1970 Christmas Happening

Come hear the greatest story rarely told: the 1970 Christmas Happening.

On Christmas Day 1970, around 20,000 hippies descended on Laguna Beach, CA for a three-day “riotous birthday party for Jesus.” Music flowed on a stage decorated with a multi-colored cross, yin-yang, Christmas trees, and a statue of Jesus. Journalists described the heavy smell of hash in the air as “frankincense and myrrh.” Mutual aid tents were set up for free food and medical care. The Brotherhood of Eternal Love airdropped over thousands LSD tabs on the crowd. The event was eventually shut down with hundreds of cops in riot gear singing “Here Comes Santa Claus.” It was a Christmas celebration like no other, a West Coast Woodstock.