Joel Pugh's Death Abroad and His San Francisco Address

When an American citizen dies outside of the United States a Report of a Death of an American Citizen form is filled out.  This form falls under the purview of the US State Department and is filled out by the American consulate or embassy officials in the country where the American citizen died.

Such a form was generated upon the December 2, 1969 death of Joel Pugh in London England.

A few years ago Simon Wells posted  Joel's activities leading up to  his unfortunate death at his blog.  Wells interviewed friends and family of Joel who gave candid insight about Joel's mental decline.  It goes a long way to debunk the notion that his death was a murder.  It seems fairly clear to me that Joel's death was indeed due to suicide.  It was not another death supposedly at the hands of a Family member, namely in this case, Bruce Davis. 

Joel Pugh's last known address in the US was 27 Carl Street San Francisco CA.  This address is considered to be in Cole Valley in the Haight-Ashbury district according to real estate websites.  The Zillow listing for this property, which is "off market",  says that it is a condo with 1000sf,  --bedrooms and 1 bathroom.  It looks like the home was converted to 2 or 3 condos.  The current market value of this particular condo is $1,022,814.  and it has a rental estimate of $4,395.!!!

Joel's unit is accessed through a gate to the right of the home.  A big thank you to Stoner for getting the pictures for the blog while on a day "trip" to Haight-Ashbury!

I wondered whether or not the Carl Street address was associated with the Family in any way even though there is no evidence that anyone connected to the Family other than Sandy Good knew Joel.  Surprise, surprise!  I found a distant connection to Carl Street.  There is no limit to the degrees of separation or synchronicity when it comes to the Family.

The connection came in the form of a post made by Matt, here at the blog back in October 2014.  Remember Jan Holstrom, the man that threw a flammable liquid on Charlie Manson and set him afire while in Vacaville Prison in 1984?  After Holstrom, a Hare Krishna devotee, was released from prison he first lived in Berkeley at a Hare Krishna temple.  When that temple moved to San Francisco Holstrom moved with them.  Holstrom made the news in 1995 when he stabbed a fellow Krishna. The new temple was located at 84 Carl Street, on the same block, across the street and down a few doors, from Joel Pugh's old home. What are the odds?

The Krishna temple sits between a café and small city park, it is still functioning as an academic center for the group.

The Old Russian Embassy

The William Westerfeld Mansion sits across the street from the northwest corner of Alamo Square in San Francisco at 1198 Fulton Street and is known as The Old Russian Embassy. Constructed in 1889 at a cost of $9,985, the home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is San Francisco Landmark Number 135.

Timeline:

1928 – A group of Czarist Russians bought the home. They turned the ground-floor ballroom into a nightclub called Dark Eyes and used the upper floors for meeting rooms. The house became known informally as the "Russian Embassy".

1965 – The house was mentioned in the book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. The Calliope Company, a fifty-member collective, moved in.

1967 – Underground filmmaker Kenneth Anger took up residence. Anger filmed Invocation of My Demon Brother starring Bobby Beausoleil and Anton LaVey, and featuring music by Mick Jagger. According to this blog, "Invocation of My Demon Brother was assembled from scraps left over from Anger’s first version of Lucifer Rising he made in San Francisco. This first production came to a halt after the script was stolen by Bobby Beausoleil. Invocation of My Demon Brother summed up Anger’s feelings about the Vietnam war and is a collection of images intended to invoke a spell and induce a drug-like experience. The film was shot in The Straight Theater and The Russian Embassy in San Francisco. Anger also works in war shots, a cat funeral and footage from a Rolling Stones concert. Mick Jagger improvised a soundtrack for Invocation of My Demon Brother on a Moog Synthesizer." During this time, Stanton LaVey told Marlyn Marynick that he believes that his grandparents, Kenneth, Bobby, Charles Manson and Susan Atkins were all in the same place at the same time.

1968 – Members of the Family Dog occupied the house while promoting acid rock concerts at the Avalon Ballroom. Members of the Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company were frequent visitors.

View interiors of the William Westerfeld Mansion here.

 above: friend of the blog Stoner Van Houten recreates Bobby Beausoleil's iconic portrait.

Revolution!

Patty supposes she might unofficially be starting an Eviliz.com "Netflix Companion:" recently she discussed "Wild in the Streets" and "Jesus Christ Superstar;" today she will touch on a little gem of a documentary produced in the Haight-Ashbury and released in 1968 that is called quite simply, "Revolution!"

