to a close. First, The Insomniac’s farmers’ market of exotic coffees, baked goods and underground books grew to such expensive proportions that it was driving them out of business. But second, and more important, Bob Hare was arrested for being one of the first to sell Henry Miller’s banned book Tropic Of Cancer in America. “The publisher wanted publicity to contest the book’s ban,” notes Hermosa Beach historian Mark Shoemaker. “Bob agreed to openly sell the book knowing he would be arrested, and that the publisher would pay his legal fees. This is an important event in support of the first amendment, and along with the growing counterculture scene, is what eventually led to Bob being driven out of town by the conservatives of Hermosa Beach. He moved down and managed The Golden Bear in Huntington Beach – another classic folk club.”
With no shortage of quality acts, the final days of The Insomniac continued to see incredible shows, including one stellar act that featured a young singer named Barbara Robison. “She played there under her brother’s name, The Robbie Robison Trio,” relates John Merrill of The Peanut Butter Conspiracy. “Robbie went on to form The Brain Train, and Barbara, who changed her name to Sandi, went on to play with us in The Peanut Butter Conspiracy.” A listing from March of ’65 in The Los Angeles Free Press stands as one of the final notices of groovy action inside the walls of 53 Pier Avenue. “That’s where it all happened,” continues Merrill. “The most important thing I ever did in my life was to go there to meet Sandi.”
Even after the cafe closed, Bob Hare continued to host Insomniac-themed programs, including one fashion show in Venice Beach that featured music by Nature Boy (AKA Eden Ahbez). “I loved Eden,” recalls Bob Hare. “He used to play at The Insomniac all the time with his little trio. One of the members was Gypsy Boots; he desperately wanted to be Nature Boy. But talking to Eden Ahbez was always some kind of sacred moment. He filled the space with love.”
It was around this time that a pair of Insomniac alumni – songwriter Van Dyke Parks and artist Frank Holmes – reached the peripherals of Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson. When Wilson invited Byrds member David Crosby up for a preview of his latest production (‘Sloop John B’ from the Pet Sounds album), Crosby asked Van Dyke Parks to tag along. Brian Wilson, already an avid fan of Del Close and John Brent’s How To Speak Hip album, was looking to move beyond the scope of his previous musical efforts. Wilson and Parks hit it off immediately, and Van Dyke
was offered the chance to co-write the next Beach Boys album, entitled Smile. As the experimental recordings got underway, Parks suggested Frank Holmes did the Smile artwork. “In ’66, at the invitation of Brian Wilson,” remembers Holmes, “I created album cover art and seven booklet illustrations of lyrics for Smile.” Holmes’ artwork shows a direct lineage from the ’50s poster style of Earl Newman, adding hints of pop art, camp and psychedelia.
“I worked for four years at The Insomniac and two years across the street at The Lighthouse jazz club,” Holmes continues. “[Bob Hare] sold my first painting there in ’59 for $40. I was quite proud. It was an abstract cityscape. Some tourist from NY bought it. I thought it might have reminded him of home.”
“I remember when Van Dyke played The Insomniac with his brother Carson. They had a duo called The Steeltown Two, and then a bigger act, The Greenwood County Singers. We’d walk out of The Insomniac and go out to the pier. You could get a decent plate of fish and chips at this restaurant called The Poop Deck. Then right around the corner was a Latin dance club. I took Van Dyke there one time, and his little eyes started bugging out behind his glasses. The dancer there wore tight dresses that flared out at the bottom…
“The festivities included a sidewalk espresso bar, a guy with a typewriter strapped to his chest that would write a personality sketch for 50 cents, and even a booth run by a witch that sold graveyard dust and monkey brains.”
black silk stockings with a line going up the back. It was hard not to be attracted to The Lighthouse too. The Insomniac was the youth scene, but there was so much going on right in that little area at the time.”
Indeed, The Insomniac stood as a microcosmof this whole environment, reacting and exhorting spirit into a public that, with each generation, yearns for the same blissed-out rapture.
Brian Chidester is the co-author of Pop Surf Culture: Design, Fashion, Film And Music From The Bohemian Surf Era (Santa Monica Press) and the co-editor of Dumb Angel magazine. He has been a segment producer on documentaries for Showtime, BBC, The Carl Wilson Foundation and PBS.
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