Kin Hoitsma was born in Cooperstown, New York, but his family moved a lot when he was a child. He later studied Greek and French at Princeton, before moving to California and studying architecture at Berkeley. He studied Art History at San Francisco State University and there met Cecil Beaton, an Academy Award winning stage and costume designer for film and theatre. Hoitsma and Beaton became lovers and partners. Hoitsma moved to London to live with Beaton in 1964 but yearned to return to the hills around San Francisco, and moved back after one year. He then spent 30 years teaching history, literature, philosophy and religion at Chabot Community College. In 1967 Hoitsma published “The Real Mask,” a dissertation on Edward Albee’s play “Tiny Alice.”
United States