Haunted Hollywood – Page 2

October 2, 2019October 7, 2019

The “Waxwork” House

It’s finally that time again, folks – time for my annual Haunted Hollywood stalkings! I intended to commence this year’s postings with a real doozy of a murder case, but got held up a bit in my research. I am currently awaiting some documents from the County of Riverside that should provide more clarity as to the precise location where the killing took place and will write about it just as soon as they arrive. In the meantime, I thought I would instead kick things off with a locale from a horror classic. Now, as I’ve mentioned many times, a fan of slasher flicks I am not. But this past July, my friend Owen tipped me off to a spot that he thought would figure in nicely to an October post – the Hancock Park home that masked as a waxwork, aka a wax museum, in the 1988 horror film of the same name. As he informed me in his email, the “cool-looking” brick pad boasts “great windows and a turret!” Interest piqued, I added the address to my To-Stalk List and headed right on out there this past weekend.

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Finally watching Waxwork last night did little to turn me into a horror fan. In fact, I have to say the movie was pretty darn terrible (though star Zach Galligan sure is a cutie!). The premise? A morose old man named David Lincoln (David Warner) attempts to set off the “voodoo end of the world” by bringing eighteen of the most evil people who ever lived back to life. How does he do this, you ask? By creating wax effigies of each person and feeding them the souls of the various patrons who visit the waxwork he has built inside of his private home in the middle of suburbia. And he would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for two meddling high schoolers, Mark (Galligan) and Sarah (Deborah Foreman), who thwart his plan. Like I said, Waxwork isn’t good.

But Owen was right – the house is fabulous . . . and fabulously creepy!

Though burned to the ground by Mark and Sarah at the end of Waxwork, in real life the pad still stands proudly at 255 South Rossmore Avenue. (In actuality, a miniature was used in the filming of the fire scene.)

While it looks much the same as it did onscreen in 1988, sadly views of it from the street are largely eclipsed by a massive hedge that now lines the front of the property.

Only the exterior of the residence appeared in Waxwork. The interior of Lincoln’s eerie home was just a set, as evidenced by the double doors that opened from the living room into his onsite wax museum.

Originally built in 1924 for L. Milton Wolf, in real life the dwelling boasts 7 bedrooms (!), 3 baths, 3,878 square feet of living space, a pool, a detached garage with what looks to be an upstairs in-law unit, and a 0.43-acre plot of land.

The house is somewhat historically significant, too! As Owen informed me, its longtime owner Loretta Lindholm was responsible for the installation of the many ornamental lights that now dot the streets of Hancock Park. For her efforts, she received a Los Angeles City Council Commendation!

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to my friend Owen for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Waxwork house from Waxwork is located at 255 South Rossmore Avenue in Hancock Park.

October 31, 2018October 16, 2019

The Magic Castle

Happy Halloween! I can’t believe the season is already coming to a close! October 31st is always bittersweet for me because, though my favorite holiday, it marks the end of my Haunted Hollywood postings for the year. For my last go round of 2018, I thought I’d blog about one of Los Angeles’ most iconic sites, a place that is pretty much synonymous with both otherworldliness and Tinseltown itself. I am talking about The Magic Castle, a private club for members of the Academy of Magical Arts that is situated inside of a historic mansion said to be occupied by more than a dozen ghosts! I mean, can you think of a better locale for my final HH article?

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Though typically closed to non-members, the Grim Cheaper and I were able to visit The Magic Castle on November 2nd, 2012 (just a couple of days after Halloween – talk about perfect timing!) thanks to my incredibly generous friend/fellow stalker Marie who secured tickets via a charity auction and invited us to tag along with her and her buddy Dana. (Those are our tickets and some brochures we picked up that night. And yes, I, of course, held on to them. Smile ) To say we had a good time would be an absurd understatement. Being there was absolutely . . . well . . . magical! It was hands-down one of my favorite Los Angeles experiences! By the end of the evening, I was ready to plunk down my credit card to pay the initiation fee and yearly dues and become a member!

The spacious Gothic Renaissance-style mansion that today is known as The Magic Castle was originally built in 1908 as a single-family residence for banker Rollin B. Lane and his wife, Katherine. Dubbed “Holly Chateau,” the estate was designed by architects Oliver Perry Dennis and Lyman Farwell as a near replica of an 1897 pad the duo constructed in Redlands named the Kimberly Crest House (which I wrote about for Los Angeles magazine back in 2013.) Both are pictured below. Though the castle has been altered a bit over the years, the two properties are still virtually identical.

At the time of its inception, Holly Chateau boasted 17 rooms, a rooftop garden, a sun parlor, quarter-sawed white oak and mahogany detailing, a library, five baths, a billiards room, multiple fireplaces, French windows, and a finished basement and attic. Rollin passed away in one of the property’s bedrooms on August 23rd, 1940 and Katherine continued to live on the premises until her subsequent death on December 9th, 1945. The dwelling fell upon hard times in the years that followed, was turned into a multi-family home, and then eventually a boardinghouse. When Milt Larsen spotted it in 1961, though in disrepair, he decided it was the perfect spot to open a magic club. As he told L.A. mag in the January 2018 issue, “I loved the idea of turning a haunted house into a magic castle.” A man after my own heart!

Somehow Milt convinced then owner Thomas Glover to turn over the mansion to him and his brother, Bill Larsen Jr., for free via a handshake deal. The two then promptly got to work transforming the place into a whimsically hodgepodge house of prestidigitation, an idea that took shape thanks to their father. Originally an attorney, Bill Larsen Sr. had quit his job later in life in order to take his family on the road, performing magic shows. He hoped to one day open a magicians’ club. Though he passed away before that dream came to fruition, his sons made good on his vision in spades. They acquired décor and furnishings from nearby mansions that were set to be razed and other adornments from a mishmash of area locales. Hollywood High’s former gym floor makes up one of the space’s bars, the original backdrop from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson provides ambiance for another bar. And yet another of the club’s bars (there are five!) was fashioned from a set used on both The Dean Martin Show and Mickie Finn’s.

The Magic Castle opened its doors on January 2nd, 1963. At the time, there were a scant 150 Academy of Magical Arts members. Today, that number has grown to more than 5,000. Though only a few parts of the massive property were utilized for shows during the early years, the venue is now a sprawling arena counting the aforementioned five bars, an entry parlor, multiple grand dining rooms, a library (which is off-limits to non-members), a music room, a museum, a gift shop, and four stages. There’s even a Houdini Séance Chamber! (Big thank you to Marie for providing the photograph below, as well as several others in this post.)

Sadly, the castle is only open to Academy members and their guests – as well as guests of the neighboring Magic Castle Hotel. There are a few other ways to garner tickets, such as my friend Marie’s charity auction method and those detailed here. If you are lucky enough to secure a reservation, several rules must be followed including adhering to a dress code (a jacket and tie are required for men, cocktail wear for women) and a no-interior-photos policy (excluding the entry parlor), which is why mine consist mainly of exterior shots. You can check out some fabulous images of the inside here, though.

And yes, you do have to say a secret password to gain access to The Magic Castle! Upon walking through the club’s front doors . . .

. . . you find yourself in an intimate parlor, where photos are, fortunately, allowed.

The room’s detailing is absolutely stunning.

After checking in with the hostess . . .

. . . you make your way to a large book-shelved wall . . .

. . . where you tell the golden owl “Open Sesame!”, causing the bookshelves to magically slide apart.

That’s me saying the magic words!

Guests of The Magic Castle are also required to eat dinner on the premises, which is not a bad gig, by any means. For our meal, we sat in a grand parlor reminiscent of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion, sipping cocktails and noshing on scrumptious fare. After eating, patrons are invited to wander the estate and take in any and all of the many shows performed on the premises each night. And, let me tell you, this is not some rinky dink operation! The acts are top-notch – easily the best magic I’ve ever seen! Along with the formal shows, there are also magicians staging tricks pretty much everywhere you turn – at empty tables in the bars, on couches in the lounges, even the bartenders get in on the act!

