Between the gutter punks, Tibetan spiritual stores, head shops, and Frommer’s guided tourists, the Haight is one of the trippiest traps in the city. It lures you in with its psychedelic history, and tricks you into buying overpriced bongs and boutique-wear. Well this week, the spirit of the Haight trap was actualized in the form of an LED powered, hula hoop/whiffle ball overhead light show, called “The Hippie Trap,” ostensibly meant to attract whatever octogenarian hippies still exist.
The Hippie Trap was kludged together by one of the weirdest artists/inventors/guy-with-too-much-time-on-his-hands, the same anonymous dude behind the baby stroller bubble machine, Haight Christmas disco ball, and LED Burning Man suit, which have all caught our attention over the past few years. The trap, like his other projects, includes a hidden camera video of passersby being mystified by the colorful electronics, which, to be fair, is probably mind blowing to stare while tripping balls. The creator described it to Hoodline as being triggered by microwave and infrared sensors, and it is comprised of 1,800 color LEDs running what is basically a Winamp visualizer at 60 frames a second.
Despite the tongue-in-cheek description on the device’s Facebook page (“Feral hippies are painlessly hypnotized and netted in a cruelty-free manner, to be released in Mendocino to forage for marijuana in their natural habitat”) the video doesn’t seem to show anybody even closely matching the description of a “hippie,” which might explain why the trap doesn’t ever actually imprison any of its observers — although that might be for the best, because if this thing actually falls on anyone still identifying as a hippie, it would likely crush their ancient bones.
The creator told Hoodline, “The response from passers-by has been really positive. Much like the Bubble Stroller, it's especially appreciated by kids and drunk people.” No hippies though, it seems.
As it is, the mesmerizing light show will not be up for much longer, so make sure to go see it after dark soon. Based on this guy’s penchant for creating ridiculous electric distractions, and his comments to Hoodline that “eventually it'll get old, and there's always new things to invent,” the Hippie Trap lifespan may be cut short any day now. Plus, when was the last time you hit up that Ben and Jerry’s on the corner, huh?
[Via Hoodline, photo from Haight Ashbury Hippie Trap]
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