) just up and bail their hometowns for greener pastures.
Of course, who can blame them.
I am merely highlighting the underrecognized aspect of abandonedment that is ingrained into these types of migrant phenomenon, wether hippie, punk, Somalian, Latin, whatever.
How would the east coast look, if the “hippies” had never left New York and jersey?
Of course, the west coast benefited in some ways from their arrival, but I’m sure the east coast became more decadent in the absence of its children, as any forgotten homestate will.

Canyon oak
Guest
Canyon oak
4 years ago
Reply to  Canyon oak

And I would add, on a slightly different tangeant, that, wholesale migration of baby boomers into California, helped transform my state from “the state that everybody wanted to move to”(in the 1960’s,70’s,80’s&90’s), to the state that is loosing citizens to outmigration, for multiple reasons.
But wait!
The trend begins anew as it always does, and the latest diaspora of intranational expats from the east coast and California are storming boring Oregon, pressing in through the university towns, transforming the rural politics, inflating values, jacking up the cost of living.
That’s the America we love and hate..
It’s a vivacious cycle indeed, so here’s my request to goddess, to humanity at large: to stay put for once, fix your own place in the world, don’t transform somebody elses.

Angela Robinson
Guest
Angela Robinson
4 years ago
Reply to  Canyon oak

Unless you are an indigenous person, I find it funny to read “stay put for once”. If you are born in Humboldt County, well that’s nice, but your people moved here and helped “transform somebody elses” home.

Where do you draw the line? Right after your people got here (or wherever).

Ummmmmm
Guest
Ummmmmm
4 years ago

Didn’t” indigenous people” cross the Bering straight when it was frozen a while back?

Angela Robinsons
Guest
Angela Robinsons
4 years ago
Reply to  Ummmmmm

Yes, yes they did…15,20 thousand years ago. Into a land where there were no people.

So yeah, 20,000 years versus 50, 100, 150 years. It’s exactly NOT the same thing.

Beringia, the Bering Land Bridge, was exposed land, not frozen, like it would be today.

Yeah,sure
Guest
Yeah,sure
4 years ago
Reply to  Canyon oak

Humans immigrate. Always have. Strange perspective that you find it a negative phenomenon since humans have been doing it since forever. Why in gods name would you determine that everyone should stay put?

Dave Kirby
Guest
Dave Kirby
4 years ago

When I arrived here in So Hum back in the 70’s the truly criminal types weren’t hippies. Plenty of “bad guys” came from logging families. From rip offs to murderers some of them came from local families. The local taverns were rowdy and fights and confrontations were much more common than these days.

Jilly
Guest
Jilly
4 years ago

Dying Planets stink ! We hippies were right! 💦🌎💦

SmallFry
Guest
SmallFry
4 years ago

Lol.. this is so funny.. “nude swim” hilarious! Petition against the Hippies.. LMAO!
You think that the old timers thought it might be an invasion of the body snatchers or something! Lol.. This is way before my time.But interesting nonetheless. I always enjoy the stories and tales of the oldtimers. Either from “Hippies” or Oldtimers..

I mean it is sad the direction I see the current state of Humboldt, and the Green Rush, all its obscene measures. It’s truely not a vision I would have like to see of Humboldt . I don’t think the “Hippies” are entirely to blame though.. Maxam gutted the Redwoods and all the oldgrowth. Green Diamond also. Humboldt wouldn’t be in such a bad state now if they would have prevented Maxam from taking the future.. but sure let’s blame the “Hippies” and their “patchouli”..

I guess the vision I would like to have seen from Humboldt is one where the river was healthy and clean. The salmon came back and thrived. People where also able to still work and live in their homes making enough to build their homesteads, while also caring for the environment. But, the materialistic nature of humans thrived instead of principles of taking care of the commons. Not all, but many..

Tough times ahead for Humboldt. That’s for sure. It’s too bad the county decided to take such awful measures. Not to say that certain measures weren’t needed. Look at the rivers! Even many of the most Hippie type of people I know stopped using Organic nutrients long ago! That has a HUGE impact on the river. Because they don’t break down. Now, the county will succeed in this petition to get rid of the “hippies” thru abatements and obsessive measures, while approving large mountain removal scenes, and providing very little path forward for the smaller cultiators.. Not Cool Man!

Yeah,sure
Guest
Yeah,sure
4 years ago
Reply to  SmallFry

Guess who was hiding in the bushes watching nude hippie women swimming?
The redneck locals.

thetallone
Guest
thetallone
4 years ago

There is no such thing as hippies. It’s a media invention to marginalize anyone who doesn’t conform to the approved cookie-cutter societal image. Man.

2 bits
Guest
2 bits
4 years ago

Well there was first the hippie-without-money-and-stuff period and then gradually the hippie-with-money-and-stuff period overlapping with the kids of hippies with money and stuff, and institutions that we take for granted in Sohum were built with hippie and local money. When Gallegos took the lid off the definition of “mom and pops”, and word kept spreading that you can get rich, the emerald curtain continued to tear and rip, but from 2005ish on (or some date of your choice) when bigger scenes flourished without fear, ‘twarnt no hippies moving here, or not many, it was moneyed folks from out of the area with money-and-stuff ambitions.
Lots of colorful history in the “Collision of Cultures” back when the hippies arrived, and I thought it ironic that the counter-culture who shocked the local culture got a taste of what an invasion of “newcomers” and outsiders feels like during this “Greedrush” of the past decade or more. Ironic, but not enjoyable.
All the hippies I know have grey hair.

W.H.
Guest
W.H.
4 years ago

yup.

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Milt Phegley
Guest
Milt Phegley
4 years ago

Kym made it into the “big time”!! Congrats. This article featured in today’s L.A. Times “Essential California” e-mail newsletter.

Long live the Hippies
Guest
Long live the Hippies
4 years ago

Lots of talk about hippies taking over but if you really think about it 1950’s Humboldt must have been very oppressed. Company owned towns, corporate control of our local communities, people did not question authority since the companies had a huge hold on peoples lives. If you lived in a company town, to lose your job meant you had to move away, the company owned the houses even. Then there was the bigotism and racism which still exists among redneck and hick families today. These famikies actually teach their children to hate people who are different or look like a hippy, they teach their own kids discrimination and bigotry. Imagine the community, it was filled with conservative uptight folks who had little experience in having fun. Psychedelics and LSD turned on this community, taught folks that we are all one. Taught us that we are all interconnected… the hippies psychedelics were the opposite of whiskey and beer. I bet nudity was an issue for the uptight sexually oppressed members of the Humboldt community, they somehow associated the beauty of human nakedness with filth and nastiness, they forgot that our naked bodies are beautiful and there is nothing to fear from naked people…. it was a culture shock that needed to happen to wake Humboldt up from their Pleasantville Black and White cookie cutter idealism of just do what your toldism…. Give thanks for our back to the landers and hippies who had a positive change on the whacked out idealism of the 1950s Humboldt. Glad the genie is out of the bottle and will never fit back inside. Save the Redwoods, skinny dip, smoke ganja, eat mushrooms, drop acid, howl at the moon and shout at the stars. Live it up, life is about more than just work, it is a dance meant to be danced and enjoyed.

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[…] felt it was being inundated by long-haired, unwashed hordes. So much so that local citizens got up a petition to keep the hippies out. The entreaty, with 111 signatures submitted to the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors demanded […]