This is the best place to go if you’re a hippie.. well, besides the Haight-Ashbury. It’s located in Humboldt County, which is pretty well-known for it’s marijuana growing. The community is great, there are always festivals going on about the earth, such as the Mushroom Fair, the Hemp Festival, North Country Fair, everything you can imagine. I love it here! The people are so supportive of you.. they’ve even made a law which states that women can indeed go topless around the plaza in the centre of town. ; )
Arcata is a totally unreal place to check out and LIVE too! The rents are cheap and it seems everyone is way laid back, with Humboldt next door and being amongst the greatest redwoods in the world, how can you go wrong!
grandpa you lost me. arcata is a shithole.
arcata R.I.P the old ways here are gone, the city’s have evicted the scum tweekers and they have invaded the quiet town of arcata, the cops have become trigger happy with there zapperz, there is sooooooo much wrong with this town, wanna friendly hippie town? try missoula montana.
Arcata…Yes, there are some very cool people who live here who not only have an evolved world-view and a kind heart, but are disciplined about maintaining their beliefs in practice. These people are the heart and soul of the town, and they are a diverse crowd. Yes, the town is mostly, if not all, white, and, I might add, Compton is mostly, if not all, black. Does that mean Arcata is not a diverse town? Of course not, you will see people from different races, but you’re an idiot if you judge the town on this merit alone, you cannot expect it to be a Los Angeles this far north. And yes, there are also some freaky people – a bizarre and racist hick element is alive and well in Arcata. It’s the country, after all. Yes, the nature is amazing, the redwoods and the beaches are heavenly. The land is still the number one attraction in this part of California for all types of people, not just hippies, and one of the main reasons why people stay after visiting or graduating from HSU. The land also has a profoundly transformative spiritual affect on people’s lives, (probably the biggest reason why people come here, to be healed in some way by the land) so much so that they find themselves becoming activists to protect what is left of so much that has been taken without humility, such as my friend Shunka Wakan – God bless them all. Yes, the town also attracts a lot of deadbeats in the summer, kids and weirdos of the wrong sort with no respect or maturity, it’s unfortunate. People are at where they’re at. And yes, the cops have made some bad choices in maintaining order. And yes, the whole situation has detracted from the spirit and image of the community. But you are more likely to find some pretty bright people, young and old, who just want to experience the nature and meet other like-minded people, have experiences, and make friends. In many ways, it’s still 1970 in Humboldt, and everyone wants to feel the spirit of those times. The police mostly just want keep order and preserve the image of their town. Berkeley, as an example, in 1970 was an amazing place, incredible people found themselves there, and the trouble makers came there too, and there was also Governor Reagan invading with the National Guard, etc., in other words, nothing has changed. As far as the bad things that go on, that’s life. It’s a hippie haven with problems because it’s inhabited by humans, but a cool hippie haven nevertheless. If you’re a good person, you’ll find the good people, and there are many here, and if you’re out looking for trouble, you’ll attract it and start it as well, and draw your own karma.
So if you come to Arcata, come with the understanding that people are the same wherever you go, whether they are “hippies” or not, be open to the nature, hug a redwood, take a nap on the beach, pray for and avoid the ignorant, show respect for the town and the people who live there (because, after all, Arcata exists because of them), figure out your lodging, bring enough money, read your Walt Whitman, and keep a journal of your experiences. My guess is you’ll one day want to come back to Arcata.
yup, did the 4:20 thing gotta say no other day like 4:20 in arcada. But if you’re sqautting not a good idea. FEAR RANGER BOB!!!!! and spange is terrible, but the endeavor lives on.any questions or wanna hear asome fucking down stories contact me at myspace under elf. So yup rockon portly snacth… yar!!!!!!!!!!!!
hey people, i just ran across this site for the first time today and it interested me. i live in wisconsin, but i will be attending HSU this fall, 2005. if anyone at all wants to contact me…locals, incoming or already HSU students, etc. about the “scene” or whatever, please email me at young_plant@yahoo.com. thanks.
I’m looking for a Andrew Thomas, scawney lil fella with a big idea bout himself. he’s there in Arcata if anyone know’s him tell him to holla back
re: Arcata coffee
Its hard to tell anyone where the good coffee is because everyone has thier own idea of good. But, here goes …
I love the work done by Muddy Waters in Arcata. They roast their own and while it is a dark roast they stop short of the slightly scorched flavor of Starbucks. The barristas are well trained so its always good. And they are mostly fun people.
Whenever I visit my alma mater, I always make a stop at Muddy Waters.
As for the comments about cracking down in the downtown area, with more to come, I’d have to say its true. I have a sister-in-law who lives in Arcata and she is actively involved in “cleaning up the downtown.”
