'Taylor Camp' finishes final edit
http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2010/01/08/news/kauai_news/doc4b46d3975e527803318388.txt
Jan. 31 film showing will benefit Kaua'i Wellness Expo
January 8, 2010
In the spring of 1969, every kid's Tarzan and Jane dream of tree
houses on a tropical beach came true at Kaua'i's Taylor Camp when
Howard Taylor, brother of actress Elizabeth, bailed out a rag-tag
band of 13 young Mainland hippies jailed for vagrancy and then
invited them to camp on his oceanfront land, a news release states.
The previous year, right after purchasing the property, Howard
learned of the government's plan to condemn the land for a park,
ending the Taylors' dream of building a family compound on the 7-acre site.
So in an act of both compassion for the jailed hippies, and subtle
revenge against the government for frustrating his plans, Howard
informally established Taylor Camp. Soon after, he stepped back and
left the campers to their own devices without rules, restrictions
or guidelines.
Soon waves of hippies, surfers and troubled Vietnam War veterans
found their way to Howard's land and built a clothing-optional,
pot-friendly, grow your own village at the end of the road on the
Kaua'i's North Shore.
By the summer of 1970, none of the original campers remained. The
newcomers quickly abandoned tent living for more permanent and
comfortable dwellings and the village population grew to over 100,
with 17 tree houses and a scattering of tents.
After he and his sister celebrated Christmas dinner with the campers,
Howard would never be seen on the site again.
By 1976, there were 32 structures, including a co-op store, community
garden, church, sauna and toilet.
The county government picked up the garbage, and the school bus
stopped for the children. To control growth, the campers established
a building moratorium enforced by common consent, power politics and "vibes."
Taylor Camp had become society of order without rules. There were no
covenants, nothing to sign as you walked into camp. There were no
elections; it wasn't a democracy.
These refugees from the straight world built with the same materials
as poor squatters throughout the tropics-bamboo, scrap lumber, rough
logs and branches, salvaged tin roofing, plastic sheeting and
screens, flimsy mosquito netting and cheap printed fabric.
But though the materials were the same, the manifestation was quite
different. Guided by the spirit of whimsical creativity, these
"refugees" lived in a lush forest at the mouth of a crystalline
stream on a beach in paradise-catching fish in the ocean and picking
fruit from the trees.
But not all of the hippies lived off the land. When some took
advantage of Hawaii's lax welfare laws and began receiving food
stamps and financial assistance from the government, the resentment
of many local people, already offended by the nudity and drug use,
sparked violent confrontations between the locals and the hippies.
Eventually, in 1974, the state got a court order condemning Taylor
Camp, but it wasn't until 1977, after the hippies had used the Legal
Aid Society to stave off eviction for three years, that the campers
made a collective decision to leave.
Publishing a "Thank You" letter in The Garden Island newspaper, the
campers withdrew their claims against the state for relocation
assistance "to show our gratitude to the people of Kaua'i for letting
us stay here for so long."
Before the last camper moved out, state officials torched the
village, leaving little but ashes and memories of "the best days of
our lives," the release continues.
"Taylor Camp" tells the story of an experiment in benign anarchy, a
community of young people from across the country and the world that
came together and tried to live by the ideals of the '60s.
The film, emotionally driven by powerful music from the era, reveals
Taylor Camp's eight-year history through a looking glass of evocative
photographs and historic footage all narrated with brutally honest,
humorous, often conflicting memories recorded 30-years later in
interviews with the campers, their neighbors and the government
officials who eventually got rid of them, the release says.
Though the freedom of that time and place left some struggling with
alcoholism and drug addiction (one young woman eventually died of
AIDS), in many ways Taylor Camp became just like any other community
in America in the '70s.
However, as one camper put it, "We did it naked in the trees at the
end of the road on the last point on earth."
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