The Latest: ‘Summer of Love’ concert promoter plans appeal

SAN FRANCISCO – The Latest on San Francisco city office denying permit for “Summer of Love” concert (all times local):

4:20 p.m.

The promoter of a “Summer of Love 50th Anniversary” concert planned to be held in San Francisco in June says he will appeal the city’s decision to deny his request for a permit.

Promoter Boots Hughston says if the event is cancelled it would be like “slapping San Francisco” in the face.

The June 4 concert in Golden Gate Park was expected to draw tens of thousands of people and was to be a focal point of citywide cultural events to mark the counterculture movement of the 1960s that was centred in San Francisco.

Hughston says he’d already lined up about two dozen performers including the remnants of Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin’s Big Brother and the Holding Company and the Santana Blues Band.

Hughston received a letter earlier this week from the city’s Recreation and Parks Department saying his permit request was being denied because he had made “numerous misrepresentations” about how security and crowd control would be handled, leaving them with concerns about public safety.

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11:45 a.m.

The city of San Francisco has denied a permit for a “Summer of Love 50th Anniversary” concert, a free, outdoor event that was to be a focal point of citywide celebrations.

The June 4 concert in Golden Gate Park was expected to draw tens of thousands of people.

San Francisco’s Recreation and Parks Department sent a letter this week to the event’s promoter expressing deep concerns about safety and security for the concert due to his “numerous misrepresentations of material fact.”

Event promoter Boots Hughston says he met all the city’s demands and is appealing the permit denial.

The concert was one of dozens of cultural events planned to mark the 1967 counterculture movement known as the Summer of Love.

The San Francisco Chronicle first reported the permit denial.