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93 captures 24 f 🐦
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· Submit Article According to Webster’s dictionary (2003) a for this article:
· Submit Review "hippie" or "hippy" is: "a young person of
· Recommend Hippy.com the 1960’s who rejected established social
mores, advocated spontaneity, free
· Advertise on Hippy.com expression of love and the expansion of
consciousness, often wore long hair and
unconventional clothes, and used
Search psychedelic drugs".
This mass-media definition of the 1960’s

Search: dropouts has eclipsed all pre-1960’s uses Cast my Vote!
of the actual word such as that mentioned
In: Articles by Malcolm X in his famous autobiography.
As a 17 year-old hustler living in Harlem in
Search 1939 Malcolm noticed, "A few of the white Recent Posts
men around Harlem, younger ones whom
we called "hippies", acted more Negro than · catalogue
Negroes. This particular one talked more
"hip" than we did. He would have fought
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anyone who suggested he felt any race · From the South
· All Categories difference". ·What does it even
· A Trip Thru the '60s This echoes the familiar sentiments of Jack
mean?
· Archives Kerouac from "On The Road" (1955): "I · camping canada
"Wandervogels Abschied" by Fidus, 1900 walked with every muscle aching among
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th
the lights of 27 and Welton in the Denver colored section, wishing I were a Negro, meet up with...
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enough life, joy, kicks, darkness, music, not enough night".
· Hippies From A to Z · This is a question
· Hippyland Tour Clearly the actual word "hippie" was a form of Ebonics (black slang) from Harlem that about blunts.
· Interviews passed it’s way through the beat era into the 1960’s, until Herb Caen of the San · Thank You
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· Skip's Corner were long-haired bearded individuals during this same era who wore sandals or bare feet
heads. or anybody!
and usually tended to favor mild subtropical places like southern California and Florida
where they could forage their meals from the fruit trees that were so plentiful then.
New Articles "Nature Boys" as they were later

called were without exception
· Unionize The Workers of either German immigrants or Options
the World! American youths whose lives were
influenced by transplanted
· A Barefoot Rhapsody
Germans that spread their Printer Friendly
· Margo St. James Lebensreform (life-reform)
Streaked the Bay to message to anyone ready for a
Breakers Run (1965) radical departure from the
· School is Bad for accepted boundaries of 20th
century civilization.
Children (1969)
· Student Dress Codes? Modern primitives, naturmensch,
(1969) wandervogel, bohemians,
reformers, wayfarers, and
· Kiss a Lawyer, Kill Your vagabonds are all expressions that
Television evoke a tone of something wholly
· Woodstock Was Not apart from the orthodox.
Stoned on Starbucks
So why Germany? What was
· We're Losing the Drug happening there in the 19th
War Because Prohibition century that caused a phenomenon
Never Works like this to erupt so big?
· The Taliban is Not Hiding
in my Kitchen, but MSG is!
https://web.archive.org/web/20110824073908/http://www.hippy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=243 1/12
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Germany had always made a virtue
· http://www.hippy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=243
Napalm—Not Your Wandervogel print from the local group in JUL AUG SEP
Go 👤
Ordinary Jelly of their late submission to Latin Darmstadt, 1911
93 captures civilization and had glorified the
natural man and woman with all of their virtues and vices. Over 2000 years ago (about
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24[ Sep
More
2010in- 15
News Section ]
Jul 2019 2010 2011 2012 ▾ About this capture
51 B.C.) Julius Caesar noted of the Germans: "The only beings they recognize as gods
are things that they can see, and by which they are obviously benefited, such as sun,
moon and fire; the other gods they have never even heard of."
The word "God" was neuter in

gender in the Teutonic language
(Das Gott, or in old Nordic "gud")
and the Roman historian Cornelius
Tacitus (98 A.D.) wrote: "According
to German outlook,
pronouncements of destiny seem
to acquire a greater sacredness in
the mouth of women. Prophecy
and magic in a good as well as an
evil sense is by choice the gift of
women. If it is inherent in the
nature of men to show the female
sex a great consideration and
respect, then this was particularly
shaped on the German people from
of old. Men earn deification
through their deeds, women
through their wisdom."
Thus the religiosity of the Indo-

Germanic people, whenever their
"Vegetarisches Speisehaus", 1900 nature can unfold itself freely,
emerges only in that form which religious science has described as "nature religion" or
"earth religions". To remove the German soul from the natural landscape is to kill it. The
Romans knew this so once Christianity had become the state religion of the Roman
Empire their missionaries were eager to chop down the German forests and set their
temples on fire.
Whenever the church encountered Pagan elements that it could not suppress, it gave
them a Christian dimension and assimilated them. These ancestral traditions were
reinterpreted and revised, but the church never succeeded in effacing the German Pagan
heritage.
Hermann’s victory (9 A.D.) had forestalled Roman colonization, thus Germany had
thereby retained its ancient language and avoided early Christianization.
Meister Eckhart (c1260-c1328) possibly represented most strongly the development of

