Eden Ahbez, Jack Parsons, and other LA kooks...

Good interview with Michelle Goldberg, author of The Goddess Pose, new bio of Indira Devi, a stateless Russian ex-prisoner of the Cheka who became a pioneering Hollywood yogi, also w feminist elements in her holistic approach: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/06/01/411202468/those-yoga-poses-may-not-be-ancient-after-all-and-maybe-thats-ok (followed by discussion of recent Goldberg article about being "a proud non-breeder who changed my mind," but mostly about Indira Devi)

After "The Lottery" was published, Shirley Jackson got a letter. "It came, naturally enough, from Los Angeles:"
http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/on-fans-and-fan-mail

An expanded version of MOCA's Cameron exhibition is on display in NYC for a couple more weeks: http://deitch.nyc (good hi-res scans there too)

The Source miniseries produced by Todd Haynes.

http://www.avclub.com/article/todd-haynes-planning-tv-series-about-70s-rock-cult-219585

oooh

A couple of kooks
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CZWL36-WEAAsz_p.jpg:large

LA kooks of a different stripe: five families, implosive insiders, some escapees,
like the author (oral historian who co-wrote/assembled Edie, w George Plimpton)
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/21/books/review/west-of-eden-by-jean-stein.html?em_pos=large&emc=edit_bk_20160219&nl=bookreview&nlid=65074007

This is a lead review from NYTimes Book Review eweekly, with lots of room, well-used.

Posted here not at all for lols, more like "ohhhhh shitttt", also hoping this isn't going to turn into the Scientology Salvation From "Psychiatry" bit, if this is the Kubrick daughter who made a reputedly worthy doc about her dad but then seemingly disappeared into the Church:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/stanley-kubricks-daughter-raising-funds-aid-ill-actress-shelley-duvall-948882?utm_source=twitter&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

erp, just this:
The location listed on Vivian Kubrick’s Go Fund Me page for Duvall is Clearwater, FL. Neither Kubrick nor Duvall lives in Clearwater; it is, however, the location of The Church of Scientology’s business operations.

http://horrorfreaknews.com/things-need-know-donating-vivian-kubricks-fund-shelley-duvall/13449

Curbed's list of So Cal communes through the ages.

https://la.curbed.com/maps/communes-history-map

i just finished "Strange Angel: The Otherwordly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons". it was pretty amazing. it's kind of weird how the rocket revolution happened, feels a lot similar to the Silicon Valley story: eccentric engineers taking drugs and making future tech in the desert of California.

there really are two stories here: 1) the evolution of Rocket Science from ridicule-worthy impossibility to world-changing reality and 2) the typically tumultuous Pasadena occult scene. the first takes place in and around California, Parson and his crew of "Suicide Squad" engineers birthing this new science in the face of a disbelieving status quo, informed by the embryonic sci fi (at first called "scientifiction" lol) scene that they were also a part of. the second is a whirlwind of personalities. Parsons himself was quite high in the OTO, purchasing lodging for the group, hosting rituals, get-togethers, etc., dealing with Crowley through letters, etc. when famed occultist Marjorie Cameron crosses his path, he is convinced she is BABALON, purposefully summoned by magical rituals.

at one point L. Ron Hubbard swoops in and starts dating Parsons's wife and the two of them run off to Florida. they convince Parsons to lend them $10,000 for a scheme to buy several yachts and re-sell them for a profit. of course Hubbard tries to take off with the ships and his money. he more or less gets away with it. Hubbard comes across as another fringe figure, flitting on the edges of various scenes. he is writing for the sci fi club, he is hanging out with the OTO. it is weirdly ironic that he ended up being a better swindler than Crowley, and the OTO kind of languished in obscurity scrounging for donations with a few dozen followers, meanwhile Scientology becomes a huge worldwide hit that makes him rich. so bizarre.

yeah Parsons whole story is crazy. the stuff about his death & tapes they found is also O_o

Crowley's take at the time

"Apparently Parsons or Hubbard or somebody is producing a Moonchild. I get fairly frantic when I contemplate the idiocy of these louts."

there's a funny part with Crowley in this book. Parson's predecessor at the OTO Wilfred Smith was becoming too much too handle. he recieved a letter saying that Crowley had drawn up a bunch of charts and discovered that Smith was a god incarnate, that he should abandon the church and his worldly possessions, and go live in the desert to seek enlightenment or some such nonsense. lol.

it was heartbreaking to reach the post war years. all these scientists struggled for decades and then helped the US win the war and now they were all under investigation for being communists. they were blacklisted and had their careers ruined while they had to watch war criminal Nazi scientists invited with open arms to take their place in the same US rocket programs they had pioneered.

