As for myself, I was entrenched with macrobiotic diet at the time, (which for me, placed HELP as a “much-too-yin” food producer…such was the diversity of food politics, even, of those days). Therefore, I convinced Warren Stagg to let me make macrobiotic (unleavened, naturally fermented/soured) bread in the on-site bakery that HELP also spawned. Accordingly, Warren nicknamed me Macrobiotic Mark…

As mentioned, I worked but a short time there, and was not socially involved with staff members there, other than during working hours. I was also employed at a macrobiotic restaurant in the San Fernando Valley…Studio City, on Ventura Blvd., called Earth Food Inn, located above the famous Vince’s Gym. So working two restaurant cooking gigs kept me rather busy…hence the short term at HELP…and besides, macrobiotics was sort of it’s own religion, so I was not so inclined too involve myself with the many yogis which Warren was so
instrumental (and generous) in showcasing, including (as I recall) Yogi Bhajan. Also Swamis Satchidananda and Muktananda, and Sai Baba. Note–Warren was rather intense and independently-minded, so he seemed resolved to freely introduce all these folks via the celebrity he, his partner/wife Jo–whose recipes were the spine of the
HELP kitchen & bakery–acquired from the remarkable success of the restaurant they had created. It was after all, a rather complimentary factor–having all these gurus affiliated with Warren, Jo, & HELP. Warren was quite contented and secure in his own future, as I imagine the restaurant was bringing in significant wealth along with promise of future enterprises which, no doubt, Warren had planned.

Alas, Warren, as heavy and imposing a personality as was, had perhaps lacked managerial skills requisite to making the whole thing work…he was a typical entrepreneur, and wound up imperiled with the IRS, as mentioned in one of the comments here by Tom Parkinson.

A shame, really, as he and Jo never really recovered the success, celebrity and wealth that the original HELP operation had provided them. The move to Sunset Blvd. did not materialize the previous success nor future plans that Warren harbored, it seems.

I did make contact with Warren several years ago, reaching him by phone at his home in Pune, India, where he currently (I think) teaches and resides. Here’s a url which informs of his activities there:
http://www.ajnacenter.org/about%20us.htm

I too, was involved with Buddhism (Zen) as a result of the “Zen” Macrobiotic Diet…not really much zen practice there, but I chased that aspect of the name…visiting Tasajara Zen Center and Suzuki Roshi, and then joining the LA Zen Center with Taezan Maizumi Roshi…for a while, anyway. I continued with Earth Food Inn, where my brother Barry and another friend bought it from the previous owner/creator…and the restaurant became vegetarian, rather than
macrobiotic. A year or so after my brother sold Earth Food Inn, I started Naked Lunch Restaurant and Catering just down the road a click, and worked that until closing it, four years later…by 1976. So I never got around to visiting Warren’s new HELP location but a few brief visits…just to pay respects.

There was much fuss made about The Source Restaurant, also on Sunset Blvd, but in a much more favorable location–the heart of the “Strip”. However, the food never came close to what Warren and Jo had achieved with the cuisine at HELP…there one could enjoy a variety of raw foods, albeit plainly served up in the way of vegetable salads, raw vegetable plates, fruit salads, and fresh raw juices of fruits, vegetables, & blends…but nothing fancy such as contemporary vegan digs are serving these days…and an especially sumptuous menu of cooked vegetarian dishes were offered and in considerable variety. I didn’t eat much of this, as I was trying to stay on the macrobiotic diet…although, owing to my protein deficiency, and reliance on high-carb foods, I was prone to binging on the bakery sweets which were so abundantly about from the bakery…and where I was busy baking macrobiotic breads a few times a week. I was essentially a vegetarian macrobiotic at the time…any lacto-ovo foods were consumed in the manner of the bakery items at HELP…also loaded with sugar (brown, but still sugar) and honey (as I’ve learned this was a particularly disastrous dietary path for me…as I do best with a low carbohydrate, high fat and protein intake…with raw: eggs, dairy, fish, meats, vegetable, fruits, & nuts…which took about another thirty-five years for me to involve myself with, although I had flirted with and understood the need for raw foods (including dairy, eggs, & flesh foods) for years. HELP also carried raw dairy from Alta Dena Dairy at the time.