the mysticism as a result of the revolt of the Teutonic Indo-European spirit against
Roman Christianity.
During the Middle-Ages a group called "Brothers and Sisters of the Free Spirit" existed in
Germany and Holland. Also known as the Adamites, they were spiritual descendants of
an earlier group, the Adamiani. They held nude gatherings in womb like caverns to
achieve rebirth into a state of paradisiacal innocence.
In 1796 Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland of Weimar published his landmark study of aging
"The Art Of Prolonging Life" using the word "macrobiotic" in the preface of the book,
while the second edition used the word in it’s title. His emphasis on exercise and fresh
air, sunbathing, cleanliness, regular scheduling, temperate diet, stimulating travel and
meditation were all far ahead of their time.
Goethe’s (1749-1832)
perspective erased the
boundary between man and
Nature altogether. The poet
of Nature religiosity he
believed "God can be
worshipped in no more
beautiful way than by the
spontaneous welling up from
one’s breast of mutual
converse with Nature".
Another prophetic quote from

Goethe (1832) "Man in his
misguidance has powerfully
interfered with nature. He
has devastated the forests,
and thereby even changed
the atmospheric conditions
and the climate. Some
species of plants and animals
have become entirely extinct
through man, although they
were essential in the
economy of Nature.
Everywhere the purity of the
air is affected by smoke and
the like, and the rivers are
defiled. These and other
things are serious "Lichtgebet" ("Prayer To The Sun") by Fidus, 1913
encroachments upon Nature,
which men nowadays entirely overlook but which are of the greatest importance, and at
once show their evil effect not only upon plants but upon animals as well, the latter not
having the endurance and power of resistance of man".
In 1866 Ernst Haeckel of Jena University first employed the term "ecology", thereby
establishing it as a permanent scientific discipline for all future generations. Ecology as a
concept had more in common with Buddhism and its recognition of the oneness of all
life.
Also in the 1860’s an ex-Protestant minister named Eduard Baltzer published his four-
volume book about naturliche lebensweise or "natural life style". He organized some
vegetarians and founded a Free Religious Community, then later published a book on
Pythagoras as the ancestor of his movement.
Baltzer’s writings had a strong

influence upon a young painter
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named Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach JUL AUG SEP
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(1851-1913) who also went on to
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form several communities and
workshops for religion, art and
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24 Sep 2010 - 15 Jul 2019 2010 2011 2012
science. Diefenbach spent the last ▾ About this capture
portion of his life on the
Mediterranean isle of Capri, which
was a retreat for other life-
reformers. Two of his pupils, Fidus
and Gusto Graser were to make a
tremendous impact with their art
and reform messages.
Fidus (1868-1949) was recognized

as perhaps the greatest
psychedelic artist ever, pre-dating
the 1960’s multi-colored posters
and albums by over a half century.
Gusto Graser later went on to

become a close friend and teacher
of the writer Hermann Hesse.
Hesse’s report "Among The Rocks-
Notes of a Nature Man" (1908)
described how he, along with
Graser lived the lives of natural
men and hermits, sleeping in caves
in the Swiss Alps and fasting for
Diefenbach and Fidus at Hollriegelskreuth, Germany, days and weeks. The guru-disciple
1887 relationship within Hesse’s novel
"Siddhartha" (1922) was a mirror
of his own association with Graser his teacher. Graser’s poetry appeared in some of the
Wandervogel magazines.
In 1870 the population of Germany was 2/3 rural, but by 1900 it had become 2/3 urban.
Near the end of the 19th century the German middle class had become superficial,
coarse, complacent, gluttonous, materialistic, industrialized, technocratic and pathetic.
As a response to this phenomenon many natural healing modalities came into existence
and even more youth movements were organized.
In 1883 Louis Kuhne of Leipsic Germany published a book titled "The New Science Of
Healing", and this work laid the foundation for what was later to become known as
Naturopathy. Translated into 50 languages it was the inspiration for a whole generation
of health practitioners and was also highly praised by Mahatma Gandhi who said it was
very popular in India.
In 1896 Adolf Just opened his Jungborn retreat in the Hartz Mountains near Isenburg
Germany, which was a model institution for the true natural life, and was meant to show
how the most intimate communion with Nature could be re-established.
"Gnadennacht" by Fidus, 1912
In his best selling book "Return To Nature" (1896) Mr. Just spoke out against air and
water pollution, meat, vivisection, vaccination, coffee, alcohol, smoking and so-called
education in schools. Gandhi again was so moved by Adolf Just’s rebellion against
scientific medical treatments that it helped him to formulate his ideology for the future.
When he was released from prison is 1944 he opened a Nature Cure sanitarium in India
based on Just’s model
In 1904 German author Richard Ungewitter wrote a book titled "Die Nacktheit"
(nakedness) wherein he advocated nudism, abstention from meat, tobacco and alcohol.
He had to publish it himself, but it quickly became a bestseller. The vegetarian aspect
focused on the purity of the body and soul, with adherence to a regular program of
fitness. The German attitude towards nudity has not changed too much in 100 years
because even now on a warm summer day people along lakes and rivers can be found
enjoying themselves in the sunshine without clothing.
Nude Bathing has been popular in Germany a long time. (1916)
In the 19th century hiking societies proliferated in Germany. One group "Friends Of
Nature" were into social hiking and used the slogan "Free Mountains, Free World, Free
People".
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Another group, called the "Wandervogel", was founded in 1895 by Hermann HoffmannJUL AUG SEP
and Karl Fischer in Steglitz, a suburb of Berlin. They began to take some high school
93 captures students on nature walks, then later on longer hikes. Soon a huge youth movement that
was both anti-bourgeois and Teutonic Pagan in character, composed mostly of middle
24 f 🐦
class German children, organized into autonomous bands.
Wandervogel members,
aged mainly between
14-18 years and spread
to all parts of Germany
eventually numbering
50,000. Part hobo and
part medieval, they
pooled their money,
wore woolen capes,
shorts and Tyrolean hats
and took long hikes in
the country where they
sang their own versions
of Goliardic songs and
camped under primitive
conditions. Both sexes
swam nude together in
the lakes and rivers and
in their hometowns they
established "nests" and
"anti-homes", sometimes Wandervogel, 1926
in ruined castles where they met to plan trips and play mandolins and guitars.
Their short weekend trips became 3 to 4 weeks long journeys of hundreds of miles. Soon
they were establishing permanent camps in the wild that were open to all. With no
thought of pay, the bands worked at improving their campsites and building cabins for
which they made the furniture-in all forming a complex of precedents underlying the
youth-hostel movement which began in 1907 when Richard Schirmann opened the first
hostel in Altena Germany.
Mostly the Wandervogel sought communion with nature, with the ancient folk-spirit as
embodied in the traditional peasant culture, and with one another. They developed a
harmonious mystic resonance with their environment.
The expression "Lebensreform" (life-reform) was first used in 1896, and comprised
various German social trends of the 19th and first half of the 20th century.
Particularly:
1. vegetarianism
2. nudism
3. natural medicine
4. abstinence from alcohol
5. clothing reform
6. settlement movements
7. garden towns
8. soil reform
9. sexual reform
10. health food and economic
reform
11. social reform
12. liberation for women,
children and animals
13. communitarianism
14. cultural and religious
reform: i.e. a religion or view of
the world that gives weight to the
feminine, maternal and natural
traits of existence
Further south in Switzerland,

