What is the tradition of fans leaving ‘tribute’ items at the Altamont Speedway concert site?

The Altamont Speedway isn’t just a footnote—it’s become an accidental pilgrimage site. Decades after the 1969 free concert that ended in violence and the death of Meredith Hunter, fans still make the trip to the dusty lot near Livermore, California, and leave behind flowers, notes, crosses, bottle caps, and even an old guitar. The tributes are quiet, non-organized, and mostly anonymous, a kind of folk memorial for what felt like the end of the 1960s dream.

Unlike the polished pilgrimage to Woodstock’s field, Altamont’s offerings feel haunted. Visitors often scratch names or dates into the concrete barriers, or wedge small trinkets into the chain-link fence that now surrounds the speedway. There’s no official caretaker, just a small plaque—ironically donated by a Hells Angels chapter—acknowledging the tragedy. The items accumulate and then disappear, replaced by new ones