Haight Ashbury Flower Power Walking Tour

Had a great tour today. I was expecting to learn only about Haight and Ashbury but was pleasantly surprised to get a little San Francisco history also. Thanks Stan for a wonderful history lesson!

Stan, our tour guide was fantastic !! We saw and learned so much about the Golden Gate Park, Flower Power Time and the ‘Flower Power Time’ what we not expected about the Grateful Dead and many persons which influenced my wife’s life, she was a Punk in Amsterdam, and my life, I never knew that the Grateful Death did for one of my bros.
This was a fun tour thank you Stan — Stay as u are!

I am the first to admit that I am very easily bored. I hate museums because they rarely keep my attention. when my boyfriend suggested this walking tour, I was worried it would be a slow and outside (aka colder) version of a boring old museum. I was so wrong!
Stan Flouride was entertaining and kept my attention for the entire 3 hours. I learned so much and so many fun, eclectic tidbits about the Haight Ashbury neighborhood and the entire movement. I highly recommend this tour!

Having read about the Summer of Love for years, I was eager to find a tour that would explore the Haight Ashbury area. I’m so glad I found this one! Not only did the guide point out the famous and infamous houses I’d heard about, but he showed us many beautifully restored homes and historical sites. At the conclusion of the tour, I spent the rest of the day shopping, eating, and drinking on Haight Street. This tour isn’t too long or expensive. If you are a child of the 60’s, I highly recommend it.

Let me start by saying I am a 35 yr old Guy from Alabama. I am a huge Grateful Dead fan and this was a must on my trip to San Fran… Yes Izu was late… And yes she walked slow and got off track… When she got off track with her stories I just daydreamed about what things must have been like back in the summer of 67. It was a great tour and she had a lot of first hand stories so if you are a hippie at heart, this is a great tour! But if you are with anyone that has little to no interest in the 60’s or the hippy movement… maybe try and talk them into doing something else that day as they will want to leave the haight-​ashbury district just as soon as you are set free to explore it! I got pressured into leaving after the tour by my wife and fam… and about halfway back to the wharf, I told my wife «I’m going back to Haight. I’ll meet up with you and your family for dinner». I went back alone and explored for a few more hours and it was great!

Stan was entertaining, informative and enjoyable! The tour was a lot less hippie-​centric than I feared.
My S.O. and I have lived in the Haight-​Ashbury for about twelve years. I thought I knew this neighborhood, but I really didn’t.
Stan pointed out countless little things I’ve seen over and over but never noticed, and told us the backstory behind all of them.
Among many other things, we learned about the origins of the neighborhood, the gentrification patterns, why the Haight is the way it is today, and what horrible things happened in which houses (a little macabre, but my favorite part).
This morning when I took the dog out for his morning walk, it’s like I am living in much more interesting neighborhood!

Ok, I haven’t posted a review on Unilocal for some quite some time but needed to say something about this flower power tour. I researched a couple of tours online and found this to fit my schedule best. It did receive good reviews on other sites so I figured it was a worth a shot. Now, the tour stresses to be on time but our tour guide IZU arrived 15 minutes late. I was sort of in a hurry to get this started but whatever, as long as the tour was good… i wouldn’t care. With that said… IZU is quite a character.
It was one of those «wow, this is gonna rock» or «I just wasted my money»
A true hippie. She gave a great history of Haight-​Ashbury but sometimes went off tangent. A times it went slow but I enjoyed it because of her energy. Its a one time thing, so If you have time to spare, I recommend it. If you don’t, then you won’t be missing much.

I had a great time with Izu. I happen to like it when people aren’t always predictable and the same. Izu is herself and she lived it. She brings a flavor from the time and she is keeping a history alive. Put your inner critic away and just go for the ride.

I would not recommend anyone taking this tour. Admittedly it was a very cold, and windy morning as we waited for our infamous tour guide to make her GRAND ENTRANCE. She was late by at least 15 – 20 minutes.
Everything you read stresses to be on time but that does not hold true for the guide «IZU.» Previous reviews also listed their disappointment with IZU lack of punctuality!
If your a tour guide and this is a walking tour then you should be ambulatory! IZU arrived with a cane, wheelchair a dog and a stringy Grey haired older man.
It took her fifteen minutes to collect our ticket vouchers, pass a plastic bag of pins around, and then proceed to put the tickets into her bag .Our group consisted of nine adults. We proceeded down Waller street at a snail pace. IZU stopped on a corner, and shared information while workers were jack hammering across the street, and expect us all to hear her. We went to the end of the next block and had to wait while her partner got a cup of Hot Chocolate. She would saunter down the street stop asking all of us do I have enough lipstick on? Do I have lipstick on my teeth?
There was a man from New York that was on our tour. He was quite knowledgeable, and added numerous pointers to our tour. He definitely knew more facts then IZU! Thanks Steve for the facts that you shared with all of us!
Personally I expected to be informed about the area in details not just a few of the more famous Musicians or the Hippie era. The information that IZU shared with us is entirely available on the Internet. My recommendation would be to google «Haight Ashbury» and save yourself a geriatric style tour and the $ 22.00 ticket

Izu, our tour guide is a real character who has lived in ‘The Haight’ for many years. She shared with us many stories and lots of interesting sites. This was an eclectic and fun tour, albeit a little slow paced. I would say to reserve around three hours for this tour. Recommended.

Frozen by the cold San Francisco summer winds, we stood on the corner of Waller and Stanyan, waiting for our late tour guide. Could it be that guy with the walkie-​talkie? Or maybe the couple with matching red shirts, walking determinedly down the street? Surely not the homeless woman with the tie-​died leggings, hobbling towards us on a cane? Wait, she’s looking at us. She’s smiling. She’s stopping!
«OKKKKKAAYY!!! I’m IZU! That’s like IZUZU, but without the extra ZU! Don’t mind the cane, I broke my foot… my old man’s been pushing me around in a wheelchair, but he’s going off to the Rainbow Gathering so I got to get strong and walk, okkkkkkkay? Welcome to the Flower Power tour — I’ve lived in this neighborhood for YEARS — my parents brought me here in 1967 to hippify me, okkkkkay? — I was TOO CONSERVATIVE! — and boy did it WORK!»
It was like a grenade of crazy had been tossed at us, complete with a thick New York accent. Everyone was dumbstruck — this was obviously going to be either a very interesting or else very horrible tour. As she spent the first fifteen minutes talking about her background, her dog, her personality, her love of Mel Brooks, and her friendship with Jerry Garcia, I began to lean strongly towards the possibility of horrible.
However, I am happy to say that my initial snap judgement was essentially wrong. Izu was a total character, yes, but who would you rather have show you the Haight — an impersonal tour guide or a 50-​year-​old hippy who claims close personal friendships with every musician and artist who has ever graced its streets? No, really, who would you? Because if you are thinking of going on a tour of the Haight, and you prefer the former over the latter, this particular tour is not for you. For every story she told that could be verified with some research, there were a dozen that you could never really say were true, or weren’t perhaps a little exaggerated. Of course, all of the stories were absolutely 100% true in the eyes of Izu, and the words came alive as they tumbled out of her mouth. Therefore, this tour is not just the story of the Haight, but of Izu herself. This was no more apparent than when many random people stopped to wave at her, say hello, or ask her about her dog. She seemed to be the queen of the Haight. And at the end, when she gave you your official tour hug goodbye, you felt like maybe you had received a little blessing from the Haight itself.