Back to a More Psychedelic Time

America used to proudly proclaim itself the great Melting Pot, a place where diverse cultures would all be absorbed into a homogenous mixture. That concept has lost favor among people who assert their desire to maintain a strong cultural identity in the United States.

But the melting pot has been almost totally successful in mainstreaming, or at least driving underground, one aspect of American life--the counterculture.

It seems hard to imagine, now, that not so long ago there were in this country beatniks and hippies, who purposely lived outside social and political norms, at least for brief periods.

Digital director and producer Tony Bove has attempted to chronicle the place and time when the hippies flourished in “Haight Ashbury in the Sixties,” a new CD-ROM set being distributed by Compton’s NewMedia.

While far from entirely successful, it’s an interesting project and may be of special interest to kids who have heard about the myth-shrouded ‘60s from their parents and want to know more about the era.

The program, which comes on two CD-ROMs, is divided into three areas, appropriately titled, “Tune In,” “Turn On,” “Drop Out,” Timothy Leary’s rallying cry.

“Tune In” is the reference section, containing articles from an underground newspaper of the Haight, the San Francisco Oracle. It also features sound clips, including a lecture by beat poet Allen Ginsberg and several songs of the era by the seminal psychedelic band, the Grateful Dead, plus one each by Big Brother and the Holding Company, Janis Joplin and Jefferson Airplane.

There are also short video clips, including an interview with members of the Grateful Dead that conveys how much marijuana was an accepted part of the lifestyle back then. Indeed, this whole project serves as a reminder of a time when marijuana and LSD were not seen in the demonic light they are today.

The “Drop Out” section, which is a game, is the least interesting, although it sports the nicest design elements of “Haight Ashbury in the Sixties.” You move your game piece around a mandala, landing on spaces that contain messages such as: “You arrive in the Haight in June, 1967, with no plans, no friends and no job. Hundreds of teen-agers from the heartland of the U.S. and from all over the world have the same idea and you are all looking for a place to sleep. Lose 4 Food & Shelter Points.”

The predominant section of the project is “Turn On,” a slide-show documentary entitled, “The Rise and Fall of the Haight Ashbury.” It’s actually more about the rise and fall of the San Francisco Oracle--published from September, 1966, to February, 1968--and that’s not a bad way to tell the Haight’s story.

The Oracle featured writings by most of the key figures in the hippie movement and its pages were showcases for the Indian and drug-influenced psychedelic art of the period. It also conveyed news of the time and debates about the issues raging within and about the Haight.

But there are two basic problems with “Turn On,” one having to do with the scope of its content and the second with the use of the CD-ROM medium.

“Turn On” starts well, with radio personality Rachel Donahue describing the mid-’60s when the Haight was in the midst of a “morph from beatnik to hippie.” While photographs from the time flash on the screen, she describes some of the early concerts that featured the Jefferson Airplane and other bands and the liquid projection light shows that became so identified with the era.

This early history is not big on analysis (she simply describes psychedelic posters as “a pinnacle of 20th-Century art”), but it’s fun to see those photos and hear someone who was there talk about the scene.

The narration is then taken over by Allen Cohen, one of the founders of the Oracle and the writer/director of this section of “Haight Ashbury in the Sixties.”

He talks about how the newspaper was formed and describes the contents of each issue, touching lightly on the battles within the Oracle over its editorial direction and struggle to survive financially.

Again, the historical points are fascinating and Cohen does not gloss over some of the more unsavory aspects of “the Summer of Love” in the Haight including drug-related problems, power struggles and greed in the midst of what was supposed to be an ideal tribal culture.

But it’s very much a once-over lightly view. Most frustrating is the fact that Cohen never discloses why the Oracle finally ceased publication and, by extension, why the Haight fell apart. There are damning references to media coverage, political pressures and “a speed plague,” but you never get any real insight concerning why the hippie phenomenon, which carried much hope for many, fizzled out.

Also, this would have been a far more rounded documentary if we had gotten more than Cohen’s view on the Oracle and its place in the history of the Haight.

Finally, and perhaps most damning, “Turn On” seems hardly appropriate for the CD-ROM medium. Its linear presentation would be far better suited to television or film. It hardly even acknowledges the fact that the CD-ROM form can approach topics in an entirely different way, with the user interactively choosing from a multitude of paths that can be taken in exploring a topic.

“Turn On” is the kind of presentation you might view a few times if you are particularly interested in the subject matter, but it’s not, like the best informational CD-ROMS, a resource work that can be used time and time again.

“Haight Ashbury in the Sixties” does have elements that are groovy, but as a CD-ROM, it’s hardly far out.

* Cyburbia’s Internet address is Colker@news.latimes.com.