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Author Topic: The Radiant Radish, Brian's Health Kick, and Psychedelics  (Read 1114 times)
Reverberation
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« on: October 08, 2020, 12:49:46 PM »

I've always been fascinated with the health food store Brian ran in the late 1960s, The Radiant Radish. First, it's just such a cool name, but also it's just such a weird thing to me--Brian, one of the Beach Boys, deciding to just up and start a health food store. What did they sell? I think produce and vitamins at the very least, right? Does anyone know the brands or vendors they received product from? What sort of regular customers were there (any famous folk, fellow musicians, etc)? I've heard a lot of people would come in just to speak to Brian. Did the other Beach Boys work there?

Was the shop more of Brian's idea or was it more Steve Korthoff or Arny Geller (and who was Arny)? Who conceived of the logo and name? It's a great logo and the alliteration in the name is brilliant. I remember someone, I believe a poster here, on Etsy or one of those similar shops, made some t-shirts, tote bags and similar items with the logo (I purchased a shirt). I know that AGD (when he was still here) posted two possible addresses for where the Radiant Radish might have been:

533 No. San Vicente Blvd
Los Angeles 90048
659-0764
San Vicente at Melrose

and

8700 West Melrose Avenue

Has there been any further verification for either of these?

Besides the Radiant Radish, I'm also interested in Brian's fascination with health in general, starting in the 60s. I recall him getting the guys and BB posse to get into working out and Brian would bring out mats and stuff in his living room . Does anyone know if Brian practiced yoga much at all? Vegetables on Smile is, of course, a big example of this health kick he was on, but also songs from around the period like "HELP is on the Way", which references the Radiant Radish at the end. I'm aware that a lot of that was a little contradictory or hypocritical, though (Brian eating hamburgers while exercising, etc.). Even in the 70s on "Life is for the Living", Brian's talking about the same sort of thing. And then when Landy came back, Brian actually got into REALLY good shape in the mid 80s on through the early 1990s. He looked absolutely ripped at times (like that one pic of him in a speedo, haha), though I know that mentally and even physically, inside, he probably wasn't doing too great despite his outward appearance.

Is there a single event or person that spurred this? Was it after his experiences with LSD? And on the subject of that, how many times DID Brian take LSD? Was it once, three times, even more? Brian downplays it but I've heard it implied that he was even tripping into the 70s, though don't know if there's much evidence to support it. Dennis and Carl tried acid, at least a few times, right? I recall a story where a journalist says Dennis is driving a car after having taken LSD earlier, and Mike says Carl took it too, I think. Did Brian (or his brothers) take any other psychedelics like mescaline or perhaps mushrooms later on? I was amazed to find that Mike claims to have tried mescaline TWICE in his autobiography. Bill Tobelman, who runs the Good Humor Smile site and came up with the "Zen Interpretation of Smile" where he claims Smile should be thought of as a Zen koan, seems to believe in the 3 acid trip hypothesis. Plus the "flashback" type situation in Pickwick bookstore where he sees the books "melting" off the shelves.
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juggler
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« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2020, 01:45:55 PM »

A search on books.google.com indicates a listing for the Radiant Radish in the 1972 edition of a directory called The Spiritual Community Guide Volume 1.   

The listing says "553 N San Vicente Blvd" which is different than the 533 you mentioned above.
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Reverberation
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« Reply #2 on: October 08, 2020, 02:52:58 PM »

A search on books.google.com indicates a listing for the Radiant Radish in the 1972 edition of a directory called The Spiritual Community Guide Volume 1.   

The listing says "553 N San Vicente Blvd" which is different than the 533 you mentioned above.

Very interesting. Thank you. I was just going by what AGD posted in a smileysmile thread some years ago. Could have just been a typo. Does Andrew even post anywhere now that the PS board is gone? Sorry if asking that is against the rules
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DSalter
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« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2020, 09:21:19 PM »

The June 20, 1971 issue of The Los Angeles Times (page 149) has an advertisement featuring local health food stores, including the Radiant Radish.

Its address is listed as 553 North San Vincente Avenue.

This address, however, doesn't exist on Google Maps while 553 North San Vincente Blvd does, so the Blvd address must be correct.

I'll post the ad if I can determine how to upload a jpeg to this Board.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2020, 09:27:05 PM by DSalter » Logged
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