By Jessica Wheeler, AliveTampaBay Columnist
On June 16, 1967, the Monterey Pop Festival began. The three-day festival showcased the new and top artists in the pop community, with performers including the Mamas and the Papas, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, the Animals, Canned Heat, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Otis Redding, the Grateful Dead, and the Byrds. All proceeds from the concert went to charity, and the festival was filmed for a movie of the same name. It marked the U.S. breakthrough of Hendrix, Joplin, and The Who, while established R&B singer Otis Redding’s career got a big boost with pop audiences. Sometimes seen as a precursor to Woodstock, the Monterey Pop Festival proved that the counterculture could produce a peaceful gathering on a large scale.