Yippie Day: A First-Hand Account

Last week I reported the 50th Anniversary of Yippie Day at Disneyland. Since then, a reader sent me this incredible article from The Berkeley Tribe, dated August 14-21, 1970. While slightly humorous, it is probably the most comprehensive charting of the day’s activities at Disneyland on that fateful day that began somewhat lighthearted but eventually exploded into a violent situation. NOTE: some of the language used is pretty harsh and very anti-police, but I decided to put it here unedited. If you are offended easily, this is not the post for you.

By Aunt Syph

Disneyland? Well what can I say but YIPPIE! 30,000 straights had to split — the place was evacuated — because of 300 freaks. There were no leaders. Someone decided that the Yippies should have an International Pow Wow at Disneyland on August 6th. Some posters — Mickey Mouse with an AK 47 — were distributed, and a few handbills, and that was it. Most of the people who came were from Orange County, Berkeley, or Isla Vista.

Everyone had to pay to get in. Freaks driving into the Disneyland parking lot were searched and hassled; no food allowed inside the gates, all bags were searched at the gate, pigs in all shapes and one size (large) casually leaning against every ticket turnstile…

And there we are, the one percenters, picking fellow freaks out in the line as we wait for the turnstile. Feeling very fucking outnumbered, if you know what I mean, and there we are, all of us having just spent four or five bucks on tickets, (NO way to sneak in) VOLUNTARILY WAITING IN LINE TO ENTER AMERIKA'S PLASTIC TRAP. And they let us in. We gape at each other inside, like “Man, there’s something wrong…they let us in…” We all agree that there’s no way out cept back through the turnstiles. Outnumbered 100 to one. Well, what the fuck. YIPPIE!

No one follows the schedule printed in the Freep. We all kinda drift towards Fantasyland, that super big plastic (I mean, really!) castle imaged into all our childhood minds from watching the Walt Disney hour on Sunday nights. (You know – with the fireworks and Tinkerbell?)

Everyone’s just sitting around grinning. It’s about noon. Nothing to do. We’re just getting together. Checking it out. Pigs all over the place. I mean everywhere! Disguised, plainclothesed, in uniform, a few squads of Tac in flak jackets and helmets, etc.

The ones in disguise surpass the goals of the most paranoic speed freak. Dressed to blend in with wherever their post is. Frontierland has 7th Calvary troopers, Indians, raftsmen in faded red shirts, straw hats and cut-off levis. Adventureland has Tahitians, Tomorrowland has guys out of Star Trek, Main Street has Keystone Cops, and Fantasyland has pigs in Chip ‘n’ Dale outfits. I shit you not. Carrying walkie-talkies. And they’re all at least six feet tall and 200 lbs. This includes the tourists talking into their gift-wrapped packages, too. But who are we to be paranoid? Where would the revolution be if we were always paranoid? Yippie!

Captain Hook’s Pirate Ship is a prime target. We march on, the tourists split, and we have the ship to ourselves. Freaks in the rigging, on the ropes, at the wheel, ringing the bells; the tourists below on the dock…“WHERE did they all come from?” “We tunneled through from China, Lady! RED China!” We come off the ship at our grossest, and march right through their midst. Mothers pull their children to them and scatter in the opposite direction. Blank-faced Orange County and Vacant-eyed Amerika freak. Our very existence is dynamite.

In Frontierland is Tom Sawyer’s Island, sitting in the middle of the lagoon. Out on the island is a fort, guarded by 7th Calvary/Pigs. Indians (paddling canoes of tourists around the lagoon) circle the island. Recorded war whoops and bugle calls (charge!) are heard ever so often. It’s a killer. We have to get out there. It takes a D ticket. The wooden (plastic) raft is fake-oared (motor underneath) by Tom Sawyer/raftsmen/Pigs. Four raftloads go out, contemplate skinny dipping, contemplate the countless pigs in bushes, caves, forts, trees, and decide to save it for later.

Back on the mainland, it’s time for the Indian dance. “…and now Eagle Dance, honoring great bird, symbol of this great United States of America…” and so on. But the young Indian dancers dig us. It’s not everyday they dance for brothers and sisters, sitting around the dance circle, instead of tourists sitting in canopied stands. After the usual dances there is a spontaneous joining of hands, freaks and Indians, and a dance around the camp circle.

