In many cases it is difficult to choose a starting point to begin the history of a political, social or cultural movement. However, when talking about the hippie counterculture that emerged in the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco in the mid 1960s, choosing a beginning is easy, because it all began on January 3, 1966, with the opening of the world’s first head shop, the “Psychedelic Shop,” located on Haight Street in San Francisco. The store’s opening gave the growing number of “hippies” in the Haight Ashbury community a place of cultural belonging, identity and purpose that the strictly underground culture that had existed previously could not. It was a physical manifestation of what had been, up to that time, an intangible spiritual, social, philosophical and emotional experience that had already begun to express itself in art, music, poetry and dance over the past few years. The image on this poster is a self-portrait of the poster artist, Robert H. Ballad and, as he put it, it pretty much describes his state of mind at that time. I was privileged to meet Bob about 15 years ago and he was kind enough to sign this for me. We had a great time together as we discussed his memories of all those years ago, but I never did tell him where I got the poster from. Because I promised that I wouldn't tell him. But I will tell you. I bought it from his old girl fried at the time, who had kept it for over 40 years. She never told me much about her relationship with Bob, or how it ended, but I found it very touching that after all that time that she was very concerned about who she was selling this poster to to make sure that it was preserved. It is a concern that I have had to manage often during my collecting avocation. People do not surrender the mementos of their lives easily.