She and I argue a great deal about how far is appropriate in a so-called “democractic free society.” My contention is that a democratic society must always allow for minority views and minority lifestyles and that it must always have public spaces where these differences must be respected. Seeing and being around people you might not associate with is simply a part of being in public and not something to be swept away. While certain behaviors can be regulated, you can not properly punish a person for what they are.
Of course, I am beating my head against the wall. I expect she and her sympathizers will prevail. The downtown business zone is struggling to survive and having the streets lined with menacing panhandlers certainly does not help – particular since women statistically do 80% of all the spending.
I hope they don’t go overboard. The slackers and the hippies are an important influence in the cultural ecology of the north coast that keeps it a mellow haven and protects it from the slash and burn mentality of the redneck population.
I wish people would put a lot more energy into making it a place that can work for everyone and a lot less into creating enemies, then trying to eliminate them.
I’m reading all of this site with a lot of interest because I am the mom of one of the kids who thought heading to northern california would be nirvana (I guess). She’s been there almost 3 years…we helped support her for the first 2. (Indiana folks here)
What I think I have now, is a daughter who thinks everything we stand for and have worked for is some right wing conspiracy. Her code is to just smoke or drink a bit and forget your cares…and to me, it’s an excuse for you young folks- not to find yourself and “rediscover” nature-but as another post reiterated-to use your parents (or society’s) money to put off being a productive citizen or student or volunteer. ( And find a town, or area where you can be a deadbeat and surround yourself with others who don’t call you on it.)
Newsflash….you’d be amazed at how about 90% of the real hippies turned out as adults…..yep-those that are not still burnouts or overdosed, are teachers, ministers, doctors, CEOs, nurses, tradespeople, and politicians…republican and democrat.
And, the very diversity and “love” you so desperately “believe in”-is a crock when all you do is bash on the way you were raised, and anybody that NOW doesn’t agree with your left wing views of life.
Most of you are way too young to have any clue about life, relationships,
the global economy and war (by the way-the United States did not start wars and capitalism-both of these have been around for thousands of years)
I support fully any young person-my daughter included-that looks hard at our society and sees a whole bunch of things that are wrong with it.
But unless you are prepared to find your own way and live in this country as a productive person, a friend of others-including your family-
even as a mom, I say- go find another country to live in then.
I am not a flag waving right wing extremist…just a midwestern mom of 3 that finds all this really interesting in trying to figure out my kid.
I’ve been to Arcata…seemed like a nice enough place…but it also seems many of you are there for the wrong reason, and it will not make you happy over the long haul if your reason to go there is to escape, not discover and move on.
If you are young, take some time to find what you want to do, but be a nice person while you are at it….and think about what you are inside as part of this society.
Thanks for reading my vent.
My son, david, is tree sitting in the Redwoods. We heard from him for the first time in 3 weeks today. If you see him, tell him HI and to call us again sometime soon. He left high school to travel and has been in Arcata for about a month now. He too decided he had enough of people telling him what to do and wanted to travel and see the country. I just hope that he realizes that someday he has to actually grow up. He thinks that “sticking it to the man” is the way to go for now. How interesting that by doing that he is still accepting handouts, food stamps and welfare. How is that being independent? He is accepting things to survive from the same “crappy government” that he wants to rail against. Just because you are 18 doesn’t mean you know it all. If you did, you would graduate from high school and be an adult instead of a bratty kid who wants everything his way!
First of all…for all of you ‘know it alls’ on how ‘kind’ Arcata is, it’s ARCATA, not Arcada or Arcadia…get a clue, and, btw, get the hell out of my town…
I’m sick of you ignorant f’ks spreading the word about how ‘kind’ it is to be a big fat drainbow on my once beautiful plaza. I’m over the puppy (who never seem to become ‘dogs’—kindness means caring for your pets, yo) yanking dirt heads spanging downtown. The endeavor is a nightmare—free showers, food and laundrey for all the lazy patchwork schmucks that wanna freeload on a once wonderful service for those REALLY in need. You have to CONTRIBUTE something to be a part of a community, not suck it dry.
Mind you, I love Arcata, I’ve lived here for 12 years. Please, I do welcome all of you that wanna come here for school, to raise your kids, get out of suburbia, etc. BUT…if you’re thinking of coming here because you have no money and hear it’s an easy ride, and will say to me: “hey, kind sister, spare a nug?!”…I will do my best to personally drive you out of what used to be my personal haven…thanks for ruining it you lazy, trustfunding, wookies…
And…please…do not call these gutter punks ‘hippies’—so far from it. I was raised in a grateful dead family in the bay area in a scene where the hippies were true…they contributed to the betterment of all. Far from what we see on our plaza these days.