While I enjoyed every single solitary minute I spent at The Magic Castle, I have to say that my favorite part of the club was Invisible Irma, the mansion’s resident piano-playing ghost who regales guests with tunes in the music room, situated off the Grand Salon & Main Bar. As legend has it, Irma was a frequent guest of the Lane family during their tenure at the home and she could often be found tinkling the ivories, much to Rollin’s chagrin. He soon moved the piano to a tower room on the third floor, out of Irma’s reach. She was not pleased with the situation and promised to come back and haunt the house after her death. Upon passing away in 1932, that is exactly what she did. When the Larsen brothers purchased the property, they came across the Lanes’ former piano tucked away in the attic and quickly reinstated it to the music room. Irma’s ghost followed. Though the instrument was eventually replaced by one belonging to MGM star José Iturbi (whose specter sometimes stops by to play with Irma), she can still be heard each night. Guests can even request songs, which Irma’s invisible hands effortlessly play.

Thanks to its intrigue and mysterious allure, celebrities have been drawn to the place since the very beginning, with Orson Welles, Johnny Carson, Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, James Cagney, Tony Curtis, and Steve Allen all spending time there in the early days. In more recent years, Johnny Depp, Katy Perry, Conan O’Brien, Ryan Gosling, Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, Nicolas Cage, Lucy Liu, Quentin Tarantino, Ronald Reagan, Drew Barrymore, Hugh Hefner, Debbie Reynolds, and Matt Lanter have all been known to pop in. Countless luminaries have also performed on the premises including Jason Alexander, Pen and Teller, David Blaine, Siegfried and Roy, Steve Martin, and Lance Burton. Neil Patrick Harris was famously the club’s longtime president, aka “Ambassador of Magic,” and during his tenure regularly regaled guests with his illusion skills.

In a rather macabre twist, but one in keeping with my Haunted Hollywood theme, a magician passed away at the club on February 24th, 2017. Shortly before he was about to take the stage to perform that evening, Daryl Easton hung himself in one of the venue’s dressing rooms.

It should come as no surprise that The Magic Castle is also a frequent film star. Way back in 1965, the site was used in exterior shots of the mansion belonging to Oliver Stone (Richard Eastham) in the Season 9 episode of Perry Mason titled “The Case of the Runaway Racer.”

Though IMDB asserts that the property popped up in another Season 8 episode of Perry Mason – “The Case of the Feather Cloak” – as the Hawaiian home of Gustave Heller (David Opatoshu) and Jarvis Logan (John Van Dreelen), that information is incorrect. As you can see below, that pad looks nothing like The Magic Castle.

Anthony Blake (Bill Bixby) lived in an apartment supposedly located at The Magic Castle on the short-lived television series The Magician, which aired from 1973 to 1974.

In the Season 2 episode of Charlie’s Angels titled “Magic Fire,” which aired in 1977, Kris Munroe (Cheryl Ladd), Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith), and John Bosley (David Doyle) head to the venue to investigate an arsonist posing as a magician.

Dr. R. Quincy, M.E. (Jack Klugman) visits The Magic Castle to speak with magician Harry Whitehead (Don Ameche) about the death of his former assistant in the Season 4 episode of Quincy, M.E. titled “The Death Challenge,” which aired in 1979.

Per IMDB, The Magic Castle pops up in 1980’s Little Miss Marker. I scanned through the flick and the only locale I could find that resembled the club is the restaurant where Regret (Bob Newhart) delivers a message from Sorrowful Joe (Walter Matthau) to Blackie (Tony Curtis). Because the quality of the video I watched was so bad, though, there is no way for me to say with any certainty that the segment was actually shot on the premises.

Nickelodeon’s 1988 made-for-television movie Mystery Magical Special took place at The Magic Castle.

As did the 1994 made-for-television movie Count DeClues’ Mystery Castle.

In the 1995 horror film Lord of Illusions, Harry D’Amour (Scott Bakula) heads to the mansion to investigate two murders.

Tiffany (Thandie Newton), Vernon (Stuart Townsend), and Miller (Gabriel Byrne) hide out from Malini (Patrick Bauchau) at The Magic Castle in the 2003 thriller Shade.

In the Season 7 episode of Monk titled “Mr. Monk and the Magician,” which aired in 2009, Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) investigates the death of his neighbor, a wanna-be magician named Kevin Dorfman (Jarrad Paul), at The Magic Castle.

As featured on the Season 3 episode of the reality show Tanked titled “Love Is an Illusion,” which aired in 2012, Neil Patrick Harris commissioned a 240-gallon aquarium modeled after Houdini’s Water Torture Cell for the club.

Sadly, the piece deteriorated fairly quickly and is no longer displayed on the premises.

Contestants were brought to the castle to receive their latest challenge – to design prosthetics for a wizard character – in the Season 6 episode of the reality series Face Off titled “Open Sesame,” which aired in 2014.

In 2016, Gus Cruikshank (Paul Rust) took Mickey Dobbs (Gillian Jacobs) to the mansion for their first official date in the Season 1 episode of Love titled “Magic.”

Aimee Mann’s 2017 music video for her song “Patient Zero” was also shot at The Magic Castle, though very little of the club can actually be seen.

While several sites claim that The Magic Castle portrayed The Cabaret of Magic in the Season 5 episode of Columbo titled “Now You See Him,” that information is incorrect. The Cabaret in the show was inspired by the club, but filming took place elsewhere, as you can see below.

IMDB also states that the mansion masked as the headquarters of The Greatest Detective Society in the Season 8 episode of Castle titled “The G.D.S.”, but that locale is actually the uh-ma-zing Dutch Chocolate Shop in downtown Los Angeles.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to my friend Marie for inviting us to be her plus-ones at The Magic Castle and for providing several of the photos that appear in this post.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Magic Castle is located at 7001 Franklin Avenue in Hollywood. You can visit the club’s official website here.

October 29, 2018October 16, 2019

Boris Karloff’s Former Home

The Haunting of Hill House is giving me life right now! To say I am obsessed with the spooky new Netflix original series would be an understatement. I am currently only five episodes in (so no spoilers please!), but am absolutely mesmerized by the storyline, the characters, the actors (it is amazing how much the child stars resemble their adult counterparts!), and the locations. Sadly, it was filmed in Georgia (the eponymous house is actually Bisham Manor in LaGrange), so I won’t be stalking its locales anytime soon, but when I brought the show up to my grandma recently, she mentioned that the most frightening movie she had ever seen was the original Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff as The Monster. She first watched the 1931 classic as a child and said it absolutely terrified her and still does to this day. The conversation reminded me that I had stalked Karloff’s former residence a few years back, but had failed to blog about it. I learned about the pad thanks to my friend Scott Michaels’ 2013 article for Discover L.A. titled “The 13 Scariest Places in Los Angeles,” in which he wrote, “Frankenstein’s monster thespian Boris Karloff was a gentleman who had a passion for gardening. He was especially proud of his rose garden. Legend has it that several of Karloff’s friends willed their cremains to him, so they could permanently reside in his rose bed.” So the actor who played what is arguably moviedom’s most famous monster supposedly buried the ashes of multiple friends in his yard? There couldn’t be a more appropriate locale for my Haunted Hollywood posts! I honestly don’t know how the place sat in my stalking backlog for so long. Thank you, Grandma, for reminding me about it!

