Counterculture Museum

Counterculture Museum Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Counterculture Museum, History Museum, 1485 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA.

TIME World's Greatest Places to Visit 2026

Dedicated to fostering a deeper understanding of counterculture movements that redefined society by pushing boundaries and promoting positive change.

You lived it. Now let your grandchildren experience it.Last Saturday, a museum guest named Curt walked into CCM and spen...
06/20/2026

You lived it. Now let your grandchildren experience it.

Last Saturday, a museum guest named Curt walked into CCM and spent two hours reliving history he actually lived through. On his way out, he overheard a group of students debating whether they could afford admission or lunch.

He walked straight to our counter, laid down cash, and said: “You absolutely must see this museum. I wish my own grandkids were here today instead of Ohio so I could share this with them. Go buy your lunch later, but first visit this museum on me while you’re here. Please accept this gift, you’ll better understand the times your grandparents lived through.”

Malia, Landon, Leilani, and Noah took him up on it. Their parting words? “It’s so great Curt bought us admission to the museum. This day was a terrific way to understand the experiences my grandparents lived through. I can’t wait to talk to them the next time I see them.”

That’s the gift.

The Counterculture Museum exists to preserve the movements that defined a generation — and changed America forever — right here at Haight & Ashbury, where so much of it began.

If your grandchildren aren’t in San Francisco, send them tickets to encourage them to visit. The tickets never expire. One day they’ll walk through these doors and finally understand the world you came of age in.

Experience the movements that changed the world. Purchase tickets here: https://counterculturemuseum.org/product/admission-tickets/

06/19/2026

To learn how the counterculture of the 1960s changed the world, come visit us at the intersection of Haight & Ashbury.

Join us Monday, June 29 at 6 PM for an exclusive members event, closing out Allen Ginsberg’s Centennial month: an open-f...
06/18/2026

Join us Monday, June 29 at 6 PM for an exclusive members event, closing out Allen Ginsberg’s Centennial month: an open-forum discussion on Allen’s journey from 1950s Beat poet to Sixties Tribal Elder, with some extraordinary vault artifacts on display.

We’re talking a first-edition Howl, Allen’s Olivetti typewriter, a shirt Bob Dylan gave him on the Rolling Thunder R***e, photos from his final farewell in Greenwich Village, and more.

Oh, and did you know the term “Flower Power” is attributed to Allen Ginsberg? Come find out more on the 29th.

Food and drinks included. Must be a CCM Member to attend.

Not a member yet? Join here: https://counterculturemuseum.org/members/

AN IMAGE OF NEAL CASSADY FLASHED IN MY MIND TODAYPeople post flyers and notices on all four corners at Haight & Ashbury ...
06/17/2026

AN IMAGE OF NEAL CASSADY FLASHED IN MY MIND TODAY

People post flyers and notices on all four corners at Haight & Ashbury all the time. I see them regularly, taping flyers in place with the hope someone will check their website or come to their event. Today I realized three of the corners have metal poles supporting street signs and streetlights, but ONE corner retains an old time wooden telephone pole. And, when I looked at that pole closely today I realized there were thousands of rusted old staples embedded into it.

That reminded me of a story from my ole buddy, John Allen Cassady, and how he would often regale listeners with stories from when he was a teenager, driving with his father, Neal, all over San Francisco, and stapling Acid Test flyers to dozens of telephone poles. Surely one of those poles must have been at the intersection of Haight & Ashbury.

In my minds eye today, examining closely those rusted old staples, I could see Neal rolling up to the curb, young Johnny jumping out, stapling all four corners of an Acid Test flyer to that wooden pole, diving back into the car just as Neal squealed away to another waiting telephone pole calling his name.

Oh, that those staples could talk!

~ Jerry Cimino, Co-Founder

06/13/2026

Our “data center” runs on paper, ink, and decades of stories waiting to be found. Stop by and browse the stacks. 📚

1485 Haight St, San Francisco • Wed–Sun • 11am–6pm

06/11/2026

Now on display: original photographs of Lawrence Ferlinghetti by photographer and filmmaker Chris Felver, captured across decades of friendship.