Ascona was a little fishing village
on the shore of Lake Maggiore, on
the Swiss side of the border with
Italy. In the year 1900 a counter-
Elizabeth Dorr with some of her daughters at culture renaissance began and
Ascona, 1905 (Note the headbands!) lasted until about 1920. Ascona
became the focal point for all of
Europe’s spiritual rebels.
Life experiments were in vogue: surrealism, modern dance, dada, Paganism, feminism,
pacifism, psychoanalysis and nature cure. A few of the participants were Hermann
Hesse, Carl Jung, Isadora Duncan, D.H. Lawrence, Arnold Ehret and Franz Kafka.
At the turn of the century Germany had 56 million people, and had as many large cities
as all of the rest of Europe combined. Industrialism, technology, pollution and "affluenza"
began a crisis amongst the over-privileged German-speaking of that period. The
disenchanted began to arrive in Ascona by the hundreds.
The beautiful natural setting inspired urban people to sunbathe in the nude, sleep
outdoors, hike, swim and fast. This village quickly developed a universal reputation as a
health center.
Hermann Hesse was excited when he saw four longhaired men with sandals walk through
his village on their way to Ascona. He followed them, settled in and then took a nature
cure for his alcoholism. The year was 1907.

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Born July 2, 1877, at the northern edge of the Black Forest in Calw, Germany, Hermann
Hesse knew at age 13 that he wanted to be a poet or nothing. Beginning in the 1950's
with the Beat generation, his novels became immensely popular in the English-speaking
world, where their criticism of bourgeois values and interest in Eastern spirituality and
Jungian psychology echoed the emerging revolt against the unreflected life. In the
1960's Hermann became the novelist of the decade, with "Siddhartha" (1922) and
"Steppenwolf" (1927) selling in the millions, and capturing and shaping an American
Audience. Legitimate history will always recount Hesse as the most important link
between the European counter-culture of his youth and their latter-day descendants in
America. (Photo from 1908.)
The people of Ascona refused eggs, milk, meat, salt and alcohol. Nature cure was a
powerful idea in the German mind, and was a widespread and profound rebellion against
science and professionalism.
On August 20, 1903, an anarchist newspaper in San Francisco, California published a