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Though I was most interested in the 1927 Spanish-style hacienda thanks to its Karloff connection, it turns out that the property’s macabre history dates back prior to his ownership. In July 1923, the place was leased by Katharine Hepburn, who had just won a role in A Bill of Divorcement which prompted a move from the East Coast to the West. Per the book Hollywood Death and Scandal Sites, written by my buddy E.J. from The Movieland Directory, she lived in the dwelling with best friend, actress Eve March, and a family maid. All soon became convinced the pad, most notably the pool apartment, was haunted. E.J. writes, “One night March watched the door latch open and close by itself, and the next day Hepburn and March watched a ghostly man walk from the pool into the apartment, closing the door behind him. The first time Hepburn’s younger brother Richard stayed overnight, he told her that a young man stood over his bed all night staring down at him. He was too afraid to move until sunrise.” Because of the hauntings, Katharine did not stay on the premises long, moving out in 1934 at which point Karloff (real name William Henry Pratt) moved in with his wife, Dorothy.

The property quickly became his paradise. During his tenure, Boris kept a menagerie of animals on the grounds including a tortoise, ducks, chickens, six dogs, a cow, a parrot, and a 400-pound pig named Violet. In the book Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration, author Gregory William Mank says, “For Karloff, home was his Mexican farmhouse — a bizarre aerie, high amidst the oak trees and honeysuckle of Coldwater Canyon, in the mountains above Beverly Hills. Twenty-three twenty Bowmont Drive, with its pool and beautiful, rambling gardens, previously had been the address of Katharine Hepburn. The actress sincerely believed a ghost haunted the house, moving the furniture, jiggling the latch on Ms. Hepburn’s bedroom door and looming over the guest bed — so terrifying Hepburn’s brother Richard that he couldn’t sleep ‘one single night’ during his visit. After Kate’s friend Laura Harding tried to have her dogs ferret out the ghost — to no avail — Hepburn vacated, and Boris and Dorothy had moved into the haunted hacienda in the spring of 1934. ‘We felt rather sorry for the ghost,’ said Laura Harding — after all, the spirit had likely met its match in the star who’d played Frankenstein’s Monster! Perhaps Boris scared away the ghost, or maybe they were kindred spirits, for the star loved his ‘little farm.’”

Indeed he did. Dorothy and Boris created an oasis at the home, which at the time boasted a sprawling 2.5 acres of land, planting laurel and eucalyptus trees (which still line the property to this day), farming a massive fruit orchard, landscaping a rambling lawn, and cultivating a plethora of terraced gardens including a large rose garden with more than 20 varieties of the flower. It is there that Karloff is said to have sprinkled the remains of more than one friend, which I can presume only added to the hauntings. As Mank relayed to the Los Angeles Times in 1995, Boris buried “under the roses the cremated remains of old stock-company cronies whose last wish was to rest in their now-famous friend’s Eden.” A supremely bizarre request, especially considering the actor’s horror background, but I guess the heart wants what the heart wants.

Karloff lived on the premises until his divorce from Dorothy in 1946. The majority of the land surrounding the hacienda was subsequently subdivided, leaving behind a much smaller 0.95-acre lot. Today, the pad boasts 5 bedrooms, 6 baths, 4,984 square feet, white-washed masonry walls, tile and hardwood flooring throughout, beamed ceilings, multiple patios and courtyards, a whopping SIX fireplaces including one outside, an exterior pizza oven, a chef’s kitchen, a pool, maid’s quarters, a wine cellar, a bar, a library, a tiled staircase, a den, and a sun room. The residence, which you can see photos of here, is absolutely exquisite! It very closely resembles the La Quinta Resort & Club, at least how the hotel looked prior to its recent (and unfortunate) remodel. Sadly, outside of the front gate and garage (pictured below via Google Street View), virtually none of the estate is visible from the road. (Because the latter is situated quite a distance up from the former, I did not realize it was part of the Karloff residence when I was stalking the place and failed to snap photos of it.)

As I’ve said before, though, that’s why God created aerial views.

Several other stars have called the Bowmont pad home over the years, including rocker Eric Burdon, who also reportedly moved out due to the hauntings, and director Gottfried Reinhardt. Per The Movieland Directory, producer Leland Hayward and his wife, actress Margaret Sullavan, lived on the premises at one point, as well. But the home’s storied pedigree doesn’t end there! Realtor Elaine Young told People magazine in 1991 that the property, which she was responsible for leasing out during the many years it belonged to Producers Studio head Fred Jordan, has a “quasi-demonic history.” LOVE IT. Young says, “Donovan [Leitch] leased it and did something to the toilet paper rack. Elliott Gould leased it and threw the furniture in the pool. Everybody did something.” Jordon sold to Frasier actress Peri Gilpin in 2003 who subsequently sold to Friends writers/producers Scott Silveri and Shana Goldberg-Meehan in 2007. Per Yolanda’s Little Black Book, the abode is currently owned by producer John Goldwyn and his husband Jeffrey Klein, who bought it for $7.3 million in 2015. Despite the multiple changes of hand, the dwelling apparently remains largely in its original state because in Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, Mank writes, “ . . . a recent owner relates that a late-in-life Katharine Hepburn (who died in 2003) suddenly appeared one day without warning, mysteriously dressed in black and inspecting the house and grounds. ‘Well,’ said Hepburn to the owner, ‘I’m glad to see you haven’t f*cked the place up!’”

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to Scott Michaels, of the Find A Death website, for writing about this location and to my Grandma for reminding me of it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Boris Karloff’s former house is located at 2320 Bowmont Drive in Beverly Crest.

October 26, 2018October 16, 2019

The YWCA Hollywood Studio Club from “Dexter”

Aside from Sex and the City’s, I don’t think there’s ever been a television finale that I loved. Dexter’s, in my opinion, was the absolute worst. But I was thoroughly mesmerized by the location chosen to portray Rendall Psychiatric Hospital, the ultra creepy abandoned lair of the Brain Surgeon Killer, Oliver Saxon (Darri Ingolfsson), in the series’ last three episodes. The structure, with its dark, looming presence, dramatic arched windows and iron balconies, was striking onscreen. Thanks to Seeing Stars, I learned that filming had taken place at the historic YWCA Hollywood Studio Club and ran right out to stalk it shortly after the Dexter finale aired in November 2013. While I had every intention of blogging about the site the following October, somehow I never got around to it. So here goes!

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The Hollywood Studio Club was initially founded in 1916 by a small group of aspiring actresses who regularly gathered at the Hollywood Branch Library to rehearse plays. A friendly librarian named Eleanor Jones got the ball rolling on finding the ladies a more suitable venue to perfect their craft, securing a nearby hall with the help of the Young Women’s Christian Association. At the time, most of the club members lived alone in less-than-adequate housing, so in 1919 Eleanor and the YWCA spearheaded a campaign to establish a safe, clean, affordable and chaperoned residence for the girls, as well as other young Hollywood hopefuls from all walks of the entertainment industry, to reside in upon moving to town. The group found what they were looking for in a large columned Colonial-style pad at 6129 Carlos Avenue in the heart of Tinseltown. Though it no longer stands, you can see what it looked like here. Cecil B. DeMille and Mary Pickford helped provide funding and furnishings. With space for only twenty residents, it was not long before the place was bursting at the seams and a larger facility was needed. Numerous show business heavyweights helped raise money for the project, including Harold Lloyd, Gloria Swanson and Jackie Coogan, with the YWCA picking up the rest of the tab. Julia Morgan was commissioned to design the new site and construction was completed in 1926.

The picturesque three-story Mediterranean Revival-style property featured housing for 88 women, as well as an auditorium, a kitchen that offered two daily meals (Laugh-In’s Jo Anne Worley, a one-time resident, claims the coffee cake served on Sundays was the best she’d ever had), a rehearsal hall, a dining room, a loggia, a library, a gym, a spacious living room, beamed ceilings, multiple fireplaces, 24-hour phone service, and a grassy central courtyard. By all accounts it was an idyllic place to live. As character actress Virginia Sale, who moved into the club in 1927, recounted to the Los Angeles Times in 1975, “It was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. And it was like a real home. You knew that the minute you walked in.” Often referred to as a “sorority,” the YWCA Hollywood Studio Club also offered onsite drama, singing, dancing, design, exercise, and writing classes and regularly hosted special events, such as dances, plays and fashion shows. You can see some photos of the place from its early days here.