As I look back at all the “health-restaurants” I’ve encountered both in San Francisco and here in LA/So. Cal–Jim Baker of The Source also created the Aware Inn, which was actually better food than The Source, as far as being a grounded and sumptuous restaurant–and dining experience. HELP was also a fun spot, as intoned by Tom’s post. Yes, I used to see Brian Wilson come up to the back door of the kitchen to pick up food he’d ordered…only he didn’t have to pay for it often enough, as the then kitchen manager, Robert seemed to also be involved in the music industry. And Miles Davis did used to eat there as he had become a vegetarian…to try and shore up all the maladies his addictions had conjured for him. As a matter of fact, Jo would make special vegetarian tamales that weren’t a regular on their menu…a special recipe she would make just to suit Miles’ tastes.
After having attended a show of Miles’–my first, long anticipated attendance at a gig of his–wherein Miles (as he was well-known to do) played but a few notes, and then handing the rest of the set off to his side-men (Wayne Shorter, Chick Correa, Dave Holland, & Jack DeJohnetteetc, as I recall), having spotted a gorgeous red-head in the audience, joined her there, and left, not to return for the balance of the set…until the very end…and it was the final set of the evening on the final night of his enagement at Shelley’s Manne Hole. I would have made it there the previous night, but I had accidentally slit my hand deeply enough to require a visit to the emergency room that previous Saturday night.

I had been planning to see Miles at this particular juncture/venue and was cleaning up my area in the HELP kitchen. Last call for food had been made, but one of the peskier waiters there, an aspiring young blonde actor, insisted I take yet another order. I refused, but he summoned Warren and implored, so Warren came back and ordered me to make whatever had been ordered, despite my pleas to attend the Miles show for which there was a long waiting line, which I wanted to make sure and catch early enough to gain entry. The waiter, who I remember with the name of Dennis, laughed tauntingly at me. Robert, the kitchen manager was inclined towards letting me go on time, but the point was now moot–if I still wanted my job. So with James sitting next to me having just visited the kitchen to fetch some fruit to munch on, I thrust the serrated knife I was wielding into the cutting board before me (in mock-assault on the now more-than-just-annoying waiter). Unfortunately my hand was wet and slipped on down the handle onto the blade, opening a nasty little gash on the fleshy right-side of my right palm. So I went to the hospital for stitches, instead of the show at Shelley’s that night.

Not that Miles’ show wasn’t a memorable musical experience, what with his “side-men”, but nevertheless, I heard but few fabled notes of his own played in his inimitable style (which wasn’t so many notes as his contemporaries were wont to cascade). But this was plainly stingy and I felt, well, cheated, to be honest. I didn’t come to witness his renowned way with women of all races, but to hear him blow…and for me, he rather sucked, therefore.

So next day, when I arrived to begin work at HELP, I promptly visited the refrigerator where there was the special dish of tamales set aside by Jo, especially for Miles–complete with a note that declared it’s rightful ownership as that of Miles Davis–which I promptly shoveled
down like it was the first meal I’d had in days. It tasted particularly wonderful, not only because it was more seasoned than the typical macrobiotic fare I was then involved in preparing and eating. but because it was the taste of revenge…upon none other than the enigmatic and imimitable jazz great Miles Dewey Davis (III). I was sure not to let others see me consume this forbidden fare, nor did I boast about it to other workers at HELP, as I wished to settle the score between me and Miles, yet also wanted to continue working at HELP. Therefore, I did not accord myself the satisfaction of admitting to the act of pillaging the tabooed tamales of Miles…letting him to eat “cake” as it were. Jo was enraged, too, determined to find the culprit. I did so want to confess, but only to Miles himself, which was not possible…so I could only relate this story to a few friends who were jazz fans, outside of HELP Restaurant.

As I recall Warren issued me walking papers a month or so later anyway…for what I can’t remember, but I was getting too worn out as it was with the two jobs.

HELP definitely yet remains as one of the greatest vegetarian restaurants of all time, in my humble opinion. Had they had their location on Sunset-the Strip area–near where Jim Baker located all of
his successful ventures, they’d quite probably have continued their reign as the leading vegetarian/health food restaurant in LA…or the country and world, for that matter.

Mark

I’ve been trying to get in touch with a Dennis Iannaci from the Largo, FL area…any idea how to get in touch?

Thanks much

I know Dr.Warren Stagg.He is my teacher in Precision muscle testing and my Mentor in Science of Metaphysics.

I am from India and has been my great fortune to have met him.

thanks Gary for putting him on your blog and about his HELP restaurant.

Regards

Vivek
vivekbaba007@gmail.com