FILE NO. RESOLUTION NO. 1 [Sidewalk Plaques in Front of the Two Childhood Homes of Jerry Garcia in the Exclesior 2 District] 3 4 Resolution authorizing the placement of sidewalk plaques in front of the two childhood 5 homes of Jerry Garcia located in the Excelsior District in accordance with Public Works 6 Code Sections 789 et seq., the Commemorative Street Plaque Ordinance. 7 8 WHEREAS, As singer, lead guitarist, and unofficial spokesperson for the Grateful 9 Dead, Jerry Garcia became a reluctant cultural icon of psychedelic music and the hippie 10 11 movement that helped define San Francisco in the 1960s; and WHEREAS, The excitement and optimism of the San Francisco counterculture in that 12 era was perhaps best summarized by Hunter S. Thompson, who wrote, “there was a fantastic 13 universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning. And that, I 14 think, was the handle -- that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in 15 any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was 16 no point in fighting -- on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest 17 of a high and beautiful wave;” and 18 WHEREAS, The Grateful Dead were the house band for the Acid Tests organized by 19 Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, where the lines between performers and audience were 20 blurred, and they enjoyed the freedom to experiment with their concept of group 21 improvisation; and 22 WHEREAS, The Grateful Dead’s commitment to group improvisation, their ever- 23 expanding catalog of songs, and the intense connection many fans felt to the music led to the 24 phenomenon of fans, known as “deadheads,” following the band on tour, that grew to become 25 Supervisor Avalos BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Page 1 7/29/2014 1 an itinerant community whose culture and appearance remained largely unchanged through 2 the 1990s and even onto the modern day following related bands; and 3 WHEREAS, Throughout their 30-year career, the Grateful Dead pioneered a number of 4 advancements in live audio technology: they were the first band to use onstage monitors in 5 the 1960s; their ambitious 1974 "Wall of Sound" speaker system was the first large-scale 6 example of the line array systems that are now the industry standard; they made extensive 7 use of digital MIDI instruments in the 1980s; and in the 1990s, they were one of the first bands 8 to use in-ear monitors; and 9 10 11 WHEREAS, The Grateful Dead is widely considered to be the most recorded band in history with more than 9,000 different recordings of their shows in public circulation; and WHEREAS, In recent years, the Grateful Dead has been the subject of much academic 12 study with the establishment of the Grateful Dead Archive at the University of California at 13 Santa Cruz, the publishing of numerous volumes of academic papers, and the convening of 14 multiple symposia to discuss Grateful Dead scholarship; and 15 WHEREAS, In addition to playing more than 2,000 shows with the Grateful Dead from 16 1965 to 1995, Garcia played a wide array of musical styles from rhythm and blues and reggae 17 with the Jerry Garcia Band, to avant-garde fusion jazz with Howard Wales, to bluegrass banjo 18 with Old and in the Way, to pedal steel guitar with the country rock band, the New Riders of 19 the Purple Sage, to gypsy jazz with mandolinist David Grisman; and 20 WHEREAS, Bob Dylan once said of the breadth of Garcia’s music, “there are a lot of 21 spaces and advances between the Carter family, Buddy Holly and, say, Ornette Coleman, a 22 lot of universes, but he filled them all without being a member of any school;” and 23 WHEREAS, Jerry Garcia was born in San Francisco on August 1, 1942; and, 24 25 Supervisor Avalos BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Page 2 7/29/2014 1 WHEREAS, While Garcia and the Grateful Dead are most commonly associated with 2 the Haight-Ashbury District where they lived in the 1960s, much of Garcia’s formative years 3 were spent in the Excelsior District; and 4 5 6 WHEREAS, Garcia lived his first five years at 121 Amazon Avenue in the Excelsior District; and WHEREAS, After Garcia’s father drowned in a fly-fishing accident and his mother 7 began working full-time to provide for the family, Jerry and his brother Tiff moved in with his 8 maternal grandparents at 87 Harrington Street, also in the Excelsior District; and 9 WHEREAS, The Harrington Street house was such an important part of his childhood 10 that the only book Garcia ever wrote was an illustrated memoir of his childhood, titled 11 Harrington Street; and 12 WHEREAS, Garcia’s childhood was surrounded by music: his father José was a swing- 13 band leader, his mother Ruth played the piano, and Garcia said he learned to love bluegrass 14 and country music through his grandmother Tille’s habit of listening to the Grand Ole Opry on 15 Saturday nights; and 16 WHEREAS, Garcia was also a gifted visual artist who studied at the California School 17 of Fine Arts and produced nearly 500 pieces of art between 1985 and 1995 using watercolor, 18 gouache, pencil, ink, airbrush and digital media; and 19 20 21 22 23 WHEREAS, Garcia attributed his early interest in drawing and pursuing art as a career to encouragement from his third grade teacher at Monroe Elementary School; and WHEREAS, “Jerry Day” is as an annual concert, begun in 2002, celebrating the music of Jerry Garcia at the amphitheater at McLaren Park; and WHEREAS, On July 21, 2005, the amphitheater at McLaren Park was officially 24 renamed the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater—the first public facility in the United States to be 25 named after Jerry Garcia; and Supervisor Avalos BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Page 3 7/29/2014 1 WHEREAS, Jerry Garcia’s legacy lives on through newly released recordings, the new 2 bands formed by the surviving members of the Grateful Dead, and numerous tribute bands, 3 many of which are accompanied across the country by new generations of deadheads; and 4 WHEREAS, Commemorating the childhood homes of Jerry Garcia will celebrate 5 Garcia’s unique contributions to the social and cultural life of the City and help promote the 6 significant role the Excelsior District played in the formative years of this unique San 7 Franciscan; now, therefore be it 8 FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Board, in accordance with Public Works Code 9 Sections 789 et seq., the Commemorative Street Plaque Ordinance, authorizes the placement 10 of plaques on the sidewalk in front of Jerry Garcia’s childhood homes at 87 Harrington Street 11 and 121 Amazon Street; and, be it 12 FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Board directs the Department of Public Works to 13 complete the process for reviewing and permitting the installation of plaques in the 14 abovementioned locations and placing the abovementioned addresses on the City's official list 15 of commemorative sites. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Supervisor Avalos BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Page 4 7/29/2014