Countless luminaries called the place home over the years including Donna Reed, Kim Novak, Rita Moreno, author Ayn Rand, Barbara Eden, Sharon Tate, clothing designer Georgia Bullock, Maureen O’Sullivan, ZaSu Pitts, Ann B. Davis, Sally Struthers, and Miss Marilyn Monroe, who in June 1948 moved into Room 307 with actress Clarice Evans. Monroe later occupied Room 334, which was a single. You can see a picture of a check the starlet wrote with the Studio Club listed as her address here. It was during her residency that she posed for those infamous nude photographs. According to Wikipedia, the September 1996 issue of Saturday Night magazine quoted Marilyn as once saying “Funny how shocked people in Hollywood were when they learned I’d posed in the nude. At one time I’d always said no when photographers asked me. But you’ll do it when you get hungry enough. It was at a time when I didn’t seem to have much future. I had no job and no money for the rent. I was living in the Hollywood Studio Club for Girls. I told them I’d get the rent somehow. So I phoned up Tom Kelley, and he took these two color shots—one sitting up, the other lying down . . . I earned the fifty dollars that I needed.” The rest, as they say, is history.

Not all residents found fame and fortune, though. As Virginia Sale also told the Los Angeles Times in 1975, “One woman, older than the rest of us, was murdered in front of the club by a boyfriend. He was an ex-serviceman or something like that. And he then killed himself.” I tried to find some further verification of the story, but came up empty, so I am not sure if it is true or not. Either way, it only adds to the place’s intrigue. In all, more than 10,000 girls called the YWCA Hollywood Studio Club home before it shut its doors in 1975, after falling victim to both hard financial times and a change in the fire code that would have required a whopping $60,000 worth of upgrades. The fire improvements were eventually made following the shuttering and the site subsequently operated as a YWCA Job Corps training center for a time. Today, the building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Historic-Cultural Monument, is utilized as a Workforce/Youth Development center/Digital Learning Academy – and a filming location. You can check out some current photos of its interior here.

The YWCA Hollywood Studio Club first appeared as Rendall Psychiatric Hospital in the Season 8 episode of Dexter titled “Goodbye Miami,” in the scene in which the deranged Saxon shows his mother, Dr. Evelyn Vogel (Charlotte Rampling), where he kills all of his victims and removes portions of their brains. Shudder! The abandoned former mental asylum is said to be located at 1215 West Clarendon Avenue in Allapattah, Florida on the series, but its actual address is 1215 Lodi Place in Hollywood.

The building popped up in the next two episodes of Dexter, as well, titled, respectively, “Monkey in a Box” . . .

. . . and “Remember the Monsters?” It is in the latter, which served as the show’s horrific finale, that Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter) is shot, setting off a series of seriously depressing events.

The interior of the YWCA Hollywood Studio Club was also utilized on Dexter.

But I am fairly certain that Saxon’s kill room, supposedly located inside Rendall Psychiatric Hospital, was nothing more than a studio-built set.

Dexter is hardly the only production to have been lensed on the premises. Thanks to fellow stalker Paul I learned that the club masked as Smith’s Grove Sanitarium in a dream sequence in the 1981 horror film Halloween II.

In the Season 2 episode of Visiting . . . with Huell Howser titled “Hollywood Ladies,” which aired in 1994, Huell tours the Hollywood Studio Club with four women who lived there during the 1940s and have remained friends ever since.

I highly recommend giving the episode a watch (which you can do here). Not only do the woman share fascinating and heartwarming tales of their time at the club and the lifelong friendships it cultivated, but viewers are given great glimpses of the property, including its central courtyard . . .

. . . and dining room and auditorium.

In the Season 1 episode of Agent Carter titled “The Iron Ceiling,” which aired in 2015, the YWCA Hollywood Studio Club portrayed the Red Room Academy, supposedly located in Russia.

The site, playing itself, is where Marla Mabrey (Lily Collins) and the rest of Howard Hughes’ (Warren Beatty) contract starlets take singing and dancing lessons in 2016’s Rules Don’t Apply (which I only scanned through to make the screen captures below, but is now on my list to watch as it looks absolutely darling – and stars Megan Hilty, whom I adore!). Both the exterior . . .

. . . and interior of the club are featured in the movie.

The kitchen also appears briefly as the kitchen of the Desert Inn in Las Vegas, where Hughes has 350 gallons of Baskin-Robbins banana nut ice cream delivered after learning the flavor is being discontinued.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to the Seeing Stars website for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The YWCA Hollywood Studio Club, aka Rendall Psychiatric Hospital from Dexter, is located at 1215 Lodi Place in Hollywood.

October 24, 2018December 17, 2019

Liz Purr’s House from “Jawbreaker”

Upon reading today’s title you might be thinking, ‘Hey! Jawbreaker is not a horror movie! What is it doing showing up in a Haunted Hollywood post?’ But hear me out. Last September, a fellow stalker named Mariana emailed to inquire if I had any intel on the “castle-like” pad where Liz Purr (Charlotte Ayanna) lived in the 1999 flick. I had never seen the film at the time (in fact, I was so unfamiliar with it, I kept referring to it as “Jawbreakers”) and asked Mariana to send over some screen captures so that I could try to track the residence down. I then promptly started researching the movie, which centers around three popular high schoolers who accidentally murder their best friend. Though technically billed as a black comedy/thriller in the same vein as 1988’s Heathers, it sure sounded horror-like to me. Director/screenwriter Darren Stein even classified it as “a blend of dark comedy with an underbelly of horror” to Broadly in 2016. So I figured Liz’s house would fit in perfectly with my October postings and was thrilled to hear back from Mariana later that same day. It turns out she didn’t need my help to ID the pad because she wound up finding it herself while using Google Street View to scour the Hancock Park area where she figured the stately Tudor was most likely to be located. During her hunt, Mariana also unearthed an even bigger Haunted Hollywood connection – Liz’s mansion was formerly owned by horror king Rob Zombie in real life! A dwelling that not only appeared in a thriller, but also once belonged to a renowned scary movie director?!? Um, yes, please! So I promptly added it to my HH To-Stalk List and, though it was too late to include in my 2017 postings, made sure to visit it in time for this year’s.

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Rob Zombie (real name Robert Bartleh Cummings) purchased the 1924 manse, which boasts 5 bedrooms, 7 baths, 7,401 square feet, a formal entry, a pub room, 4 fireplaces (one with a marble hearth), a chef’s kitchen with a butler’s pantry, a theatre, a gym, a wine room, a half-acre lot, a guest house, a pool house, a pool, a spa, and multiple patios, for $1.799 million in September 1999. He subsequently sold the pad in January 2014 for $3.55 million. Not a bad profit for a four-and-a-half-year investment! You can check out some photos from the listing here. The residence is all wood-paneled walls, beamed ceilings, and ornately carved doors. It looks like a virtual castle inside!

The subsequent owners put the property up for sale at a whopping $7.849 million in December 2016. By that time the interior had been significantly modernized (as you can see in this virtual tour and these photos) and, in my opinion, most of its charm was lost. I mean, who covers over wood paneling with gray paint?!? Someone sure liked the alterations, though, because the residence sold less than a month after hitting the market for $50,000 over its asking price.

It is from the handsome dwelling that Liz is kidnapped by her friends, Courtney (Rose McGowan), Julie (Rebecca Gayheart) and Marcie (a pre-Dexter Julie Benz), as a birthday prank in the opening scene of Jawbreaker. The girls’ stunt goes horribly wrong, though, as – spoiler alert! – Liz winds up choking to death on the jawbreaker that Courtney stuffs into her mouth to stifle her screams. (And let me just say that the image of the massive ball lodged in Liz’s throat will haunt me forever.)

The mansion pops up in several additional scenes, as well, including one in which Courtney, Julie, and Marcie bring Liz’s dead body back home in an attempt to stage a murder scene in her bedroom and cast blame on an unnamed rapist.

