Austin, Texas

“Austin has the second largest vegetarian population in the nation….along with some great scenery here in the hill country. People should check it out. My older brother lives there, and works as a chef. Almost every night we get 2 or 3 bucks from each of his roommates, head up to Central Market and get tons of fresh fruit, vegetables, etc. – and have a giant veggie-kabob for dinner. It feeds everyone and also provides for a great way to get together at night in the backyard and just hang out. Barton Creek Park is another great hangout – it’s a linear park that follows Barton Creek – along the cliff walls there are several caves for exploring… just a totally surreal environment. Everyone in Austin just seems so mellow and content, i wish i could live there – but for now I’ll just be happy with visiting….”

Floyd, Virginia

“Having grown up in the Blue Ridge, I am fortunate enough to have been thoroughly familiarized with the hippie pilgrimage that has taken place since the early 70’s…..and they’re all still heading to Floyd county. I believe there must be upwards of 10 intentional communities up on the beautiful plateau where Floyd County is situated and the numbers are ever growing. The nice thing, too, is that the population is fairly consistent, that is to say that it’s not really too transient. People go there and they tend to stay. It’s amazingly beautiful, and I’m so glad that it’s just right outside my back door.”

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is a very hippie friendly communnity with a couple small communes in the James Island and King Street area of downtown. It is the coolest, most laid back town, with the nicest people. Downtown Charleston has stores such as Loose Lucy’s, Exchange Factor Five, Black Mineral Market and Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. Within the college, College Lodge (dorm) was featured in “High Times Magazine” as one of the most drug affiliated dorms in the U.S.

The Market in downtown Charleston, S.C. is an absolutely groovy place to be when it comes to hippies. Downtown Charleston also includes other great stores such as Granny’s Goodies and the Exchange Factor. There are lots of good music stores in the area such as Manifest Disks and Tapes and for used Cd’s the Exchange Factor is the place to be. The best restaurants in the area are Papillon (kinda expensive and upscale Italian, but the best pizza buffet for lunch – whole wheat pizza cooked in a stone oven), Andoleni’s Pizza (cheap good thin crust pizza), Moose Mountain (my favorite coffee shop), and my mom’s cooking (will fatten any skinny hippie up). there is lots of live music at night until two, when all the bars close down. Grab a Free Times from the Exchange Factor or anywhere Downtown, they usually have all the listings. Also, just walking around downtown is great itself. There are lots of great art galleries to stick your head into.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Philadelphia area has quite a sizable hippie population, but as it is a massive area, you won’t usually see too many at one time. During the summer, we all come out of the cracks to enjoy drum circles at the art museum, although they were invaded last summer by stupid nitrous kids and got busted all the time by the cops.

Also, in the end of august the Philadelphia Folk Festival takes place about an hour outside the city, and man is it beautiful. So many beautiful, wonderfully friendly people, crafts, food vendors,and incredible music. you can go swimming in a creek a short walk from the campground! also a nice paved trail to walk down. it’s a family feeling since only about 5 or 6,000 go every year. definitely worth going to!!!!

Burlington, Vermont

“on Church Street is the coolest place to be. There’s varieties of people including hippies, mostly new hippies. There’s also a restaurant type place off Church Street called Necters, which is where all the bands eat when they come to play down the street at Club Toast. Necters serves the most addicting gravy fries you will ever eat. Bands such as Phish, Belizbeha, and tons of others eat there. There’s also really cool places to shop, and there’s a green which is the hippies grassy knoll.”

Update:”Just wanna let you folks know about Burlington. Nectars is spelled with an ‘a’ not an ‘e’ like on the site. Club Toast no longer exists, but there is the Higher Ground in Winooski (just five minutes drive from downtown), where bands like Smokin’ Grass, Toots and the Maytals and Max Creek play. For a small club, they get alot of big name bands. Phish heads will find some of the members of that band step in and jam sometimes. The waterfront has been expanded and is much more inviting than that “grassy knoll” you mentioned. Its been years since City Hall Park was a true gettaway destination. Plus, the Long Trail is nearby and you can hike right into town.”