The Haight narrated by Peter Coyote now available
KQED is partnering with Detour, an iPhone application that reimagines audio tours, to produce a series of three location-based documentaries about some of San Francisco’s most iconic neighborhoods. The first, available today, is The Haight, as told by Peter Coyote, one of the founders of The Diggers, the legendary Haight-Ashbury street theater group. Detours through Chinatown and The Mission District will launch in 2016.
"We see Detour as a powerful way to use technology to help audiences connect more deeply to San Francisco's iconic history,” said Holly Kernan, executive editor of news for KQED. “KQED has lifelong ties to San Francisco history, and we’re excited to develop walks that bring the magic of this place to life for both locals and new visitors alike.”
Detour uses the iPhone to deliver the audio tour, creating a cinematic walking experience that transports listeners to a different time and ensures they’ll never see even a familiar place in quite the same way. The Haight walk takes you from the Panhandle through Haight-Ashbury, one of the most famous intersections in the world. In the pop culture version of the 1960s, the Summer of Love is all tie-dye, peace, and free love. But on this Detour, Peter Coyote shows us how the social revolution it spawned lives on all around us.
You’ll meet the San Franciscans who paved the path forward and walk through the heart of the Haight with Coyote -- from the site of Jimi Hendrix’s first San Francisco concerts to the parade route where Coyote and his pals declared the whole scene dead and tried to bury it. Along the way, he shares anecdotes and insights like feeding whale meat to hundreds of people in a park, tearing it up with the Hell’s Angels, turning tie-dyed shirts into a fashion statement, and sparking radical social changes that have become mainstream.
"With KQED's deep experience documenting Bay Area history, they're the
ideal partner for these stories," said Andrew Mason, founder and CEO of Detour. "We're proud to be working with them."