large article about Ascona, describing the people and their philosophies. This was
certainly one of the first times that detailed news of the European counter-culture had
reached the California coast.
Nudists worshipping the Sun, 1926
Perhaps the most central Neo-Pagan element in the German folk movements was sun-
worship, believed to be the ancient Teutonic religion. From at least the Romantic era,
sun-worship was offered by prominent Germans as the most rational alternative to
Christianity. The solar images were at the center of a desire to return to natural
Paganism and a natural lifestyle in harmony with the earth.
Eugene Diedrichs Publishing was the highly respected voice of Neo-Paganism and the
religious-not the political-arm of the great Volkische movement. Diedrichs envisioned an
"organic peoples state" (organischer Volksstaat) and like Carl Jung preferred a return to
the nature religion of the ancient Teutons.
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"Satana" by Fidus, 1896
No one described solarism better than Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) the prominent
scientist who first coined the word "ecology": "The sun, the deity of light and warmth, on
whose influence all organic life insensibly and directly depends, was taken to be such a
phenomenon [of naturalistic monotheism] many thousands of years ago. Sun-worship
seems to the modern scientist to be the best of all forms of theism, and the one which
may be most easily reconciled with modern Monism. For modern astrophysics and
geogeny have taught us that the earth is a fragment detached from the sun, and that it
will eventually return to the bosom of its parent. Modern physiology teaches us that the
first source of organic life on the earth is the formation of protoplasm, and that this
synthesis of simple inorganic substances, water, carbonic acid, and ammonia only takes
place under the influence of sunlight….indeed the whole of our bodily and mental life
depends, in the last resort, like all other organic life, on the light and heat rays of the
sun. Hence in the light of pure reason, sun-worship as a form of naturalistic
monotheism, seems to have a much better foundation than the anthropistic worship of
Christians and other monotheists who conceive of their god in human form. As a matter
of fact the sun-worshippers attained, thousands of years ago, a higher intellectual and
moral standard than most of the other theists. When I was in Bombay in 1881, I
watched with the greatest sympathy the elevating rites of the pious Parsees, who,
standing on the sea-shore, or kneeling on their prayer rugs offered their devotion to the
sun at its rise and setting."
As the 20th century dawned many Germans began to feel the weight of oppressive
political forces, powers that would later lead their nation into 2 world wars and change
the course of European history.
Between 1895 and 1914, tens of thousands of Germans left their homes and families and
immigrated to America. After all America was the country of the future, and they saw
themselves as pioneers helping to lead a new society by transplanting and nurturing the
most valuable ideas from their homeland into their new dreams for the United States.
There were several key individuals who made a substantial contribution, but probably
none more than Dr. Benedict Lust.
Born in Michelbach near Baden Germany February 3, 1872 Lust first came to America in
1892, became ill with tuberculosis, then returned to Germany and took a nature cure
treatment from the famed Father Sebastian Kneipp. He regained his health and found his
true purpose in life, then returned to America in 1896 to become a Kneipp representative
in America.
Rightfully called "The Father Of Naturopathy" in America, Lust introduced all of the great
naturist movements that were in vogue in Europe; hydrotherapy, herbal remedies, air
and light baths, various plant-based diets and he also translated and distributed the
German classic health works of Father Kneipp, Louis Kuhne, Adolf Just, Arnold Ehret and
August Englehardt.
Near the turn of the century in New York City he founded a school of massage and the
Naturopathic Society, then in 1918 he published Universal Naturopathic Encyclopedia for
drugless therapy. Nature’s Path Magazine and a radio show devoted to natural healing
were also some of his notable achievements.
Dr. Benedict Lust enjoys a sun-bath at "Sonnenbichel" sun and air park in Kneipp-Bad
Worishofen, Bavaria, Germany on a return to the Fatherland in the summer of 1926. The
"Father of Naturopathy" in America, no single individual contributed more to natural
healing and lifestyle in the world than Dr. Lust did through his many schools and
publications. Everything from massage, herbology, raw foods, anti-vivisection and hydro-
therapy to Eastern influences like Ayurveda and Yoga found their way to an American
audience through Lust. Though he was repeatedly harassed by Medical authorities and
Federal agents, his devotion to promoting Nature's methods of healing finaly gained wide
acceptance. Like so many others from his generation, he was a tough man. (Photo from
Naturopath, February, 1927)
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Dr. Lust’s school of Naturopathy JUL AUG SEP
was the starting point for hundreds
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of America’s natural health
practitioners, while his magazines
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24 Sep 2010 - 15 Jul 2019
introduced the West not only to
2010 2011 2012 ▾ About this capture
German Nature Cure, but also
ancient East Indian concepts like
Ayurveda and Yoga. Paramahansa
Yogananda was one of several
Indians who wrote articles for
"Nature’s Path" magazine in the
1920’s gaining wide exposure to a
large American audience.
Dr. Lust was "busted" repeatedly

by American authorities and
medical associations, for promoting
natural methods of healing,
massage and nude sun bathing at
his Jungborn sanitarium. He was
arrested 16 times by New York
authorities and 3 times by Feds.
One news headline read simply
eden ahbez, 1948. Part-time yogi and full-time
"They Have Lust Again".
mystic, this 1940s "hippie" always spelled his
name with small letters because he believed that As many as 30-40% of the
only God and Infinity should be capitalized. (Photo graduates of Dr. Lusts school of
courtesy of Gypsy Boots) Naturopathy were women, and his
magazines were full of enthusiastic
letters and praise from practicing Naturopaths in India, Jamaica and all over Latin
America. No one was more devoted to introducing nature cure to the Spanish-speaking
world than Dr. Lust.
Another influential Nature Doctor, Dr. Carl Schultz, arrived in Los Angeles California in
1885 and became the Benedict Lust of the west. In 1905 he created the Naturopathic
Institute and Sanitarium and also opened the Naturopathic College on Hope Street. Most
of the practicing nature doctors in the west were graduates of this college.
In 1906 Bill Pester first

