A Sign Of Nostalgia

Homeward bound on a two-hour ride, I saw this sign on the front of a ramshackle house:

HIPPIES
USE SIDE DOOR

If you have forgotten about hippies or are too young to remember them, or if you’re an aging hippie and want to read about yourself, here are the first few lines of the Wikipedia definition

Hippie, often spelled hippy, is a term originally used to describe some of the rebellious youth of the 1960s, although the dawn of the 21st century has brought with it a neo-hippie movement, holding similar beliefs and values as the hippies of the 1960s. The word hippie was popularized by the late San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen.

For the rest the article, go here, but be aware that the Wikipedia entry brushes by the beatniks of the 1950s, the immediate forebears of the hippies. For John Ciardi’s exploration of the word’s root, go here.
Dave Frishberg’s song “I’m Hip” captured the essence of hippiedom with lines like these:

When it was hip to be hep, I was hep.

I’m so hip, I call my girlfriend “man.”