March'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.

THE DATE: March 13th, 2013 (Wednesday)
THE PLACE: Akbar
4356 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles (Map)
THE TIME: 8:00pm to the witching hour

"Playful ghosts have interrupted our tour"
-Haunted Mansion, Disneyland

GHOULA is doing something a little different this month (we just couldn't resist this unique opportunity). Instead, of the normal "SPIRITS with SPIRITS," we will be celebrating local ghost lore (with libations) while taking part in another local Wednesday tradition.

Since at least 1931, alcohol has been served at this address, 4356 Sunset Blvd., which is not only at the center of the movie industry's early days (the gigantic "Babylon Set" from D.W. Griffith's "Intolerance" with the giant plaster elephants was just a block away), but this neighborhood is arguably ground-zero for the gay rights movement with one of the first large civil demonstrations in 1967 (2 years before the Stonewall Riots). In the years since then however, it seems the gay community has moved west to West Hollywood, and the hipsters have moved in, changing the complexion of life (and night life) in this hood. thus, Akbar is notable as one of the last "gay" bars left here (however most nights the crowd appears mixed), serving as a reminder of a bygone era like the the old Mabel Normand Studios (used for silent movies) directly across the street.

Even though some believe Akbar has a ghost (or should have a ghost) rattling around inside its historic walls, probably connected to a murder that occurred within this tavern when a "piano bar" (playing show tunes) named Joly's occupied this location, the real reason GHOULA is descending on this neighborhood watering hole is their spooky "Craft Night."

For the past 11 years (6 years at Akbar), Julianna Parr (aka "The L.A. Craft Captain") has been providing a creative outlet for this city's thirsty citizens. How big is Craft Night? If you type "Craft Night" into the Google search engine, not only will it suggest "craft night akbar," but the event's web page comes up first. Additionally, this local craft celebrity is responsible for "Gothtober" (an annual online advent calendar that counts down the days to Halloween), and was part of easily the best (macabre) moment of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHF_SLlTz34)

Remember, it is said that Walt Disney came up with his ideas for Disneyland while sitting in a bar, so here's your chance to have a drink and create something equally as wacky (or wonderfully spooky)... if you dare.

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

SPIRITS with SPIRITS 5th Anniversary Bash!

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.

May 13th will be GHOULA's 60th SPIRITS with SPIRITS, and as such, it will mark 5 years of our humble group meeting once a month to explore this great city, and to tell ghost stories over cocktails. Help us celebrate this milestone at one of the most enchanted places in Los Angeles.

RSVP REQUIRED: This meet-up will be in the Oviatt Penthosue, with a full-service (no host) bar set up just for us. The good people at Truly Yours Catering have arranged for GHOULA to get special access into this famously haunted building's inner sanctum (not normally open to the public), so come out for this rare opportunity to see one of the great hidden gems of Downtown. Since there are occupancy limitations... Please RSVP here.

THE DATE: May 13th, 2013 (Monday)
THE PLACE:The Oviatt Penthouse (at the top of the Oviatt Building)
617 S Olive St, Downtown, (map)
(Instructions on how to enter penthouse will come later.)
THE TIME: 8:00pm - ?
ADMISSION: FREE (with RSVP)

THE GHOST(S):

"We're at Nineteen Moonbeam Terrace
Overlooking Starlight Square
We're the couple in the castle
Way up high in the air!
On the corner there's a cloud bank
and we bank our millions there
We're the couple in the castle in the air."
---from the song "We're the Couple in the Castle" (1941)

No one knows for sure if this song, written by Los Angeles-based songwriters, "Hoagy" Carmichael and Frank Loesser, for the animated feature, MR. BUG GOES TO TOWN, about an art-deco "castle" on the top of a skyscraper in the middle of a city, was inspired by the Oviatt Penthouse, but it seems likely.

In 1928, the Los Angeles Times called this Romantic penthouse the "Castle in the Air," and it is every bit as magical today as it was back when James Oviatt, his wife, and their son lived there (even if the rooftop beach with imported sand from the French Riviera no longer exists). It is thought to be the first Art Deco residence in Los Angeles. Also, the penthouse is 13 stories up, and has a tower with three neon clock faces that are 13 feet in diameter each. Coincidence?

James Oviatt opened his haberdashery (men's apparel) at this address in May of 1928 (exactly 85 years ago), and occupied the first three floors of this building until 1966. When his business ended, he continued to live in the penthouse until his death, a few years later. Although haberdasheries have largely disappeared from Los Angeles' landscape, some believe that one haberdasher lingers on...

In life, James Oviatt was an avid pipe smoker, and there are claims that the strong smell of pipe tobacco will inexplicably waft through the rooms of his former home as well as the areas in the building where he used to work, especially the ground floor (now the smoke-free Cicada Restaurant). By all accounts, Oviatt was a perfectionist, and obsessed with keeping a tidy workplace, so is it any surprise that those who work at Cicada and the Penthouse feel that the shadowy figure that watches over them, or the disembodied footsteps that follow them, is just the former owner keeping an eye on things, in an attempt to maintain the standards of excellence he originally set.

Additionally, there seems to a secondary spirit that acts as the "yang" to the orderly Oviatt's "yin," a mischievous "prankster," who playfully creates disorder, moving objects, throwing up papers, and tugging/pushing the staff. Since some have seen (or heard) the ghost of a small boy, who disappears into the walls, these unruly phenomena are generally blamed on Oviatt's son, Jimmy, who in life, used to raise hell, and try to scare the staff by jumping out from behind display cases. Does his energy still engage in such childish thrills? It is said that one former security guard got so spooked in the penthouse, he ran down thirteen flights of stairs to avoid waiting for the elevator ("Feet don't fail me now!")

