Gypsy Boots and the Nature Boys
"Some people, when they think of Southern California, think of nuts. Not the kind that grow in trees, but the kind that swing in trees—the bearded, mop-haired, half-naked vegetarians who wander around in the hills and occasionally roll into town like a pack of wild men. It was quite a few tears ago when I lived like this."
So reminisces Gypsy Boots, arguably the Golden State's most well know "native" son. His fur-framed smile was an early '60s fixture on teleevision's Steve Allen Show, where he swung like an ape from the rafters and squeezed fresh juice on stage, all the while clad in his trademark loincloth. His Health Hut on Beverly Blvd. was Hollywood's first health food store when it opened in 1958. And through his entertaining the attendees of Griffith Park love-ins by climbing around in the treetops, Boots represented the cleaner side of hippy life, a sort of antithesis to the acid-centric philosophies of Timothy Leary and Owsley. . .
Not long after Boots passed away at age 89 I wrote an article called "Gypsy Boots, The Nature Boys, and The German Path to Well-Being" for Ken Miller's Anathema magazine. The article's basically an overview of a visionary life that influenced everyone from Sky Saxon and Father Yod to iron-pumpin' Arnold Schwarzenegger. But Boots didn't just invent this type of lifestyle, for generations Teutonic teetotalists had been turning to the earth for nutrition, health and lifestyle matters. Consider Boots as Naturmensch's best-known American spokesperson. The above is just the intro, so if you want to read more, please buy the magazine directly from their website. Oh, and Brother Michael from the East does the illustrations.