Highlights from Dec's SWS

(Picture above is a painting at the Redwood Bar of a ghost ship)

Thanks to everyone who came out this Christmas season to participate in the time honored , yule-tide tradition of telling ghost stories. GHOULA would also like to thank the staff members, who shared their own personal spooky tales of this location...

Namely, the silhouette (and shadows) of the man seen downstairs in the basement area, where the bar stores items. One waitress told a tale about a loud shrieking sound echoing the halls when she once stepped into the elevator to go down there. She leaned back out before the elevator doors closed to see if she could tell where the noise was emanating from, when a security guard turned a corner, and appeared. When she asked about the noise, the guard had heard nothing unusual at the other end of the hall.

(to read more about the ghosts of this haunted location...)

BOOs Alert!

THIS JUST IN:
Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Invades Hollywood.
(for the full story, click the link below.)

http://creepyla.com/blog/2012/12/13/yes-ray-there-is-a-stay-puft-marshmallow-store/

December's SPIRITS with SPIRITS

GHOULA meets for cocktails in haunted places on the 13th of each month. “SPIRITS with SPIRITS” is a casual social 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 (square) G.H.O.U.L.A. button. If you already have one, please wear it so others can find you, without asking the staff about our group.

Note: This Thursday is Downtown's Art Walk, so parking/traffic may be an issue, but this location is walking distance to the galleries,(for those that also want to check out some culture before having a drink and hearing a ghost story).

THE DATE: December 13th, 2012 (Thursday)
THE PLACE: Redwood Bar and Grill
316 West 2nd Street, Downtown (Map)
(near METRO Red Line's Civic Center Station)
THE TIME: 7:00pm - ?
(Happy Hour 3-8pm)

THE GHOST(S):

"Haunted houses are a hobby of mine...
If a house is haunted, I'd like to hear about it...
What do you hear - moans, groans, squeaking steps at night?"
-- Perry Mason (from "The Case of the Worried Waitress" by Earle Stanley Gardner)

Although Raymond Chandler's private-eye, Phillip Marlow, seems to get the most attention of the many LA-based literary investigators, Erle Stanley Gardner's fictional lawyer, Perry Mason, is certainly no slouch with 84 novels, movies, and a successful TV series. What the Mason novel's lack in poetic descriptions of Los Angeles, they more than make up for with their fast-paced plotting through familiar neighborhoods. Like Chandler, Gardner also seemed to disguise specific localities, leaving the reader to try and decipher the actual places being described in the books.

One reoccurring location in the Perry Mason novels is a small, dark restaurant located near the courthouse, which the famous lawyer frequents while a trial is in progress. As such, the staff know him, and give him the back room where he can discuss his case privately with his staff and/or a client. Despite never being mentioned by name, it seems pretty clear that this fictional hole-in-wall tavern frequented by lawyers, defendants, reporters, politicians, and city workers (with a back room for legal strategy sessions) is modeled after the real-life Redwood Bar and Grill.

The Redwood opened in 1942 at 234 W. 1st Street, moving one block to its current location at 316 W. 2nd Street in 1970 (which formerly housed offices for the DWP). It's name is a result of the owner's shock that he was able to score a shipment of redwood for the interior when, due of the then war, resources were scarce. Because of its proximity to the civic center of our city, The Redwood has always catered to those that have business and/or work in this part of town.

With so many people patronizing this watering-hole over the decades, is it any wonder that there are also ghost stories attached to the establishment. There are claims of shadows moving along walls (seen in the reflection of the mirror of the men's restroom), as well as phantom fingers that tap on the backs of those sitting at the bar (as if to get their attention). Additionally, the ghost of a man has been seen around the building's lobby (near the barroom). Could this male spirit be the same one in the men's room, or the one tapping female patrons?