At the time of the filming, the residence was thoroughly visible from the road. Sadly, that is no longer the case.

The property is currently obscured by fencing and a large amount of foliage, which I am guessing was installed by Rob Zombie for privacy reasons. The front steps have also since been altered. While the home boasted a single exterior staircase when Jawbreaker was shot, today the entry is marked by a double set of steps that lead up to the gate.

The interior of the mansion was also used in the filming . . .

. . . as was the backyard. You can check out some behind-the-scenes footage of the segments shot at the house here.

Amazingly, the home’s Haunted Hollywood connections don’t end there – per The Movieland Directory website, during the 1970s the pad belonged to Dan Blocker who was best known for playing Eric ‘Hoss’ Cartwright on Bonanza. On the morning of May 13th, 1972, the actor woke up at the residence feeling dizzy and short of breath. His wife rushed him to the hospital where he died a few hours later from a blood clot in his lungs, an adverse effect resulting from a gallbladder surgery he had undergone a few weeks prior.

Fellow stalker Mark, from the NYC in Film website, let me know that the very same mansion also portrayed the supposed Jamaica Estates-area home of the McDowells in the 1988 classic Coming to America.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Mariana for finding this location!

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Liz Purr’s house from Jawbreaker, aka Rob Zombie’s former residence, is located at 555 South Muirfield Road in Hancock Park. The Tate mansion from Soap can be found just up the street at 511 South Muirfield. And Nat King Cole’s longtime home is a block away at 401 South Muirfield.

October 23, 2018October 16, 2019

The Old Orange County Courthouse from “American Horror Story: Asylum”

It is a sad truth that many filming locations are not publicly accessible. (I’m looking at you Fremont Place, Golden Oak Ranch, the Jack Rabbit Slim’s exterior from Pulp Fiction, pretty much all of the houses from Scream, and Venice High School! Yes, I have toured the latter several times, but I have never been able to stalk the hallway Britney Spears shimmied down in her “. . . Baby One More Time” music video and it remains one of my top must-see spots.) I am very happy to report that is not the case with the Old Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana, though. As the Grim Cheaper and I were thrilled to discover upon visiting last March, not only is the property open every weekday, but guided tours are also offered and photographs even encouraged! Now that’s my kind of place! We wound up spending several hours exploring the building, learning all about its architecture, history, and, of course, onscreen portrayals, the most famous of which was as the ultra-spooky Briarcliff Manor in American Horror Story: Asylum. So to the top of my Haunted Hollywood To-Blog List the site went!

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The handsome Richardsonian Romanesque-style property, designed by architect C. L. Strange, opened for operation on November 12, 1901, after 17 months of construction. During its early years the 30,000-square-foot, two-and-a-half-story building served as the county courthouse, as well as housing offices for county workers including the Board of Supervisors, the sheriff, and the district attorney.

Built of Arizona red sandstone and Temecula granite, with a metal rooftop painted to look like tile, the structure, which cost $117,000 to complete, really is a sight to behold.

They just don’t build ‘em like this anymore.

We happened to arrive at the courthouse just as the sun was gracing its edifice with majestic palm tree shadows, making it even more striking.

I mean, come on!

The Old Orange County Courthouse looks a bit different today than it did when it was initially built thanks to the loss of the towering cupola that once capped its roof. The 63-foot-tall piece, modeled after that of Trinity Church in Boston, suffered damage during the 1933 Long Beach earthquake and had to be removed. You can see a photograph of it when it was still intact here.

Aside from the elimination of the cupola and some other minor changes made to the roof following the quake, little of the building has been altered since it was constructed 117 years ago.

The place did fall victim to a few unsightly renovations over the years, including the removal of the exquisite original tiling, the addition of carpeting, and the installation of a drop ceiling, but thankfully the courthouse was brought back to its former glory via a massive restoration project that took place from 1983 to 1992.

Though no legal proceedings have taken place on the premises since a new, larger courthouse was built in 1969, its main tribunal, Courtroom No. One, remains intact.

The wood-paneled venue was the site of numerous famous trials during its heyday, including that of Beulah Overell and George Gollum, who in 1947 were accused of killing Beulah’s parents by blowing up their yacht, as well as that of Henry Ford McCracken, who was charged with the slaying of ten-year-old Patty Jean Hull in what became California’s first murder trial in 1952.

Today the Old Orange County Courthouse, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is also California State Landmark No. 837, operates as a county park and houses the marriage license bureau, the Orange County History Center, and the Orange County Archives.

The building also functions as a special events venue, a setting for wedding photographs, and, of course, a filming location.

The Old Orange County Courthouse was featured prominently throughout American Horror Story: Asylum as Briarcliff Manor, a supposed Massachusetts-area tuberculosis ward where more than 46,000 people died. The property was shown in both present day, in which it was made to seem dilapidated and abandoned . . .

. . . and its 1960’s state, when it was still in operation as a sanitarium.

The courthouse’s façade was digitally altered for the series, which aired from October 2012 to January 2013. As you can see below, not only was an entire floor added to the structure, but its roofline and gable windows were also adjusted slightly.

Despite the changes, the building is entirely recognizable from its many appearances on the show.

Only the exterior of the courthouse was utilized on American Horror Story: Asylum. Briarcliff’s sprawling interior was a studio-built set.

The Old Orange County Courthouse cameoed as Briarcliff Manor once again in the 2014 episode of American Horror Story: Freak Show titled “Orphans.”

AHS is hardly the only production to have featured the property.

The exterior of the building appeared as the outside of the courthouse where the murder trial of Thelma Jordan (Barbara Stanwyck) took place in the 1950 noir The File on Thelma Jordan . . .

. . . which coincidentally starred convicted killer Paul Kelly, whom I wrote about last week.

The lobby and stairwell of the Old Orange County Courthouse also appeared in the film.

Fellow stalker Jeff let me know that in 1967 the building was used in an establishing shot of the courthouse where Aunt Bee Taylor (Frances Bavier) serves on a jury in the Season 8 episode of The Andy Griffith Show titled “Aunt Bee, the Juror.”

The trial of Clarence Earl Gideon (Henry Fonda) at the beginning of the 1980 made-for-television movie Gideon’s Trumpet took place in Courtroom No. One.

As did North’s (Elijah Wood) trial to emancipate himself from his parents in the 1994 comedy North.

The Old Orange County Courthouse was used for exteriors of the supposed Massachusetts-area tribunal where Brooke Taylor Windham (Ali Larter) went on trial for murder in the 2001 hit Legally Blonde.

The building’s central staircase also made an appearance in the film.

The actual courtroom scenes were shot elsewhere, though – I believe on a set.

Despite that fact, I still had to do my best Elle Woods while there.

Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) argued a preliminary hearing in Courtroom No. One in the 2002 biopic Catch Me If You Can.

DiCaprio returned to the site to shoot Bruno Hauptmann’s (Damon Herriman) trial scenes for 2011’s J. Edgar.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Old Orange County Courthouse, aka Briarcliff Manor from American Horror Story: Asylum, is located at 211 West Santa Ana Boulevard in Santa Ana. You can visit the property’s official website here. The building is open to the public Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

October 19, 2018October 16, 2019

Chateau Emanuel from “The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley”

I am a HUGE fan of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen movies, as I have mentioned previously. Passport to Paris, When in Rome, New York Minute – all favorites, even though I am just a wee bit off age-wise when it comes to their target demographic. So when fellow stalker Chris (he’s the one who tracked down the location of the Full House downhill derby) emailed me this past summer and mentioned that he knew of a few other locales from the twins’ many productions, I was all in. One he informed me of, Chateau Emanuel from “The Case of Thorn Mansion” episode of The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley, especially piqued my interest. The massive property sits high atop a bluff overlooking pretty much all of Eagle Rock and I was shocked that in my 15+ years of living in neighboring Pasadena and stalking its environs, I had never come across the place. Because it played an abandoned and haunted house in the episode, I figured the pad had all the makings of a great October post. So I ran right out to stalk it.