set foot on American soil
having left Saxony,
Germany that same year
at age 19 to avoid
military service. With his
long hair, beard and
lebensreform
background he wasted
no time in heading to
California to begin his
new life.
He settled in majestic
Palm Canyon in the San
Jacinto Mountains near
Palm Springs California
and built himself a palm
hut by the flowing
stream and palm grove.
Bill spent his time

exploring the desert Bill Pester at this palm log cabin in Palm Canyon, California,
canyons, caves and 1917. With his "lebensreform" philosophy, nudism and raw
waterfalls, but was also foods diet, he was one of the many German immigrants, who
an avid reader and "invented" the hippie lifestyle more than half a century before
writer. He earned some the 1960s. He left Germany to avoid military service in 1906
of his living making at age 19, for a new life in America. (Photo Courtesy of Palm
walking sticks from palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, California)
blossom stalks, selling postcards with lebensreform health tips, and charging people 10
cents to look through his telescope while he gave lectures on astronomy.
He made his own sandals, had a wonderful collection of Indian pottery and artifacts,
played slide guitar, lived on raw fruits and vegetables and managed to spend most of his
time naked under the California sunshine.
During the time when Bill lived near Palm Springs he was on Cahuilla Indian land, with
permission from the local tribe who had great admiration for him. His name even
appeared on the 1920 census with the Indians, and in 1995 An American Indian woman
Millie Fischer published a small booklet about Palm Canyon that included a chapter on
Pester.
The many photos of Pester clearly reveal the strong link between the 19th century
German reformers and the flower children of the 1960’s…long hair and beards, bare feet
or sandals, guitars, love of nature, draft dodger, living simple and an aversion to rigid
political structure. Undoubtedly Bill Pester introduced a new human type to California and
was a mentor for many of the American Nature Boys.
In 1914 another German

immigrant, Professor Arnold Ehret
arrived in California. The
philosophy he preached had a
powerful influence on various
aspects of American culture. Ehret
advocated fasting, raw foods, nude
sun bathing and letting your hair
and beard grow un-trimmed. His
"Rational Fasting" (1914) and
"Mucus-less Diet"(1922) were
literary standbys within hippie
circles in San Francisco and Los
Angeles in the 1960’s.
The husband and wife team of

John and Vera Richter first opened
their Raw-Foods cafeteria the
Professor Arnold Ehret, taken shortly after his 49 "Eutropheon" in 1917, and during
day fast in Cologne, Germany, circa 1905. Ehret it’s lifetime it hosted thousands of
later migrated to southern California and helped to customers and taught many people
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spawn a new sub-culture in America, based upon his how to prepare such raw treats as JUL AUG SEP
natural philosophy and lifestyle. His books have sun-dried bread, salads, dressings,
93 captures never been out of print in over 70 years. (Photo
courtesy of Fred Hirsch)
soups, beverages and many other
healthy alternatives to the typical
24 f 🐦
Los Angeles cuisine of the 1920’s-
1940’s.
John’s powerful lectures were attended by many young health enthusiasts, who later
went on to become well known health teachers and authors, and Vera’s recipe book was
the precursor to many of the modern Live-Food recipe books.
Some of the young employees of the Eutropheon were Americans who had adopted the
German Naturmensch and Lebensreform image and philosophy, wearing their hair and
beards long and feeding exclusively on raw fruits and vegetables. The "Nature Boys"
came from all over America but usually ended up in southern California. Some of the
familiar ones were Gypsy Jean, eden ahbez, Maximilian Sikinger, Bob Wallace, Emile
Zimmerman, Gypsy Boots, Buddy Rose, Fred Bushnoff and Conrad. This was decades
before the Beats or Hippies and their influence was very substantial. In "On The Road"
Kerouac noted that while passing through Los Angeles in the summer of 1947 he saw "an
occasional Nature Boy saint in beard and sandals".
Seven of California's "Nature Boys" in Topanga Canyon, August 1948. They were the first
generation of americans to adopt the "naturmensch" philosophy and image, living in the
mountains and sleeping in caves and trees, sometimes as many as 15 of them at a time.
All had visited and some were employed at "The Eutropheon" where John Richter gave
his inspiring lectures about raw foods and natural living. The boys would sometimes
travel up the California coast some 500 miles just to pick and eat some fresh figs. (Back
row: Gypsy Boots, Bob Wallace, Emile Zimmerman. Front row: Fred Bushnoff, eden
ahbez, Buddy Rose, ?) - (Photo courtesy of Gypsy Boots.)
But in the spring of 1948 eden

ahbez became an internationally
recognized personality when his
song "Nature Boy" was recorded by
Nat King Cole. Photos and story of
eden and his wife Anna appeared
in Life, Time and Newsweek
magazines that year.
Born in Brooklyn New York, April