Then to Main Street. The head Disneyland Pig tries to talk us into going to the park instead of doing it in the road. But we are not to be coopted. The people’s Pied Piper is ripped off for being a nuisance. Physically carried away by the Disneyland Apes. The tourists are freaking at it all, people running down the street, right here in the last sacred sanctuary of sick Amerika. While we’re on Main Street, we decide to take in a flick. Phantom of the Opera is playing at the City St. Cinema. The tourists are kept out “for their own protection” while we flip out inside.

After the movie, it’s generally decided to retake Tom Sawyer’s Island. A dozen raftloads of freaks (D tickets again) make it over, and the Vietcong flag flies over Fort Wilderness. Walt is rolling in his grave by now. 

After the island, a short visit to Tomorrowland for the Monsanto (or something) Exhibit (it’s free) where you ride through this tunnel and it’s dark and ice crystals turn into molecules, and the molecules dissolve into atoms, and somebody lights up a j two cars ahead of you, and the atoms split into neurons and such, and the j is snatched out of their hand by the narc standing at seat level in the totally dark tunnel… 

Outside and back on Main Street. A snake dance to the Town Square happens, and the New Nation flag goes up at Disneyland City Hall. “Give me an F…Give me a U…Give me a C…Give me a K…” The tourists are gone. Really. The kids, the straight teenagers and younger ones, their eyes are so desperate, they dig it, they want to join us, and their hating parents screaming at them, hating us, afraid of us, “I said get moving. Right now. This is the absolutely last time…” ) We’ve all heard it, right?) Right across the Town Square from City Hall is…do my eyes deceive me?…a Bank of Amerika? “TO THE BANK!!” All of us, 500 at the most, immediately charge the bank.

A false charge…we all swing past it and down Main Street…but — too late to fend them off — a magic gate in the wall near the bank opens, and on cue, INTO DISNEYLAND POUR THE FULLERTON TAC SQUAD. And the Costa Mesa Riot Squad (bet you didn’t know they had one) I mean pigs all OVER the place.

They’re marching down Main Street towards Fantasyland. The tourists are stampeding in the street. The pigs keep coming. The Yippies look at each other. You can count on the pigs everytime to gross out. The Disneyland Pigs are telling the tourists to go inside the stores for their own protection. The stores, naturally. can’t pack in 30,000 tourists, even if they are like cattle. The pigs can’t sweep the street.

Head Disneyland Pig starts fingering yippie agitators in the crowd. V-formations charge in after the yippies. One freak runs into a shop, on his ass about 8 Disneyland pigs (keystone cops, cowboys, the 7th calvary, etc.), you can hear shit getting smashed and knocked about in the store, the yippie comes out fighting, club and gunless Disneyland pigs (Tahitians, Indians, 1920’s banjo players) grappling with him just barely hanging on the tourists are screaming the tac squads are pushing them back with their clubs the yippie is overpowered and hustled through a gate to be thrown through the turnstiles by his hair (and to be caught on the other side by friends previously thrown out) and meanwhile inside the loudspeaker is squawking that Disneyland is closing folks we are very sorry to inconvenience you please stay calm we have the situation completely under control oink please leave in an orderly fashion we have the situation oink completely under control…

Bullshit to you Walt. The freaking faggot yippies gotcha by the balls and you KNOW it! Well, it took much hours for Disneyland to be evacuated. 30,000 people spread out over how many? 347 acres of land including mountains, lagoons, clipper ships, atom tunnels and so on make for congestion when there’s only 50 turnstiles in the one entrance and half of them are occupied by Apes throwing out hippies by their feet.

It should be noted that the only other time Disneyland closed was the day Kennedy was shot. Yippie myth has surpassed Lee Harvey Oswald.

