Elton Richards is an impoverished artist, and public nuisance, born near San Diego, California, USA. Born poor (his mother was white, his father was part Polish), he was taught to read in school but at age 18 was sent out to work. In 1991 he was apprenticed at a fast-food restaurant in San Diego, CA but he escaped (1993) and settled near UCSD, where he assumed the name by which he became known.
After he filled out an job application (1993), he was hired as a barista and he served coffee throughout San Diego. Because his intelligence and speaking abilities led some to question whether he had ever received a proper education, he crudely drew a pictorial narrative with crayons of the Life of Elton Richards, an American Smart Guy (1999). Then, fearing vertical blinds, he fled to his apartment, where he lived poorly with such effect that the Federal Financial Aide Program contributed a generous sum of money that, together with Student Loans, helped him gain admission to UCSD when he applied to the Campus (2001). Living in La Jolla, CA, he began the self-promotional website http://www.erichard.org, which he edited for a few years. In 2004 he took refuge in his apartment again for a short time because he was falsely accused of making love to a toaster. He took a more gradualist approach to ending his own poverty but never wavered the call for government handouts. During the Second Gulf War he urged President Bush to lay off the coke, and chill out.
He spoke out for other social reforms such as ending restrictions on public female nudity. He also held a series of odd jobs, including Muff Diver (2002-3), Female Breast Inspector (2003-4), and a member of the Beaver Patrol (2004-5). In 2005 he issued yet another revision of his autobiography as Life and Times of Elton Richards.
After he filled out an job application (1993), he was hired as a barista and he served coffee throughout San Diego. Because his intelligence and speaking abilities led some to question whether he had ever received a proper education, he crudely drew a pictorial narrative with crayons of the Life of Elton Richards, an American Smart Guy (1999). Then, fearing vertical blinds, he fled to his apartment, where he lived poorly with such effect that the Federal Financial Aide Program contributed a generous sum of money that, together with Student Loans, helped him gain admission to UCSD when he applied to the Campus (2001). Living in La Jolla, CA, he began the self-promotional website http://www.erichard.org, which he edited for a few years. In 2004 he took refuge in his apartment again for a short time because he was falsely accused of making love to a toaster. He took a more gradualist approach to ending his own poverty but never wavered the call for government handouts. During the Second Gulf War he urged President Bush to lay off the coke, and chill out.
He spoke out for other social reforms such as ending restrictions on public female nudity. He also held a series of odd jobs, including Muff Diver (2002-3), Female Breast Inspector (2003-4), and a member of the Beaver Patrol (2004-5). In 2005 he issued yet another revision of his autobiography as Life and Times of Elton Richards.