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Chateau Emanuel was originally commissioned by Bekins Moving Company founder Martin Bekins. Designed by architect F. Eugene Barton, whom Martin also secured to design the seven-story Bekins Storage Building in nearby Glendale, the Dutch Colonial-style manse was completed in 1927.

When Martin passed away in 1933, the residence was acquired by philanthropist Wilfred “Bill” Lane, who made his fortune by inventing a perforating gun that expedited oil well drilling. The property did not change hands again until 1965, when Lane’s widow sold it to Emanuel and Maria Kvassay. It then remained in the Kvassay family for the next five decades.

The Kvassays, who founded the Sierra Packaging Company, emigrated to the United States from Czechoslovakia after it fell to communist rule. The couple became activists, working to free their native country from communism, and, as such, held numerous fundraisers and political events at the home, which at the time was known as the “Bekins-Lane Mansion.” The dwelling was also the site of countless press functions, weddings, meetings, and galas during the Kvassays’ tenure. Just a few of the politicos and luminaries who attended gatherings there over the years include Stan Lee, Oliver Stone, Marion Ross, Shirley Temple Black, Dr. Edward Teller, Eric Roberts, Rita Wilson, Jesse Jackson, Archbishop José Horacio Gómez, and Lech Wałęsa. Ronald Reagan even hosted a fundraiser for his presidential re-election campaign at the residence in 1984.

When Emanuel and Maria passed away, their three sons inherited the property. Two of the boys remained living on the premises and eldest son, Robert, became the main caretaker, rechristening the place “Chateau Emanuel” in honor of his late father.

The sprawling manse became too much for Robert to handle in recent years, not to mention too expensive – per the Tracy King Team website, water and power bills ran a good $3,500 each month and the lawn took a whopping four hours to mow! In 2010, Robert put the pad on the market with a price tag of $5.99 million. There were no takers, though. He relisted it the following year at a reduced $4.45 million, but no one bit. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles eventually expressed interest in purchasing the residence in 2016 in order to turn it into a retreat and prayer center. In an interesting twist, Katy Perry was even involved in the deal. The pop star offered to buy the pad for the church as part of her ongoing quest to acquire the former Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary convent in Los Feliz. That plan never came to fruition, though, due to zoning problems and in 2017, Chateau Emanuel was listed once again, this time for $5.5 million.

Per the real estate listing, which describes the place as a “compound,” the property boasts a 5,700-square-foot main house with 9 bedrooms, 10 baths, 2 full kitchens, numerous fireplaces, a wet bar, a game room, 2 sitting rooms, an art room, maid’s quarters with a full bath and separate entrance, and a dining room with space for 40 guests. There are also 2 detached guests homes on the premises, the first measuring 3,500 square feet and the second 1,100. The lush 2.1-acre grounds feature a greenhouse, a croquet court, a bistro, a pool, a spa, a stage, rose gardens, a pond, several fountains, pathways, arbors, four gates, cabanas, and parking for 40+ cars! I was particularly taken with the charming wooden footbridges, which look like something out of a fairy tale. I half expected to see Snow White running across one while we were there!

In January of this year, Chateau Emanuel finally sold to none other than Chris Hardwick for $5,250,000. The comedian does not plan on living in the abode, but instead purchased it out of a desire to protect it. Chris was first informed of the dwelling by his mom, real estate agent Sharon Hills, and was quickly smitten. As Curbed Los Angeles explained in an article about the sale, “His purchase of the Bekins estate was motivated in part by the worry that, because the property is so large, it could be sold and redeveloped or otherwise altered. ‘He truly bought this property to preserve it,’ says Hills.’” A man after my own heart! Chris is said to be keeping the home open to historical organizations who wish to hold events there. I’m guessing it will also be available for filming.

In “The Case of Thorn Mansion” episode of The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley, which was released in 1994, Chateau Emanuel portrays the abandoned Thorn Mansion, supposedly located on Black Widow Lane in Transylvania, where the Olsen & Olsen Mystery Agency detectives (“We’ll solve any case by dinner time!”) investigate a supposed haunting. Spoiler alert – the pad turns out not to be haunted. As the twins discover, the “ghost” that neighbors reported seeing on the property was just Mr. Thorn’s granddaughter who was tending to her late grandfather’s beehives.

The property’s real life interior also appeared in the episode.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Chris for finding this location! Smile

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Chateau Emanuel, from “The Case of Thorn Mansion” episode of The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley, is located at 1554 Hill Drive in Eagle Rock.

October 18, 2018October 16, 2019

Weatherwolde Castle

It is not everyday one comes across a mention of a random castle located on a sleepy residential street in Los Angeles. So when I found out about Weatherwolde Castle in Tujunga thanks to this page on the Dupont Castle website a couple of summers ago, I took immediate note and started researching further. The mini manor seemed to be shrouded in mystery, boasting quite a storied past. It was even rumored to be haunted! Knowing it would make for a fabulous October post, I jotted down its address and raced out to see it shortly thereafter – and then somehow forgot about it. It was not until this past February, when Nick Carr, of the fabulous Scouting New York and Scouting Los Angeles websites, posted this Instagram photo of another highly unique residence located right down the road from Weatherwolde (which I stalked the same day as the castle) that I was reminded of the place. So to the top of my Haunted Hollywood To-Blog List it went!

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Google “Weatherwolde Castle” and quite a bit of lore and legend will be kicked back. That is in large part thanks to its former occupants – one set of occupants in particular. As the Los Angeles Times stated in a 2005 piece on the home, “And then there’s the mystery factor. None of the castle’s owners has welcomed neighbors inside — not even members of the historical society. Much of its provenance is fortified by curiosity and rumor.” The vast majority of that curiosity and rumor was propagated by William and Yvonne Kenward, who lived in the castle from 1974 to 1979. During their five-year tenure, the duo was interviewed several times and seemed to love furthering the intrigue surrounding the place, claiming that the unusual pad was built by a French count whose wife was either pushed or jumped to her death from a second-story window during a party on the premises. The two also asserted that the subsequent owners, a Dutch couple, disappeared without a trace shortly after moving in. The next residents, they alleged, found the castle to be haunted by ghosts with, you guessed it, “thick Dutch accents.”

The home’s actual history is much tamer. It was originally designed by engineer/architect George J. Fosdyke for a New Orleans bookkeeper named Marcel Dumas in 1928. At the time of its inception, the 3-story French Normandy-style property boasted 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2,535 square feet, a turret with a spiral cantilevered cement staircase, a stone fireplace with a chimney featuring a fleur-de-lis sculpting, a main hall, Gothic arches, a one-acre plot of land, landscaped gardens, and a crypt. Marcel dubbed the dwelling “Chateau de Sales.” Unfortunately, aside from the fleur-de-lis detailing, virtually none of it is currently visible from the street.

Dumas (I swear I can’t read that name without thinking of this!) lost the home due to unpaid taxes in 1940, upon which it was snatched up by Jack Harris and his wife, Dixie Ann (though Jack falsely told anyone who would listen that he won the castle in a lucky game of poker). Dixie Ann worked as a secretary to Selznick International Pictures head David O. Selznick. As such, many Hollywood luminaries spent time at Chateau de Sales, including Boris Karloff, Orson Welles, Bela Lugosi, and Robert Mitchum. The Harris family lived on the premises until 1974, when they sold to the Kenwards. It was William and Yvonne who gave the pad the name Weatherwolde Castle, meaning “snug within from the weather.” Though the duo sat for numerous interviews during their years of ownership, they remained rather secretive about their home. A 1977 Los Angeles Times article (from which the photo below showing a rear view of the property comes from) stated, “The Kenwards have an unlisted telephone number and give interviews only on condition that the location of their castle will not be disclosed.” Lucky for them IAMNOTASTALKER was not around in those years. Winking smile

In 1979, the Kenwards sold Weatherwolde to Hollywood producers/writers Michael Baser and Barbara Stoll. The couple made several modernizations in the years that followed, including covering the original concrete flooring with hardwood and adding lots of white cabinetry and shelving. Baser and Stoll put the pad on the market in 2005 and it wound up being purchased by developer Scott Anderson who found the three plots of land the structure stood on more attractive than the castle itself. He made plans to raze it and build three new homes in its place. The first part of the demolition process involved excavating the trees and foliage dotting the property, as well as demoing the rear patio, the front wall, and the stone crypt. Doing so caused Weatherwolde’s façade to become visible to passersby for the first time in decades. That’s it post-excavation below. You can check out some additional photos of the place from around the same time here and here.

