Home to hippies and the Spaceman

Over the decades, many groups have flocked to the town of Ocean Beach (OB): Artists, hippies, grassroots activists and small-batch brewers. 

Mike James arrived to OB in 1976. Since then he has lived in eight different spots, crisscrossing around town from Muir avenue all the way down to Del Monte avenue. At the age of twenty, James moved in with his brother; possessing no car or closed-toed shoes, just a skateboard and flip-flops. 

A year into the two living together, James’ brother came running into their apartment,

“Mike! You gotta meet this guy he calls himself the Spaceman!” 

James ran out to meet an older, hippie-looking, white man named Clint Cary, but his name around town would soon become the Spaceman of OB. For the majority of his time in OB, Cary had a reputation for abusing alcohol, but James recalls meeting the Spaceman during one of his sober phases. 

“His stories were fascinating, he had very intricate storylines about traveling to other planets,” James said.

James fell in love with the town of OB immediately; his interaction with Cary made him love the place even more. Cary claimed to have been visited by a UFO full of aliens that came from the planet Rillispore, while spending a weekend camping in Joshua Tree. The experience inspired Cary’s cosmic-style of art depicting what he believed the planet of Rillispore looked like. His art became influential, playing a role in the counterculture that took place in OB.

The first alternative grassroots newspaper that grew to popularity in the ‘70s, The OB Rag, published a piece on how OB became the Haight-Ashbury of San Diego in 2017.

“Ocean Beach became recognized as the capital of the counter-culture – and it still is even today. OB became the symbol of a community resisting  mainstream culture and politics,” editor of the OB Rag, Frank Gormile wrote.

Paul Bolton was a high-school student when he first heard of the Spaceman from classmates who had received space tickets from Cary in the early ‘70s. These space tickets, passed along to many of the residents of OB at the time, were like a seal of fate, promising when the UFO came back like Cary claimed it would, they would have a spot on board. 

When the United States was struck with devastation and loss during the Vietnam War, any San Diego kid who wanted to rebel and dip their toes into the chilling pool of counterculture came to OB. The Spaceman found a similar calling to the seaside town.

 After getting into some trouble in the Los Angeles area, Cary came down the coast to meet a friend named Bob Oakes in 1963. Oakes lived off of Niagara avenue by the OB Pier and notoriously hosted jazz jams every Sunday evening. A love for performing jazz music brought the two together, leading Cary to move to OB. Maybe it was their musical talent or their artistic influence, nevertheless the duo became legendary characters of counterculture in OB. 

Ocean Beach became a changed town, a “hippie haven” as Bolton calls it. 

“Playing guitar, singing, frisbee and body painting” were the typical after-school activities for Bolton while growing up in the late ‘60s to early ‘70s as a hippie teenager attending Point Loma High School (PLHS).

Along with forms of creative expression, the counterculture brought a plethora of drugs to most cities and San Diego was not exempt from that. Today, Newport avenue is flooded with tourists, PLNU students, dogs, antique stores and one too many coffee shops. Just forty years ago, the buzzing street wouldn’t necessarily be Nazarene-approved.

“You could walk from the pier parking lot up Newport avenue and be approached by dealers every 20 feet, offering anything you wanted,” James said.

Interworking the visual experiences of psychedelics, a symbol of counterculture, the Spaceman became wildly popular for his cosmic art technique and obsession with blacklight art. 

An OB business that pays homage to the Spaceman’s art is Kilowatt Brewery on Cable Street. Almost anywhere you look around the cosmic bar, customers are bound to stumble upon an art piece or photo of the Spaceman. Toward the back left of the brewery visitors can find an OB Spaceman shrine; the wall is covered in his original artworks that were donated by Greg Longway, a long-time friend of the Spaceman. 

“He was eccentric, that’s for sure… His paintings were proof of how much of a[n] artistic genius he was,” James said.

In his later years, the Spaceman had developed a different kind of reputation around OB, one where he was known for making young girls uncomfortable. His behavior toward women made him avoidable to some but he was still taken care of by locals.

“He used to go business to business on Newport Ave. offering to sell his artwork. He never had any artwork with him but he would take deposits,” said Bolton.

“I gave him a few ‘deposits’ over the years but never received any artwork. For most people on Newport we knew we would never see any artwork. It was more about helping him out. We were hoping the money would be used for food but he often spent it on booze” Bolton said.

Sometime in the late ‘80s, the Spaceman lost his eyesight after getting into a drunken fight, hindering him from many aspects of life – but painting wasn’t one of them. Despite being blind, the Spaceman continued picking up his paintbrush and eventually was able to distinguish between different colors. 

After losing his sight, the Spaceman moved into a home where he received care until he passed.

Since the Spaceman’s death in 1993, many locals have dedicated works such as books, plays and businesses to the cosmic king.

 “When I owned The OB Playhouse, another local Obecian [Rick Bollinger] produced a play ‘The Return of The Spaceman of Ocean Beach’ in our theater [Electric Playhouse] which showcased many of the Spaceman’s artwork,” Bolton said. 

James believes that OB is special because of the people; it’s the characters of the town that make it interesting.

 “I’ve always believed that OB is a creative vortex. The beach and cliffs add to the beauty of the area, but what truly sets it apart are the people—the Obecians.” 

“Obecians”, the name the locals of OB call one another, describes more than where they live but the way they treat each other.

“To be an Obecian is to care about your neighbor and your community, without worrying about status. It means embracing creativity, nonconformity, and even the unique personalities of people. That’s been true for nearly 50 years. I believe there are Obecians everywhere, and once they enter this vortex, they realize this is where they were meant to be,” James said.

When Clint Cary came to Ocean Beach in 1963, he realized this was the place he was meant to be. Since the Spaceman’s passing, locals and business owners continue to honor the imprint of counterculture he fostered in OB.