By JACK FLEMMINGSTAFF WRITER
Even among California’s myriad of
mega-mansions and one-of-a-kind hideaways, Fobes Ranch stands out.
Sprawling across 80 acres in the
San Jacinto Mountains, the desert dwelling hosted LSD advocate Timothy Leary
and his band of Orange County surfers known as the Hippie Mafia in the late
1960s. After hitting the market last year for $1.495 million, the property has
found its next owner: YouTube star Logan Paul.
Paul, who’s currently preparing
for a boxing match against British YouTuber KSI at Staples Center, paid a
dollar over $1 million for the property, records show.
Billed as the only private
property in Duchess Canyon, the compound located in Mountain Center holds
enough structures to house a small community — and it once did. Around 30 members
of the Hippie Mafia, a.k.a. the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, led by Leary,
occupied the property in the 1960s, using it to take and manufacture LSD, as
well as worship nature in the rugged landscape.
Leary and his wife, Rosemary,
lived in the ranch house while the rest occupied outbuildings and teepees
scattered across the grounds. One died of an overdose in 1969, and three years
later, narcotics agents raided the compound and made seven arrests, ending the
group’s drug-fueled stay, according to Palm Springs Life.
The ranch house remains the
largest home on the property, and other structures include a guesthouse,
bunkhouse and workshop. There’s also a barn, two-car garage and two solar panel
systems for power. A pair of springs feed a 70,000-gallon water tank.
In the two-bedroom main home, an
expansive living room with a freestanding fireplace adjoins a kitchen with
custom tile. The master suite offers wood beams and a custom fireplace. A
500-square-foot studio is brightened by angled skylights and walls of glass.
Timothy McTavish of Pacific
Sotheby’s International Realty held the listing.
Leary was a clinical psychologist
at Harvard University when he oversaw the controversial Concord Prison
Experiment and Marsh Chapel Experiment, which tested the effects of psilocybin,
a psychedelic drug, on prisoners and theology students in the early ‘60s. He
became a strong proponent of using mind-altering drugs to treat behavioral
disorders.
Leary died in Beverly Hills in
1996 at 75.
Paul, 24, gained a following on
the video-sharing app Vine before creating a YouTube channel shortly after in
2013. Two years ago, he dropped $6.55 million on a contemporary mansion in
Encino, The Times previously reported.
