Aug 26, 2025
Beautiful, shiny and happy pic of Cleo in Goa scanned from the cover of the book she wrote: "Goa Freaks: My Hippie Days in India".
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Beautiful, shiny and happy pic of Cleo in Goa scanned from the cover of the book she wrote: "Goa Freaks: My Hippie Days in India".
Why do we love...
Cleo Odzer
First we heard about Cleo Odzer at Vintage Groupies Live Journal, we were into 60s models, 60s actresses, 70s groupies... and when we saw Cleo, we thought she was just in between!! she was a 60s goupie, we never heard about her but we saw in her a big smile and a face full of joy and happiness.
[Photo of Cleo published in "Rock magazine", 30th August 1969]
At that post in Vintage Groupies Live Journal, there was a short biography about her, and when we read it, we thought that Cleo was very brave, independent and had a really interesting life: starting as a music columnist when she was 17, then working as a model, travelling by bus through Europe and ending living in Goa, India, being a drug seller and dealer, sent to prison in Goa, going back to New York, being clean, earning a Ph.D. in anthropology, going back to Goa...
[Early 70s photo of Cleo modelling in Athens]
Reading that, and finding, as in many of our muses, there wasn't a proper site about her (well, it was her official site but the pics were very small and with a really bad quality), we decided to make a site for her on piczo... There, in that site, someone who met her, told us Cleo didn't die in Goa but she was murdered, as the entry was without name, we couldn't contact this person, but we decided to search for more information about her.
[Photo of Cleo taken in Goa between 1974-1979 when she was living there]
We found a Yahoo group done by Steve, this group had two rules: share whatever you have related to Cleo, but the pics from that group should be kept in that group... Why? Well, some of them were posted by some of her classmates and friends who shared some tidbits, but we felt sorry as on the internet there were just five photos of her and in poor quality...
[Cleo in Goa, screencap from documentary "The Last Hippie Standing"]
We saw there were some interviews, docs and clips about her at youtube so we decided to watch them to know more about her, and we decided to make some screencaps as well although the quality wasn't very good. We placed these screencaps at that group but the admin, this Steve told us he didn't want screencaps in his group, a las! as piczo didn't work anymore, we decided to place Cleo here just to make people aware of her existance, luckily we were sharing her and we saved all the photos from that yahoo group, as in time, that group disapeared as all yahoo groups did...
[1995 photo of Cleo published in her book "Goa Freaks"]
Cleo was also a very smart girl who was ahead of her time with the new technologies, and it's a pitty all her pictures must be kept secret when she, at the videos and at her website, shared everything she wanted with an open heart and an open mind...
We really hope more pictures of her surface on the net and nobody is afraid of sharing them, it's a way to keep her alive...
Today, for her birthday, we wanted to share with all of you, dear followers, how we knew about Cleo and what made us love her.
Here we share:
OUR BIOGRAPHY OF HER, WITH LINKS TO AMAZING SITES
HER POSTS IN OUR BLOG
HAPPY HEAVENLY BIRTHDAY ADVENTUROUS HAPPY GIRL - GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN.
Cleo in Goa (1974-1979)
Photo 1: Cleo's "straight" look.
Photo2: Cleo at Kaia Waiya, Bali, with movie camera in hand.
Photo 3: Taking "sannyas" with Bhagwan, Poona, India, 1977.
Photo 4: Cleo in Goa. She lived there from 1974 to 1979.
Scans from Cleo Odzer book "Goa Freaks: My Hippie Years in India"
Cleo's modelling career
Between 1971 & 1974 Cleo took some modelling jobs from Europe and Asia.
Photo 1 is taken in Athens.
Photo 2 in China.
Photo 3 in Barcelona in 1971.
Photo 4 is taken when she was living in Israel.
You'll find a little bit of further information at her site: https://www.echonyc.com/~cleo/cleo4.html
Scans from Goa Freaks book. The photo of Cleo modelling in China is from her webste.
Cleo on how she went to Goa
I left the United States because I had to work and I didn't want to work. I grew up in a very rich family and my father died of Parkinson's disease when I was sixteen and till then nobody told me anything about money or work; and I just left. I said "I amb leaving forever". There was a hippie movement I knew travelling across Europe and I heard about freaks in India. But you know it is something you hear, a word here and there. And then one day I saw a sign that a bus was leaving from Athens to Goa, India. I had never heard of Goa. We went from Greece through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan (wich is now gone), Pakistan and into India... Goa!
Sweet Cleo signing "Goa Freaks" book and CD in Goa.
Here you'll find the photos and the funny story behing the whole event!
Cleo in Goa with her dog Pumpkin in 2000. She is interviewed by Marcus Robbin for his documentary "Last Hippie Standing".
Screencaps from: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2167t2