15, 1908 "ahbez" had walked
across America 4 times, hopped
freight trains and lived in a cave in
Tahquitz Canyon before he penned
his #1 hit tune, which was on the
hit parade for 15 weeks.
The song itself was part

autobiographical but was also a
nod to his German mentor Bill
Pester who was 23 years his senior
and had been a Nature Boy for
decades when eden encountered
him in the Coachella Valley of
southern California.
Another one of the Nature Boys,

Cover of "Nature Boy" songbook, eden ahbez, 1948.
Maximillian Sikinger was born in
Born into a poor Jewish family with 13 hungry
Augsberg Germany in 1913 and
children, the orphan from Brooklyn never had to
spent most of his childhood and
worry about where the money would come from
youth living wild in the environs of
after the success of his #1 hit tune, made famous
various European cities. Through
by Nat King Cole.
his wanderings, personal contacts
and outdoor living he developed a keen interest in various aspects of natural healing;
nutrition, water cure, fasting, sitz baths, deep breathing and sunshine.
Max left Europe in 1935 at age 22,

arrived in America then eventually
made his way west to California
where he traveled with the Nature
Boys who valued his introspective
and philosophical ideas very highly.
Maximillian’s world travels and
rugged background had given him
deep insight into many of life’s
puzzles.
But the one Nature Boy to pass the

torch from the old era (circa
1930’s-40’s)…into the 1960’s
hippie generation was Gypsy
Boots.
⍰❎
Born in San Francisco in 1916 to JUL AUG SEP
Russian Jewish parents "Boots"
93 captures
grew up in the San Francisco area
where he quit school at an early
24 f 🐦
24 Sep 2010 - 15 Jul 2019
age to travel and live a life close to
2010 2011 2012 ▾ About this capture
nature. He met Maximillian on the
beach at Kelley’s Cove in 1935 and
it was then that his life began to
change. Boots noted in his
autobiography: " It was with Max
that I first experimented with
fasting and special diets, and also
learned much about yoga".
In the 1940’s Boots lived wild in

Tahquitz Canyon with all of the
Nature Boys, bathing in the cool
mountain water, eating fruits and
vegetables, sleeping on rocks or in
caves, hiking and selling produce
in Palm Springs.
In 1953 he married Lois Bloemker,

settled near Griffith Park in Los
Angeles and had 3 sons. In 1958
he opened his "Health Hut" in Nature Boy, Maximillian Sikinger, at home in the
Hollywood, which was a big hit, Santa Monica Mountains, 1946. Max left Germany in
and shortly thereafter began his 1935 then made his way to Southern California
career as a serious health teacher where he inspired many American kids to become
and example of optimum living. "Nature Boys". By the 1960s, he was a regular
fixture at pop festivals and concerts and was
In the early 1960’s he appeared on considered a guru to many Topanga hippies.
the Steve Allen show over 25 times
to an audience of some 25 million households. Steve Allen had originally started the
"Tonight" show, then began his own show featuring guests like Elvis Presley, Jack
Kerouac, Frank Zappa and the psychedelic band Blue Cheer.
When the Beatles and Rolling Stones arrived in Los Angeles in the mid 1960’s their
"pudding basin" hairstyles seemed tame when compared to a local rock band "The
Seeds" who wore shoulder length hair, thanks to the influence of Gypsy Boots and his ilk.
"Seeds" singer Sky Saxon, a vegetarian, had invented a new type of music…."Flower
Punk". Even Jimi Hendrix had a front row seat to a Seeds concert, and the Doors played
second bill on a Seeds tour.
When the Love-In’s began in Griffith Park in 1966 some of the Flower Children who were
stoned on Owsley acid looked up in the big trees to see Gypsy Boots swinging and
climbing from branch to limb, then exclaiming "what’s that guy on…. I’d sure like to have
a hit of that!" But Boots "high" was always induced from his sun-charged foods like figs
and grapes, as well as his fitness regime.
At the Monterey and Newport Pop festivals in 1967 and 1968 Boots was a paid performer
along with acts like the Grateful Dead, Ravi Shankar, The Jefferson Airplane and The Jimi
Hendrix Experience.
Two of Boots greatest admirers were Mama Cass Elliot of "The Mamas And Papas" and
Carolyn ("Mountain Girl") Garcia, Jerry Garcia’s wife.
German-issue of a rare Capitol 45 picture sleeve single from 1968, "We're Having A
Lovin-In", recorded by California Nature Boy Gypsy Boots.
Those best informed also agree that Boots’ influence helped inspire members of several
Los Angeles rock bands to become vegetarian, notably Randy California of "Spirit" and
Arthur Lee of "Love", as well as Sky Saxon of the "Seeds." Mickey Dolenz, the zaniest
member of the TV pop foursome "The Monkeys" was also a Boots fan, while Frank Zappa
appeared in the cult movie "Mondo Hollywood" (1968) with Boots, and they must have
been the only 2 bearded long-haired guys in L.A. preaching a "no dope" philosophy in
the late 60’s.
"Surf Bohemians" with

