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Laguna Beach has a rich history as a hippie haven and will forever be known for its three-day Happening in Laguna Canyon on Christmas 1970, said Rick Conkey, founder and director of the Laguna Beach Cultural Arts Center. “It was a watershed moment that enshrined Laguna Beach in hippie history. Despite its darker side, I prefer to celebrate the movement’s positive ideals – anti-war, women’s rights, vegetarianism, and environmentalism and more. It’s a culture we can learn from, and it is our honor to help tell this story.”
About the film Orange Sunshine
This sweeping narrative details the sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll that flowed from Laguna Beach to Maui to Afghanistan, exploring how the United States shifted from the era of peace and free love to a darker period of hard drugs, delusion, and paranoia. The film depicts the astonishing rise and fall of Timothy Leary’s legendary cult, which started as a group of Laguna Beach surfers and quickly became the world’s largest acid, hashish, and marijuana distribution network. The Brotherhood even obtained legal status as a church and enticed Leary to serve as its high priest. A 1972 Rolling Stone Magazine article called The Brotherhood “the hippie Mafia” and exposed it as the world’s largest hash-smuggling cartel.
“I couldn’t believe that Orange County had this kind of hidden past, this secret history you would never expect in such a conservative place,” Kirkley said.
Kirkley got the idea for the film from his father-in-law, who had spent time in Laguna Canyon in the 1960s. He had regaled Kirkley with tales of the Brotherhood and urged him to consider making a documentary about the group. Kirkley began researching the Brotherhood, tracking down archival footage and interviewing several veterans of the group, many of whom were initially reluctant to appear on camera.
Former Laguna Beach Police Chief Neil Purcell is interviewed in the film. Purcell made headlines when he arrested Timothy Leary, resulting in Leary’s conviction andsentencing to 10 years in prison for possession of marijuana, LSD, and hashish. The bust was a career highlight for Purcell that illustrated the police chief's activist role in fighting narcotics.
About “The Happening” Christmas 1970 in Laguna Canyon
The Happening was touted as a West Coast Woodstock, with the promise of rock superstars who never materialized. When the city considered that thousands of hippies would be converging on Main Beach, the concert was relocated to the three-acre Sycamore Flats area four miles out of town on Laguna Canyon Road, now the James Dilley Preserve. And come the hippies did; for three days, more than 25,000 long-haired, love bead-wearing spiritual seekers camped out in the canyon to partake of the music, free love, free food, and spiritual connection. The Brotherhood of Eternal Love sponsored a small plane to fly over the event and drop hundreds of postcards affixed with Orange Sunshine LSD tabs.
After three days and nights, with 450 police recruited from nearby towns and a tank in reserve at the high school football field, the city sealed off the canyon, cordoned off the area, and routed everyone out of the site. They bulldozed everything into a trench and burned all evidence of the event. Many consider this to be the end of the hippie movement.
About singer-songwriter Ryan Heflin
Singer-songwriter Ryan Heflin will headline the Sept. 10 concert. He says his intention as a performer is “to reawaken and renew people’s sense of wonder, starting always with my own.” Heflin’s debut album, “Where Does The Wonder Go,” is reflective and contemplative, with themes of childhood, nature, the wonder of existence, the beauty and tragedy of the human condition, and “a healthy subversion of societal norms.”
Sample Ryan Heflin's original song, Where Does the Wonder Go?
About the play “All you Need is LSD”
In 2014, British playwright Leo Butler accepted an invitation from Professor David Nutt a former adviser to the British government on drug policy, to be a guinea pig in the world's first LSD medical trials since the 1960s. Butler used the experience to write an exhilarating, original comedy where the audience watches him jump down the medical trial rabbit hole in search of enlightenment – and a good story. Along the way, he meets an array of characters whose own stories in the history of LSD are hilariously and poignantly uncovered.
Butler’s play reflects his idea that psychedelics have therapeutic possibilities. The play’s structure is “slippery, freewheeling and associative, with scenes folding back on themselves and historical figures popping up out of the blue,” according to The New York Times.
About musician Matt Costa
Orange County singer-songwriter Matt Costa has released 13 independent albums, including the 2016 soundtrack for the film Orange Sunshine. He has co-written songs and performed onstage many times with Jack Johnson. He has played, toured with Modest Mouse, Oasis, Death Cab for Cutie, and many others.
Sample Matt Costa's original song Mr. Pitiful
About the Laguna Beach Cultural Arts Center
The Laguna Beach Cultural Arts Center's mission is to harness the power of the arts for the benefit of the community. The Center is just off Coast Highway at 235 Forest Avenue, upstairs above the Promenade in Laguna Beach, the heart of Southern California's premier art colony.
Note: Proof of Vaccination, or proof of a negative COVID-19 test, or a mask required.
Grant funding made possible by the lodging establishments and the City of Laguna Beach..
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