Hippies at the Steel Mill

Although Gene Patrick had not revived his Passing Scene comic strip at the Lorain Journal by September 1970, he was still around.

Below is one of his cartoons, accompanying an interesting Journal article by Staff Writer Jack LaVriha from the August 14, 1970 edition that was a pretty good indicator of what was going on culturally at that time: shoulder length hair being worn by some young men. But in this case, the young adults in question were steelworkers at the Mill in Lorain – and the company had to deal with it, mainly for safety concerns.

It’s funny thinking back how disturbing the sight of long hair on male youth was back then (especially now in 2020, when anything goes when it comes to appearance in this age of tattoos, piercings and shaved heads).

Next week, we’ll keep going on this theme and head down to Lakeview Park in the summer of 1970.