While living in San Francisco, Onslow Ford met the Greek poet Jean Varda and together they acquired the ferryboat, Vallejo, which they docked in Sausalito and converted into their studios.
In the early 50's Onslow Ford was introduced to Asian philosophy and studied Hinduism with Haridas Chaudhuri and Buddhist scholar Alan Watts at the newly formed Asian Academy (now called the California Institute of Integral Studies) in San Francisco.