LOST: Haunted Theater #1

As part of GHOULA's mission to preserve the haunted history of greater Los Angeles, periodically GHOULA will spotlight a haunted building from our great city that is no longer with us, in an effort to prevent these stories from being forgotten (even if their ghosts are also no longer with us).

THE BELASCO THEATER

337 S. Main Street (in the heart of Downtown). map

Los Angeles, like just about every other city in the United States, has a Main Street that runs through its core. However, unlike most towns, the Main Street of Los Angeles is nothing to boast about. It’s a derelict section where most of the city’s homeless congregate, and a sad and depressing place to visit. Though it may be hard to believe today, it was apparently worse fifty years ago.

It was back then that the Belasco Theater (aka "The Follies") presented strip shows and other bawdy entertainment for those brave enough (or crazy enough) to go to that part of town at night. The area was said to be so dangerous, that an artist who rented a room above the theater was able to paper the walls of his little room with all the sensational newspaper articles about the various former strippers who had been murdered, or had committed suicide. With all the tragic lives coming to an end in that area, the building naturally became haunted by one of those doomed girls who died too young.

Witnesses said the ghostly figure was that of an attractive redheaded woman, always scantily-clad, and always wandering around backstage before vanishing into thin air. Although the theater was demolished many years ago, the redhead still crosses the now vacant lot, every now and then, offering cheap thrills to anyone who happens to see her near-naked body in the moonlight.

The Belasco Theater was located at 337 S. Main Street in the heart of Downtown. A second Belasco Theater was built in downtown Los Angeles, adjacent to the Mayan Theater, in 1926 on Hill Street to host "legitimate theater" and cinema. After its construction, the original Belasco was renamed the Follies.

(note: the 2nd Belasco also has a ghost story)

If you know of another ghost story (or another version of a story mentioned), or if you have personally experienced something strange at this theater, please leave a comment.

(to read about another local haunted theater...)
(to read about the 2nd Belasco's ghost...)

April'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 "Spirits with Spirits," GHOULA will be celebrating the release of Ghoula Press' first book, Disneyland after Dark: An Unauthorized Guide to the Happiest (Haunted) Place on Earth. The book will be available for purchase, and the author will be present.
(for more info about this book...)

THE DATE: April 13th, 2010 (Tuesday)
THE PLACE: Tam O'Shanter Inn (in the bar)
(2980 Los Feliz Boulevard, Los Angeles) Map
THE TIME: 7pm to 9pm

THE GHOST(S):

When The Tam O' Shanter Inn first opened in 1922, Los Feliz Blvd was a dirt path, the exterior was French, and the interior was designed to resemble the Witch's house from the popular story "Hansel and Gretel" (about a witch who is murdered by two children, after she attempts to kill them). For a number of reasons the French/Fairy-tale theme didn't work, and after a couple of years this tavern was overhauled with a Scottish theme to reflect the less popular folk tale of Tam O Shanter (who similarly outsmarts a coven of witches). This Scottish/Fairy-tale formula was a huge success, and as a result affected popular culture in two important ways.

First, the idea of serving customers food in their cars was invented here (to accommodate the hungry crowds) and thus paved the way for the Drive-In/Drive-Thru establishments that would populate Southern California in the decades that followed.

Secondly, the themed exterior, the themed interior, and the themed costumes of the friendly staff clearly influenced Tam's O Shanter's #1 fan, Walt Disney, when he was creating his own "theme-park," Disneyland.

Although, this was his favorite restaurant and today one can sit at the "Walt Disney Table" in the main dining room, Walt actually very rarely ate at that table, preferring instead to sit in the bar with the owner (and restaurant pioneer) Lawrence Frank. Not only did Disney try to capture this fantasy atmosphere in his own "land," but he would also copy elements of Frank's other restaurant, Lawry's. Incidentally, the original interior of "Toad Hall" in "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" at Disneyland looked remarkably similar to Tam's main dining room. Coincidence?

