Ever since the days when Freaks roamed Atlanta, whenever fellow travelers gather, tales have been told. We talked always of collecting them. Suddenly the death of The Chief, a Red-Black-White man (Apache raised in Alabama as Black till enlisting in the army made him white -crazy race laws), a journalist who had championed the cause of telling the hip tales lest they be forgot, and the gifting of a painting of The Strip, put Pat and Patti into action to collect what they could and share it through a website, The Strip Project, which went online in 2006.
We had been scavenging items of historic interest and searching microfiche to find items in Atlanta papers. Plus making contact with photographers and notable people from The Great Speckled Bird. Our first public show was on The Strip at the Margaret Mitchell House in conjunction with The Atlanta History Center.
Here is a video from the 2007 Gathering.
We had so much fun we did it again in 2008!
Also in 2008 was The Bird Bash.
The Great Speckled Bird gathered the tribe and readers, too for a big party outside Atlanta.
The Bird Bash documented
The Strip project and The Bird created The Turbulent Sixties in Atlanta, 1968-1976 at the DeKalb Historical Society Exhibit in Decatur, Ga. It opened on May 18, 2011 and closed April 20, 2012. The Bird has kept their part as a mobile exhibit moving around the Southeast.
- Ursula AlexanderRead more >>
Mike Holbrook: I’m just gonna give you some thoughts on Ursula. We met in 1969. At the time she was ...
- David Caprita’s Tale leading to ByronRead more >>
My name is David Caprita. I grew up a Navy brat in the Florida panhandle from the early sixties until the late seventies, where I began my radio and music career. So, for a kid with dreams of being a big city dj and musician growing up on the Redneck Riviera, Atlanta was ...
- Underground Comics
Atlanta Hippies loved Underground Comics! Mr. Natural was Keepin’ on Truckin’ everywhere. The Celestial Omnibus sported Mr. Natural. Atlanta also had its own underground comics. Here are the few I have. Anyone have more to share?
- Chattahoochee River Raft RaceRead more >>
- Dave Hoffman
Dave Hoffman writes-
The photo in Piedmont Park is me, Curtis Winfrey, Stoney Mae (Priscilla Star Hunnicutt) and I think thats Abe aka (Roger Wilson & Edward Brown), behind Curtis.
Read more >>- “…he not busy being born is busy dying…”
Read more >>The Great Speckled Bird 5/12/69 vol 2 #9 p11
“I will secretly accept you,
And together we’ll fly South.”
“Leave your stepping stones behind
There’s something that calls for you.
Forget the dead you left, they will ...
- Diamond Lil
Read more >>RIP Diamond Lil 8/10/2016 @ 80 ( a secret no longer kept)
Coming into Atlanta from small town South Georgia in 1968 I had never met an openly gay person before and was a bit shocked ...
- Jimi Hendrix Blows Atlanta’s mind
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Soft Machine, Amboy Dukes, Vanilla Fudge and Jimi Hendrix Experience’s two shows at Atlanta’s Municipal Auditorium blew away Atlanta’s collective mind on Saturday August 17, 1968. Have you ever been Experienced? Now we could answer in the ...
- Harry Demille
Harry Demille bridges from The Strip community where he worked at the 12th Gate
to the Little Five Points community where he co-founded Wax and Facts.
Read more >>- Duane Allman obituary Issue of The Great Speckled Bird
Read more >>
Great Speckled Bird v. 4 no. 45 (November 8, 1971) available as a pdf from Georgia State University Library here.4 thoughts on “Project history”
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I used to sell the Great Speckled Bird on the corner of 10th & Peachtree in the Fall of either 1969 or 1970 (possibly both) – Really enjoying your website! I lived there as a runaway of 14 starting Labor Day Weekend, turned 15 about 3 weeks after arriving. Worked at Chili Dog Charlie’s a few weeks Oct/Nov ’69 & left to head with 3 others & a poodle to cross the US to The Haight in a VWBug, driving nonstop! Knew Wade and Judy Bates (bro/sis), Mouse and Bongo, plus hung with Stoney and Cody a whole lot.
Wish we could hear from Stoney someday.
We are going to be opening a new bar in the old Jocks and Jill’s location at 10th and Peachtree in the white building. Having such a hard time finding any information online about the building be for 1992. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Sperdue1986@gmail.com thank you 💃🏻
This site sparks lots of memories for me. I lived in Atlanta near Piedmont Park for a year-and-a-half in 1972-73, while I was working with the Atlanta Children’s Theatre. I read the Great Speckled Bird frequently, and Atlanta was where I first became immersed in underground comix and began contributing to them myself. My shirts were paisley and my jeans were flared; I was winding down my consumption of LSD at the time, though, because the quality was going way down since the peak of my psychedelic adventures from 1968 through 1972. I got fag-bashed in the Park, too, so my Atlanta days weren’t without their downers.