Tell Me About Hippy Communes

May 22, 2009 11:25 AM

Hippy communes. I want to know more.

Looking for recommendations of photo archives, first person accounts, books, documentaries, stories from adult children who grew up in one, how surviving ones evolved from their roots, blogs, whatever you got. Also looking for similar material about "Jesus Freaks"

posted by extrabox to society & culture (26 comments total)

My uncle wrote a book called Sleeping Where I Fall which talks a lot about his days with the Diggers and living in communes and trying to spread the word about them in the Sixties. It's a good read and has some photos.
posted by jessamyn at 11:36 AM on May 22 [1 favorite has favorites]

There's Susan Atkins' Child of Satan, Child of God (for sale) and Tex Watson's Will You Die For Me? (for free). I'm not sure if this is what you want, though, as it's an obviously dark story. But, it was a hippie commune...
posted by Houstonian at 11:45 AM on May 22

The Farm is a still thriving commune in TN. The Wiki article has links to several books and articles. Neat place... one of my best friends in college grew up there (and became a corporate attorney, go figure).

Here's a short film about the Short Mountain Sanctuary, also in TN. And a first person account. Not your typical hippy commune, but one of the most wonderful places I've ever visited.
posted by kimdog at 11:49 AM on May 22 [1 favorite has favorites]

There was a documentary about 3 years ago called "Commune."

Frankly I found it pretty average, but it's exactly what you're looking for.
posted by drjimmy11 at 11:51 AM on May 22

Miriam Williams' book Heaven's Harlots tells about her years with the Children of God. It was a commune/Jesus Freak community turned cult. Wavy Gravy has made a film about his years as head of the Hog Farm commune, though I don't know whether you can find it on Netflix or not.
posted by Oriole Adams at 11:59 AM on May 22

I stayed at The Farm once while on my high school senior trip. We were having a meal and a guy that lived there asked our group if any of us ate meat. I said that I did and the guy said "You look like you would be a carnivore." I regret to this day that I didn't reply "Yeah you look like you would be a judgmental asshole." Ahh l'esprit de la thirteen year old escalier.

Other than that everyone was really nice and it was a very pretty setting.
posted by ND¢ at 12:12 PM on May 22

A far more low brow item than the above but episode 105 of 30 Days called "Off the Grid" featured two city dwellers living in that kind of environment.
posted by mmascolino at 12:19 PM on May 22

It's a novel but you might like Drop City by T. C. Boyle. Great book about a commune in the 60s and I think it captures the time. But I'm 33 so I have no idea.
posted by sully75 at 12:24 PM on May 22 [1 favorite has favorites]

I lived in a commune (which is still in existence from the age of 7 till the age of 18, would love to share my experiences but would need some idea of what kind of thing you want to know about it. maybe PM me?
posted by kumonoi at 12:32 PM on May 22

Twin Oaks is still around, and is involved in inter-commune community. Here is a WaPo article that should be right up your alley. My dad and wavy gravy of The Hog Farm share a mutual friend, and I hear they're still very much around in modified form.

Wikipedia's list of anarchist communities might be a good starting point. Freetown Christiania has suffered lately, but had a hell of a run.

Jesus People USA are an interesting group for being both protestant Christians and making their home in an urban area.
posted by phrontist at 12:42 PM on May 22

Here's a directory that might be useful.
posted by harmfulray at 12:45 PM on May 22

You might want to watch Easy Rider if you've never -- at one point early in their journey, they visit a commune. (To viewers I know, it's the least interesting part of the film, but YMMV.)
posted by Rash at 1:22 PM on May 22

If by "Jesus freak" you mean contemporary evangelicals as opposed to the original 70s subculture, The Book of Jerry Falwell is a highly-recommended ethnography (i.e. in-depth anthropological study) of his Baptist community.

You might also find some relevant academic literature if you search for work on "intentional communities."
posted by col_pogo at 1:48 PM on May 22

A few book suggestions:

Total Loss Farm (+ the related Home Comfort)

Communes U.S.A.: A Personal Tour

The Alternative: Communal Life in New America

I haven't had a chance to read it, but The 60's Communes: Hippies and Beyond has gotten good reviews, and focuses in part on Jesus Freak communities.

Also - and it's a lot to dig through - the entire run of the Whole Earth Catalog is now online, and the 60s/70s issues are littered with photos and stories from communes all over the world. Lloyd Kahn's fantastic "Shelter" magazine (recently collected and reprinted) is also worth looking into.

posted by ryanshepard at 2:04 PM on May 22 [1 favorite has favorites]

A documentaries:

Brotherhood of the Spirit (+ photos, new documentary)

Koinonia: A Documentary Portrait

Re-Visiting Father and the Source Family

Commune

posted by ryanshepard at 2:17 PM on May 22

Here's an issue of Cometbus (#48, "Back to the Land") that has just what you need.
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:34 PM on May 22

There was also a real Drop City.
This seems to be a pretty accurate account of it. Also this

As noted here the domes, which attracted media attention, were actually just a hacker solution to cheap housing--the colorful sheathing was recycled sheet metal from dead cars.

The novel Drop City by T C Boyle doesn't seem to have much resemblance to the actual Drop City beyond the (appropriated) name. Well, creativity ain't all it's cracked up to be.
posted by hexatron at 4:33 PM on May 22

There's a play at the Marin Theater called Magic Forest Farm that's about growing up in a commune. Maybe the author would be willing to help.

Also, a couple of people recommended I read The Hypocrisy of Disco, (Amazon.com link) which is a memoir about growing up in Sonoma County, California communal living.
posted by small_ruminant at 4:48 PM on May 22

If you're talking about the 1970s Jesus Freaks, in my experience there was a lot of overlap with the communal living folks. "Counter culture" and "hippie" were not synonymous back in the day.
posted by small_ruminant at 4:50 PM on May 22

Wow, all fantastic info...kumonoi, i will get in touch with you.

This is just what I was interested in.

Also, to clarify, by Jesus Freaks I meant the 60's / 70's hippies who were into Jesus.

And I am interested in all sides of communes, the good, the bad, and the dark.

And yes, I suppose I mean counter culture as well as hippy.

Thank you all, and keep 'em coming if there is anything more.
posted by extrabox at 5:03 PM on May 22

"Intentional community" is an alternative search term you could use.
posted by yarrow at 5:31 PM on May 22

Jonestown.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:07 PM on May 22

Dharma Girl by Chelsea Cain is partly about living on a commune as a youngish kid.
posted by newrambler at 9:52 PM on May 22

Seconding the search term "intentional community"
I used to live in a community and we were one of many listed in a directory of intentional communities. I visited a few that I looked up in the book
posted by compound eye at 12:21 AM on May 23

Lukas Moodyson's Together, while fictional, is a fun movie and a pretty interesting take on the Scandinavian version of communal living in the 70s. Imagine plenty of bulky wool sweaters, earnest sexual experimentation, obscure and hilarious ideological infighting, and lots of pensive tea drinking. I think you can get it on Netflix.
posted by ga$money at 6:03 AM on May 23

Louie theroux's documentaries are pretty nuts/funny/dark. Theres lots of it on youtube.
posted by jcwilliams at 8:16 AM on May 23