But let it not go untold what happened in the parking lot during the evacuation. Numerous Yippies headed for the Disneyland Hotel, across a corner of the lot, followed by scores of pigs, herding stampeding tourists ahead of them (you can count on the pigs) and a miniature Chicago Hilton/haven’t I seen this movie before followed, several heads cracked, a dozen brothers and sisters busted, innocent bystanders brutalized, and so on. I won’t go into details – the same old thing. Yippies trapped in the Hotel lobby again. Maybe we should have settled for Disneyland.

Anyway, when we pickedup all the pieces of ourselves, our comrades, yippie balloons, Mickey Mouse T-shirts, Mousketeer hats and split, the whirlypig w/searchlight was still sweeping the parking lots/Mabel godamit where we parked/where’s the car/kids/excedrin/where’s the kids…the kids?… (Yippie fades off into the L.A. smog to strike again, somewhere, without warning…)

See more Disneyland Yippie Day photos at my main website.

Yippie Day 50th Anniversary

It was fifty years ago today on August 6, 1970 that a group of “Yippies” (short for Youth International Party) gathered at Disneyland with the intent of having fun and stirring up a little trouble. That day also happened to be the 25th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing.

To view everything in context, the youth were beginning to feel their oats at this time, fed up with being told what to do by “the establishment” who they felt was a dominant group of elitists trying to control them socially and politically. The Yippies wanted to push back at Disneyland because of the dress code (which had ironically recently relaxed the long hair and mini-skirt ban) as well as the Bank of America sponsorship, due to BOA being pro-Vietnam war. The tongue-in-cheek itinerary for the 300 that showed up that day was as follows:

Black Panther Hot Breakfast: 9am—10am at Aunt Jemima’s Pancake House

Young Pirates League: 11am on Captain Hook’s boat

Women’s Liberation: 12 noon rally to liberate Minnie Mouse in front of Fantasyland

Self Defense Collective: 1pm—2pm at shooting gallery in Frontierland

Mid-Day Feast: 3pm barbecue of Porky Pig

Late in the afternoon Yippies plan to infiltrate and liberate Tom Sawyer’s Island. Declaring a free state, brothers and sisters will then have a smoke-in and festival. Get it on over to Disneyland, August 6. YIPPIE!

As the photo shows, the Captain Hook event actually did occur. Andrew Midkiff reached out to me years ago and gave just about the best perspective of the day from the Yippie viewpoint as well as some great photos:

The next day the LA Times headlines read ‘YIPPIES OUTBURST SHUTS DISNEYLAND.’ That was BS the headline should have read "COPS SHUT DISNEYLAND TO KICK OUT LONGHAIRS" or better yet ‘YIPPIES TURNED ON IN TOMORROWLAND.’ I was18 years old at the time. August 6, 1970 I hitchhiked from Alhambra to Disneyland to be a part of Yippie Day. All I wanted was to take photos of the event and get high. I took the photos you see here, and getting high was no problem. When I first got to the park I met this guy that had a good size stash of weed on him. He let me hang out with him most of the day. We spent about an hour at various concerts sitting with the straights and smoking grass right in front of them. That may have been part of the problem as far as complaints. I wanted to score some acid but no luck. After the cops showed up I'm glad I did not get any. When I got to Tom Sawyer’s island there was plenty of weed and people were smoking, standing around talking, and playing frisbee. Someone ran up the Viet Cong flag. We left the island and the next thing I remember I was in a crowd of people and police appeared in riot gear and pushed us right out of the park. I heard a scuffle broke out but I did not see it. I have no idea what caused the police to come in. I was just having a good time when the cops appeared and I got pushed right out of the park. On Captain Hooks pirate ship something happened but I never found out what, too busy getting high. I spent the next half hour looking for a ride. Fortunately some nice freaks I met in the parking lot drove me home. 

From the guest standpoint come these recollections:

I was there and almost all the recollections I read have been cloaked in a haze. I guess I was one of the apolitical ones that thought the idea was funny and an innocuous way to thumb it to the man. Everyone I saw was enjoying the park. I did get on the island and it was just a bunch of teens running around having fun. I left when they raised that flag; thought that was stupid and they having never been to Vietnam should go there if they did not like the U.S. I was on Pirates of the Caribbean when the lights went on; it was disappointing to see the ride with the lights on. We were ushered to the castle. Once there in the ring of riot police, everyone was told to leave. Police did ring the street and the roof tops. The only thing that ticked me off was everyone who looked a bit different was verbally harassed and threatened. I got screamed at for ruining some family’s day by a mom; I just said “Sorry, my day got ruined too,” to which the dad said “Fuck off, you damn hippie” or something like that. So if anything did happen, it was the so called straights that caused it.