Although the ground floor (Cicada Restaurant) and the Penthouse are the real hot spots for activity, it seems that this spooky duo, do not apparently limit themselves to those two locations. Just about every tenant within this office building have had their spectral brushes with Oviatt and his son.

Perhaps the old song's lyric should be updated to..
"We're the couple (of ghosts) in the castle in the air"

So, come out to Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #195, have a cocktail under Downtown's only weather vane, and celebrate 5 years of toasting ghosts... if you dare.

The Oviatt Penthouse
(to read about last month's haunted location... )
(to see a map of previous SPIRITS with SPIRITS locations... )

Seance this Sunday!

Forget the Oscars this Sunday, and do what Lincoln would have done if he were around (even if it was only hinted at in the Oscar-nominated movie)...

Go to a seance!

What: Jill Tracy's Musical Seance
Where: Dibble House, Historical Monument 157
3110 North Broadway, Lincoln Heights (map)
When:9pm (Doors open at 8pm)
Admission: Free (suggested donation $10)
Website: http://jilltracy.com/jt/

On June 18, 1896, the usually jovial, soft-spoken Horace P. Dibble went to his job at the Pacific Crockery and Tinware Company. Before the day ended, he stabbed a shipping clerk to death in a violent skuffle. He lived in this odd Queen Anne style house, which is now simply known as Historical Monument 157 in Los Angeles.

Join chanteuse, pianist and storyteller Jill Tracy and violinist Paul Mercer for a very rare evening inside the Dibble House, with a full concert, tales of ghosts, and their acclaimed Musical Seance.

Hailed by LA Weekly as “the cult darling of the Underworld,” Jill Tracy’s dark cinematic elegance pairs with Mercer’s eerie improvisational style which summons the aid of various centuries-old violins and violas. Since joining forces on Halloween 2007, the duo have become widely known for their astonishing channeled duets on piano and violin. The pair affectionately refer to their collaborations as “spontaneous musical combustion.” Their uncanny ability to conjure unsettlingly lavish compositions has led to spellbinding results, transporting the room into “a musical seance.”

Audience members are asked to bring small objects of special significance, such as a photo, talisman, jewelry, toy, token. This is a very crucial part of manifesting the music. Every object holds its story, its spirit. Energy, resonance, impressions from anyone who has ever held the object, to the experiences and emotions passed through it.

The duo have conjured music in such unusual locales as abandoned asylums, caves, haunted castles, decrepit gardens, and were special guests at Anne Rice’s famed Halloween Ball in New Orleans in addition to working on film scores and touring internationally.

For more info...
http://jilltracy.com/jt/

February'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: check the bar's website about details concerning the dress code.

THE DATE: February 13th, 2013 (Wednesday)
THE PLACE:The Edison (at the bottom of the steps)
108 W 2nd St, Downtown,
(enter from the alley behind the building) (map)
THE TIME: 8:00pm - ?
(Happy Hour 5pm - 7pm)

THE GHOST(S):

So, if the popular image of "Heaven" is a peaceful environment high above Earth amongst fluffy white clouds, then it would seem "Hell" is the opposite. One could imagine Satan's domain as a dark, subterranean lair with giant industrial machinery and crowded with the damned (strippers, musicians, posers, etc). Strangely (or maybe not so strangely), this description also matches The Edison (Bar) in the heart of Downtown, under the Higgins Building. As if that weren't enough, the bar, itself, makes subtle allusions and references to Satan, and Satanism.

First of all, the bar's namesake, Thomas Edison, has long been rumored to be a Satanist, and theories of his Satanic connections can be found all over the Internet. Additionally, there is a large mural of Prometheus as one descends into the bar. Prometheus also has connections to Satanism and the Occult. Prometheus (generally depicted holding a torch or fire) in Greek mythology was an immortal that was punished by Zeus for tampering with the humans (possibly making him the inspiration for the Christian "Devil").

Likewise, one of the Devil's nicknames is "Lucifer," which roughly translated means the "bringer of light" not unlike the illuminated Prometheus. It is also thought that animal sacrifices, commonly associated with Satanism, started as a means of worshiping Prometheus (a ritual that Thomas Edison used to record himself doing with the then-new invention, the movie-camera). It should also be no surprise that the Edison Building, a couple of blocks away from this night club, also has artistic renderings of Prometheus at its entrance.

Anecdotally, in 1913, an anonymous prankster, took out an ad falsely announcing that the Higgins building was a refuge for any unwanted cats, a place where they would get good care. In the days that followed, people began dropping these feline creatures off in the lobby, until the building became over run with cats (also an animal associated with the Occult and Satanism).

Even if The Edison (Bar) is a recreation of "Hell," it seems that there is only one soul damned to spend eternity here. The staff says that the spirit of a well-dressed man seems to linger near the restrooms, and is seen most often late at night, after the bar is closed to the public. The identity of this man is a mystery, but there is an often repeated story associated with him. The claim is that before the basement (containing the original 1910 "power apparatus") was converted into a bar, is was flooded with water. When the dirty water was drained, a skeleton was found at the bottom. Were these the remains of the man that haunts the bar? No one knows how long those bones were down there.

So, come out to one of Los Angeles' truly underground bars, have a cocktail, .and check to make sure that well-dressed gentleman standing near you is really there .. if you dare.

www.edisondowntown.com/
(to read about last month's haunted location... )
(to see a map of previous SPIRITS with SPIRITS locations... )