I

 

PART ONE through PART FIVE

Reminiscences of the City of Lost Angels
By Filis Frederick It is July, 1956.
The wind is blowing cool off the sunny San Francisco Bay. We are all standing with Baba at Coit Tower, on a sight-seeing tour. Suddenly, I hear a loud clap of hands and Adi saying, "Filis, Baba wants you." I turn and come by Baba’s side. He flings His right arm out, pointing directly south over the Bay. No word of explanation. One doesn’t ask the Avatar to explain! I think, perhaps He is referring to my mother who lives in Laguna Beach . . . Several years went by before in a strange way I was pushed to answer a “blind” ad for a game designer. I’ll try out my resume, great! I sent it in. Three months go by. Suddenly, I get a phone call; can I fly out tomorrow from New York for an in interview with Mattel Toys? The upshot of it all — though I wasn't pleased to uproot my life my life in New York (finally I had a good job, a nice apartment, Baba friends) — I moved out to the West Coast. Actually, I wanted to be close to my 77-year old mother, and it didn’t hurt that the pay was double that New York job. In November, 1960, I arrived in Manhattan Beach, California — from Manhattan to Manhattan. Nice initials, too! I'll never forget flying in at night over the L.A. basin, a cobweb of twinkling blue and orange lights — 50 square miles of unknown city and unknown people. I only knew two or three Baba lovers there. Actually, there were only a handful, and they almost never got together. It was a totally new world, but I felt Baba had some purpose for me there. I had a charming house four blocks from the ocean and a fun job. But no Baba group, no Baba talk. Once in a while with great effort, I took the RTD bus to Hollywood, three hours each way, to see Joyce Stermer or Hilde Fuchs, whom I knew from New York. Or Hilde Halpern in Pacific Palisades, who welcomed me so graciously. After a long while, I met Marguerite Poley, who lived in the Valley and took care of an invalid mother. But there were long stretches of loneliness in between. So I would hop a plane to San Francisco to be with Ivy Duce, Lud Dimpfl or other old Sufi Friends. Back in Los Angeles I started going to every New Age group I could find. I made friends with two gentlemen, Clarence and Mr. Bailey, who also enjoyed a Sunday visit to different religious groups. I didn't drive (still don't!) so this was a big help in getting to know the L.A. scene. The A.R.E. Edgar Cayce group at Holland House on Wilshire welcomed me and I gave one or two talks on Baba. Through Clarence the Santa Monica Theosophy Group asked me to speak. They were so enthused about Baba, the leader got jealous and I wasn't invited to return. Among others, I visited the Ramakrishna Center, the Philosophical Research Society, and the Self-Realization Temple, on Sunset, which maintained an excellent vegetarian restaurant where nuns in orange saris waited on you. One could sit anywhere and start a conversation on Eastern thought, New Age concepts, etc. It was there I bumped into Evelyn Blackshaw, another old-time Baba lover, who, thank heavens, didn't mind RTD-ing out to the beach to see me. Dana Field, whom I had met in New York, was in "strict" seclusion. He did venture out to the beach once, but it upset his "imaging" on Baba and he never came again.

PART TWO

In 1964, I had made an odd contact with Gene Stanlee, "Mr. America," champion wrestler, health faddist and yoga teacher. He invited me to give a talk at a two-day New Age gathering at an old spiritualist camp in Escondido (it had once been an Indian campground) in the hills. The hot-pink flyer was amazing; it featured both Gene's muscles and Baba's lovely face! I was shy about talking, so I had brought a Baba film. Promptly the projector didn't work, and George McCuen stepped forth to help. That’s how he and Adele Wolkin met. She had joined me at Baba’s direction, after a nursing stint in India. Actually, to show how fragile Baba linkups can be: in 1962 I went, of course, to the East/West Gathering. I asked a Baba lover from the East Coast, Jim Bryan, who worked in Palm Springs, if he were going too. No, he was going to open a Baba bookstore instead, which he did, for about 3 weeks only — at the corner of Manchester and Sepulveda. It was in an old theatre building, with neon lights. George McCuen saw the lights, wondered what they were, and stumbled onto this little bookstore and Baba! Jim said he was the only one interested in Baba and gave me his name on my return. I wrote George, but never heard from him for months until one midnight he knocked on my door. He wouldn't give his name — just wanted to hear of Baba! Gene was his roommate. Both were into extreme diets. In fact, Gene was a "breatharian" and would fast "on air only" for 30 days. But he always seemed to love the refreshments at my Sunday meetings! When I saw the program for the Escondito gathering, I found Jean Adriel’s name on it; she was to play "cosmic music" on the autoharp. She walked out during the Baba film. Adele and I spoke to her (she had a book table for Soaring Sunward, her autobiography). She asked us to send her love to Meher Baba. I promptly wrote Him and He sent her a loving cable saying He would be with her "till the very end." At this time she had been separating herself from the Baba world and no one knew her whereabouts, so it was good fortune to find her. She didn't want to contact any of us: the exception was Evelyn Blackshaw, as they both loved to meditate and gossip on occult matters.

