Inside the Source Family, bizarre 1970s Hollywood sex cult
The story of one of Los Angeles’ first wellness cults is reportedly being adapted into a television series starring Mark Ruffalo.
Known as the Source Family, the group had a prominent flash in the pan from the late 1960s until they began to disband after their eccentric leader died in a hang-gliding accident in Hawaii in 1975.
During their heyday, about 140 men and women lived in a series of communes in Southern California, where they dressed in flowing robes, practiced tantric sex, and recorded a series of psychedelic rock albums.
They also, famously, operated a health restaurant on the Sunset Strip that was frequented by the likes of John Lennon, Joni Mitchell, and Marlon Brando.
They worshiped at the altar of Father Yod, born Jim Baker. He was a reported World War II fighter pilot, bank robber, lethal judo expert, and wealthy Midwesterner who developed a religious philosophy that combined astrology, mysticism, Western esotericism, and a number of other spiritual philosophies.
Father Yod took 14 “spiritual wives” within the group and encouraged underage female members to marry older men – leading some to describe him as “a dirty old man on a lust journey.” However, unlike many cults of the era that gained notoriety for the horrific abuses suffered by members, the Source Family has remained largely free of such controversies.
Members of The Source family cluster around a Rolls-Royce bought by their disciple ‘Father Yod’ – born Jim Baker – with the proceeds from his health restaurant Sunset Boulevard
Father Yod – who also went through Yahowah – is depicted with members of his Source family. He ‘married’ 14 women he described as ‘spiritual wives’
The Source restaurant is pictured in LA in the 1970s. The wacky healthy dishes set trends and brought in $10,000 a day, enabling Father Yod to live a lavish lifestyle
Members of the Source cult perform music outside their Mother House – whose official name was Chandler Mansion – in Los Angeles
Father Yod (center left, with white beard and staff) and his followers in an undated photo
A number of documentaries and books have been released about the group over the years, and now a limited series is in development, with Ruffalo tipped to play Father Yod, according to the LA times.
There are many legends surrounding the man who became Father Yod.
It is said that he shot down 13 Japanese planes during World War II. That his hands were registered as weapons, after he killed two men with his martial arts expertise (he was convicted of manslaughter in 1963). He is also suspected to have robbed up to 11 banks.
While still known as Jim Baker, he moved to Hollywood to act with an audition for Tarzan. After that apparently failed, Baker turned to the restaurant business and launched the Old World and Aware Inn health restaurants.
Both were huge successes in California’s burgeoning hippie scene, and as he basked in his newfound wealth, Baker immersed himself in the philosophies that were so popular at the time. He became a disciple of the spiritual guru Yogi Bhajan and then began to develop his own spiritualism that combined the principles of a number of mystical philosophies: free love, spiritual sex, health-oriented living and heavy marijuana smoking.
Sometime in the late 1960s, Baker took the name Father Yod and began gathering followers, eventually taking the name Source Family and moving into a mansion in the Los Feliz neighborhood of LA.
To fund their lifestyle, Father Yod put his entrepreneurial spirit to work and opened the Source restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, which quickly became the face of LA’s outlandish culture. That bad, it was parodied in the Woody Allen movie Annie Hall, when the main character, grinning, orders “alfalfa sprouts and a plate of mashed yeast.”
At its peak, the restaurant was making about $10,000 a day, making Father Yod and his disciples extremely well-funded. He bought a Rolls-Royce in which followers drove him around, took the name YaHoWah (a repurposing of the Hebrew word for god, Yahweh), and taught his followers how to recite it.
As female members within the cult gave birth, his followers naturally grew.
Father Yod was a wealthy restaurateur before developing his spiritual philosophy and cult
Relatives abandoned their old names, adopting the surname Aquarius instead and taking first names like Lotus, Lovely, Explosion, Isis or Sunflower – each with a name like ‘Zarathustra Aquarian’.
At one point, the group spent tens of thousands of dollars on instruments, amplifiers and recording equipment, converting the mansion’s garage into a recording studio where they set to work putting their philosophies to music.
Father Yod led the band and they recorded about 60 albums of improvised psychedelic rock and hippie folk.
Their music was never picked up by a major label, but much of it was self-published by the family, and the remaining LPs today attract hundreds of dollars each from collectors.
The recording of The Source Family angered the neighbors and they were eventually forced to move into a smaller house in Nichols Canyon.
Another reason for their flight from the mansion was continued visits by the police, who responded to reports of underage women living among the group. In response, Father Yod reportedly encouraged the girls to marry male members, as a way of isolating them from the police and outreach of irate parents.
The Source restaurant, which the cult operated on Sunset Boulevard
Mark Ruffalo (left) is rumored to star as Father Yod in a television series about the Source Family produced by Stacey Sher (right)
Sometime in the early 1970s, Father Yod began marrying multiple women, leaving his first wife Robyn devastated.
She would later accuse him of being a swindler on a “lust journey” for young women, but other than her complaints, there were few voices of dissent within the group.
Former member Galaxy Aquarian, who was once named Dawn Hurwitz, joined when she was 16 years old in 1972 and later became one of Father Yod’s wives.
She told the LA Times that her time with the group had been a positive experience.
“I took a lot of it with me, but I’ve adapted to life,” Galaxy said. ‘I married another man. I’ve worn different hats.’
Father Yod eventually moved the group to Hawaii, and one day in 1975, he announced he was going hang gliding.
Despite having no experience in the sport, he jumped off a 400m cliff in a glider and promptly collapsed to his death.
It remains unclear whether the death was a suicide. According to the Johns Hopkins NewsletterIn the year of his death, Father Yod had experienced a decline in faith and confessed to followers that he was not a god.
And in the 2012 documentary The Source Family, a former member said Father Yod told the group a month before the fatal accident that he intended to “leave the body.”
The sect began to dissolve after Father Yod’s death and finally broke up around 1978.
According to that documentary’s creator, Jodi Wille, Mark Ruffalo is gearing up to play Father Yod in a limited series based on the cult. Also involved in the project is Ruffalo’s manager Margaret Riley, along with producer Stacey Sher.
In March, they all joined some former Source Family members for dinner, inspired by what they called “a journey into the cult roots of healthy nutrition,” according to the LA Times. They were also joined by producer Ben Sinclair, music producer Rick Rubin and actress Patricia Arquette.
The dinner, hosted by media group Atlas Obscura, featured a menu inspired by the Source restaurant with items such as “multidimensional soup,” “mindful salad,” and “psychedelic toast.”
Before the group ate, Source Family members Galaxy, Zarathustra, and Venus gave Aquarian a blessing they learned from Father Yod.
“As above, so below, and round we go, YaHoWah,” they chanted together.