Felver documented Ferlinghetti’s life and work through both lens and film, with books including Ferlinghetti Portrait (1998) and Beat: Photographs of the Beat Poetry Era (2007), and acclaimed documentaries including The Coney Island of Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1996) and Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder (2013).

Come see the original, signed photographs and books on display in our newest exhibit.

📍1485 Haight St, San Francisco • Wed–Sun • 11am–6pm

06/09/2026

FurthER or FurthUR? We went straight to the source.

George “Hardly Visible” Walker, Merry Prankster and guest speaker at our one-year anniversary celebration, settles the debate once and for all.

Watch the clip and find out.

George Walker

The Beat Museum is a History Museum. The Counterculture Museum is a History Museum. Today is one of the most important d...
06/06/2026

The Beat Museum is a History Museum.
The Counterculture Museum is a History Museum.
Today is one of the most important days in World History.

Today marks the 82nd Anniversary of D-Day, the Day of Days, arguably the single most important day of the 20th Century. It's the day the Allies stormed the beaches at Normandy, France, the first step toward taking back Fortress Europe from the Germans.

Every person in the USA alive today, indeed most people around the world, were affected by D-Day whether they have even heard of it or not. Echoes of everything that happened post-WWII can still be felt today around the globe: from military alliances between nations, to contention for resources like oil and minerals, to trade routes and products like weapons, to technological innovation, to subsequent wars and new alliances - all of it can easily be traced back to June 6, 1944.

My father was born in 1926, the same year as Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, John Clellon Holmes, Lew Welch, and Al Hinkle. These men were all too young for military service in 1941 when the US entered WWII. In my father's case, he was drafted into the US Army right out of high school in May, 1944. He volunteered for the 82nd Airborne Division. The day he went off to war his father gave him a lucky 1926 silver dollar. He carried that silver dollar with him as he fought in the snowy Ardennes Forests during the Battle of the Bulge in Europe in January, 1945 and as he marched toward Berlin.

When FDR died on April 12, 1945 my father and his 18 year old comrades were bewildered as to what FDR's death would mean for the war effort. Did it mean the war was over? FDR was the only President they had ever known. Three weeks later, Hi**er was dead as Allied troops closed in on Berlin. VE-Day (Victory Europe) was May 8, 1945. The war in Europe was over.

On May 9th, the very next day, my father turned 19 years old in occupied Germany. When I was young he said very little about WWII, not wanting to scare his children. In later years, as an adult, I was able to meet some of his fellow 82nd Airborne soldiers when I attended reunions with him in Florida and at the WWII Museum in New Orleans.

Witnessing their time together at these reunions, it seemed to me, for all these members of the 82nd Airborne Division, their time in service, in retrospect, were the greatest days of their lives. They were a part of something greater than themselves. They were the survivors, the ones who were lucky enough to come home and build lives, using the benefits of the GI Bill to buy homes or advance their educations. They are the ones who helped build the middle class of the 1950s.

When my father died at the age of 90 in 2016, I was able to collect his personal effects from the hospital. In his pants pocket I found that lucky silver dollar his father had given him in 1944, and 4 twenties along with 2 one dollar bills. By sheer coincidence, my father had a total of 82 dollars in cash in his pocket the day he died.

It seemed rightly fitting.

Kira’s on shift today! Stop by and meet her, plus explore the transformative movements that shaped our world, from civil...
06/06/2026

Kira’s on shift today! Stop by and meet her, plus explore the transformative movements that shaped our world, from civil rights, The Beats, environmentalism, and more. Then browse our bookshop for new and used reads.

📍1485 Haight St, SF • Wed–Sun • 11am–6pm

06/05/2026

Just us, or…?📚

Visit our bookshop, Wed-Sun, 11am-6pm on the corner of Haight and Ashbury.

Address

1485 Haight Street
San Francisco, CA
94117

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