PART THREE
Another person I met at this tiny New Age gathering was Merle Gould, who published the Cosmic Star and had a bookstore in Hollywood of the same name. He had made several movies; one was "The Body is a Shell," another, "The Prophesies of Nostradamus," narrated by Basil Rathbone. Merle was one of the first Californians to "network" New Age spiritual groups and arrange group conferences. It was at the Cosmic Star Bookstore I gave my first public talk on Baba . . . a slide show, "The Evolution of Consciousness" based on God Speaks. When I got home later that night, there was a cable from Baba on my door. "So happy you are giving talk on God Speaks. Love blessings, Meher Baba." Yet I had not written or cabled Him at all! This loving gesture of support from the Avatar encouraged me to continue to make contacts and give public talks, as I described above, through visiting other groups and centers in L.A. On Sunday afternoons I would have a small Baba meeting at my home (always providing a generous buffet; unused to California distances, I thought everyone would need food after the long drive out to the beach!) It was in the very early 60's that I met my first "hippie," Jim O'Brien, an ex-mental patient. He would come and talk and borrow books (and never return them!). When Dr. Hoshang Bharucha came to visit in '61, Mrs. Fuchs had arranged for our "handful" of people to meet at her home but, at the last minute, her husband refused to welcome us so she proposed meeting in Schwab’s Drugstore. I couldn't see it; then Jim spoke up: "Come to my pad." So we held our very first L.A. meeting in the first "hippie pad" I'd seen — mattress on the floor, no furniture, stacks of books. Dr. Bharucha seemed disconcerted at first, but relaxed as he began to talk — teasing us by saying he knew who and where the Five Perfect masters of the Age were, etc, etc. I think he had expected me to have a big group in this city and was very disappointed. But no one did, really, until 1965 or so. Ivy Duce used to phone me and complain how difficult it was to keep the Sufi Center open. Baba told her to be patient and one day the souls would come . . . and they did! In 1964 it all began to happen: the Berkeley sit-in, love-ins, riots, Tim O'Leary and Dr. Alpert pushing LSD, the Beatles, the Vietnam war, Jerry Rubin and all the rest of the 60's flash. The flower children sprouted everywhere . . . and so did the sudden upsurge of interest in Meher Baba, of course, along with other Eastern gurus: the little Maharshi and his TM mantras, Bubba Free John, Self-Realization, Zen, the Tibetans, the Hari Krishna's, the Moonies, the Children of God, and others I can't even recall got their fair share of attention. And in the orthodox religions, there were the Charismatics, the Jesus freaks, the speakers in tongues, etc. (see Larry Pesta's story, p.44). As Baba said, when the big Avatar-wave arises in the Ocean of Love, all the little creeks and rivers of the old-time religions get filled up, too. I recall going with a friend in 1964 to hear Leary and Alpert at the Santa Monica Auditorium. They were apostles of a new "revolution" in consciousness — achievable [sic] the hallucinogenic drugs, peyote, LSD, etc. The hall was packed. I remember being shocked and angry that a drug high was being equated with illumination. The rest is history now. Alpert, actually, after hearing of Baba from Allan Cohen, went to India to try and meet Him, but the God-man was in seclusion. Alpert found another guru and became Baba Ramdas. There is an interesting correspondence between Alpert and Baba on drugs and it became the basis of the Baba pamphlet. "God in a Pill". Meher Baba took a strong slant against drugs and was much concerned with their use by young people in the West. He asked three young men, Robert Dreyfuss, Allan Cohen and Rick Chapman to be his "Three Musketeers" and crusade against drugs; He wanted them to use the electronic media as much as possible. This led to an interesting development here in LA. In 1967 the boys called me up and said they had 10 days of free time and they wanted to fulfill Baba's order and get on TV and radio — would I help? I was stuck: whom did I know in Hollywood? No one! I had visited a few studios for Mattel, and Angela Lansbury's mother had come to our meetings once or twice. Then I remembered Nick Lamprinos, who had appeared on the Joe Pyne Show when Merle Gould had demonstrated the quackery of Philippine "psychic surgeons". Nick had been the patient! Backstage, Nick had become friendly with the producer. Nick volunteered to contact him, and sure enough, Joe Pyne liked the idea — a show based on pro and con advocates of hallucinogenic drugs. But he did not expect the pro-druggie to collapse right on camera! A touch of Baba's humor! Allan and Rick