Recollection #2:

My parents had driven us three kids from Oklahoma for a big 2-week family vacation in a red Rambler station wagon, with our luggage in a big homemade plywood box strapped to the top of the car. Of course there were no car seats, no seat belts, and both parents smoked with all the windows rolled up. I don't remember much about our time in the L.A. area except for that day at Disneyland. We must have gotten there late in the day, because I specifically recall that we never even made it over to Tomorrowland before we had to leave, which was the most upsetting thing to me. I wanted to ride the rockets! After we rode It's a Small World, I remember my mother trying to remain calm, but she was crying as we hurried all the way across the park to leave. "Hippies have taken over the park and raised their flag" was all that they could tell us. And there were police; I remember the police. There seemed to be a minor panicky state especially amongst the mothers ushering their kids out to the parking lot. And then it took us a very very long time to get out of the parking lot. Hours, I think.

From the cast member standpoint came this recollection from Barry:

I was a supervisor at Disneyland from 1969-1974 and remember that day well. It was my day off but all supervisors were required to be “on call” that day. The LA Free Press advertised the Yippie Day event and Disney officials (Dick Nunis, Ron Dominguez and Jim Cora) were going to make absolutely certain that Disneyland would be prepared for any disruption that might occur. I remember meeting in the Mickey Mouse Theater (with all other park supervisors) earlier in the week. I believe Disney management brought in a representative from the Anaheim Police Department- That part of the meeting is fuzzy but I do recall that all of us were assigned specific responsibilities. I was assigned to the Main Street hub area in front of Carnation Plaza Gardens. My assignment: sit on a bench all day watching for any signs of trouble. Shortly after I sat down, a “hippie” sits down next to me, notices my Mickey Mouse watch, and asks me if I work here; cover blown. It was a long day and nothing really happened in my area until late afternoon. A Conga line was forming and about 25 or more Yippies snaked through the Main Street hub area chanting “LSD has a hold on me.” Funny how I can still vividly remember the chant and see the happenings before me with crystal clarity. The rest of the day was a blur; I knew that Orange County’s finest were in the staging area between Main Street and the Administration Building in full riot gear. I remember the Seal Beach PD had quite a reputation for brutality and they were there. Word filtered down that the Yippies had taken over Tom Sawyer’s Island and had replaced the American flag with the Viet Com flag which ultimately was the final undoing of the Yippies. The police came out, the announcement was made that the park was closing and people were being asked to leave. I was on Main Street near Carnation Ice Cream Parlor and watched the police push the Yippies down Main Street toward the park exit. As I followed the action, I found myself pushed down the street and ended up by Hills Brothers. I watched the ultimate—some Yippie trying to pull down the big American flag in Town Square and Dick Nunis, head of Disneyland, punched the guy in the face. The crowd continued to be herded out to the parking lot. It was beginning to get dark and plan “B” was put into affect. All of the supervisors were asked to report to their perimeter positions to safeguard the park from any Yippies who might to climb the fence. We were actually given steel poles to bash fingers if they tried to climb the fence. I had a prime spot at the parking lot exit directly across the street from the hotel—lots of yelling, screaming, and tear gas. Things quieted down about 11pm and by midnight we were allowed to leave our post and go home.

For several years after, no one with long hair was allowed in Disneyland. Working at Disney back then, the grooming standards were strict. For males, it was no long hair, no facial hair, side burns to mid ear. From 1967-1971 the Marines would frequent Disneyland and the Harbor Blvd/Katella area- kind of a last R and R before they went to Viet Nam. We were always asked if we were marines on leave because of the short hair. I did not do well in the social arena outside of my Disney social network! However, I did meet my wife at Disneyland (a waitress at the Blue Bayou) and 35 years later we are still going strong!

