NOTICE: (Added 11/9/12) The TV show cancelled their filming at the Forbidden Lounge. For the new location (and the ghost story) for Tuesday's SPIRITS with SPIRITS click here. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.
The Doors at the Doors Workshop (8512 Santa Monica Blvd, WeHo)
"Playful ghosts have interrupted our tour"
-Haunted Mansion, Disneyland
WARNING!:
GHOULA is going to do something a little different this month (we just couldn't resist this unique opportunity). We will do the previously unthinkable, and repeat a popular location from the past, breaking our uninterrupted streak of more than four years of different haunted bars. (Yes, you read that right.)
A TV show will be filming an episode at a local haunted bar, and they have asked GHOULA to be part of the fun. The bar will be closed to the public, and is just opening for our "Spirits with Spirits" meet-up. Thus, feel free to bring any ghost-hunting tools or spirit-communication devices to take advantage of this unique access. A signature alcoholic cocktail will be created by the show just for our group (the production company will also be buying a round of drinks).
So, come out for this special "Best of" edition of "Spirits with Spirits," be on TV, get a free drink, and perhaps even see the ghost of "The Lizard King."
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.
THE DATE: November 13th, 2012 (Tuesday)
THE PLACE: Forbidden Lounge
(8512 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood) Map
THE TIME: 8:00pm to ???
PARKING: Free parking at Al and Ed's parking lot.
(Next door on the SW corner of La Cienega and Santa Monica Blvd)
THE GHOST(S):
Near the corner of La Cienega and Santa Monica Blvd, and not far from the hill that local motorists fear, sits what would be a very nondescript building if it weren't oozing with local Rock n' Roll history. Although, this plain building has had many tenants (and colors) over the years, it is perhaps most famous as the (bright yellow) headquarters (and crash pad) of the quintessential L.A. band, "The Doors." From the late 1960's thru the early 1970's, this simple two-story structure was known as "The Doors Workshop."
The upstairs was their offices, where business was conducted and fan mail answered. The ground floor served as their rehearsal space. After a suggestion from a producer at Elektra Sound Studios, the album "L.A. Woman" was recorded in this building to avoid the time pressures of rented studios (between October of 1970 and February of 1971). A few months later on July 3, 1971, Jim Morrison, The Doors' charismatic lead singer (a.k.a. "The Lizard King") died in a bath tub in Paris.
Ever since, legions of devoted fans make pilgrimages to his grave in France on the anniversary of his death, while ghost hunters journey to this West Hollywood restaurant to make contact with his ghost. The fact that most paranormal investigators head to the restroom inside this establishment is no reflection on the cuisine, or an allusion to Morrison death (which occurred in a bathroom), but instead is based on the belief that his spirit is felt strongest in this room. Before becoming a unisex latrine, this small chamber was once the sound booth, where Morrison recorded his vocals. Thus, perhaps his frustrated spirit is still trying to lay down one more track since witnesses claim the room's doorknob will sometimes inexplicably jiggle, as if someone where trying to enter (or exit).
Also, throughout the restaurant, employees have noticed lights that turn on an off by themselves, as well as "phantom footsteps" and drinking glasses that shatter for no apparent reason. (Note: on a recent visit, a member of GHOULA witnessed this phenomena as a water glass that had been set down on a table, suddenly split in half, cracking into two equal-sized pieces.)
Although, his ghost has also been seen in his former Laurel Canyon home over the years, and there have been other ghostly claims from many local bars, clubs, motels, and liquors stores he frequented in this small section of town. In a recent interview, The Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger, while visiting this restaurant to reminisce about the "Doors Workshop" said "His spirit is here for sure!"
http://forbiddenrestaurant.com/
(to read about last month's haunted location... )
(to see a map of previous SPIRITS with SPIRITS locations... )
When: Friday, November 1st (Day of the Dead)
Time: Tours start at 8pm
Meeting Place: The palm tree-lined island in front of Union Station
(800 North Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012)
Price: FREE TOUR + Metro Day Pass ($6.00)
Please purchase the Metro Pass before the meet-up to save time.
Parking: See below.
NOTE: This encore subway/walking tour will be last tour (at least until next year... maybe), so this may be your only chance to see it. Also, this tour will start an hour later (at 8:00pm), so people can enjoy the Olvera Street "Day of the Dead" procession at 7:00pm (across the street from the meet-up spot). So, come out this Friday for an night of remembering local spirits.
Los Angeles' lore is filled with tales of secret tunnels. Whether its supposed opium dens, rum-running passages, discontinued "Red Car" tunnels, munchkin transports, celebrity/mistress escape routes, or simply chambers belonging to a race of subterranean lizard people, many buildings and homes claimed to be connected to other buildings and homes below street level (if only we could find their openings).
So, is there a better way to explore the haunted history of Los Angeles than by traveling underground from location to location via our very own (dead) Red Line Metro Subway with the other living dead of this city?
