October 13, 2012

Tunnels came up often during my research. Whether it was discreet tunnels to bars or houses, tunnels used for prohibition or smuggling prostitutes or just tunnels where strange and murderous things were supposed to have happened, I was often asked: “Have you heard about the tunnel?”

Many of them were imaginary, but some did exist….

One of the many stories about the Wizard of Oz “munchkins” actors who stayed here during filming is the idea of a “secret tunnel” built to usher them to their set at Culver Studios. Milena Aalunni, who runs Private Events, Catering and Filming, noted:

“I was working downstairs at the bar/front desk area when a group of people came in and asked about the basement. They were paranormal enthusiasts, and they had heard about a secret tunnel that leads from the hotel to the studios.”

Amazingly, while many studios, bars and even restaurants do have large “tunnels” that are in fact utility ducts, this Culver Hotel one actually did exist (sort of); it was a pathway for pedestrians to cross the busy boulevard to the Culver Studios:

“We found out from a local fireman whose family has been working and living in Culver City for decades that the tunnel was indeed there at one point, but was filled in the late 1970s.”

October 8, 2012

I finally went for a drink at Tom Bergin’s recently; they’d been closed for what seemed like an eternity for renovations…

No matter where in the world you go, there seems to be an Irish pub. In Los Angeles they’re a little thinner on the ground – the Irish/American population is very spread out here – but Tom Bergin’s, which looks like a quaint old cottage, is one of the most famous Irish pubs in America. One of the oldest continually-operating bars in L.A. (until those renovations anyway), lawyer Tom Bergin first opened the doors of “Tom Bergin’s Old Horse Shoe Tavern and Thoroughbred Club” (his uncle had a tavern with the same name in Boston) on February 12, 1936.

Over the years the “Thoroughbred Club” and then “Horse Shoe” were dropped from the name, though the horseshoe-shaped bar is still here. It was considered such an important part of the place that during the move from its original location a few blocks away in 1949, some of the loyal patrons carried it themselves, to make sure things carried on the way they liked it.

Tom Bergin’s also made an everlasting contribution to television when the look and the atmosphere (allegedly) inspired Les and Glen Charles to create the comedy “Cheers”. The early series character of “Coach” in “Cheers” was modeled on head bartender Chris Doyle, who usually works Friday daytime (and you can also see him in the Ben Stiller/Drew Barrymore movie The Duplex, which filmed in here).

The idea of a bar “where everybody knows your name” probably came from all the shamrocks with customer names on them that plaster the walls. In fact, even though this is the home of the Oscars, getting your own hand-painted shamrock in Tom Bergin’s is right up there as the biggest honor in town: only 7000 or so (including Cary Grant, Ronald Reagan and Keifer Sutherland) have been selected since the tradition began in 1950.

Tales of banshees, giants, leprechauns and fairies are everywhere in Ireland, and there were online stories of a couple of ghosts in this little piece of the Emerald Isle: the figure of a woman walking through the bar and then disappearing, and a mysterious man standing by the fireplace in the restaurant in the back area. Talking by phone from Tom Bergin’s, former owner and current consultant T.K. Vodrey (“the K stands for Kelly”) laughed these off:

“I was the owner since 1973 and I’ve never heard any stories or seen any ghosts, though we have had a horse in the bar.”

This strange sight really did occur on St. Patrick’s Day 1978 when an Irish coffee-drinking horse trotted up to the bar to help promote the movie Casey’s Shadow, a tale about a no-hoper horse who becomes a drag-racing champion.

My advice? Try their famous Irish coffee. Last St. Patrick’s Day they served over 5,000 and the old “House of Irish Coffee” sign outside stakes a claim to be the first place in America that served the warming combo of whisky, coffee, cream and sugar. You can get a proper pint of Guinness here too (drinkers will know what that means), there’s a daily Happy Hour from 4-7pm, and if you’re hungry, go into the small back alcove and try to snag Cary Grant’s favorite booth or walk on to the Dining Room with its high ceiling and that notable fireplace.

One of my favorite stories that didn’t quite make the cut for the book – you can imagine what the newspapers looked like….

