Haight Ashbury Medical Clinics and HealthRIGHT 360

Founded by Dr. David Smith, the Haight Ashbury Medical Clinics opened its doors at 558 Clayton Street in July 1967. The clinic provided free medical care for the thousands of young people coming to San Francisco during the “Summer of Love” — many destitute, homeless, in need of medical attention and/or drug-dependent. To help raise funds for the clinic, the Monterey International Pop Festival, founded by Lou Adler and John Phillips of the Mamas and Papas, and legendary rock promoter Bill Graham organized concerts in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Ace of Cups and countless others, leading to the creation of Rock Medicine that still exists today.

Haight Ashbury Medical Clinics continues to operate and in 2011, merged with Walden House founded in 1969 by Walter Littrell in the same Haight-Ashbury district. The organization, including Rock Medicine, operates under the banner HealthRIGHT 360, integrating comprehensive medical, dental, outpatient and residential substance use disorder treatment and mental health services to improve the health, safety, and self-sufficiency of California’s most vulnerable populations. HealthRIGHT 360 delivers critical and life-changing care through welcoming, judgment-free community-based programs, serving over 40,000 individuals last year. Comprehensive services are provided to all, regardless of immigration status or one’s ability to pay, compelled by our belief that “Healthcare is a Right, not a Privilege.”