Interactive

The VW has Music!

Thanks to KRVM DJ Jivin’ Johnny Etheredge for creating  programming reminiscent of the early 1970s counterculture radio station, KZEL.  Visitors can sit in the VW, take a trip back in time and enjoy the music, and listen again to KZEL. VW Van “No Name Garage”, a counterculture operation that began during the 1965-1975 timeframe, loaned the 1963 Volkswagen van to the museum for the Tie Dye Exhibit.  A group of University of Oregon Students took the VW on as a project and researched, design and painted the VW in true hippie fashion!

An assistant exhibit designer poses in the VW.

The Coffee House

“The Odyssey was the crossroads…”

The Coffee House Interior is an interactive experience.   Visitors can listen to original acoustic music by local musicians that were popular with the counterculture and often played in the Odyssey Coffee House in Eugene and other local venues.   The bulletin board contains postings and advertisements that reflect the counterculture way of life in the early 70s.  Postings include, “Room for Rent $30.00 a month.  Be Mellow.”

An interior view of the New World Coffee House, Eugene, Oregon c.1968.

Tie Dye and Tofu’s Coffee House Interior.

1973 Mainstream Kitchen Exhibit

This 1973 kitchen interior is an example of mainstream  tastes at the time.  It is complete with avocado green appliances, and olive, brown and orange color scheme, and a mushroom motif.  Visitors can sit at the dinette set, look at period cookbooks, and open all of the drawers and doors.  This exhibit was installed with the help of a University of Oregon Arts and Administration class.

Visitors check out the drawers in the kitchen.