In the mid-1960's, a teenage, hippie crash-pad scene developed in New York's East Village. Many of the arrivals were escaping repressive or abusive home environments. During this time, I was forced to run away twice before my father would consent for me to grow long hair. Today they call it "The Generation Gap," but it was really a Generation War. However, life in the East Village got increasingly bizarre as hard drug use increased, revealing a dark underbelly to the emerging hippie subculture.