David Sacks, the organizer of the event along with Michael Dale, gave me his story about the day:

For over 25 years, the Yippies back east never knew how the event came to happen. Michael and I were not into any kind of visible leader thing. We were too anti-authoritarian for that. I made up the schedule. It was pure fiction. Heck, the Black Panther breakfast at Aunt Jemina’s Kitchen was supposedly at 9 am, an hour before Disneyland even opened their doors. The liberation of Tom Sawyer Island was the only event that really happened as scheduled. “When I bought my ticket, I had asked for a clerical discount (since I was a minister in the Universal Life Church and my license said Rev. David Sacks). Boy did that cause a scene as I looked like the rest of our motley crew. Very shortly after the invasion, they dropped clerical discounts. “The first police that I saw appear were wearing brand new riot gear. But that only represented a small amount of the hundreds of police they had hiding behind the buildings on Main Street. I am pretty sure I know the fellow in the foreground of this picture. He lives in NYC and if I am not mistaken, he later became rather infamous for throwing pies in the faces of some rather important people.

The people who had gotten off the first two rafts for Tom Sawyer Island (that’s about what it was, two raftloads of people) decided to march down Main Street in Disneyland, singing various odes to sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, until they got to City Hall, where they have the American flag on a flagpost. And there was an empty flagpost. Someone pulled out a so-called Yippie flag, red and black with a green marijuana leaf, and started to raise it on the flagpole. An Orange County redneck came storming up to them and said “How dare you raise that flag next to the American flag!” And someone else went to the other flagpole as this guy was trying to rip down the Yippie flag, and said “If you rip down our flag we'll rip down your flag.” He started to try to untie the American flag to bring it down. At which point fisticuffs broke out and Orange County’s finest appeared out from behind all the buildings of Disneyland, 800 police in brand new yellow riot gear (this was the first chance that Orange County had had to test out their new riot gear). These guys looked like something out of a comic book. It looked hi-tech before that was even a word. All of a sudden, the whole circle promenade was circled with these police. I come out and I see all these police in riot gear, I knew something had happened. They start making an announcement over the bullhorns, “Due to the unfortunate actions of a few people, Disneyland must close for the day.” Now you gotta realize there’s about 25,000 guests and there may have been 200 Yippies there. Of the 200 “Yippies” I'd say 100 of them were just freaks who were really apolitical but thought it would be fun to come to Disneyland and trip around that day, with the idea of liberating Tom Sawyer. They liked the sense of humor rather than any political statement. So I’m standing there, my hair’s halfway down my back, and they’re making these announcements “Will everybody start moving towards the exits.” And so all of a sudden this policeman comes up to me and says “You! Get your ass moving!” and just jabs me right in the ribs with his nightstick. “We got picked up by either Time or Newsweek and there was an article in there about the events that were on our flyer, as if they actually happened. The headline in the LA Times the next day was “Yippies Close Disneyland.”

Fifty years later, in times of great frustration and anger, here are the takeaways:

1. Do your best to get along with others. Whether you actually see it on the surface or not, they are dealing with their own problems, too.

2. Listen carefully to what people are REALLY trying to say; remove your own viewpoint so that you can objectively see what is truly occurring.

3. Snap judgments have no place in a harmonious society. Labels (of any kind) are not really all that helpful.

4. Physical violence has NEVER been the answer; it’s a temporary (and very poor) solution that only pushes the problem below the surface where it will simmer and erupt again at some point.

Now can we just all get along please?

See more Disneyland Yippies stories and photos at my main website.

Yippie Day 45th Anniversary

45 years ago today one of the darkest days in Disneyland's history began harmlessly as a bunch of free spirits had a little too much anti-establishment fun in the park. Supposedly, the spark for this came from the dress code and pro-Vietnam War Bank of America's sponsorship of Disneyland.