For all of you fucks that keep recommending camping in our protected environments—GET A CLUE!!!! It’s hardly ‘green’ to destroy this beautiful landscape with these ‘freaks’ trash and shit, (and I mean human feces), littering what was once pristine. NO, you cannot camp in our community forest—and, ranger bob is not ‘evil’ for preventing you from doing so. Stay out of our marsh—which is a huge preserved area that is being destroyed by drainbows, and should be (and has been in the past) an environment for study for many of the wildlife, biology, watershed, etc…depts. for students. THANKS! So ‘kind’ of you to destroy some of the last vestiges of protected land on the west coast. How ‘conscious’ of you…
When your broke and spanging on the plaza, PLEASE think twice about breaking in and stealing from our struggling small businesses…sorry that you aquired a heroin addiction on your visit to the redwoods, but these struggling folks don’t deserve to pay for it—esp. since you ruined their source of clientele by driving all the decent folks out of the area…
get real, what was once a utupia is now sapped dry from greedy folks like yourself, that are looking for a kind place to freeload…that’s a big difference from free-living…so step off…
DO NOT COME HERE IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO CONTRIBUTE…’CAUSE THE LOCALS ARE SICK OF TAKING CARE OF AND CLEANING UP AFTER YOU LOSERS!!!!
someone needs to redefine the term ‘hippie’ so that ‘drainbows’ and ‘wooks’ do NOT ruin what was once a beautiful lifestyle…
Drainbow’s suck…what is a drainbow?
I wrote the other post about my daughter moving to northern california…she is working and living with others, so I don’t think she is a drainbow at this point.
Don’t know your age…but I was part of the hippie movement…..kind of on the fringe. You sound really pissed off..and rightly so. But I think you don’t have a grip on the reality of the “first” hippie movement. Many of them did the same things you are so angry about now…they claimed to love the environment, yet used protected land-many of them were dirty, spread disease, many, many were into stealing to support drug habits….they had little respect for other people’s space…
Just wanted to clarify that, because even back then, it was the part that disgusted me about the two-faced hippie movement.
The most classic example is to re-watch the movie “Woodstock”. Yeah, watch the very end when hundreds of volunteers cleaned up the filth and garbage left by all the hippies.
Our rights end where the other person’s rights begin..they did then and they do now.
Good luck in your quest to clean up your area…I am not writing this to criticize your feelings about that…just to clarify that the hippie movement that is once again alive and well in parts of our country is not so very different than the one 30 years back.
Mom from Indiana
could say a lot about arcata…first of all, many of the drainbows aren’t hippies: they dont look like hippies, they dont call themselves hippies, and they dont listen to hippie music. they’re just street kids from all over the country who’ve lived on the streets in other places and come to arcata because a.) there is less crime there than many of the big cities b.) the weather is almost always good to sleep outside c.) the cops are way nicer than they are in big cities (no matter how mean they get in arcata, they’re still nicer than most cops in big cities) d.) there are lots of cheap drugs, and lots of eager customers. and a side note is the endeavor, which for whatever reason puts up with verbal abuse from these kids.
that doesn’t mean that the hippies aren’t prone to spanging with agression, ripping people off, or
anyway, got cut off…
long story short, arcata is awesome if you’re going there to chill and experience the culture. i was in san fransico and was heading to corvallis, and i stopped in arcata just for the saturday market…watched a brazillian dance performance, met a beautiful woman, and went to a drum circle in the park where woman belly danced and pipes of dank herb circled.
only in arcata…
anyway, i say hold a town meeting and make a law against spanging, then post a cop 24 hrs in the square…but there probably isnt money for that is there?
i probably dont sound like a hippie with that suggestion, but you know what? fuck those kids, when i lived in arcata they just wanted to crash on my floor and eat my food. ive seen them stand in front of a car with a mom and four kids in it and scream at her for almost running them over, when they were standing in the road arguing with each other. i live in what many people call a “ghetto” (just because its mostly black and poor), and believe me, the city people here who are fucking gang members are more respectable than a lot of these hippies and so-called gutter punks. but remember, im only talking about the travelling kids who go to arcata and hope for someone to magically drop a pound of reefer on their heads. all the hippies with homes are fine, and some of the travelers are really sweet too.
the women there are gorgeous…
Most people that I know from Arcata are losers and never get out of there. I think it is really sad. I can’t believe people are actually proud to be from there.
Have you noticed people up there are ugly?
