Backstage with Sandy Kenyon: The Summer of Love

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Danny Goldberg found his calling as a rock music manager and political activist, and his new book, "In Search of the Lost Chord," takes a look back at what was known as "The Summer of Love" on its 50th anniversary.

"There was a time when the words peace and love were not meant ironically or sarcastically," he said.

The events of the summer of 1967 shaped his generation.

"There was a spirit that I remembered that was caused by this multiplicity of things happening all at the same time," he said. "Psychedelic, spirituality, race relations, anti-war protest, and a questioning of materialism. And that combination, to me, peaked in '67."

His book takes a fascinating look back at events such as the Be-Ins, which were recorded in movies found in an antique store decades after they were held in Central Park's Sheep Meadow.

"People just felt, 'My goodness, I'm not alone,'" Goldberg said. "But the idea there was going to be utopia overnight was delusional."

Goldberg had just graduated from Fieldston in the Bronx in 1967.

"I was too young to be part of almost all of these things, but old enough to be mesmerized by them," he said. "And I wanted to see if I could really look at the details of what was happening and see if it evoked that feeling in me. And I have to say, it did."

Goldberg noted that the legacy of the Summer of Love is everywhere, especially when you consider the civil rights movement gained traction during that time. Additionally, feminism began to flower, LGBT people were demanding to be heard, and many people were becoming aware of the need to protect the environment.