Peggy Caserta, founder of the famous Haight-Ashbury hippie boutique Mnasidika, and lover and girlfriend of Janis Joplin, was a Louisiana homecoming queen turned airsick stewardess who eventually landed in 1960s San Francisco and set up shop. Her store was a hang-out for The Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company; it was where Wes Wilson’s posters hung and Bill Graham sold concert … concert tickets and Owsley’s LSD was enjoyed.
Caserta’s world of psychedelic peace, love, LSD, and rock kaleidoscoped into bereavement, heroin addiction, prison, and desperation. She was hated, betrayed, and self-exiled, and after many, many years has recovered, returning home to the bayou to care for her mother with dementia.
Now Caserta is giving a new generation an inside-look into a revolution—both countercultural and personal—in her new memoir. It’s the celebration of a transitional time in history, and an attempt at redemption.
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not saying it ws good or bad but it was to raw for me
Poorly written, self absorbed account of Peggy’s life.
Holy buckets of ‘what could she possibly do to top that last chapter.’ keep reading because it happens again and over again. What an eventful life!
A joy to read!
While the first half was quite interesting, the rest was just one downhill spiral—with way too much detail.
Boring for me
It was a hard read, but a good one. I grew up on Janis Joplin and Woodstock. And the drug use. But that’s part of the story. And the recovery.
An interesting reminder of things that happened in the beginning of the age of Aquarius. A lucky woman from Louisiana that made a name for herself and was in the epicenter of the start of many famous bands in San Francisco.
This book is a real trip! I don’t know how “fair and balanced” the author is, but I really enjoyed it. In telling her side of things, Peggy Caserta doesn’t pull any punches. What a “long strange trip” she’s had.
Author’s writing sometimes a little rough around the edges. She sometimes skipped around in her timeline.
Brought back a lot of memories of my dad driving us through Haight Ashbury to “look at the hippies.” As well as a lot of musical memories.
Both happy & sad parts, a few interesting revelations. I glad to hear Caserta “retired” to a place where she always felt unconditional love—many of us never find that.
I will try and return to this book (I hate quitting) but at whatever low percentage I have completed, I am put off by the ‘style’. I’m not sure if vernacular was the goal but it reads as so careless, that I’m distracted.
I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it!
I just love reading – real life books….especially about the Famous…..just shows how they are “Just people” with flaws and problems with families etc.. Since I was married in 1965 – getting the view point from a different set is very interesting and fun….remembering.
Fascinating look into a very interesting person’s life. I appreciate the authors openess and willingness to share her life experiences. I was a young teenager during the summer of Love, listened to Jimmie and janis, but had no idea how little I knew of what was really going on. It was interesting to see this viewpoint.
True tale of Haight Ashbury and the story of one of the original characters.
I really liked this book!
A must read for anybody that remembers the 60’s and the revolution from San Francisco!