I found this site wile looking to find some people like me, all I found about this town is that both sides have me convenced that I will never come there, that could be a loss or not, so continue to sit back and bitch about what is wrong, hate the misguided rather then help them learn, and watch your town continue to go down the shithole.
once people worked togather to stop a war! now you cant even seem to find a way to give what you lerned to the young who went there seeking. maybe they went there looking for drugs or an easy way out. but when they got there that is just what they found! they did not arive and have some of the elders from the hippie days passing on what they have learned works and what they learned did not!
some say hippies started the drug movment now it has come back to bite you in the ass. it is time to keep what was good and take responcibilty for what was creaited that is not and, come togather like we once did long agaio.
lost people are just that, lost!
Arcata is a great place to live (or visit). I have lived here for a relatively short time (5 years). In that time, the tide has started to turn against the transient parasites that have abused the charity of the townspeople.
Arcata has a long tradition of support for the needy. Most people are proud of that.For anyone looking for a nice place to live and raise a family, this is one of the best places in the country. It is just becoming a little less cordial to the people who don’t contribute anything and expect others to support them.
This is a great community. Unless you are a low life scum bag that begs change instead of getting a job. The towns folk are tired of the flood of “bums by choice”. Usually freindly inhabitants of this little jewel are making drastic changes to get rid of the human waste that flows into town. Hope all you hippy dippies can either contribute to Arcata or go somewhere else. Everything is not FREE and that
includes the buds!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey people, what’s happned the “Pete”. Before the envevor, was in near the church food distribution day, I used to give my food stamp in exchange, he bought me some cheep beers. Is Pete sitll go to the Food Endevor?
peace
Hello. I’m looking for an old friend named Scott Clore. He used to live in San Diego and now I believe he lives in Arcata. He’s approximately 35 years of age, caucausion with dread locks. If anyone knows him, please tell him to contact Gene at 858-385-9455. Thanks
I guess you can also email me at radioheadfull@yahoo.com
This site really has me thinking twice about Arcata- my boyfriend was living in Arcata for a few months before we met- homeless, but not spanging and bumming off of other people and making his own way- and I came across country from the east coast and stayed with some friends in Bend, OR and am getting ready to hike down to Arcata to meet him and chill there for a little while. I have money, and I don’t bum unless completely necessary, and I WORK (mostly landscaping, daily labor, temp stuff because I travel a lot.)
Now I am seeing all of this controversy from the two sides of the people in Arcata, and it seems like war. Arcata, which I want to come to because I HAVE always heard about the kind people, liberal environment, and beautiful redwoods, and prime camping conditions is seeming less and less appealing to me.
Can someone with a real feel for Arcata, not dreamy and bum-friendly or super conservative on the bum- thing and anti-homeless and anti-traveler give me a bit of input? Is there no happy medium in this town?
You can email me at loojahloo@yahoo.com please.
Some of you are right on- the people in Arcata are sick of “travelers”, “transients”, “drainbows?” “hippies” “dread-heads” or whatever you want to call them. The town in unbalanced- too many of these people sucking the life out of the town equals a total lack of diversity. Too many of one kind of plant choke the garden. If you are one of these types, stay away. There is a movement to get rid of you and the people there have decided not to give money to panhandlers (if you don’t like pigeons messing up the sidewalk, don’t feed them). The problem with panhandlers is they take money away from the sick, old, and crazy, who really need the money to survive.
So, stay away. Go somewhere else. Shoo!
I stumbled across this site, looking up info about the church building I built on the South Jetty in 1996 (Nancy Dervin dreamt up the idea and wrangled to get the lumber, and lots of folks helped here and there, but I designed, framed and roofed the thing). As for the people who used to live there, I found a few living in the trailer court at King Salmon a couple of years ago.
I lived on the South Jetty for a month in 1972, before there was a camp there. I got preached to a lot by the young folks at Lighthouse Ranch then, and lived there a few days to work on my car. Nice folks — I gave my heart to God the next year, on Albion Ridge in Mendocino County.
My daugher lived in Arcata a few years ago, going to Humboldt State. First Baptist Church there had a really good program going for the college kids, and nearly all my daughter’s friends went into the mission field after graduating. She’s been living in China the past four years, and married a Chinese businessman — a young man who really has his head together, unlike yours truly. My son lived near her in China for a year, before going to Malaysia this summer to work with autistic children. If you haven’t guessed it, I’m a proud papa.
“Mountain Man” was right about there being virtually no work in Humboldt County. At least that was the case in the mid-90s. I have a BS in Chemistry, and tried twice, unsuccessfully, to get work cleaning poop out of animal cages. What really hurt, was that one of the employers was a friend of mine!
As for those homeless folks who got kicked off the Jetty in ’97, they were a flea-bitten lot; but they looked after one another and had a real community, and I loved being around them. If anyone comes across Casey & Linda, Nita and her kids & grandkids, Philco, Billy and all the toe-heads, give them my love.
Shalom shalom from Eugene.