Vintage News Articles & Finds

[billycw]

Ojai Pergola on the left, California




Things Go Better With Pot

During the Summer of Love in 1967, the small town of Ojai, California was on the boiling point of riots. The hippies had taken over the Ojai Pergola (stone arches) leading to Civic Park after a love-in in early '67.

'hippies' hanging out on Ojai Pergola, 1967


Conservative "short hairs" of the town didn't take kindly to this new invasion of flower children hanging around town. The tipping point in this face off between the 'long hairs' and the 'short hairs' came in early June.

Hippies hanging out at the Ojai Pergola posted a sign high on its arches for all to see. The message...


"Things go better with pot"


The message would infuriate the 'short hairs' and lead to weeks of fighting in what would be called the 'Ojai Riots' between the two sides.

While the battles of 1967 have been forgotten, the message remains...

Things go better with Pot!

graffiti on wood in Ojai, California

 

[billycw]

'Bonfire of illegal marihuana plants', Detroit News Photograph, Michigan September 1971 (dated '71 but I think it might be older)

 

[Elmer Bud]

G `day Billy

What`s that saying about men who don`t trust their belt to hold up their pants ?

Come in close here children watch the devil`s weed burn !
Probably sat down for a beer or whisky after that chore . Bet it tasted good too . lol .

Thanks for sharin

EB .

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

G `day Billy

What`s that saying about men who don`t trust their belt to hold up their pants ?

Come in close here children watch the devil`s weed burn !
Probably sat down for a beer or whisky after that chore . Bet it tasted good too . lol .

Thanks for sharin

EB .

Bet it didn't taste as good as that cloud of smoke the kids at the downwind side are standing in

 

[billycw]

What`s that saying about men who don`t trust their belt to hold up their pants ?

This had me laughing Elmer, never heard that one

Bet it didn't taste as good as that cloud of smoke the kids at the downwind side are standing in

The D.A.R.E program was a little more hands on circa 1971

 

[billycw]

Dreams by Edouard Frederic Wilhelm Richter (1844 - 1913)

 

[billycw]

“Joan Baez encouraged draft resistance during her concerts, and is believed to have suggested that women opposed to violence should go for men who were resisting the military draft. This suggestion soon turned into the poster featuring Baez, which was created by Larry Gates and sold to raise funds for the Draft Resistance movement. The poster features the Joan Baez, along with her sisters Pauline and Mimi.” 1967

 

[billycw]

Bob Sorrell sitting in his unfinished Sorrell Custom Roadster



Hemp in the Fast Lane

In 1953 Bob Sorrell would turn the automotive world upside down. In a car show that year he would premier his SR-100 sports car to a stunned crowd.

Everyone who saw his car at the show knew it had something special, but what made this car so special? It was made of Hemp!

Not only was Sorrell's car made of hemp, but he also showed the world how to make one yourself from scratch in your own garage!

1954 Sorrell-Manning SR-100 Special


Beginning in October 1954 and culminating in February 1955, Bob Sorrell documented the process to make your own hemp core fiberglass car in the automotive magazine 'Car Craft'.

The first step in making Sorrell's hemp sports car was to make a mock up body. This mock body would be the foundation to lay down the hemp cored fiberglass to the right shape.

First wooden templates were set every 10 inches the length of the car.

Bob Sorrell's wooden mock-up of the Sorrell SR-100 body with wood templates set every 10 inches



Placing heavy paper and chicken wire in between the wooden templates gives the desired shape. To get a smooth surface to lay the fiberglass down on, plaster is filled in past the wooden templates of the mock-up body.

After the plaster has had time to dry, the surface is scraped and sanded until a solid body is formed.

Scraping the plaster off Sorrell's mock-up

 

[billycw]

Hemp in the Fast Lane Continued, part 2 of 4...




With the solid mock-up frame, it is now time to make the hemp cored fiberglass body.

Clay is used to separate the areas of the car as seams. This is done to get separate pieces that will fit together after completion. If using a singular body, this step can be skipped.

After a light dusting of powder on the mock-up surface, a thin layer of fiberglass plaster is applied to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.

Sorrell Applying fiberglass plaster to the SR-100 mock-up


While the first thin layer of plaster is still wet, the core of the car body is placed. The core holding the whole project together is made of Hemp!

Taking cut pieces of hemp cloth, the hemp is dipped into and soaked in the fiberglass plaster. The saturated hemp is then laid in a single layer on the still wet mock-up. This second layer will act like a core holding the fiberglass body together.

Hemp cloth soaked in fiberglass plaster is applied in a single layer


Next the final layer of fiberglass plaster is added on top of the hemp core. This is a rough layer making sure to have the depth needed for the mold.

Layering fiberglass plaster on top of the hemp core


Cutting, scraping and sanding, the hemp cored fiberglass body is now shaped into its final form. After drying the mold is removed from the mock-up body.

Cutting basic shape in the formed fiberglass plaster

 

[billycw]

Hemp in the Fast Lane Continued, Part 3 of 4...