Disneyland aside, Tam O' Shanter's has more folklore connected to it than just the famous Scottish tale. It is also home to a few ghost stories. All of which take place in the "Bonnie Prince Charlie" room at the far end of the restaurant, which oddly was added-on much later and is not part of the original structure. The most famous apparition in this room, a small child, has been nicknamed "Charlie" because of his strong resemblance to the portrait of "The Bonnie Prince Charlie" on the wall. Also, a phantom party of dinners has been witnessed enjoying themselves at the corner table on the far end of the room. It has also been said that a former manager, at the end of the night (before turning on the alarm), would shut the doors to this room, and lean chairs against it, as if to protect the rest of the restaurant from what ever was inside.

On a lesser note, a bartender told GHOULA that he has had a couple of inebriated clients claim to have seen the ghost of Robert Burns (dressed in a kilt). Although, it seems very unlikely that this Scottish ghost would travel so far from home, it is interesting that its happen more than once. The bartender personally believes these particular sightings have more to do with the alcohol than the super-natural.

It is also worth mentioning, one of Tam O'Shanter's specialties is the Welsh Rarebit (a cheesy sauce/spread). In earlier times, it was believed that this food would cause vivid dreams. Maybe if you combine Rarebit and Booze, you too will see the ghost of Robert Burns. Or, Maybe even visions of your own "Theme Park."

Incidentally, Lawry's Restaurants Inc (which owns The Tam O'Shanter Inn) also owns two other local restaurants that are said to be haunted, Lawry's (in Beverly Hills) and Five Crowns (in Corona del Mar).

http://www.lawrysonline.com/

(To read more about the ghost of The Tam O'Shanter Inn...)
(To learn more about Lawry's...)
(To see last month's location...)

NEW from GHOULA Press

Disneyland After Dark:

An Unauthorized Guide

to the Happiest (Haunted) Place on Earth

By Richard Carradine

A guide to all the super-natural folklore and ghost stories that have circulated about the Magic Kingdom for the last couple of decades. (130 pages)

Price: $13.00

THIS BOOK IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT!

(but is available under the new title "The Park After Dark")

(To see other books available on GHOULA Press...)

Highlights from March's SWS

Thank you to all those who came to the old Duarte school house. Special thanks also to the management of the Old Spaghetti Factory, who not only gave us a private tour of this historic building, and shared their own ghost stories, but also allowed us to stay after the customers had left to explore the empty rooms.
One new story was about a female employee, who was closing up the restaurant alone when she heard someone walking around in the building. Scared, she called the police and waited outside. When the policemen arrived and greeted the woman, all the interior lights were turning on and off inside the restaurant, so they went inside to investigate, but (of course) could not find any one, or any reasons for the flashing lights (which mysteriously stopped shortly afterward).
Additional ghost stories included sightings of a person in the downstairs bathroom, the sounds of a girl laughing over the telephone intercom system, an old man's voice that was simultaneously broadcast over two cell phones belonging to diners in the "principle's office," and a chair that moved by itself one night.
Also, Bobby G pointed out that the Duarte Hanging Tree (where criminals paid the ultimate price) was nearby (behind the 7-11). Perhaps the proximity of this notorious hanging tree is the inadverted source of the rumors about a man hanging himself here.

Staff member talking about the night he went home early because a chair moved by itself.

The wait-staff station where a girl's laughter was heard.


The "principle's office" where the old man's voice was heard (and the possible site of the suicide of a former principle).


The private late-night tour of the old schoolhouse.


A possible "death portrait" of a child.

P.S. The staff told us about two other local Old Spaghetti Factories that have ghost stories. The Fullerton location (a former train station) where phantom people are seen on the tracks outside one of its windows, and the Riverside location (a former orange packing factory) where the lower half of a man has been seen walking throughout the building. Unfortunately, both locations are outside of GHOULA's jurisdiction, so we will not be going there (as a group) anytime soon.

(to read more about the ghost of Duarte's Old Spaghetti Factory...)