shaggy hair, goatees and
vegetarian lifestyle, rode
their redwood boards on
un-crowded waves in the
early 1950's in the
Malibu area. The surf
scene of the late 1950’s
in California and Hawaii
was a precursor to the
counter-culture that
began in 1964, including
components like long
hair, natural foods, trips
to Mexico, psychedelic
music, living outdoors, The surf scene foreshadowed the hippie period by at least a
unique vocabulary, anti- decade with many common features. This surf-sedan was
authoritarian posture painted psychedelic in 1962 on Oahu, Hawaii, a half-decade
and global travel before the infamous "Summer of Love" in San Francisco.
destinations. A surf band
called "The Gamblers" had a hit song titled "Moon Dawg" in 1960, and the B-side was the
song "LSD 25. Dick Dale, the undisputed King of the surf guitar had a hit with "Let’s Go
⍰❎
Trippin" in 1961, which was later recorded by the Beach Boys (1964). Noted surf artistJUL AUG SEP
Rick Griffin later became a respected hippie artist as well.
93 captures On the east coast of America professors Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) and
24 f 🐦
24 Sep 2010 - 15 Jul 2019 Ralph Metzner were busy in the early 1960’s with their psychedelic research, first at 2010 2011 2012 ▾ About this capture
Harvard University then later at the Millbrook estate in New York. They were quick to
recognize the strong correlation between L.S.D. induced archetypes and their many
Germanic antecedents available from 20th century scientists, artists and writers.
L.S.D. was first synthesized in 1938 by Dr. Albert Hoffmann in Switzerland. In the fall of
1963 Dr. Leary and his colleague German born Dr. Metzner, published an article in their
quarterly magazine "The Psychedelic Review" titled: "Hermann Hesse: Poet of the
Interior Journey". Although Hesse’s novels "Siddhartha"(1922) and "Steppenwolf"(1927)
were published in Germany many decades before the 1960’s, they considered them the
most important psychedelic literature available. Partly through the influence of this
article these two novels sold millions in the 60’s and rode in the backpacks of a whole
generation. Nearly all hippies read Hesse!
In 1964 Leary, Alpert and Metzner published their landmark book "The Psychedelic
Experience" which was quickly labeled the "bible" of the hippie movement. In the
introduction they included a tribute to Swiss psychologist Dr. Carl Jung who had
committed himself to the inner vision of internal perception. Dr. Jung, a one time
resident of the commune at Ascona (1900) had witnessed first hand many spiritual
purifying rituals involving fasting, diet and excessive hiking, that could sometimes induce
a psychedelic-type high.
As the 1960’s flowered

the "peace" symbol
(used by Fidus as
early as 1934) became
a familiar icon in
artwork and graffiti…
while the Volkswagen
bus became the most
quintessential symbol
for hippie
transportation and
even lifestyle. The bus
was created and
engineered in 1949 by
technicians of the
Wandervogel
generation.
Nature Boy eden

ahbez sat in on the
Beach Boys "Pet
Sounds" recordings in
1966. And while the
Beatles popularity
reached it’s absolute
zenith by 1968….most
of their fans never
knew that the once
scruffy bar band from
Liverpool received
their first big break
playing in clubs in
Hamburg Germany in
1960. The four English
lads with greasy
slicked-back 50’s style
hair radically changed
their image and
hairstyles after
"Herbst" (Autumn), mural sketch by Fidus, 1934 meeting Klaus
(Note "peace" symbol on top) Voorman and several
of the other German art students who wore shaggy long hair with bangs. George
Harrison said that German photographer Astrid Kirchherr "invented" the Beatles with her
camera giving them tips on dress and posing, and capturing their images in some
priceless early photo shoots.
As a deep heartfelt thanks to their faithful German fans the Beatles later recorded
"Komm gib Mir Deine Hand" (I Want To Hold Your Hand) and "Sie Liebt Dich" (She Loves
You) singing in German.
Klaus Voorman designed the cover and drew the artwork for the Beatles landmark
"Revolver" (1966) album. The Beatles German period can be viewed in the video
"Backbeat" (1994). Psychedelic music exploded from a ferocious British band called The
Yardbirds (1963-1968) whose lead guitarists included Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy
Page. Virtually every heavy band from Jimi Hendrix and Cream to Black Sabbath and Van
Halen used the formula invented by The Yardbirds.
Nature Boy Gypsy Boots getting ready for the Newport Pop Festival in August 1968. Born
in San Francisco in 1916 he was the most important living link between the old
⍰❎
Naturmensch and the Flower Children of the 1960s. He was a paid performer at many JUL AUG SEP
concerts along with acts like the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, but he
93 captures
had been living the hippie lifestyle wild in Nature since the 1930s. (Photo courtesy of
Gypsy Boots)
24 f 🐦
After the 60’s ended the 70’s became the decade when more people went back to the
land than any other period in the 20th century.
The first Earth Day was celebrated