What makes this movie most relevant to Manson researchers is its period look inside the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic at 558 Clayton Street (You can see a photo of the Free Clinic TODAY on Eviliz.com here:

http://www.mansonblog.com/2011/07/annotated-haight-ashbury-now.html

At or around minute 36, the interior of the two front rooms full of medical personnel and hippies is fully visible for several minutes. From a victorian bay window, you can see a short, waif-like little man pacing down on the corner...
...could it be???

Nah...

Anyhoo. You may remember that Dr. David E. Smith was the author of a scholarly paper on the Family entitled "The Group Marriage Commune: A Case Study" in the September, 1970 Journal of Psychedelic Drugs. Dr. Smith is also the founder of the free clinic, and also of Rock Med. Surely, Dr. Smith must have known Ines Folger quite well, wouldn't you think? He has a cameo of sorts at or about minute 18 as the camera pans a public health poster that reads as follows:

"STP Users: Do not take thorazine, seconal or other downers for STP bum trips. David E. Smith, M.D. If you need help, call free medical clinic 431-1714 558 Clayton Street."

STP gets mentioned more than once before the credits roll. Patty never realized before how available it must have been back then. For those of you unfamiliar, STP (aka DOM, aka 2,5-Dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine) is a hallucinogenic characterized by vibrations, distortions, increased sexual sensation and a rise in blood pressure.

One final though before Patty ceases to bore you with her background research...Today. Today Malone is the sunny blonde star who sells dope and booklets on "How To Roll The Perfect Joint" to passers-by:

In the movie, Today says that she took her name because, you know, it's beautiful. "Like, totally NOW." Heard this one before? From Scientology? Or The Process? Or one of the groups mentioned in this film like The Hip Job Co-Op, The Diggers, The Krishna Temple, The Love Vortex or the Orifice? Patty wonders if Today ever met The Family? She looks just like one of the girls but more conventionally "pretty." Here, just to stay kind of on topic, Patty presents you with Today yesterday and Today today:

And, Dr. Smith yesterday and today:

The Social Swim by Yvonne: A Big Evening for Gibby Folger

San Francisco Examiner, December 22, 1961

Exotic Abigal (Gibby) Folger was presented to San Francisco and Peninsula society last night at a magnificent Italianate ball given by her father and stepmother, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Folger, at the Hotel St. Francis.

Seemingly dozens of dinners were given first, but by far the largest was the one hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Kelham in the hotel's Borgia Room.

It was for all this year's debs, their escorts and a few of the Kelhams' friends. Guests included the Folgers, the James Floods, Mr. and Mrs. James Barnett of Bel Air, Mrs. Selby McCreery, Peter McBean, Whitney Warren and Mrs. Ines Mejia Folger, who is Gibby's mother.

Mrs. Kelham was a hostess in abstentia, because she has been hospitalized and is now convalescing.

The dinner tables were covered with American Beauty satin cloths, and centerpieces included gold baskets filled with white camellias and garlanded gold candelabra.

Mr. and Mrs. Folger and Gibby received in the foyer beside the Colonial Room. The tall debutante's dress was a bright yellow Dior, which she purchased in Paris last summer. It was designed with an Empire bodice, three-quarter-length sleeves and a long skirt. Mrs. Folger's gown had a square-necked green sequin bodice and a white satin skirt.

Bruce Kelham was decor adviser and began with a pink and green color scheme. The receiving line was stationed in front of a trellis entwined with foliage and pink camellias. Beside it was a filigree screen with Gibby's orchid gifts.

Ernie Heckscher's Orchestra played for dancing at the opposite end of the room, the musicians flanked by 14-foot pink and green striped banners drawn up above the center of the ensemble.

The little balcony boxes around the room were shaded with pink and green striped awnings.

Supper was served after midnight in the adjoining Italian Room, where the small tables were covered in dusty pink satin and the buffet in green satin.

The entrance to the room was marked with striped maypole banners. Behind the buffet were jewel-studded gilded instruments joined together with pink camellias and puffs of pink satin.

Among the dinner parties given before the ball were those hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Sutro, Scott Martin, Dr. and Mrs. Cabot Brown, the Marshal Fishers, Dr. and Mrs. Ralph Soto-Hall and Mr. and Mrs. George Kimball. The Kimballs' party honored Nancy Miller, the Harry East Millers' daughter, who made her debut last year.

Other dinners were given by Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Dohrmann, the Charles Mayers and the Charles Munns.

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

636 Cole St. in San Francisco

 

Another address for Charlie, Mary and Lynn.