quoted Avatar Meher Baba’s message against drugs. Fortunately, "avatar" was a non-denominational word, or Joe might have been unfriendly. The upshot was that all the big L.A. TV and radio talk shows invited the boys to appear . . . Louie Lomax, Stan Bohrman, Peter Bergman, Elliott Mintz, etc. In ten days, they appeared on 18 different shows. Someone even asked us who our publicity agent was! Because of this first media breakthrough, Rick, Allan and Robert and others, including myself later on, gained access to many shows, thus fulfilling Baba’s wish. Rick writes to Mani: "Opportunities in Los Angeles have been extraordinary. On August 19th (1967) Allan (Cohen) and I appeared on a radio program for two hours which reaches a million persons in this area. On August 22 we taped a radio interview with Joe Pyne, whose show is nationally syndicated and reaches several million. The following day we participated in his television show, which reaches about fifty million across the nation ― and not a drop of cynical venom for which the show is famous appeared during our interview. He asked about Your Silence, why you keep it, what You predict for the future of humanity, whether You claim to be like Jesus and Buddha, whether You have disciples like Jesus did; and the rest of the show was occupied with LSD and drugs in general."

PART FOUR

"Remarkably, a snake charmer was the guest on the show just preceding our appearance, and before we appeared Joe Pyne had both a boa constrictor and a dove in his hand. A hippie who had been called up to defend LSD before the camera, fainted with a strange shaking while he was talking. "By now the Joe Pyne TV show had appeared both in Los Angeles and in New York. It will follow a syndicated schedule around the country appearing one week'" one major city. The next week in another" A strange "coincidence" was the last words Baba said to Rick when he met Him in India. "Remember where the snake Is, the dove is!" The 60's breakthrough for Baba here in Los Angeles came as swiftly as it did in other cities. Ivy Duce and her Sufi Center (near the Avalon Ballroom and Haight-Ashbury) was inundated with young seekers many stoned on drugs and in full 60's regalia long hair, beads, dirty jeans and sandals, backpacks and following mad diets. The "flower children" had burst into bloom everywhere no doubt in response to Baba's inner "call". He had told them, His 'jewels' would be coming to Him. As Allan Collen wrote Mani -" Interest and familiarity -with Baba's Name has been rising at a rapid rate. Unquestionably, Baba's tempo in the U.S. is speeding up spectacularly - word of the Beloved has quickened the hearts of many who have been yearning for they knew not what. He seems to be reaping a harvest of ripe souls with the ancient tools of love and inspiration. And even the infinitesimal part of His management of the 'Love Farm' which I see leaves me in wonderment and awe of His seemingly incredible Mastery of its technology, administration and most minute detail! JAI BABA!!" Everywhere a network of underground newspapers flourished promoting with equal zeal drugs, rock music, anti-establishment and anti-war feelings Greenpeace and spiritual search. Kerouac’s "On the Road" beatniks had moved on and their place was taken by hordes of mobile (downwardly mobile?!) youngsters — usually from upper or middle class families with a safety net of a check from home in the back pocket of their jeans, who casually tramped the highways and byways of the United States and abroad. The Hollywood Free Press appeared in L.A. and I promptly placed ads for Meher Baba, offering free literature and information. It turned the key: Baba's beauty beckoned amidst the gritty sex ads and cartoons, and the wave of "new" Baba lovers began. One of the first new-age hippies in all his almost-naked splendor (big Afro, great torso, shorts, surfer's tan) was Billy Gray, demanding to know all about the Avatar of the Age. Billy, though he'd been on 200 acid trips, had one of the most brilliant minds I ever encountered, and his questions about Baba were equal to a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy, which brings up an interesting point. "New age cults" (with which the Meher Baba movement is still classified) have been analyzed from all sorts of points of view — sociological, medical, psychological, theological, etc., but very few writers have touched on one key-note: these youngsters wanted better answers to the age-old questions of whence and whither, i.e. better philosophy, better cosmology. They were really seekers after wisdom, not just counter-culture escapists. And Meher Baba, as we know gives better answers. Surfing in California creates an up-and-down-the-coast (and into Mexico) fraternity — everyone knows everyone else — and in 1965 