Gypsy Boots (August 19, 1915 – August 8, 2004), born Robert Bootzin (also known as Boots Bootzin), was an American fitness pioneer, actor and writer. He is credited with laying the foundation for the acceptance by mainstream America of "alternative" lifestyles incorporating elements such as yoga and health food. His books Barefeet and Good Things to Eat and the memoir The Gypsy in Me gained him a cult following. Life and career Bootzin was born in San Francisco, California, to Russian Jewish immigrants. His father, Max, worked as a broom salesman. His mother, Mushka, raised Bootzin and his four siblings in a vegetarian household, while also leading the family on hikes in the hills, performing Russian folk dances and feeding the homeless with her home-baked black bread. Bootzin's older brother, John, died of tuberculosis as a young man; this led to Bootzin's decision to grow his hair long and pursue healthful, natural living. By 1933, he had dropped out of high school and left home to wander California with a group of self-styled vagabonds. In the 1940s, Bootzin, along with ten to fifteen other "tribesmen," lived off the land in Tahquitz Canyon near Palm Springs, slept in caves and trees, and bathed in waterfalls. Decades ahead of the Hippie movement, Bootzin and his companions had long hair and beards, lived a carefree existence, and were seasonal fruit pickers. The group became known as "Nature Boys." A combination of the philosophy of the Nature Boys and growing counterculture of the 1950s and 1960s in California may have been responsible for the emergence of California spirituality in the 1960s. The 1948 Nat King Cole hit "Nature Boy" was inspired by Bootzin and his fellow "tribesmen" and was composed by eden ahbez. In 1958, Bootzin married Lois Bloemker, a conservative, academic woman from Fort Wayne, Indiana, and settled in the Los Feliz – East Hollywood area (Cumberland Ave). They had three children: Daniel, Alex and Freddie (who died in 2001). The two divorced in the late 1990s. His health food store "Health Hut" was one of the first of its kind (if not the first) in the world and was patronized by dozens of Hollywood celebrities in the early 1960s. The original Health Hut, located on Beverly Blvd. just west of La Cienega Blvd., had an authentic "tiki" style to it, being made with leaves and bamboo. Bootzin personally advocated never eating meat,