Scraping and smoothing the formed fiberglass plaster body of the Sorrell SR-100


With the body shape done, a primer and paint job complete the look for Bob Sorrell's 1954 SR-100 hemp cored fiberglass roadster!

Dick Lane's, 1954 Sorrell SR-100


Sorrell's design made it easy for many options including lambo style doors and roof as presented in his concept car in 1953.

1954 Sorrell SR-100 with top and doors shown at a 1953 car show as a concept kit car

 

[billycw]

Hemp in the Fast Lane Continued, Part 4 of 4...




Sorrell's hemp cored fiberglass bodies would be sold in both the original designed SR-100 and the newer SR-190 Coupe. Both 'Glass' models were priced under $500 dollars!

Original Sorrell SR-100 advertisement

Sorrell SR-190 Coupe advertisement



Sorrell's hemp fiberglass bodies were made to fit right onto a Austin Healey frame making this custom kit car a cinch to bolt and play.

The singular body models were fitted with a hydraulic lifted body to make working on the engine that much easier. Of course this also upped the cool factor.

1954 Sorrell-Manning SR-100 Special, body lift to work on engine



In 1955 the hempen Sorrell SR-100 was taken to the Bonneville Flats to test the performance.

The hempen car hit an amazing 174mph before busting its driveshaft ending the testing early. Some say it would have broken the world record that year if not prematurely busted driveshaft.

The Sorrell SR-100, Hemp in the fast lane...

1954 Sorrell-Manning SR-100 Special

 

[billycw]

An Indian Army soldier smoking a hookah at a camp in New Forest, England. WW1 October 1914.

 

[Bud Green]

That hemp car is 100 times more cool than Cheech and Chong's hemp truck!

 

[billycw]

That hemp car is 100 times more cool than Cheech and Chong's hemp truck!

At 174mph not even fully floored, I'm guessing this hemp car would run doughnuts around Cheech and Chong's shag-a-wagon too

 

[billycw]

"After all, its only a weed that turns to a flower in your mind."

- Thomas Benton

One & A Half rolling papers

 

[billycw]

'Nächtlicher Gemüsemarkt' (Nocturnal Vegetable Market) by Johann Mengels Culverhouse, 1874

 

[billycw]

A Persian Dervish smoking a pipe by Antoin Sevruguin, around 1900

 

[billycw]

"Raiding party of narcotics agents race toward cabin of (late) Dirk Dickenson on April 4, 1972; army helicopter from Presidio [in San Francisco] carried raiders to scene, a remote section of Humboldt County near Alderpoint." Pratt Mountain, California

“Looks like an assault on an enemy prison camp in Vietnam.”
- Reporter Richard Harris


Dirk Dickenson and his girlfriend Judy Arnold waved at the Huey landing in their front yard from their front room window. As the heavily armed plain clothed narcotic officers began pouring out of the chopper they immediately started kicking in the front door to the house.

When it became unclear on who the raiding party was, Dirk Dickenson fearing for his safety ran for his life out the back door of the cabin. Unarmed, Dickenson was shot in the back and killed by the raiding police...

Although the shooting was directly forbidden in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (DEA predecessor) manual “the agent should not shoot at any persons except to protect his own life or that of some other person. The agent will not fire at fleeing automobiles, suspects or defendants.”, officer Lloyd Clifton would be cleared of the crime stating it “falls into the category of justifiable homicide.”

This incident is still cited in cases against officers showing just how far raiding police are allowed to go and still get 'immunity' from the law...

Rolling Stones cover May 1973 about the murder

 

[St. Phatty]

"Raiding party of narcotics agents race toward cabin of (late) Dirk Dickenson on April 4, 1972; army helicopter from Presidio [in San Francisco] carried raiders to scene, a remote section of Humboldt County near Alderpoint." Pratt Mountain, California

So they did it in 72 and again in 89, after the Oct. 26 raids of Operation Green Merchant. They subpoena'd UPS records and really destroyed a lot of lives.


About old news - I was going to suggest estate sales.

About 40 years ago I met an old man in Palo Alto. He had what he called a "clipping bureau". It was like a mini-Smithsonian of news articles. He just LOVED saving article, it was his way of finding Order in the Universe, or whatever.

Anyway I'm sure he's not the only person who clipped articles and saved them and kept piling them up, and didn't throw the pile away when they moved, etc.

I used to have a copy of the January 1995 San Jose Mercury News front section, where the US Air Force had a very brief strange press release. Admitting recovering manufactured objects considered to be non-terrestrial in origin, in New Mexico in 1947.

Very brief, and right there in the mid-section of the Merc.

But I moved and didn't save it.


There are people who do estate sales professionally and really have a quality approach (for which I think they charge about 50%).

I would suggest contacting those kind of businesses and letting them know that you want to buy the collections of old "newsies", or actually just anybody.

 

[billycw]

About old news - I was going to suggest estate sales.

Love hitting the estate sales for hidden treasures, really dig picking up old smoking pipes