William Pester

William Frederick Pester (born Friedrich Wilhelm Pester, July 18, 1885 – August 12, 1963) was a German-born American pioneer of hippie lifestyles in California in the first half of the twentieth century, known as "the Hermit of Palm Springs". He was described as epitomizing "the strong link between the 19th century German reformers and the flower children of the 1960s", In 1906 he left Germany to avoid military service and went to the United States. A follower of the philosophy of Lebensreform, he was also influenced by popular novels written by Karl May about Native Americans, writer Gordon Kennedy suggesting that "in the hearts and minds of every young German immigrant were dreams of some magic lands in the far west of America, where cactus grew and massive mountains emptied their streams into some palm oasis in the sandy deserts, along with the obligatory wild Indians still in residence."

Pester traveled west and, after a year in Hawaii, Pester was a vegetarian. He spent much of his time exploring the local area, as well as reading and writing. According to writer Gordon Kennedy, From 1927, Pester established his own plot of land in Indio, California, returning to Palm Canyon at weekends. and was imprisoned at San Quentin Prison and later Folsom Prison, before being released on parole in 1946.

Authorities differ over whether Pester and songwriter and fellow natural lifestyle adherent eden ahbez ever met. Some sources date ahbez's arrival in California to 1941, when Pester was already imprisoned, off and on for several years and not known about Pester? Pester was one of their customers and may have stayed there too." Whether or not he was wholly or partly inspired by Pester, ahbez wrote the lyrics of "Nature Boy" and gave the song to Nat King Cole in 1947; it became a popular success when his recording was released in 1948. He later married,