on April 22, 1970, later, July of
1972 saw the first "Rainbow
Gathering" near Granby Lake in
Colorado. It began as a healing
gathering with spiritual nature-
loving participants, and according
to long time Rainbow focalizer
Michael John: " Our roots are in
the Pagan festivals of the Middle
Ages, and the time after Christ
when the way we celebrate the
summer and our union was here,
something has called us to that
memory, to give us the chance to
re-experience that. I think that the
Rainbow Gathering is just the
resurfacing of the ancient
Festivals". (From: "People Of The
Rainbow" Michael Niman-1997)
Also in the early 1970’s many

hippies in California and Hawaii
embraced the most radical form of
earth habitation…living in caves
(and sometimes tree-houses) in
the wilderness, native style. Most This California surfer and his girlfriend were some of
of the larger watercourses in the young folks who went to live wild in nature
southern California like Tahquitz, during the late 1960s and early '70s, mostly in
Deep Creek, Sespe and The Big California, Hawaii and parts of Europe. This most
Sur River had young cave dwellers radical form of communalism was a replay of the
in their canyons. Wandervogel and Naturmensch period some 60
years before in Germany and Switzerland (Taylor
This was an echo of the Park, Kauai, Hawaii, 1971)
Naturmensch and Wandervogel
with their wild seasonal forays in the Alps and farther south into Italy, some 50 years
before…and of Bill Pester who came to California in 1906 to live in Nature.
The "Ferals" of eastern Australia are yet another present day link in the chain of youths
who have abandoned urbanism and returned into forested areas where they live mostly
in nomadic tipis in the Nimbin/Byron region of New South Wales, sometimes numbering
as many as 10,000.
By the mid 1990's there were as many as 10,000 "Ferals" living in the forests of eastern
Australia, many of them in the region surrounding Nimbin and Byron Bay in New South
Wales. Small nomadic tipis are the preferred habitation and nearly all of these Gen-X
kids come from the big cities like Sydney and Melbourne, and are a modern-day echo of
the German Naturmensch and the American youth movements in the 1960s.
After the high times of the 1960’s were over many people began searching for new ways
to maintain clarity and health, "graduating" to things like yoga, pure diet, meditation,
hiking, environmental activism, etc.
Fred Hirsch, the man who published Professor Arnold Ehret’s books for over 50 years in
his office in Beaumont California was host to many "acid heads" who had shifted to "sun-
foods" during the 1970’s to maintain their high as well as a strong connection with the
plant kingdom.
The Green political Party began in Germany in the late 1970’s as an outgrowth of the
1950’s anti-nuclear movements in Europe, later spread to other parts of the world
including America.

👤 ⍰❎
"Fruhlingsodem" by Fidus, 1893
For a brief period in the 1980’s the Hippie lifestyle seemed passé and years out of style,
but it re-charged itself vigorously in the 1990’s. Even though the media tends to
anachronize young hippies, Rainbows and environmentalists as remnants of the 1960’s,
anyone can see by looking at the photos that accompany this article that Hippiedom is
really just a perennial sub-culture…as old as the first humans that ever walked upright,
and as new as the 30,000 plus members on the Hip-Planet site.
That’s why hippies will never go away…because they’ve always been here anyway.
Gordon Kennedy is the author of "Children of the Sun", a book

about the origins of the Hippie Movement in Germany and the
ideas they introduced to the US in the early 1900s.
Copyright 2003-Kennedy/Ryan Nivaria Press; All rights reserved

including the right of reproduction of text or images.[Excerpts
taken from “Children of the Sun; A Pictorial Anthology From
Germany To California, 1883-1949”-By Gordon Kennedy 1998
ISBN 0-9668898-0-0]
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This mass-media definition of the 1960’s

New Articles "Nature Boys" as they were later

The word "God" was neuter in

Thus the religiosity of the Indo-

Meister Eckhart (c1260-c1328) possibly represented most strongly the development of

Another prophetic quote from

Baltzer’s writings had a strong

Fidus (1868-1949) was recognized

Gusto Graser later went on to

"Gnadennacht" by Fidus, 1912

Nude Bathing has been popular in Germany a long time. (1916)

Further south in Switzerland,

http://www.hippy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=243 Go JUL AUG SEP

On August 20, 1903, an anarchist newspaper in San Francisco, California published a

Nudists worshipping the Sun, 1926

http://www.hippy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=243 Go JUL AUG SEP 👤 ⍰❎

"Satana" by Fidus, 1896

Dr. Lust was "busted" repeatedly

In 1906 Bill Pester first

Bill spent his time

In 1914 another German

The husband and wife team of

But in the spring of 1948 eden

Born in Brooklyn New York, April

The song itself was part

Another one of the Nature Boys,

Max left Europe in 1935 at age 22,

But the one Nature Boy to pass the

In the 1940’s Boots lived wild in

In 1953 he married Lois Bloemker,

"Surf Bohemians" with

As the 1960’s flowered

Nature Boy eden

The first Earth Day was celebrated

Also in the early 1970’s many

http://www.hippy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=243 Go JUL AUG SEP

"Fruhlingsodem" by Fidus, 1893

Gordon Kennedy is the author of "Children of the Sun", a book

Copyright 2003-Kennedy/Ryan Nivaria Press; All rights reserved

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