Who could this brazen male ghost be? Is it the original owner, Samuel "Eddie" Spivak, who may be keeping an eye on the place? Is it Bill Eaton, a former bartender (old location), and later owner (new location), who used to hand out "Bill's Pills" (vitamins) with the cocktails to keep the drunks healthy? What about long-time fixture, Lou "Nightly" Wilson, whose steel-trap mind could recall any song ever written even if his rendition was off-key? Then, there is local celebrity, Art Ryon, who wrote a popular restaurant column for the LA Times from the front booth. Also, in 1920 at this address, a man was arrested for "trying out" women, who answered an ad about employment in the motion picture business. Perhaps, this pervy spirit still lingers on to "touch" others.

In recent years however, the bar has become known more for its pirate decor than its patrons (and past patrons). If a pirate-themed bar seems out of place in Downtown Los Angeles, remember California's (and possibly Los Angeles') connection to legendary pirate/privateer/patriot, Sir Francis Drake, who patrolled the waters up and down our coast in 1579. Yes, the British were in California long before they ever set foot on the East Coast (before Plymouth Rock).

So come out and toast Los Angeles' legal, literary, and larcenous history at the Redwood Bar and Grill... if you dare.

(for more info about this ghost, check out "Gourmet Ghosts" by James Bartlett...)

(to read about more ghosts of this haunted location...)
(to read about last month's haunted location... )
(to see a map of previous SPIRITS with SPIRITS locations... )

The "Haunted VCR Movie Night" Results...

The results are mixed...

First of all, thanks to all those who came out to participate in this odd experiment, and thanks the Beta Level for providing a space to conduct this demonstration.

At the start of the evening, technical problems seemed to plague the set-up, forcing our screening to be pushed back an hour. Was the Haunted VCR, affecting (or infecting) the other electronic devices in the room? Probably not, but who knows?

Once we were up and running, the Abbot and Costello film "The Time of Their Lives" was projected on one wall, while the distorted pictures from the VHS copy inside the Haunted VCR were projected on another wall. A night-vision camera was placed over the VCR to record any movements of the planchette across the painted Ouija-like design on the top of the machine, which was then broadcasted on a TV screen. All of this went on while a couple of volunteers from the audiences placed their fingers on the planchette, and asked questions.
(to see video of this set-up...)

So what happened? After some slow and/or confusing movements of the planchette in response to initial questions, the following exchange occurred...

"Did you know the previous owner of the VCR?
YES

This was followed by more slow and/or confusing movements.

"Are there multiple spirits here?"
YES

How many spirits are present?
(the planchette pointed to the space between the ""8 and the "9")

"Are the spirits connected to the VCR?"
NO

"Are the spirits connected to the building?"
NO

"Are the spirits connected to someone here?"
YES

When trying to isolate who the spirits were connected to or what message, if any, they had for that individual, the planchette keep moving to the bottom right hand corner with half of the planchette sliding off of the machine.

This is the corner with the word "GOOD BYE." But, given the large size of the planchette (a standard Parker Brothers model) and the small surface area of the VCR, when the planchette is over "GOOD BYE" it may also be pointing to Y, Z, P, or O. All of these letters meant nothing to anyone present. Any further attempts to communicate were met with the planchette, sliding back to the "GOOD BYE" corner. So, the participates gave up, and everyone watched the rest of this wonderfully strange movie in peace.

Thus, if we ever attempt this again, we will need to get a smaller planchette. Also, we may try a more experienced team of Ouija practitioners, instead of volunteers from the audience. However, there is the question of enviornment. Since the VCR's last home was a haunted apartment building, we may have to attempt this in a haunted space to bring out the ghosts. Then again, maybe it worked originally because of a specific ghost in that specific location that liked/disliked old movies. Like the "gliding rocks" of the Devil's Racetrack, the magic might stop once you remove the object from it habitat. Then again, the man that GHOULA obtained the Haunted VCR from had, himself, obtained it from Goodwill, so who knows what its history was before him.

Although, GHOULA feels this was a noble attempt to test the Haunted VCR, unfortunately the results are inconclusive as to if the machine, itself, is haunted.

GHOULA will continue to keep everyone updated on any future/further developments in the saga of the "Haunted VCR"...

(to read about the first "Haunted VCR Movie Night"...)
(to read about "The Tale of the Haunted VCR"...)