During the "hippie" period 1967–1968 in San Francisco, an individual named Al Rinker started an organization located at 1830 Fell St in the city's Haight Ashbury district called the Switchboard.
With the increase in media coverage of the district, a local resident, Al Rinker, was able to see the need for a service that would provide news and information about the hippie movement in the area.
There has been a significant increase in the amount of coverage that has been given to the Haight Ashbury, bringing in more people and making it more difficult to run the Switchboard.
Among the things they had to do was find safe lodging (Crash Pads) for the wandering jobless hippies who arrived in the city without any means of support whatsoever.
Before he left, Rinker transferred the Haight Ashbury Switchboard's 501 (c)(3) (non profit tax status) to Pam Hardt and Jed Riffe.