“Celebration at Big Sur” is a 1969 film documenting the Folk Festival at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA. You can find the entire film in bits on youtube and it’s available as a DVD. In this 9 minute clip, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young perform “Down by the River”. The performance starts at about 49 seconds into the clip, but there is a lot of good vintage hippy stuff before and after the music.
After spending last week travelling the California coast, I’m in total Pacific Ocean bliss. I love seeing all the aerial shots of the coastline in this film almost as much as I love David Crosby’s fringe jacket and Stephen Stills’ geometric poncho. The Esalen Institute is still around. You can sign up for self actualization workshops and retreats through their website.
I took these photos last year at a campground in Big Sur. You can see the bridge in the first photo in the aerial shots. What I didn’t get a photo of, was the terribly cute sea otter that would swim around the cove with a seagull perched upon his little belly.
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