Peace, love, and sprouts
In the early 1970s, finding a gluten-free, vegan organic lunch wasn’t so easy. Enter white-bearded polygamist Father Yod, also known as Jim Baker, and the long-haired Source Family cult, who served up plates of meatless chow supposedly prepared with the highest cosmic frequency. The godfather of fitness, Jack LaLanne, who lived till age 96, ever a finicky and healthful eater who rarely dined out, swore by the meals offered at the Source Restaurant and the other two Baker institutions, the Aware Inn and Old World on Sunset.
Father Yod and the Source Family were legendary on the Sunset Strip. The cult first lived in a beautiful 1914 mansion in Los Feliz owned by the Los Angeles newspaper moguls, the Chandlers; then, when their lease wasn’t renewed, they relocated to a much smaller house in Nichols Canyon. Yod was partial to white suits and rolled in a Rolls Royce full of seriously stunning multicultural Source Family beauties who would spill out of the car, their flowing gowns and gorgeous bright faces gleaming. Restaurateur. Spiritual guru. And band leader. Father Yod and the Family also played psychedelic rock music; albums and videos are still available today online.
Info
Address Cabo Cantina, 8301 W Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069, +1 323.822.7820, www.cabocantina.com, cabosunset@thecabocantina.com | Getting there Paid lots and metered street parking | Hours Mon & Wed 4pm–midnight, Tue & Thu 4pm–1:30am, Fri & Sat noon–1:30am, Sun noon–midnight| Tip The Chateau Marmont (8221 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90046), three blocks east on Sunset Boulevard, offers an old-school stylish lobby and bar, and a ton of pretty – and often famous – people.
Everyone came to the Source – from rock icon John Lennon, no less, to movie stars like Goldie Hawn and Warren Beatty. Woody Allen even spoofed the establishment during a scene in Annie Hall, in which Allen’s character Alvy Singer orders alfalfa sprouts with mashed yeast on the Source patio, after which he causes a commotion in the parking lot when he crashes his car.
The Source sold in 1974, with Yod and the Family relocating to Hawaii, where within a year, Yod would hang glide to the “other side,” crashing on the beach and dying days later. Today, the building on the northwest corner of Sunset Boulevard and Sweetzer Avenue is home to Cabo Cantina, and although cosmic frequencies are not on the menu, big margaritas are.
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