Monday, July 18, 2011

Anton La Vey's Black House: 6114 California St.

Now: And, Then:

The Black House was used by Anton LaVey as the headquarters of his Church of Satan from 1966 until his death in 1997. LaVey lost ownership of the house in 1991, but was allowed to reside at the Black House until his death. Members of the Church of Satan unsuccessfully attempted to raise funds to repurchase the house, and it was demolished on October 17, 2001. The original address, which was 6114 California, is no longer used.






Annotated Haight Ashbury NOW

above: The Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, today.


Recently Patty saddled up her old Mule and went to the big city...Ridgecrest! Ha, just kiddin ya, she went to San Francisco. One of her favorite places to visit there is the Upper Haight, aka the Haight-Ashbury. In her youth, Patty actually lived in the Haight. And like many other young people there had many addresses in a short period of time. Take Charlie and Mary, for instance. Most of us know about the house at 636 Cole, but did you know that they also stayed for a while at 616 Page in the lower Haight? True story. And Janis Joplin: her “most famous” address is 635 Ashbury, but the place she is said to have lived when Susan Atkins met Charlie in 1967 was a place at 122 Lyon. Sadie wrote in her autobiography that the commune in which she was staying was “right next door” to Janis. 122 is the house in the middle of the photo below, so Sadie either lived in the house on the right or on the left of it:
Patty remembers that in the early 90’s the Haight could at times be a seedy and dangerous place. Today? Not so much. Verrrrry gentrified, just like in the days before the Summer of Love. Here is Patty’s hack job map if’n you ever find yourself in the area and want to see the sights: what’s left of ‘em, that is. key to above:
Black: 543 Frederick: the Kerista Commune (okay, so they were early 70's, not 1967. Patty just likes cults)
White: 318 Parnassus, Hunter S. Thompson's pad
Red: 122 Lyon, home to Janis Joplin during 1967-1968
Orange: 558 Clayton, Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, where the girls were treated, where Gibby's mother did charity work, and where the Family became the topic of a scholarly paper entitled "A Case Study of the Charles Manson Group Marriage Commune" by Dr. David E. Smith.
Yellow: 407 Cole, original SF home of The Process Church of the Final Judgment
Purple: 1350 Waller, Digger bakery where Peter Coyote and friends baked up free wheat bread in one and two pound coffee cans. If you want the recipe, you can find it at: http://www.diggers.org/diggers/digbread.html
Pink: 710 Ashbury, Home of the Grateful Dead
Blue: 636 Cole, Charlie's Upper Haight pad


above: 407 Cole Street, Home of The Process