Old Freak Street
Jhochhen Tole, popularly known as Old Freak Street, or Freak Street is a small neighbourhood located at the south of Kathmandu Durbar Square.
Presently known as Old Freak Street, this ancient street was named Freak Street, referring to the hippie trail of the 1960s and 1970s.
History
Freak Street was a centre in the years of the hippie trail from the early 1960s to late 1970s. The main attraction drawing tourists to Freak Street was then the government-run hashish shops. Hippies from different parts of the world travelled to Freak Street in search of legal cannabis. There were also direct bus services to Freak Street from the airport and borders, targeting the hippies looking for legal smokes. Freak Street was a hippie nirvana, since marijuana and hashish were legal and sold openly in government licensed shops.In the early 1970s, the government of Nepal started a round-up of hippies on Freak Street and deported them to India, an action propelled largely by pressure from the government of United States of America. The government imposed strict regulations for tourists regarding dress codes and physical appearances. After imposing such regulations by government the hippies felt vulnerable and the hippie movement of Nepal died out in the late 1970s. It was under this directive that the Nepali government came to ban the production and sale of hashish and marijuana in Nepal. The hippie tourism was quickly replaced by trekking and cultural tourism.