the Baba-fuse lit by one or two surfers like Billy Gray and Jimmy Irons sputtered and caught fire among a whole generation. Soon my living room was packed with young people, asking about Baba, feeling drawn to Him and His Divinity. He's the Avatar? Wonderful! Tell us more. Gone were the metaphysical arguments, the theological debates of the 40's and 50's in New York and even of those older-generation seekers I'd met early on in L.A. It was definitely a nouveau vague of seekers. In rebelling against their parent's goals of success, fame, profits, security and social stratification, they also rebelled against the dry and barren religions, or in many cases, agnosticism, of their parents. Even the pseudo-mystical drug experiences did their part, as Meher Baba has said in "God in a Pill". Dealing with young people on drugs, though, was sometimes a sad experience. As the San Francisco police reported to Allan Cohen, of those who experimented with LSD, one-third died, one-third went insane, one-third survived. I had to deal with some of these cases; people who had been literally experimented on by psychiatrists or psychologists investigating "super" consciousness (sic! sick!) It was also the heyday of TM, Kriya Yoga, tantric yoga, aura balancing, etc. — a general mishmash of Eastern and Western religious practices. I called it a transfusion of Eastern thought with a dirty needle, into Western minds. My own psychic experiences came in very handy. The "torn" aura of a drug abuser is pathetic to look at. Then there were those convinced because of their drug high, that they were advanced on the planes or even God-Realized! As Eruch said, "Only in America!" But many biggies made this mistake, Dr. John C. Lilly and Aldous Huxley, for example. Alpert (now Ramdas) himself had to hear the truth from Meher Baba: God is not God if He can be reached by drugs. The young souls who came to Baba in the 60's struggled to obey His definite NO on drugs. Most succeeded and it amazes me to this day how loyal to Baba they have been right into the 80's. The seeds of love Baba planted then in their hearts have flowered so well — the flowers of love for Him have blossomed in His flower children!! The backbone of most Baba groups around the world is in this age group. Now they're all middle-aged, and some are facing normal mid-life crises! Another factor, that the media were then open to Baba's message on drugs in the 60's, helped make the public familiar with His message. Rick Chapman founded Meher Baba Information, "The Box" 1101, in Berkeley and gave away thousands of information packets. He also wrote How to Choose a Guru. Peter Townshend, the rock idol, on whose photo Baba had emphatically placed His thumb, listed Avatar Meher Baba as his "producer" on some of his albums. His hit rock opera, "Tommy" was a well-disguised allegory of the spiritual search for God. The Rolling Stone Magazine had a cover story on Baba in August 1969. What a trip that was, to see it strung up in rows on a New York newsstand! Peter Max quoted Baba on his psychedelic posters for Fifth Avenue buses. On the New York subways, 60's posters were big, and "The Ancient One" poster caught the eye of so many young hearts, as did the first and favorite of a snowstorm of Baba cards — "Don't Worry, Be Happy!" Buttons were in, and Baba buttons (oh! blessed buttons — if you find one) were sought after. Now my house couldn't hold all the seekers, so I improvised meetings on the beach, in public parks (Alondra, Rancho, Griffith) and bank community rooms. We were excluded finally from American Savings (Manhattan Beach) because we sported beards, sandals, painted vans, and because someone stole a can of deodorant from the men's room! I felt it was time the youngsters conduct their own meetings, and learn to reach out to others. For a while, we met at Antoinette's home on a Venice canal. Then came our first Baba bookstore, in Hermosa Beach, opened by Ivan Mosko, my boss's nephew. He had quit Mattel to do so and for a while I thought I might be fired for "influencing the young." Then another bookstore was opened on Pacific Avenue in Venice. A third was started in Pasadena by John and Judy Page, a fourth in Huntington Beach by Barbara MacReynolds and Ken Pellman, then a fifth in Santa Barbara, where a wave of love for Baba opened up suddenly through Paul Siem and a talk I gave there. Paul and Mike Thorne composed and played our first original Baba songs on guitar. It was the era of the "crash pad” and some bookstores became such as well as meeting places. Several romances and marriages got started this way and, in fact, I know of one handsome youngster who started his life journey right in our Hermosa Store! Hermosa City Hall had made us promise: No candles, no incense, no posters, only white walls, and