Haight Ashbury Flower Power Walking Tour

IZU and Benny were a perfect mascot for the Haight. My children (teens) and I appreciated her wit and knowledge. She brought the Haight to life for us. It's a tour we won't soon forget. Thank you!

this guide was so drunk high or whatever that she could not count money figure out what time it was remember where her cane was she repeated the same sentance at least 100 times I will demand my money back

We really enjoyed our Flower Power Walking Tour of the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. I took the tour for two reasons: To finally see and feel the places that have had such a lasting impact on my life, and to try and impart those feelings of such a different time and place to my children. On the first part I enjoyed great success; on the second, not so much. Our guide was Izu and she is a hoot. A true OH (original hippie), Izu was amusing and informative. She spent a good deal of time referencing the Grateful Dead and the Summer of Love, truly icons of San Francisco, but I would like to have heard more about the whole decade of social change and other brilliant bands and performers that grew up from the fertile soil of the Bay area that nurtured so many flower children. For my kids sake, I would have preferred more of an educational emphasis on the history of the 60's and why hippie was necessary and unavoidable, rather than what it meant and means to be hippie, because without a more broad focus, a hippie may be perceived to be just a kid with long hair, a tie-dyed shirt, and love beads. But Izu speaks to what she is and what she knows, and in the end my kids thought she was sweet and charming. There was also a lot of standing around on street corners listening to Izu, rather than walking, but in her defense, she was nursing a recently hurt foot and relied heavily on a walking stick. I would imagine that under better circumstances, there would be much more strolling than standing, because the Haight covers probably ten square blocks. With good weather, there may be no better way to see an historic San Francisco neighborhood. Thanks Izu. The Hillbilly Hippies from Tennessee

... be sure to walk the Haight Ashbury with Izu. It was a very special, authentic activity and one of my highlights during my stay in San Francisco. While listening to Izu you can almost hear the music, see the people dancing in the streets back 40 years ago.... All the best, Melanie

My husband and I are in our 50's and grew up listening to rock 'n roll in the 70's & 80's. Our children are late teens early 20's and listen to the classic rock music as much or more than current music, so I thought we all would have fun taking a Haight Ashbury tour. To our DELIGHT it was lead by a real hippie from the 70's, Izu (sp?)! A true 'Dead Head' (my son was listening to 'Grateful Dead' on his MP3.) Izu made the tour come alive...it was as much her story as ours...felt like we relived the glory days and came to a better understanding of the 'summer of love, 1967' and beyond and the heart of hippie culture. We are very conservative, but could totally relate and enjoy Izu's kind, fun, honest, real, style...keep her she is a gem!!

The Guide was very informative and entertaining. The tour was relaxing yet we moved along at a pace which allowed us to get the most out of our tour. Before venturing out alone in the Haight -Ashbury community I would highly recommend this tour. I had the opportunity to take the tour by myself while my daughter was in a conference in the city. After her confferernce we went back to the Haights- Ashbury community to shop and have dinner. I was already familiar with the area which benefited us both.

We enjoyed our visit to the Haight-Ashbury area and our tour guide had great personality!

Izu is a great tour guide! She showed us many points of interest, and even shared personal experiences from her years in the Haight. She is a true blue hippie, very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the tour, and you can see that she truly loves the Haight and everything it offers. Having someone take us on the tour that experienced the hippie revolution first hand was a genuine experience, and exactly what I was looking for in the tour!

This was our third time on the tour and with our third and best guide. Not that any of the others weren't just great but Izu brings a whole new perspective to the tour and a lot of new information.

I would like to express how much I LOVED this tour. My mother actually found it when searching for stuff to do for our family vacation this past week, and I can honestly say it was at the top of the list on my "most favorite things about San Francisco." Izu is fun and entertaining as well as informative. Her friends are almost as colorful as she is often speaking to her about parties and her recently broken foot. They are so colorful, in fact, my father actually thought it might have been an act until we saw the same friend twice, which indicated that it was an entirely random coincidence. Izu keeps the tour interesting by explaining the history of a certain place, lets say the house where the Grateful Dead lived for two years, and then interjecting her own personal history into the tour for a little added flavor. On our tour, she mused about her mother having made dinner for Jerry Garcia. She also mentioned being woken up to the sounds of Jimi Hendrix (:D) in the morning, and going to Woodstock. That is not even the half of it. It is impossible to pack the amount of personality and punch that is packed within this tour in this small of a space. Her friends are the sweetest, and she knows generally everyone in the community. It is an amazing experience. She treats everyone like family even offering to bring clothes for you from her house if you end up cold, which I did. PACK IN LAYERS! Needless to say the only complaint I have wasn't even on the tour. The Haight-Ashbury T-shirt shop on the corner had some of the worst service I have ever seen. Go to her friend's store that she shows you with the painted walls..I think it is called "Simply Haight" across the street from the "Magnolia Grill and Brewery."