In January 1931 there was the stunning report of the “Red-Haired Bandit Queen”, Lucille Walker, a 19 or 23 year old (both ages were reported) who was the leader of a gang suspected of committing around 30 robberies across town – including two at the Gaylord.

Speaking openly from her cell, the naturally blond “Queen of Crooks” talked about using red and brown wigs and claimed she had profited little from her crimes – though she had sent $2000 to her mother. As for her arrest, that “was just a tough break”.

At her trial however, she told a different story. Accused alongside Otis Boyd Saunders and Alexander MacKay, she now insisted that MacKay had threatened to kill her and her mother if she didn’t cooperate in the banditry.

MacKay and Saunders had both turned State’s evidence, and though MacKay exonerated her from responsibility in one of the three robberies they were charged with, a guilty verdict was pronounced on her after just 20 minutes deliberation by the Jury. Mastermind or innocent? Either way, the Judge unusually allowed her to apply for the possibility of probation.

October 8, 2012

A pricey, busy restaurant in Chinatown, the Plum Tree Inn moved here after many years on Hill Street, despite suspicions locally that their new address was cursed (or so online research claimed). Every previous business here had apparently failed (Club Brazil in the 1940s, the Golden Palace Restaurant in the 1980s, and there were others too).

Online reports noted there had been a gang killing at this location “some 35 years” ago when it was known as the Golden Palace, and archive research did unearth a gangland massacre at the similarly-named Golden Dragon in 1977 – except that it was Chinatown in San Francisco. There was another restaurant at this address – the New Grand East – which suffered from some bad luck (a sudden and devastating fire in 1963), and was later linked to a bizarre murder, when the elderly former co-owner was killed during an apparent home invasion robbery on 31st October Halloween 1974.

Coming downstairs when he heard his wife cry out, he was shot by one of a trio of people who were wearing Halloween masks (including Frankenstein and a werewolf) as a deadly disguise. Disturbingly of all, the killing seemed to have been carried out by children – or small adults. The owner’s wife said they were all shorter than her; she was 5’1 and they were estimated to be around 4’6. The Los Angeles Times dubbed them the “Trick-or-Treat Terrorists” and they were caught the following year on Halloween, when they were again out on the hunt.

There are no other strange stories or witness accounts, but whether the Plum Tree Inn owners didn’t know – or didn’t care – about this site’s history, they did perhaps make one superstitious gesture: it lists its address as 913, when the other restaurants were all 911 N. Broadway. Either way, it seems to have broken any curse – for now. If you go, try their Kung Pao chicken, egg rolls and Peking Duck (order an hour in advance for the duck and their signature “Lion’s Head” – pork meatballs).

October 4, 2012

Angels Flight (chapter 3, p130-135) was originally located by the 3rd Street Tunnel – just at the end of the block from where it is now. Today that tunnel is almost invisible under buildings, but at the time it was considered to be an engineering marvel, even if it was always surrounded by controversy and seemed cursed by accidents. It took at least six lives during construction, and after work began in early 1899 numerous accidents led the Los Angeles Times to call it the “Terrible Tunnel”, then on January 21, 1900 came the most serious of them all.

Thirteen men were trapped following a cave-in, and though the frantic efforts of the rescuers bought ten men out alive (the Los Angeles Herald front page described a “Voice From a Living Tomb”), the remaining three died. The Carpenters Union #428 immediately protested the “reckless and criminal manner” of work being done, but just a few months later on July 9, Albert Williams, 40, was another victim. He suffered a broken back, broken legs and cracked ribs, his face “horribly mutilated” when it was driven into the crowbar he was holding, when he was crushed by falling clay estimated to weigh around 250 pounds. His three children were described as now “practically orphans”.

Later that year on November 25 the two ends of the tunnel were joined, and in March 1901 it was opened to the public. By 1904 the tunnel was handling 1,500 horse teams and 4,700 pedestrians a day, though the opening of the 2nd Street Tunnel in 1924 only briefly slowed the overwhelming tide of the automobile. Ironically, the 2nd Street Tunnel is now often used in car commercials, and if you go downtown on a Sunday there’s a good chance you’ll see a film crew at work somewhere (it also featured in the movie Blade Runner).