The Maze

[Produced by KPIX-TV, 1967]

A short film that was first broadcast in February 1967 on local TV in San Francisco. It features Michael McClure taking the audience on a tour of the Haight-Ashbury. Some indoor scenes of the Psychedelic Shop, the Straight Theater and the Drogstore Cafe located at Masonic and Haight. In one scene in that coffee shop we see Stephen Gaskin looking professorial before his messianic phase. One scene shows an early morning kirtan ritual at the Krishna Temple on Frederick Street. And we are taken into the Grateful Dead house on Ashbury Street where Jerry Garcia tells the story of the burn hole in their communal tabletop as a result of someone leaving the house with candles lit. There are no scenes (nor mentions of) the Diggers who most assuredly would have avoided publicity at this point in their career. However, one of the "second wave" Digger Papers mentions this film which is why I wanted to add it here to the archive. Also, at one point McClure is walking through the Panhandle with Richard Brautigan in the area where the Free Food gatherings took place but the camera never leaves the two Beat poets wandering together through the park. Throughout the film, McClure narrates and explains the new youth culture and its differences from the Beats of the previous decade.

The Maze — the Haight-Ashbury

Produced by KPIX-TV, 1967. Running time: 25 min

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