no more than two people inside at a time! But two are two enough. Hitchhiking was "in" in the mobile 60’s and the Baba cards went along. It was through a card left on a bar in San Blas, Mexico, a big surfing spot, that Jack Small and others had come to Baba. Jack drove all the way from Mexico to hear of Baba. He arrived in a long white caftan on crutches (he had had hepatitis) with a long red beard and red hair, and a headband, supported by his friend Mike. He had been on drugs (he passed his bar exam stoned on LSD). Baba was a turning point in their lives. I advised them to visit the Center in Myrtle Beach and it was Elizabeth who persuaded Jack to cut his hair. It was at the Center where Virginia’s* love for Baba was awakened. Both returned to LA, and became part of the ever-growing group. Virginia was one of the few pro-Baba parents. I used to get quite a bit of static from irate parents. I had to hide one boy, Duncan Guild, in my apartment for a week. Another girl was kidnapped by her parents, held in a motel in Long Beach to be "deprogrammed" by Ted Patrick. She escaped and called me. Later, she voluntarily returned to the motel so as not to "upset her parents," feeling she could hang on to Baba regardless — which happened. Other parents literally tossed their underage kids out onto the street. One girl molested by her step-father, had told her mother, only to be turned out helpless and penniless. When we rescued her and helped her — especially to get off drugs― the mother upbraided me! There were many stories like this. In all the years, only one parent, that of Brigit Saviskas, even thanked me for helping get her child off drugs. That was a special moment. What were the meetings like at the old Venice bookstore with the flower-painted windows? Guitar music, Om and Baba name chanting, Baba readings, occasional Baba movies; we even experimented for a while together with Allan Hill with some group therapy and games. Many times someone came in, stoned, off the street and we had to deal gently with them. We made up plays about Baba's life, new Baba songs, and discussed the Discourses (on sex, God-Realization, what Baba wants, who am I?) Romance bloomed and here and there there was a Baba wedding. Merwan Scott was our first baby. Baba lovers then and now cannot afford babysitters, so we had to get used to these screaming participants. Strangers knocked on my door, too, at any hour. Wandering Baba lovers were common and expected instant food and shelter. I got used to that, too. I was earning my title as "Mother of the Hippies" and "Cosmic Mother." But, on the whole, the "nouveau vague" were great kids and I enjoyed their company. They weren't actually street people; most were college dropouts and very intelligent and well-mannered, underneath! Here are a few highlights from John Page, one of the earliest LA. Baba lovers: "It was March, 1969, when the scent of Beloved Baba's Divine Love first wafted out of a small storefront at 31 West Union St. in Pasadena, California. In those halcyon days of hippies and "flower power" a small group of Baba's lovers began meeting in a part of Pasadena's "Olde Towne" area. We all thought our street address was significant: "31" was the year Baba first came to the West. And "Union" street was about as close to "Love Street" as one could get! Plus, Union St. was a one-way street! "In this section of west Pasadena there were many "new age" businesses and store fronts, just one block from Pasadena's skid row. In fact, not long after we opened, the landlord rented the store next to us to a motorcycle club, which turned out to be a gang (the "Chosen Few")! The landlord was so afraid of them, that when they got behind in their rent, he was scared to go to them to demand payment! Sometimes we would have a meeting, and Baba's lovers would have a hard time finding a place to park because there were customized "choppers" lining both sides of the streets! Actually the gang members were nice enough. They left us alone and we left them alone. But we did have to pick up their littered beer cans occasionally. "The building itself was quite old. Our storefront was approximately 900 square feet, with a skylight in the ceiling. We painted the walls a Baba-pink, and covered them with posters and photographs. We even had flowers painted on the front window! Our storefront was one long room which we partitioned into four areas. The front two were devoted to books and posters for sale. With an occasional exception, only books by or about Baba or Perfect Masters were offered for sale. The third section of the bookstore was a meeting room with enough space for 50 people. The last section was for storage although it had been the residence of the early caretakers. "This was the era of the "flower children" and Baba's