Google Street View circa June 2008 also provides some good imagery of the castle post-excavation, as you can see below. Neighbors who had long since forgotten about the estate began to take note – and action. They did not want such a unique home demolished. Bulldozers wound up being stopped at the very last minute thanks to the efforts of concert promoter/area resident Gina Zamparelli, who was contacted by the Crescenta Valley Heritage group at midnight the night before the razing was to take place. Gina quickly penned a press release and sent it out to her many media contacts. Her cries were heard loud and clear. By 6 the next morning protesters were out in full force. When the demo crew arrived on the scene, they took one look at the ruckus and left. A judge stepped in and put an official stop to the entire construction project shortly thereafter.

In a tragic twist, at around the same time, locals, who figured the pad was going to eventually be razed, started looting, removing anything and everything from the premises including stained glass windows, doors, hinges, light switches, handles, and appliances. The castle’s iron staircase railing was even pinched via a neighbor wielding a sledgehammer. Within a matter of days, Weatherwolde went from being fully functional and in fabulous shape with gorgeous greenery and landscaping to completely barren, its interior utterly destroyed thanks to both the excavation and the pillaging. Amazingly, one local preservationist, a musician named William Malouf, was still interested in purchasing and restoring the once grand home. After quite a bit of negotiating, Anderson finally agreed to sell Weatherwolde and two of its plots of land to him in October 2005 for $650,000. The developer held onto the third plot, situated just north of the castle, and constructed the rather unattractive 4-bedroom, 3-bath, 2,352-square-foot house pictured below, which he sold for $690,000.

William got to work right away and, miraculously, was able to reclaim virtually all of the items that had been stolen – even the staircase railing. His efforts to repair the castle, which became Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #841 in 2006, are a true labor of love. You can listen to a fabulous 2014 speech he gave about the project and see photos of the restored interior here. I was surprised to see when I arrived, though, that what is visible from the street remains a bit unkempt and that chain-link fencing still surrounds the place. Malouf did mention in his speech that the area where Anderson built the new home pictured above was formerly the site of Weatherwolde’s driveway and entrance gates. When the land was split, extensive work had to be done to add a driveway to the other side of the property. I am guessing – and hoping – that at some point a new gate will be installed to replace the chain-link fence, as well.

Per aerial views, the backyard still seems to be a work in progress, too. I can only imagine how fabulous the place is going to be when the entire restoration is complete – not to mention how perfect it will be for trick-or-treating each October! Here’s hoping Malouf is into Halloween!

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Weatherwolde Castle is located at 10633 Commerce Avenue in Tujunga.

October 17, 2018October 16, 2019

Ray Raymond and Dorothy MacKaye’s Former House

I have been told that I am ridiculously easy to buy presents for. Anything pink or sparkly, dainty and gold, or having to do with Los Angeles automatically fits the bill. Some gifts are so perfectly suited to me when it comes to the latter category, in fact, that I have received them on multiple occasions. Case in point – The Mammoth Book of Hollywood Scandals, a 514-page tome dedicated to Tinseltown’s most famous crimes, which my mom originally bought me for Christmas in 2013. When the Grim Cheaper came across the publication a few years later while perusing the stacks at our local Barnes & Noble, he snatched it right up and gave it to me the following Christmas, not realizing that my mom had already done so. Both copies remain on my bookshelf today, heavily highlighted, dog-eared and annotated. Chapter 5, titled “The ‘Almost Perfect’ Murder,” about the 1927 killing of Ray Raymond at the hands of his wife’s lover, especially piqued my interest. Prior to reading it, I had never heard of the actor or his homicide, but I devoured the story in minutes, promptly added the address of his former home to my To-Stalk List, and finally made it out there last month while prepping for my Haunted Hollywood posts.

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Ray Raymond was born in San Francisco in 1887. Described as a “song and dance man,” he found success on the vaudeville circuit early in life. While acting in a play in New York in 1921, Ray’s eye was caught by his much younger leading lady, Dorothy ‘Dot’ MacKaye (also sometimes written as “Mackaye”), and, despite a 12-year age gap – he was 34, she was 22 – and the fact that he was already married, he quickly took up with her, ditching his wife in the process. Ray and Dot reportedly wedded that August (though it has been claimed the two never actually tied the knot) and a baby girl the couple named Valerie was born the following year. In 1926, the family of three moved to Los Angeles, eventually settling into a small bungalow located at 2261 Cheremoya Avenue in the Hollywood Hills.

Their 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,622-square-foot home, which was originally built in 1922, still stands today boasting a 0.16-acre lot and a detached 2-car garage, which is just visible in the images below.

The quaint dwelling, largely hidden from the road, was not the site of many happy times for Ray and Dot. Not only did Ray reportedly have a major drinking problem, but he spent most of his time touring the country playing vaudeville shows. And Dot . . . well, Dot was in love with someone else.

During Raymond’s time away, MacKaye rekindled her longtime friendship with so-called “tough guy” actor Paul Kelly, whom she had met as a teenager while acting in a play in New York. Born in 1899, Kelly was a true child star having appeared in more than 55 movies before he even turned 18. The red-haired looker moved to Los Angeles around the same time as Dot and Ray and settled into an apartment conveniently located right around the corner from their home at 2420 North Gower Street. It was not long before the two were engaged in a torrid affair, of which neither took great pains to hide. As Dot’s maid later testified, when Raymond was touring, the young mom often did not come home at night, instead choosing to stay over at Paul’s. Newspapers of the day also reported that the couple regularly asked Kelly’s “Japanese houseboy” Jungle to serve them meals and gin fizzes, their apparent drink of choice, in bed.

Ray returned from touring in mid-April 1927 distraught over the affair. He confronted Dot about it and she did little to deny things. Ray also mentioned his wife’s indiscretion to friends, which apparently set Paul over the edge. On the evening of April 16th, under the pretense of going out to buy Easter eggs (I’m not making that up), Dot headed to Paul’s place where the two got drunk on gin fizzes (natch). She told her lover that Ray had been spilling the tea to his buddies and Paul, inexplicably enraged, called Ray to confront him. Raymond suggested that Kelly come to the Cheremoya house to talk in person and, at around 7:30 p.m., Paul headed over. Upon arriving, Ray demanded to know where Dot was. An argument ensued and things rather quickly turned physical, but the 5’7”, 135-pound Raymond was no match for the 6’, 180-pound Kelly, who was 12 years his junior. Paul pummeled Ray, punching him six times in the head and the actor collapsed to the floor. Ray’s housekeeper and daughter witnessed the entire altercation.

Though Ray appeared to be OK in the hours following the fight, he fell into a coma the next day. Dot, hoping to avoid publicity and questioning from authorities, called in a favor from a doctor who was a personal friend and her husband was quietly transported to Queen of Angels Hospital (now Dream Center) at 2301 Bellevue Avenue in Echo Park. The damage had been done, though. Raymond passed away at 5:20 a.m. on April 19th. After being slipped $500, Dot’s doctor friend signed off on the death certificate, claiming “natural causes.” Someone at the hospital smelled a rat, though, and notified the newspapers that an actor who was badly beaten had died. Police were contacted and an autopsy was ordered. Ray, it was found, had actually died from brain hemorrhaging caused by the beating. Paul and Dot were arrested.