The 500 semi-tongue-in-cheek flyers distributed by David Sacks told of the day's agenda:

Black Panther Hot Breakfast: 9am—10am at Aunt Jemima’s Pancake House

Young Pirates League: 11am on Captain Hook’s boat

Women’s Liberation: 12 noon rally to liberate Minnie Mouse in front of Fantasyland

Self Defense Collective: 1pm—2pm at shooting gallery in Frontierland

Mid-Day Feast: 3pm barbecue of Porky Pig

Late in the afternoon Yippies plan to infiltrate and liberate Tom Sawyer’s Island. Declaring a free state, brothers and sisters will then have a smoke-in and festival. Get it on over to Disneyland, August 6. YIPPIE!



As you can see, things began harmlessly enough.



When people at Disneyland got baked, they weren't making bread.



Things took a wrong turn when the establishment got tired of the rebels.



A riot squad on Main Street? Definitely not thematic.



It was a lesson learned by Park management that would hopefully never occur again.



More Yippie Day stories at my main website.

Momentous History at Disneyland

Yet another momentous day in Tomorrowland (and Disneyland) history. Today marked the debut of the Flying Saucer attraction in 1961. Zooming in for a closer look at the insignia on the saucer in this January 1962 photo:



Probably best remembered for their temperamental nature, this attraction did not survive the transition into "New" Tomorrowland.



Regardless of whether they worked or not, this young lad from April 1965 sure is having a great time!



Yup…he's pretty happy!



In the next sequential shot from this batch, the attraction appears to be working again.



And he's still having a blast!



Today also marks the 44th Anniversary of one of the most infamous days at Disneyland: Yippie Day.



What started out as a very mild-mannered prank/protest…



Developed into a full-blown riot, causing the park to shut down early. In this shot, you have it all: guests, balloons, security, and mayhem.



See more Daveland Yippie Day photos at my main website.

Yippie Day in Color, Pt. 3

It’s the big finish of this set of color images shot by Andrew Midkiff, who was actually there on Yippie Day:

When I got to Tom Sawyer’s island there was plenty of weed and people were smoking, standing around talking, and playing frisbee. Someone ran up the Viet Cong flag. We left the island and the next thing I remember I was in a crowd of people and police appeared in riot gear and pushed us right out of the park. I heard a scuffle broke out but I did not see it.












To quote Abbie Hoffman: “There never were any Yippies and there never will be. it was a slogan YIPPIE! and that exclamation point was what it was all about. It was the biggest put-on of all time. If you believe Yippies existed, you are nothing but sheep.”

Hope you’ve enjoyed this "colorful" look at Yippie Day. See more Disneyland Yippie Day photos at my main website.

Yippie Day in Color, Pt. 2

Yippies not only captured Tom Sawyer Island, but with the photos in today’s post taken by Andrew Midkiff, it would appear that they also took over Captain Hook’s Chicken of the Sea Pirate ship as well. As Andrew recalls:

I have no idea what caused the police to come in. I was just having a good time when the cops appeared and I got pushed right out of the park. On Captain Hooks pirate ship something happened but I never found out what, too busy getting high. In the 4th photo, this guy was met by a load of press photographers. At the time I thought he was burning a draft card but like I said I never found out. There were lots of cameras that day and film being shot too. I hope some of it surfaces some day.























See more Disneyland Yippie Day photos at my main website.

Yippie Day in Color, Pt. 1

Andrew Midkiff was there, and he took photos! Here are his photos and some of his memories:

The next day the LA Times headlines read ‘YIPPIES OUTBURST SHUTS DISNEYLAND.’ That was BS the headline should have read "COPS SHUT DISNEYLAND TO KICK OUT LONGHAIRS" or better yet ‘YIPPIES TURNED ON IN TOMORROWLAND.’ I was18 years old at the time. August 6, 1970 I hitchhiked from Alhambra to Disneyland to be a part of Yippie Day. All I wanted was to take photos of the event and get high. I took the photos you see here, and getting high was no problem. When I first got to the park I met this guy that had a good size stash of weed on him. He let me hang out with him most of the day. He is pictured in the first photo and is wearing a green tank top. I thought this was an interesting photo because the straight dude on the left seems to be watching us. We spent about an hour at various concerts sitting with the straights and smoking grass right in front of them. That may have been part of the problem as far as complaints. I wanted to score some acid but no luck. After the cops showed up I'm glad I did not get any.











See more Disneyland Yippie Day photos at my main website.