lovers were no exception. They were an interesting mixture of all types, from many backgrounds. Some were conservative, some liberal, some rich and some poor, but all shared a common focus - Baba! Many had been taking drugs until they heard of Baba's warnings. We all knew Who Baba was, which led to a close feeling of family. "Our meetings ranged from studying Baba's discourses, to singing songs devoted to Baba, to having a special guest speaker. We were fortunate to have talks by: Adi K. Irani, Meherjee Karkaria, Sarosh Irani, Murshida Duce, Lud Dimpfl, Filis Frederick, Rick Chapman, Max Häfliger, Allan Cohen, Darwin and Jeanne Shaw, Virginia Rudd, Rano Gayley, Viloo Irani, and many, many others. "We were known then as the Meher Baba Bookstore. But there were also other bookstores in Southern California that were dedicated to Baba. At different times there were bookstores in: Hermosa Beach, Venice, Huntington Beach, and Santa Barbara. All were full of Baba's Love and channels for spreading His message of Love and Truth but none lasted beyond the mid-1970s.

PART FIVE

"We remained in Pasadena at that location for four happy years. In the summer of 1973 we moved into a new building. What prompted the move was that one of our volunteer workers had her purse stolen. We took it as a sign from Baba that it was time to move to a nicer neighborhood. We moved to an area in the business district, 393 East Green Street (another one-way street!) We obtained a more spacious building that had been used for decades as a real estate agency. There was a private office, meditation room, children's room, men's and women's bathrooms, a nice bookstore area, and a separate meeting room with a lovely high ceiling. "We were less "hippyish" by that time so there were no longer flowers on the windows! We flourished, the community of Baba's lovers grew and was nourished, and we stayed until July of 1977. Our very last meeting was with Adi K. Irani who was our special guest at that summer's 3rd annual Sahavas. "While we were at our Green Street address, in 1974, we made the legal change into a nonprofit corporation. We then became officially and legally, the "Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California." For the 5 years that we had been the Meher Baba Bookstore we had been run by a "steering committee" which was made up of anyone who wanted to be on it. We usually met once a month. However, when we became a corporation we changed our format to a 9-member board of directors, chosen from among the Baba community in an annual democratic election. "Our area of town came under the aegis of a new city redevelopment plan and we had to vacate. It wasn't for another three months that we reopened - this time in the city of Los Angeles. We had a wonderful 8½ year stay in Pasadena!" One day in the 60's, the phone rang and someone asked to speak to Meher Baba. I said, "He's silent, and He's in India." It was the producer of the Joe Pyne show. He said, "Will He come and break His silence on our show?" I said, "I don't think so." Anyway, they invited me as a guest on their half-hour TV show. I consented to be introduced as "the woman who says she met God in human form." I had a trial run on their radio show where I teased Pyne about reincarnation. I said I knew him long ago in China. "In the Teahouse of the August Moon?" he quipped. I said "Maybe, and you were a skeptic then, too!" I think my sense of humor convinced him I was OK for a TV interview. On TV, for the first 10 minutes he was more or less polite, then he became abrasive. He didn’t really care, or listen for your answers. He just wanted to upset you — as he had done to the previous interviewee who I had watched. He had brought to tears a housewife who had written an innocuous book about her visit to Russia; I vowed silently he wouldn't upset me. So when he thrust my Awakener magazine up to the camera, sneering, "Is this the face of God?" I remained calm. In the breaks for commercials, he got his audience tittering by telling dirty jokes. Then he used the derisive tittering as background for his questions. It hit me on an ancient nerve — laughter at the Godman. I was back in the streets of Jerusalem on the way to Calvary. I glanced over at Mr. Pyne and saw "psychically" blood was pouring out of his chest. It's a curious fact that two or three weeks later he died of a lung hemorrhage. Because of this, my half hour interview on Baba was played over and over again, about seven times, with a million viewers each time. It was also shown nationwide. Even years later, people recognize Baba’s face from that brief appearance on his show. So old Joe Pyne did his bit for the Avatar, although in reverse gear. It was 2 a.m. February 1, 1969, when Ivy Duce phoned me that Baba had dropped His body. Don Stevens