May's SPIRITS with SPIRITS

GHOULA meets for cocktails in haunted places on the 13th of each month. “SPIRITS with SPIRITS” is a casual gathering of regional ghost hunters and those that just like ghost stories. Open to all, from the curious skeptic to the passionate phantom pursuer. Make friends, and toast a ghost! Let's put the “Boo!” back into “booze.” All those who attend will receive a free G.H.O.U.L.A. button. If you already have one, please wear it so others can find you.

Note: At this month's gathering, a "lost" Disneyland artifact will be on display for the first time since its removal in 1982, and for this one night only! In addition, the author and Illustrator of "Disneyland after Dark: An Unauthorized Guide to the Happiest (Haunted) Place on Earth" will be present. (for more info about this book...)

THE DATE: May 13th, 2010 (Thursday)
THE PLACE: The Snow White Cafe
(6769 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles) Map
THE TIME: 8:00pm to the wicked witching hour

THE GHOST(S):

Los Angeles seems to be the land of contradictions. For all the sunshine, swimming pools, and starlets, there also always seems to be a seedy under belly of sex, scandal, and savagery. Nowhere in this city do these two worlds collide like Hollywood Blvd., where the glamour seems to rub up against the grubby. No where on this boulevard of broken dreams is that dichotomy exemplified better than the historic "Snow White Cafe." Anyone who dares to enter this typical hole-in-the-wall tavern, and walk past the drunks and barflies, will be treated to fanciful murals of Snow White and the seven dwarfs (as they appeared in the 1937 Disney film) as if the walls were sprinkled with pixie dust. Why is this copyrighted character inside this alcoholic alcove?

The often told story is that the murals were a gift from a group of Disney animators, who ate breakfast there everyday (when it was a waffle-house) before going to work. However, in Gregory Paul Williams' "The Story of Hollywood," it is reported...

"After the premiere of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" at the Carthay Circle, Disney opened the film at the Vogue. For the party afterward, a friend offered a recently purchased shop he was remodeling into a restaurant. Disney sent Josh Meador and other animators over to paint murals of the Snow White characters on the walls and on the ceiling canvas, creating the Snow White Cafe."

Aside from the association with Walt, himself, the building also has a connection to Disneyland. This Snow White-themed room would mark Disney's first attempt at creating a themed environment for people to walk through and experience. Also, years later when he would build an actual Snow White attraction in his own amusement park, because of a lack of time and money, the planned facade to the "dark-ride" was replaced with another fanciful "Snow White" mural. So for these reasons this "wishing well-watering hole" is in many ways a spiritual predecessor to Disneyland.

In recent times, it is rumored that the Walt Disney Company, in a misguided attempt to maintain brand purity, has tried many times to put this odd little piece of history out of business ,but has never succeeded. Thus, this Disney curiosity continues.

Although the management claims that there are no ghosts within the four walls that make up this tavern (even though one bartender confidentially told GHOULA that glasses sometimes mysterious slide off of the rack by themselves), the rest of the small, two-story, Spanish Colonial building (built in 1928) is well known to be haunted.

Their neighbor (on the other side of their East wall), the Hollywood Wax Museum has been plagued for decades with all sorts of spiritual activity, including dark shadowy figures that roam their section of the building. Likewise, the Snow White Cafe's neighbor on the West side (and on the floor above them), the Stella Adler theater, is also said to be haunted by a little girl, who has been seen by many witnesses. Why do so many ghosts wander through all the rooms of this building except one? Come to the Snow White Cafe and find out.

(to read more about the ghosts of this location...)
(To see last month's Disney-themed location...)