Summer Of Little Love

Promoter Boots Houghston was denied his second permit to host a concert in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park to mark the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love.

AP Photo, file – ‘Summer Of Love’
Hippies keep a large ball, painted to represent a world globe, in the air at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

Houghston received a letter of denial June 1 from the Recreation and Park Department manager of permits Diane Rea, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The letter stated Hughston did not meet the conditions required to protect the park and surrounding neighborhood. Rae criticized Houghston for suggesting the permit was already approved on his web site.

“You have not made progress on those important elements and the event is not yet close to being approved,” Rea said in the letter, “Rather than put the park and public at risk, we must deny the permit.”

Houghston originally planned the 50th anniversary celebration to take place June 4 at the park’s Polo Field, but was denied his first permit Feb. 7 for “numerous misrepresentations of material facts.” The letter cited Houghston’s advertising of the event before obtaining a permit and his suggestion that it would attract more than double the number of attendees estimated in his permit request.

In a statement released after receiving his second permit denial, Houghston criticized the city’s “onerous demands and conditions.”

“The 50th anniversary is so important that to be caught in a petty squabble with the city is unfair to San Francisco and its citizens or for that matter, the world,” Hughston said in the statement. “The world looks at this event as a beacon of light and hope for change. To not have it occur is a tragedy.”