Remembering Phil Lesh: Deadheads flock to Grateful Dead House in San Francisco after bassist's death

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Deadheads descended on Friday at the Haight-Ashbury house the band called home in the 1960s to say goodbye to founding Grateful Dead member Phil Lesh.

“They had a really big impact on our lives. And that's why I like to think back on the good memories,” said Joan Durbin, who was visiting from Atlanta with her husband.

“When we heard the news that Phil had died, we decided to come here and just pay our respects,” she said. “It's like watching a bunch of friends get older and everyone gets older, and so people die while the music goes on,” Mark Durbin added.

And the music was playing across the street in a Volkswagen van.

“It's surreal, I mean the dead got old,” Johnny Greavu said. “I thought this day would come, but not so soon.”

RELATED: Phil Lesh, founding member of Bay Area's The Grateful Dead, dies at 84

The band is a symbol of the counterculture movement of the sixties.

“When you look at this house and think about the people who walked up and down those steps and those special years, it was a very special moment in time,” Michael Seiler said.

“Deadheads are, you know, that’s where all the runaways are, the outcasts, the addicts,” Greavu said. “In a way, it’s a whole community of misfits and a home for a lot of people who feel like they don’t have a home.”

The band's music shapes a generation and inspires generations of fans to follow them.

“The energy from back then is still there, you can feel it. We're sitting in a van and there are people walking through the streets who know this music, it just never stops,” said Seiler.