PASSION IN THE DESERT
1986
The event starts on Baker Beach near San Francisco, when Larry Harvey and Jerry James burn an 8-foot-tall wooden model of a man as bystanders watch.
1988
Harvey names the statue “Burning Man,” and he and James start promoting their Baker Beach event with posters, flyers, and T-shirts.
1990
Police break up the event at the beach on Memorial Day. At the suggestion of the Cacophony Society, a group of neo–Merry Pranksters, it moves to the Black Rock Desert over Labor Day weekend. About 90 people attend.