We will meet-up at Union Station (the starting point for the Red Line) and then travel through 13 stops to the North Hollywood Station (at the end of the line), getting off and on along the way. In addition to Union Station and the North Hollywood Station, we will stop at few other stations, step off the train, rise to street-level, and discuss the ghosts and haunted sites visible from that spot before going back aboard to the next stop on our tour.
Come out and hear spooky tales about a spirit solider, a vanishing padre, and a ghostly car. As well as many other phantom figures from our past that haunt our present.
Parking: Since everyone participating in the tour will need a Metro Day Pass to ride the subway, it is advisable to park at one of the FREE lots provided by the Metro at either the North Hollywood Station (our end point) or the Universal City Station, and then just take the Subway to Union Station to meet-up with the group (The lots around Union Station are not free and they may close early).
Thank you to all, who came out to our "Tormented" (by the She-Ghost of Haunted Island) screening at an actual haunted lighthouse like the one in the movie, and thanks to the audience members who shared their local lighthouse ghost stories, and thanks to Los Angeles' own Zombie Squad (zombiehunters.org) for coming out to our event. And always, thanks to the EPFC Filmmobile for making these site-specific events possible.
The Point Fermin Lighthouse decided to not be involved with our event when they heard about the movie we were screening. They felt that it was not appropriate. Maybe they were correct, since our presence adjacent (just outside the picket fence) to the historic lighthouse seemed to stir up some possibly paranormal activity. While discussing the lighthouse's ghost lore, two strange things happened...
First, the lighthouse's alarm system sounded during the ghost stories. The on-site security guard came over to our group to inquire if we saw anyone walking around the grounds between us and the lighthouse (which we hadn't). He claimed that the sliding window to their gift shop had inexplicably slid open, triggering the alarm. When the police arrived with their flashlights, they could not find any evidence of someone breaking into the gift shop, or (based on the dirt below) someone approaching the window from the outside.
Secondly, just before we talked about the ghosts, the Echo Park Film Center's power shut down. Despite the generator's location being in plain site, the cable mysteriously detached from it, and when it was plugged back in, the generator would simply not work. A quick trip to a nearby gas station revealed that the generator's tank was indeed full as thought, and when it returned to our screening location (after the ghost stories were told) the generator fired up without a problem.
Coincidence? You decide.
(to read about this event's location... )
(to read about the haunted film screened... )
(to read about this haunted location's ghosts... )
The Date: Tuesday-Sunday
Time: 1:00pm-4:00pm (Guided Tours 1:00pm, 2:00pm, & 3:00pm)
The Location:
Point Fermin Lighthouse Historic Site and Museum
807 W. Paseo Del Mar, San Pedro, CA 90731
[MAP]
Note: This event is not hosted by GHOULA. This is just a local (ghost related) event that exists independently that GHOULA wants its members to know about. As such, docents and staff at this event may not wish to discuss this landmark's haunted history.
The Ghost(s):
Unfortunately, because the ghost stories from the Point Vincente Lighthouse just eight miles up the road are more well-known, sometimes they get falsely attributed to this historic lighthouse, which predates that newer lighthouse by a half century.
The Point Fermin Lighthouse began its duty of protecting our shores in 1872 (some reports put it at 1974), although some portions of the building may be even older, considering it took about twenty years to build this seemingly simple Victorian home/lighthouse. Given the remote nature of the point it sits on, supplies had to be brought from either the Pacific North West, or the East Coast (around South America's Cape Horn), which made construction a very lengthy process.
Unlike the nearby Point Vicente Lighthouse, which is said to be haunted by a woman longing for her lost husband, this lighthouse appears to be haunted by the inverse, a lonely male lighthouse keeper carrying the torch (literally and figuratively) for his dead wife. When he passed away in October of 1925 (a couple of months after his wife died), the local papers reported he died of a broken heart. Two months after his death, the lighthouse was decommissioned and the grounds turned into a public park. Not only was he the last man to hold that job, some say he never left, and can still be seen (and heard) carrying out his duties, walking around the lighthouse and the lens house.
Although the current lighthouse staff claims that the historic structure is not haunted, they are familiar with the ghost tales, and curiously do not deny them. The explanation they give is that these yarns were originally fabricated by a ranger that used to live in the lighthouse (as caretaker of the building and park) as a means of scaring local children and teens so that they would not try to break in to the spooky old lighthouse or vandalize it. Needless to say, there are many locals that grew up around the lighthouse, who beg to differ.
Interestingly, the ghostly keeper may not be alone there with his feelings of loneliness, sadness, and regret. The adjacent cliff is well known in the area as a favorite spot for suicides (with stories of ghostly figures walking along the cliff's edge or the rocks below.) Also, Point Fermin Park was the site of the great UFO attack of 1942, but that's another story for another time...
http://www.pointferminlighthouse.org//index.htm
(to read about the ghosts of the Point Vincente Lighthouse...)
