Highlights from Dec. SWS

Perhaps it was the cold temperatures, but December's meet-up was made-up of a small but loyal group. That is until, a happy-go-lucky gregarious man of mystery joined our group. He was at the Formosa Cafe for a Birthday Party, but was apparently early since we were the only group there. Then as more member's of his party arrived, they joined our table. These new additions were a smart, lively, and fun-loving group, with many ghost stories of their own to tell. When the "birthday boy" himself arrived, he even had a couple of great stories. The waitress, when hearing all the shrieks and laughs, joined in on the fun with her own personal ghost story.

By the way, she claimed to have never experienced anything paranormal at the Formosa (and she works the late shift). However, when we told her some of the stories connected to the place as we were leaving, she did confess that she has felt the "ghostly goosing," but had always thought it was some strange static electricity that was creating the pinching sensation in her posterior.

(to read the Formosa's ghost stories...)

December'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.

THE DATE: December 13th, 2009 (Sunday)
THE PLACE: Formosa Cafe
(7156 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood) map
THE TIME: 8pm to the witching hour

THE GHOST(S):

This famous local landmark has been in business since 1925, when prize-fighter, Jimmy "Your Host" Berstein, turned a decommissioned Hollywood "Red Car" (trolley) into a lunch counter and named it "The Red Spot." (Some sources claim it was actually called "The Red Post.") Eventually, he added a full kitchen and a dining room and changed the name to "The Formosa." In 1945, he became partners with chef Lem Quon, who created the cantonese menu and took the cuisine into a new direction. Incidentally, the "Red Car" is still there.

Because of its proximity to the studio directly across the street, the celebrities who have dined/drank here (and continue to do so) are too numerous to mention. John Wayne is said to have been such a regular customer that he was allowed to sleep off his drunken stupors in the booths and make himself breakfast in the kitchen the next morning. Elvis supposedly used to make special trips there for a simple ham sandwich (the kind Berstein used to make back when it was a lunch counter), and famous gangster Bugsy Seigal used to use the office to conduct business. His personal locked safe is still there. (Some sources claim it was actually gangster Mickey Cohen). As a publicity stunt years ago, a locksmith broke into the safe to reveal its secret, lost contents. Despite a claim by a local psychic, who telepathically looked inside this safe on a previous occasion and had seen "envelopes filled with names, a ruby ring, and two deeds to property in Nevada" it turned out to be empty. Although, over the years, the neighborhood has changed, the clientele has changed, and even the studio has changed (from Hampton Studios to Pickford-Fairbanks Studios to United Artists to Samuel Goldwyn to Warners Hollywood), the Formosa has stayed the same serving up beer, wine, and spirits.

It seems that over these same years, "spirits" of a different kind have also been present. Employees late at night claimed to have experienced all sorts of paranormal activity from seeing "shadow people" darting around to strange noises (without an apparent source) such as voices and the jingle-jangle of crashing silverware. That said, there are two notable ghosts that seem to haunt the bar. There is the phantom man that has been seen sitting in a booth (but only in the reflection of the bar's large mirror), and there is the frisky spirit of Lem Quon who "gooses" and pinches employees that he feels need to get busy (just as he did in life).

But, there is another spirit (aside from booze and boo's) that has been present here... the "spirit of giving." One of the truly remarkable pieces of this cafe's history is that at one time Jimmy Berstein used to pay for a full Thanksgiving dinner for local orphans. It started with 75 orphans the first year, but as the years passed, it grew larger and larger, incorporating all of the local orphanages, until 1500 kids were being fed at the Formosa (and in surrounding tents) on this holiday. Not only did he pay for dinner and entertainment, but also paid for all the buses needed to transport all the kids, and he gave each child a silver dollar to take home with them. Hopefully, that is the kind of good will we will see more of this holiday season.

(to read about last month's SPIRITS with SPIRITS location...)

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...)