Haight Ashbury Flower Power Walking Tour

This walking tour led by Izu was the absolute highlight of our very enjoyable trip to San Francisco. The fabulous walk back in time felt more like a stroll among family and friends than a commercial sightseeing tour. We were a small group of only 6 people on a drizzly Saturday morning, but Izu turned it into a sunny day with her funny remarks and wonderfully authentic stories. And that's the main point: Izu didn't study the history of Haight-Ashbury - she lived it! Do yourself a favor and go on this tour - San Francisco at its best! Tanja P.S. Izu recommends the Cuban restaurant Cha Cha Chas for lunch, and this, too, was simply wonderful.

For two boomers living in New York City in the 60's, it was fun to see where it was all happening in San Francisco at the time. Especially entertaining was our guide who, having actually lived through the times as an active participant, was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic (and funny!) and totally transported us back into that day and age. She's a great show and we highly recommend the tour.

This was an extremely enjoyable tour. Izu was fun, and had lots of knowledge and juicy tidbits to depart! It was our most favorite activity in our trip to San Francisco. I truly felt that I had a sense of what things were like in the 60's, and what the community is like now. We spent another 3 hours wandering the shops, eating lunch, and enjoying the atmosphere. Izu was a blast. We laughed and listened and strolled along enjoying every moment. Thanks!!!!

Highly recommended. I used to think hippies were just a bunch of slackers who did nothing but smoke up and laze around. The tour gave us a great backgrounder of how the whole movement started and the mindset behind it. Great bits of trivia as well.

she was knowledgeable and funny. we loved her and he tour. excellent

All I can say is WOW! My wife & I were both blown away. I booked the Haight Ashbury Walking Tour online as a surprise anniversary gift and she absolutely loved it. Our tour guide Izu, & Pam (the tour creator) were just incredible and two of the kindest people we have ever met! They both have 1st hand experience in the Haight because they LIVED it! This is a very entertaining & informative tour. I recommended it to everyone who enjoys music, history, architecture, art & pop culture. If you're a classic rock music fan (& who isn't?), I guarantee you won't be disappointed. If you're interested in the Summer of Love and it's impact on the world in which we live today, please do yourself a favor and fly Trans-Love Airways (or any transportation available) to San Francisco USA. It will be worth it! Brad & Stephanie

This is more than just a hippie tour, our guide also described the houses with focus on the Victorian homes. Our guide was very familiar with the area, lives and works in the Haight. He was even recognized by the neighbors. His enthusiasm was appreciated and he was happy to answer questions. My only comment was the length of the tour, it lasted over three hours! We were all a little weary after that much walking!

Isu was awesome...the girl from the 60's still evident in what she knows and how she loves her neighborhood. We are children of that generation too, and there's a little love for the Haight in all of us. We loved the small group, the easy walk, the beautiful day, and the Cuban restaurant - Cha Cha Cha was a great way to end the morning.

I can't imagine not taking the guided walking tour! Having only limited Haight Ashbury knowledge from my musical enthusiasm, I was delighted with the depth of our tour. Stanley gave such color and depth and background we truly experienced the past. Loved the visuals (photos) from days gone by. Loved the neighborhood feeling, allowing us "in" for a few hours. Especially enjoyed things we would never have seen or learned. The murals, and the in-depth descriptions of same. Getting a look inside the Bed and Breakfast with the dining room dedicated to Haight Ashbury history. The architectural aspects even outside of my "rock and roll" interests was informative and interesting. And, after experiencing Haight Ashbury in such detail, we went straight to the box office at the Marines Memorial Theatre to buy tickets for the show "love Janis" that evening. What a way to end our visit to San Francisco! The show was fabulous. The musical performance outstanding. I highly recommend capping off the Flower Power walking tour in this way! From our observence, there are two suggestions I would offer: #1. a tiny, unobstructive, eensy weensy something (maybe a Flower Power logo on a little stand) sign at the corner where we were to meet for the beginning of the tour. Being strangers in a strange land, myself and others were questionning if we were in the right place. #2. placing your brochures at the Marines Memorial Theatre during the remaining production of "love Janis"... and handing out their brochures during the Flower Power tour. It was the icing on the cake!

This tour was the highlight of my wife and my short stay in San Francisco our tour guide was Isus and she was fabulous she brought an air of informality to the tour and was amusing as well as being very informative the tour should be a "MUST" for anyone who has an interest in the Haight Ashbury experience as it was all brought to life by our guide

My wife and I recently took the walking tour of the Haight Ashbury area on a Saturday morning. The tour included the past homes/apts of the Grateful Dead, Hell's Angels, Country Joe McDonald, Janis Joplin and Jimy Hendrix, etc. Seeing where these past rock stars lived was very interesting, but what really made the tour special was the stories that were told as we walked along. Our guide Issuzu (sp?) really did a great job describing what was going on in this area in the late 1960's. Issuzu was living in this area at the time and through her experience living there, I felt I gained better insight to the hippy movement and specific people living in the area. Issuzu also made recommendations on shops and restaurants to visit in the area. My wife and I highly recommend this walking tour which last approx. 2 1/2 hours. The walk was very easy. Don't forget to take your camera.

The perfect way to appreciate Haight-Ashbury is a guided tour by one of the original Hippies that have called this place home since the Sixties - a walk through the past, the present, and the future of this fascinating suburb of San Francisco. I would highly recommend this tour. One consideration for improving the tour: perhaps a once a month (or bi-weekly) tour that concentrates on a specific element of the Haight in more detail, i.e. Janis, The Grateful Dead, The Summer of Love...this would not only capture more interest but also promote 'repeaters'.

My husband and I highly recommend the tour with Izu. Izu knew the area and the history that made it famous. She was a tiny bundly of energy and enthusiam. Her colleague Pam presented a glimpse into her home as well as her political leanings. I was a little hesitant when I booked the tour but it was worth it, no matter what your age. It is a window into the 60's and 70's.

My husband and I loved the Flower Power walking tour of Haight Ashbury, and we adored the tour guide (not sure of the spelling of her name) Iszu. She was very, very entertaining and knowledgable about the area and the era. The tour is a very easy walk and features lots of great information about the architectural history of the area as well as stories about the famous personalities who lived there. There are many photo opportunities and a visit to a B&B/museum with loads of ephemera about the 60s in Haight Ashbury. This tour was definitely the highlight of our recent trip to San Francisco, and we recommend it to Baby Boomers especially, but on our tour there were adolescents who enjoyed it as much or more than we did!

We found this tour mentioned in a Frommer's guide and it was much better than we'd expected. It was great to have a tour guide like Izu who had actually been in Haight Ashbury during the times she was telling us about. Not only did we get the historic information, but lots of great personal stories that really made it real. Izu tells it like it is and it's a very informal tour, very colourful. We recommended it to everyone we talked to for the rest of our trip!