Their trials were reportedly the most attended in California history up until that time. Kelly wound up being convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to one to ten years at San Quentin. He served two and was released on August 2nd, 1929. Dot was convicted of compounding a felony and was sentenced to one to three years, also at San Quentin. She was released after ten months. The two, of course, found their way back to each other and were married in February 1931. Hollywood inexplicably embraced the duo despite the murder. As Paul Drexler stated in a 2018 San Francisco Examiner article about the case, “Killing someone is not generally considered a good career move. It is frowned on in the bible and there is no mention of this technique in any of the books of Dale Carnegie, Stephen Covey, or Tony Robbins. For Paul Kelly, however, this act secured a long and successful acting career.” Kelly indeed made a huge comeback, starring in hundreds of films post-release. He even won a Tony award in 1948! Dot also walked away from the affair fairly unscathed, penning a play based upon her experience behind bars titled Women in Prison, which was later made into the 1933 movie Ladies They Talk About starring Barbara Stanwyck. The couple’s wedded bliss did end up to be rather short-lived, though. On the evening of January 2nd, 1940, Dot was involved in a car accident and, in an eerie echo of Ray’s death, while she appeared fine in the hours following, she passed away from internal injuries three days later. Kelly, who later remarried, died of a heart attack at the age of 57 in 1956. That karma never forgets! Ray and Dorothy’s marital home is the only element of the whole sordid tale that seems to have fared well in the end. Per Zillow, the tiny bungalow is currently worth a whopping $1.58 million!

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Ray Raymond and Dorothy MacKaye’s former home is located at 2261 Cheremoya Avenue in the Hollywood Hills.

October 10, 2018October 16, 2019

Gia Scala’s Former House

I am embarrassingly ignorant when it comes to Old Hollywood. So much so that when a fellow stalker named Alan tipped me off to a few celebrity death sites including that of Gia Scala via a comment on my Challenge Lindsay page in early 2017, I thought he was referring to the ‘70s supermodel who was the subject of an eponymous biographical film starring Angelina Jolie. As soon as I inputted the name into Google, I realized my mistake – he was actually alluding to a raven-haired actress best known for her role in 1961’s The Guns of Navarone. Upon researching further, I became quite a bit transfixed by the starlet’s mysterious death, as well as the pedigreed Hollywood Hills home where it occurred. So I added the address to my To-Stalk List and headed on out there earlier this year.

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Born Giovanna Scoglio in Liverpool, London on March 3rd, 1934, Scala migrated to Italy with her parents at three months old. At 15, she headed to the U.S., Long Island specifically, where she lived with an aunt and attended high school. The acting bug hit her early and upon graduation, Gia moved to New York City, began studying under Stella Adler and worked as a reservations clerk at Scandinavian Airlines to make ends meet. She landed a studio contract in 1954, a role in All that Heaven Allows with Rock Hudson the following year, and fame came shortly thereafter.

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Sadly, her years in show business were marred by scandalous headlines and severe despondency, both largely stemming from the passing of her mother in 1958, a death which she was said to have never gotten over. Gia attempted to jump off the Waterloo Bridge just a few months later while filming The Angry Hills in London.

Scala found temporary happiness in 1959 when she married actor/stock broker Don Burnett. The two settled into a picturesque 1940 Cape Cod home boasting two bedrooms, three baths, maid’s quarters, and a den at 7944 Woodrow Wilson Drive in Hollywood Hills West.

The couple eventually separated in 1969, divorced the following year and Gia was given the residence in the settlement. Following the dissolution of her marriage, she found herself disconsolate and the subject of tabloid fodder once again. In May 1971, the actress was arrested for drunk driving and, during the subsequent hearing, she passed out in the courtroom. The judge sent her to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation, which caused her to miss a different hearing for a different charge – this one for assaulting a parking lot attendant the month prior. Photos from that arrest are a far cry from images of the actress taken early in her career. In July, Gia suffered injuries, including the loss of a portion of her index finger, after her car overturned on an embankment. It took rescue workers 45 minutes to retrieve her from the wreckage. In November, she was in court yet again for harassing her ex-husband who had since remarried. Gia, Burnett claimed, had not only set his car on fire, but had kicked a hole in his front door. Scala was not in a good place.

Things came to a tragic end on April 30th, 1972. As reported in the newspapers of the day, early that morning, Gia got into an argument with Larry Langston and three other “hippie-type” young men who were staying in her home. The actress had apparently hired the men to do odd jobs around the property. When Gia informed them the arrangement was no longer working out, an altercation occurred. Langston and his friends, who claimed Gia had been drinking heavily and taking barbiturates, decided to leave. They supposedly put her to bed at 6 a.m. Langston then returned that evening at 8 p.m. to gather his belongings and say goodbye to Scala. When he headed upstairs to her bedroom, he found her nude lifeless body sprawled on the bed surrounded by both liquor and prescription bottles – which all sounds rather suspicious to me. Gia fires four men working in her home, an argument ensues and one of those men then finds her dead a short time later? That’s a lot of red flags, especially considering some reports claim her body was bruised and her pillow stained with blood. Coroner Thomas Noguchi (who also performed Marilyn Monroe’s autopsy) ruled the death accidental, though, caused by acute ethanol and barbiturate intoxication and advanced arteriosclerosis. Gia’s good friend, male model William Ramage, thinks the latter explains her erratic behavior in the years leading up to her death. As he said in a 2009 interview, “Her brain simply was not getting enough oxygen.” It was a grim ending for someone with such potential.

Shortly after the actress’ passing, her home was purchased by Sally Kellerman, aka Major Margaret ‘Hot Lips’ Houlihan from M*A*S*H, who proceeded to live there for the next four decades, initially with first husband, Rick Edelstein, and then with second husband, Jonathan D. Krane, and their two children, Jack and Hannah. At some point, she also purchased the cottage next door at 7932 Woodrow Wilson. Jack, who grew up on the premises, became convinced the two pads were haunted. As he told People magazine in 2016, “I always asked if someone died in one of these houses, and my parents said no. I have always felt something strange. That house is haunted, for sure. I’ve had a few ghost stories over there. It’s creepy.” He didn’t elaborate on who exactly the spectral visitors were, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one was Gia Scala.

Several years after moving in, Kellerman invited her friend Frank Gehry over for a meal. The renowned architect took one look at the property and immediately suggested a renovation. As Sally told the Chicago Tribune, “Frank Gehry came to dinner and he was like, ‘This is how you live, big movie star? We can gut the upstairs, and change everything in every room, and add a three-story contemporary wing with a rooftop garden.’ So I have a combination Frank Gehry-Cape Cod house.” (The three-story contemporary addition is pictured below.)

Gehry completed his work on the pad in 1983. During the renovation, he left many of the dwelling’s original, traditional elements intact, partially covering them with modern touches. The result of his efforts is a home that looks much like Gehry’s own residence in Santa Monica.

Sadly, Kellerman and Krane lost the property to foreclosure in 2014. You can check out some photos of what it looked like around that time here. It was then snatched up by flippers who gave the place yet another renovation before putting it on the market once again in 2015. (Post-reno pics can be viewed here.) The home, which today boasts 5 bedrooms, 6 baths, 4,412 square feet, a pool, a spa, beamed ceilings, a massive walk-in closet, gardens, and a 0.22-acre lot, was purchased later that year by One Direction’s Niall Horan for $4 million. But its Hollywood pedigree doesn’t end there! Per the 2015 real estate listing, at some point during his pre-acting days Harrison Ford did carpentry work on the residence. Talk about some major Tinseltown connections!

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Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Alan for telling me about this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Gia Scala’s former home is located at 7944 Woodrow Wilson Drive in Hollywood Hills West.