No, that wasn’t really Esalen in the “Mad Men” finale

The Esalen hot springs from above. Photograph by Kodiak Greenwood.

Don’t worry, we won’t let slip any serious spoilers—the episode did only air on Sunday—but if you have watched it, here are a few links you might want to check out. (And if the show is still waiting on your DVR, well, get to it already!)

The Monterey County Weekly has the scoop of where the episode really was filmed last June.

SFist gives a pretty complete history of the archetypal New Age retreat.

Once you’ve caught up, don’t miss Emily Nussbaum’s take on the episode itself in the New Yorker.

If you want to replicate any part of, er, someone‘s experience, Esalen is taking reservations for its big Fourth of July weekend workshop, which is family friendly. (Oh, how things have changed!)

And we’ll leave you with a few archival gems, courtesy of Esalen…

Here’s the lodge back in the early 1960s. 

Buckminster Fuller, who taught at the institute, on the deck in an undated photo.

George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Ravi Shankar visited Esalen in 1968.

Joan Baez taught at Esalen too.

Writer Henry Miller at Esalen in an undated photo.

Doesn’t that guy on the right look a little like Don?

Chungliang Al Huang, founder of the Living Tao Foundation, has taught at Esalen since the 1960s.