London Street Commune was a hippy movement formed during the 1960s. It aimed to highlight concerns about rising levels of homelessness and to house the hundreds of hippies sleeping in parks and derelict buildings in central London.[1]
The commune famously squatted a mansion at 144 Piccadilly on Hyde Park Corner in September 1969, which became a media sensation dubbed "Hippydilly".[2] The group was quickly evicted in a high-profile Metropolitan Police operation and other squatting attempts were also rebuffed.[3] One of the leaders of the commune who often spoke to the media was known as 'Dr. John'[4] He was actually Phil Cohen, who later became an urban ethnographer and emeritus professor at the University of East London.[5]
- ^ Platt, Steve (1980). "A Decade of Squatting". In Wates, Nick; Wolmar, Christian (eds.). Squatting the Real Story. London: Bay Leaf Books. ISBN 0950725919.
- ^ Issimdar, Mariam (5 October 2019). "When hippy squatters took over a Piccadilly mansion". BBC News. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
- ^ "1969: Police storm squat in Piccadilly". BBC ON THIS DAY. 21 September 1969. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
- ^ Adeney, Martin; Ezard, John (21 September 2010). "From the archive: 22 September 1969, 'Hippies' roam London after police raid". the Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
- ^ "Professor Phil Cohen". Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS). 25 May 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2019.