Parsons co-founded a company called Allied Enterprises with Hubbard and Sara, into which Parsons invested his life savings of $20,970. Hubbard suggested that with this money they travel to Miami to purchase three yachts, which they would then sail through the Panama Canal to the West Coast, where they could sell them on for a profit. Parsons agreed, but many of his friends thought it was a bad idea. Hubbard had secretly requested permission from the U.S. Navy to sail to China and South and Central America on a mission to "collect writing material"; his real plans were for a world cruise.

Left "flat broke" by this defrauding, Parsons was incensed when he discovered that Hubbard and Sara had left for Miami with $10,000 of the money; he suspected a scam but was placated by a telephone call from Hubbard and agreed to remain business partners. When Crowley, in a telegram to Germer, dismissed Parsons as a "weak fool" and victim to Hubbard and Sara's obvious confidence trick, Parsons changed his mind, flew to Miami and placed a temporary injunction and restraining order on them.

Upon tracking them down to a harbor in County Causeway, Parsons discovered that the couple had purchased three yachts as planned; they tried to flee aboard one but hit a squall and were forced to return to port. Parsons was convinced that he had brought them to shore through a lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram containing an astrological, geomantic invocation of Bartzabel—a vengeful spirit of Mars.

they really need to make a docu drama of this. picture this guy in a hotel in Miami drawing magic symbols on the wall while L. Ron Hubbard is escaping to yacht rock. Magickal Miami Vice.

otm

...Adam I think your wish came true.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncfFNRKjgaI

that looks rad

Never watched that but was curious.

Came to post that this new book might be of interest on this thread, although I already mentioned on ThReads Must Roll, hope I'm not spamming.
https://nevalalee.wordpress.com/about-astounding/

Ha, I just bought that book a couple days ago. There's an excerpt here: https://longreads.com/2018/10/23/the-dawn-of-dianetics-l-ron-hubbard-john-w-campbell-and-the-origins-of-scientology/

But of course!

In fact, I debated with myself whether to post on this thread or on I Am Reading A Novel That Seems To Be Something That Elvis Telecom Would Like

A 50s-era cult that didn't end well.

https://laist.com/2018/12/10/bizarre_story_behind_the_suicide_bombing_of_a_socal_cult.php?fbclid=IwAR27k0UFxLRH59Sad4DDkNbCVq6ZwQtkiYy8V_2rky43MYzXqF1Sku-SQ-Q

wow

Mentioned by Elvis T above in 2014, but new article with pictures.

lotta weirdass shit happened around those Santa Susana mountains man

lotta weirdass shit happened around those Santa Susana mountains man

Oh hell yes... https://data.nbcstations.com/national/KNBC/la-nuclear-secret/

that is interesting

Kurt Braunholer did a podcast years ago where he blindfolded a guest & took them to an obscure location somewhere around LA - in one of the eps he took a guest to this site & it blew my mind (no pun intended) that it existed

Lotsa crazy shit up there

A 24 min talk on a book. Offered by the Autry Museum in LA, but I haven't listened to it.

Bohemians West: Free Love, Family, and Radicals in Twentieth Century America

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5T4t-Xx_6M

Erik Davis' latest email looks at Eden Ahbez's Dharmaland https://www.burningshore.com/p/dharmalands

From 1948...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UVpj0K6RO0

Cool, thanks.

yay! i love when you bump this thread, Elvis! <3

If I want founding of LA, Chinatown, and occult weirdness to read on vacation, which book to I want?

Just got around to Dharmaland the other day it and dug it. I liked how they took it seriously with the arrangements - not kitschy or goofy at all

This is cool, thanks!

At least one of these tunes sounds a lot like a Hair outtake.

http://shadowboxstudio.com/edenahbez.htm Joe Romersa's website is my favorite Eden Ahbez thing. The best part is the section called "phone messages from ahbe" which consists of 4 long, rambling voicemails he'd left on Romersa's answering machine. In message #3, he performs an original song called "Gone Yogi".

I liked Erik Davis's blog post more than the embedded track from Dharmalands.

Speaking of Erick Davis, this one is on my short list... I heard a couple interviews with him when it was released:

High Weirdness -
Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies

https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/high-weirdness

RIP Skylaire Alfvegren. I knew her back when she was writing for Ben Is Dead and she went on to be a great writer and source for a lot of what I've been posting here. Kinda shocked here...
http://www.cryptozoonews.com/alfvegren-obi/

i'm here for jack parsons

but you know what, i'm open to other kooks as well

Have you read Strange Angel?

nope! currently trying to find somewhere i can stream the tv version though

yeah i want to watch the tv series too

The Dollop comedy podcast did a surprisingly great episode on Parsons

cant find the ep in their feed but it’s on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgTT0Om5rJw