San Francisco’s plastic fantastic celebration of the Summer of Love and what it means
By Bruce Fessier, The Desert Sun

This montage of album covers by San Francisco rock bands from the 1960s is part of the Summer of Love exhibit at the San Francisco Public Library. (Photo: Bruce Fessier/The Desert Sun)

If you’re going to San Francisco, you probably won’t be wearing flowers in your hair next weekend.

If you’re a music fan, you’re probably going to the sold-out Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival at Golden Gate Park. The desert’s own Queens of the Stone Age won’t be there because of an injury to a band member, but Metallica, The Who and Gorillaz are headlining. Pollstar named it one of the top five major music festivals of 2016, along with Coachella and Desert Trip.

But, if you choose to explore other parts of San Francisco, you’ll be amazed by how pervasive the 1967 Summer of Love culture still is.