The Electric Toadstool

The Electric Toadstool was a "hippie" club in Columbus, Georgia during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The club was located in an old brick storefront building on the 1800 block of Hamilton Road, just off what is now Veteran's Parkway. According to historical information provided by local rock musician Gary Burnette, there were three shops, the Electric Toadstool, its affiliate, The Hip Pocket, and an adjoining, unrelated shop. It was owned and operated by Buddy Cunningham and Rob Piper. Arnold Bean was functionally the house band, although Mosaic Sunshine and other bands also performed there regularly. Columbus, Georgia is next to Fort Benning, Georgia so many of the young people who were regulars at the Toadstool were children of men serving in Viet Nam. This created a unique atmosphere where people were participating in a culture against the war, but at the same time feeling family loyalties to people serving in the war. The little shops in that area had once long-ago served the Rose Hill suburbanites whose great homes lined Hamilton and Talbotton Roads up the hill. With the passing of time and the advent of the auto¬mobile, the shops were bypassed and fell into disuse, coming into the price range of young entrepreneurs who had little cash but big ideas.