In 1951 John moved to San Francisco with his new wife, Phyllis Pope
Lynch. His friends had told him that here he could find the center
of the art world. He arrived to find a vibrant community. Artists
of all kinds mixed and he found a community with the likes of Wally
Hedrick, Bud Dixon, Frank Lobdell, Vera Borzy, Robert McChesney and
Hassel Smith. He wrote his best friend,
James Kelly, and convinced him to move to San Francisco. Although
John did not join the faculty of California School of Fine Arts, he
counted some of the faculty and students among his best friends including
Gurdon Woods, director of
the school from 1956 to 1960.