had called from London, hearing the news from Baba's brother, Adi. Jr. I waited a while, in a state of shock, then phoned Margaret Craske in New York — 5:30 a.m. her time, and asked her to call the Myrtle Beach Center. Fred Winterfeldt didn't believe the news and cabled India. Yes, the Master had left us, physically. But only a few garbled lines appeared in the L.A. Times (UP) that a silent holy man, Meher Baba, had died in a cave in North India! They would not print a retraction. But Elliott Mintz on radio announced Baba's death beautifully. The underground papers reported it with photo and vita. The Cosmic Star published Rick Chapman's long account. But how was I to tell all those dear young people who had never met Him? Especially those that had signed up for the '69 Last Darshan trip to meet Him in April? Two chartered planes were reserved. Fortunately, two stalwarts, Jack Small and Susan Herr, took over. Quickly, the young lovers gathered at my home. The love and devotion in their hearts for Baba held up under this blow to their hopes, and were an inspiration to me. As one said, "We never saw Baba in the body, so we will not miss it but we will feel His Love." Some did drop away from the chartered plane flight (set for April 9 in combination with the Sufis up north). In the end, only one planeload left. I had a hectic time reorganizing the group flight — "hippies" were notoriously careless about details like messages, addresses, payments, passports, etc. Several took off independently to hitch-hike there, going overland! Bill Files, a teenager was one; he made it, but got very sick. Every Monday night at the Venice bookstore, we all lined up for our travel shots, given to us free by the concerned parents (a doctor and a nurse) of one 16 year old girl. We sang, we chanted Baba’s name, we gazed lovingly at His photos, we clung even closer together in our peculiar combination of grief and joy. It was a "passages" point for us all. I got the Asian flu and had to drop out of this first flight with my dear "Angelenos." I missed the second flight also and went on the third, in early June, leaving from New York, with the "Society for Avatar Meher Baba." Most were from New Jersey. Coincidence: Just two weeks before I left, Mattel held a shotgun at my head: they were transferring me to Plainfield, N.J.! Our special "Last Darshan" issue, Volume 13, No. 1-2 describes in detail these three flights of Westerners to the abode of the Beloved in Guruprasad, Poona, so I won't go into them here. How these young lovers dared to go halfway round the world loving the Avatar "Not in the flesh but in the spirit," as St. John says, is an amazing story, and even made the pages of the New Yorker magazine (under "Jai Baba"). Two prophesies of Baba were fulfilled — He gave darshan lying down, and His new young "jewels" came for this darshan out of the West as He had told the mandali. And they still go on pilgrimage, now to Meherazad and Meherabad . . . the pilgrimage of the heart, a wonderful generation! They are still the core of Baba groups everywhere. It was very heart-breaking for me to have to pack up and leave L.A. in August, 1969 to the wilds of New Jersey, leaving behind this circle of young Baba lovers. I was glad I had encouraged them to be self-directive and this they were. The Venice bookstore and the Pasadena bookstore survived. Finally, when I returned in 1971, meetings were being held mostly in Pasadena on Union St. They had successfully kept a real bookstore going and had entertained guests from India like Rano Gayley, Meherji Karkaria, and Adi K. Irani. What about my almost-two-years in New Jersey? A most interesting hiatus for me, useless as far as my career went — I was constantly given more money and less work, a typical Mattel gaff. But Plainfield was near Rutgers University and I started a small Monday night group there. The University was happy to give us a room, and soon the group grew in size. We even held big meetings on campus, inviting Allan Cohen and Rick Chapman to speak. I fondly recall our first poster, "Stoned on God? Allan Cohen talks on Higher Consciousness," a sort of tongue-in-cheek invite to the drug generation. Also, in New York City, my old home town, I was instrumental in getting Baba House started, in the Village. For several years the young people there had wanted to open a Center, but were not encouraged by the old timers. I said, "Do it!" and we rented a place on 4th St off Sheridan Square. With the help of Henry Kashouty, we formed our first non-profit Baba corporation, by-laws and all, which later became a model for our group here in L.A. and also for the Meher Baba League (now Lovers) in Northern California. Other groups have also taken to the democratic form which I feel carries out Baba's guide-lines