London Street

London Street Commune was a hippy movement formed during the 1960s. It aimed to highlight concerns about rising levels of homelessness and to house the hundreds of hippies sleeping in parks and derelict buildings in central London. The commune famously squatted a mansion at 144 Piccadilly on Hyde Park Corner in September 1969, which became a media sensation dubbed "Hippydilly". The group was quickly evicted in a high-profile Metropolitan Police operation and other squatting attempts were also rebuffed. One of the leaders of the commune who often spoke to the media was known as 'Dr. John' He was actually Phil Cohen, who later became an urban ethnographer and emeritus professor at the University of East London.