Vito Paulekas

Artist, dancer, and bohemian Vito Paulekas was one of the more colorful figures to gain prominence in the early 1960's Los Angeles hippie freak scene. Vito was born Vitautus Alphonsus Paulekas on May 20, 1913 in Lowell, Massachusetts. The son of Lithuanian immigrant parents, Paulekas spent a year and a half at a reformatory school as a teenager as well as was a marathon dancer during the Great Depression and spent time in jail after being convicted of armed robbery in 1938 before eventually joining the US Merchant Marines in 1942. Vito moved to Los Angeles, California in 1946 and set up shop in a commercial building on the corner of Beverly Boulevard and Laurel Avenue owned by Jacob Kubernick in the mid 1950's. Vito's storefront home and studio actually opened onto Laurel Avenue, not Beverly Boulevard. Paulekas converted the basement of the building into an art studio where he gave clay modeling lessons and ran dance classes. Vito married his wife Sue Schaffer (aka Szou) in 1961. In 1963 Paulekas, Szou, and their friend Carl Franzoni began attending clubs with a group of self-styled "freaks" who were well known for their free-form dancing and semi-communal lifestyle. Vito offered rehearsal space to The Byrds in 1964. Franzoni and a troupe of Vito's free-form dancers, accompanied the group on their 1965 nationwide tour. Vito and Szou were unable to join the band and freaks on tour as Paulekas had opted to remain in Los Angeles to conduct his sculpture classes, at the time his main source of income. (Love and Arthur Lee also used Paulekas's studio for rehearsals.) Paulekas and his troupe of dancers were a popular attraction in various Los Angeles clubs in the early to late-1960's and could also be seen dancing at concerts held by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. Vito recorded and released the single "Where It's At" in 1966 and contributed to the album "Freak Out!" by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. Moreover, Paulekas appeared as himself in several documentaries. Vito's reign as Los Angeles' King of the Freaks came to an end in December 1968 Vito was forced to leave his studio/home as his lease with Kubernick specifically disallowed children above the age of one year old from living on the property (this clause was added by Kubernick following the accidental death of Vito's son, Godot, following a fall through a glass skylight covered by roofing material). At Vito's suggestion Kubernick leased Vito's studio/home to Ken Patterson who established a short lived artists commune along with Ricky Applebaum, Randy Black Fox, and David Doty following Vito's departure. Rather than reinvent himself in Los Angeles, Vito made the decision to relocate to Haiti before moving a second time to Jamaica. Paulekas returned to California and settled in the small town of Cotati, California, where within a year he was joined by Franzoni, Patterson and over a dozen others from Vito's Los Angeles days. Paulekas and Franzoni not only established the Freestore street theatre and performance group, but also built a bandstand for the town and contributed sculptures. Vito divorced his wife Szou in 1975; the couple had four children. Paulekas died from a blood disease at age 79 on October 25, 1992.