given to me in the 50's. I also contacted many people informally in my New Jersey home. Mattel had kindly also transferred Peter Justin to the same plant so I had at least one Baba lover to help me to get around. I'll never forget the long drive to New York on that rotten New Jersey turnpike: ice, snow, sleet, rain, big trucks! Billy Files had moved specially from California to help "taxi" me around — so sweet of him. Our founding of Baba House created some conflicts with the Society which felt it was the only legitimate Baba group in town — rather odd, since the original Monday night group was about fifteen years older. We did our best to get along with them, but this lack of unity in the Baba family at times was very discouraging. And Dr. Kenmore, their leader, had first heard of Baba through Adele Wolkin, and I had been his first Baba patient, whom he used to question for hours about Baba! Such is the lot of a "Baba worker" — brickbats follow bouquets in case you get a swelled head! Back to L.A. (I returned in 1971). Our Pasadena bookstore on Green St. was on the street level and very spacious. We decorated it with Baba's seven-colored rainbow in felt and built our own bookshelves. We already had a fine counter left by previous owners. We even had a children's playroom and a small office/meditation room. But later, the building was condemned by the city which paid us a lump sum to move out. It took us one year to find our present quarters at 10808 Santa Monica Boulevard. By the time we moved, we were a "legal entity" with a duly-elected Board of Directors, committees of various kinds and especially the Sahavas Committee. It was in 1974 that a small group of us were invited to Chris Pearson's cabin in the San Bernardino Mountains for a camping weekend. On the way (we drove at night to escape the heat) we stopped at a fork in the road to look at the stars and stretch our legs. Suddenly I saw Baba on the road. I didn't tell anyone, but later we decided, because we had had so much fun together, to find a bigger place to camp. We finally found Loch Laven Camp, which was reached from that very fork in the road! We had our first Sahavas in 1974, about one hundred people; Henry Kashouty was our first guest. So I believe it was all in the Avatar's plan from the beginning! Next year we celebrate our 13th Annual Sahavas, and now other groups around the world have taken up the idea. We've had many distinguished guests at our Sahavas, including, in 1977, Adi K. Irani, and, in 1985, both Bhau Kalchuri and Kitty Davy. We still keep inviting the women mandali from India! Pilgrim Pines is now "our" camp; we've been there 7 years. Sahavas is "the give and take of love" — don't we all need it! Baba has "appeared" to me at the Center several times and to some others. His presence is felt strongly there by many. One of my favorites: We were rehearsing a play at the Center on a long hot afternoon. Suddenly, I saw Baba and I heard Him say, "I like rehearsals. My whole Creation is a rehearsal — for God-Realization." We also have Baba's chair at the Center — the chair He sat in, at Mrs. Fuch's house in Hollywood, 1956. Clive Adams rescued it at the last moment from a sale of her belongings after she died. And we have Baba’s daaman, or garment, given to our group by the mandali. But best of all, we keep a loving family feeling going at the Center. We've had some very interesting caretakers: Rick Peikoff, Dana Field, Larry Fletcher, Ken and Kathleen Havens, and now Greg Dunn. The house at the back has been for quite a few years a "Baba bunker" with assorted bachelor Baba lovers domiciled there. This has made it easier to give parties and barbecues and other get-togethers. Our efforts to reach out to the public have been continuous: ads in the local "counter culture" press (it's hopeless in the L.A. Times!), public meetings when we hire a larger hall, appearances on local TV shows (Damian Simpson, Group W cable, etc.). Our bookstore, devoted extensively to works by and about Meher Baba, is actually now the only "open" Baba bookstore (outside of the book room at Sheriar Press) in the Western world. We've had a few tense moments: one girl threatened to shoot me if I didn't tell her beau to marry her; one fellow claiming to be the reincarnation of Meher Baba arrived ready to make trouble; a few drunks and stoned passersby — but, again it's all in a day’s work for the Avatar. At present, we’re looking for some kind of "Permanent Site" to settle in as our very own, and I believe we will, as Baba predicted one of His 5 Centers in the West would be in a great city. Los Angeles is now the largest city in the U.S. And the Angel Moroni on the Mormon Temple points gleamingly towards the Avatar Meher Baba Center of Los Angeles. PART ONE THROUGH PART SIX THE WHOLE STORY