Highlights from Nov. SWS

What a great evening! Thanks to all who came out. Thanks to the "regulars." Thanks to the many "first-timers," who joined the fun. And a special "thank you" to the management, who gave our group an all access tour of the upstairs offices, where the ghosts supposedly reside. Despite all the decades that have past since it was a humble farm house, so little seems to have changed in that area of the "house."

We heard some new stories, including one about two workman hired by the city to do restoration on the historic building. One left, leaving the other to saw wood alone in one room. After awhile, the electric saw stopped. When he went to investigate, he discovered that the extension cords that ran through another room had gotten unplugged. He plugged them together, and went back to his sawing. After a while, the saw stopped again, and again the extentetion cords were unplugged from each other. Thinking that his co-worker was playing a trick on him, he tied the two cords to such a tangle of knots that nothing could separate them. Sure enough, when he went back to saw, the power stopped, and when he investigated the cords were untagled and separated. It was at this monent that he looked out the window, and into a window of a neighboring building, to discover the other workman busy at restoration work in that building several yards away. The man was alone in the building,... or was he?

Employees also claimed that they have seen the elderly ghost of Senora Consuelo de Bonza (pictured in the portrait above) wandering through the restaurant.

The manager also revealed that in the adjoing building to the south, several bodies were found buried in the basement during another restoration project. Apparently, there is no foul play suspected, they just believe , at one time, people buried their dead there.

According to all the stories we heard that night, this restaurant is just the tip of the iceburg, in terms of paranormal activity on Olvera Street.

(to read abouth the ghosts of this location...)

(to read a review of this night...)

November'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. 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, please wear it so others can find you.

Note: The management has agreed to allow our group into the (normally closed to the public) haunted area of this historic restaurant. So, come out and experience this rare opportunity to go inside one of the city's oldest buildings.

THE DATE: November 13th, 2009 (Friday the 13th!)
THE PLACE: La Golondrina Cafe
(17 West Olvera Street, Los Angeles) map
THE TIME: 7:00pm to 9:30pm (closing time)

THE GHOST(S):

In 1885, Guiseppi Covaccichi built his home and winery next to an alley that at the time was known as "Vine Street" (or sometimes "Wine Street"), because of all the other wineries in the immediate area. Despite this fact, that modest home is for some strange reason today known as the Pelanconi House (who was one of many in a string of former owners), and the dingy alley was also mysteriously renamed after one of the other families in the area to "Olvera Street." Although these reasons may have been lost to history, thankfully the house and street were not. This is largely due to a local activist, Mrs. Christine Sterling, who in the 1920's made it her mission to preserve the Alvila Adobe (the city's oldest adobe structure) and the Pelanconi house (the city's oldest brick structure) for future generations and to turn the decaying slums known as Olvera Street into "The Mexican Street of Yesterday in the City of Today." As part of her plan, she convinced a local businesswoman, Senora Consuelo de Bonza, to move her popular eatery into the old Pelanconi House (and the adjoining warehouse). After cleaning, renovating, and blessing ("to remove the evil spirits"), La Golondrina reopened its doors to the public in 1930. Not only is it the oldest business on Olvera Street today, but it also holds the distinction of being the first place in Los Angeles to serve "Mexican" food (as opposed to "Spanish").

Although Senora Consuelo de Bonza is no longer with us, her portrait still hangs in the dining room, and some say her spirit still remains as well. In addition to the sounds of disembodied footsteps trailing throughout the empty restaurant, witnesses have claimed to see a woman (sometimes described as young) dressed in a white gown floating up the stairs to the "third" floor (originally the second floor), as well as inside the private offices on that floor. Even though this apparition is generally believed to be Senora de Bonza, it is quite possible the ghost could be a member of one of the many families that resided in this home over the years, since these offices are where the house's bedrooms were once located. It is also worth mentioning that the canal (known as the "mother ditch") that brought water to this cluster of buildings and farms from the Los Angeles River ran very close to this house and would surely have been visible back then from one of the upstairs windows. Although, this waterway in many ways represented life to this community, sometimes it also represented death. It was not uncommon in our city's early (wild west) days for murdered bodies to be disposed of in that ditch, or for drunken souls to meet their accidental end there. Perhaps this "woman in white" is connected to a long ago unsolved murder (or accidental death), as a victim or one who mourns for a lover who met his demise in the dark muddy waters that rolled past this former haunted house.

(to read more ghost stories of this haunted location...)
(to read about last month's SPIRITS with SPIRITS location...)

REAL GHOSTS with REEL GHOSTS

THE DATE: October
THE TIME: check schedule

THE PLACE: The Westwood Avco
(10840 Wilshire Blvd.) map
THE MOVIE: Paranormal Activity (2009)

THE PRICE: $10.00

Come out and see a movie about ghosts in an actual haunted theater!

The Westwood Avco Theater is said to be the home of a phantom patrons in the balcony and a little girl in the lobby... (read more)

R.I.P. Vic Mizzy

Local composer Vic Mizzy has gone to the great beyond. One can only hope that his spirit will linger long enough to play his organ one last time with invisible fingers like the scene in "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" for which he composed the ghostly music that Don Knotts hears coming from the haunted house (located in Los Angeles). (read more...)