Thursday, May 21, 2009
Highlights from May's SPIRITS with SPIRITS
Mixing ice cream and beer is not for the tender-hearted. Years ago "Ben & Jerry's" introduced a beer flavored ice cream that flopped in the marketplace. Perhaps it would have been more successful if they sold it at a haunted location like Los Angeles' historic Farmer's Market. Ghosts make everything taste better.
Friday, May 1, 2009
May'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: May 13th, 2009 (Wednesday)
THE PLACE: E.B.’s Beer and Wine
(West Patio, Farmer’s Market, 6333 W. 3rd St.)
THE TIME: 7pm to 9pm
GHOST(S):
The “Gilmore Island” at the corner of Third and Fairfax has gone through many changes in the last 100 years. Over those decades, it has been home to a dairy, an oil field, a baseball stadium, a race track, a police department, a post office, a bank, a public library, a car-hop restaurant, a residential neighborhood, the amazing Pan Pacific Auditorium, a drive-in movie theater, television studios, an antique mall, a community park, and the entertainment/shopping complex known as “The Grove.”
Legend has it that this place even inspired “The Beverly Hillbillies” TV show at CBS (next door). Apparently, Arthur Gilmore accidentally struck oil while digging a well for water. It is also said that this was the last place James Dean ate in Los Angeles before beginning the road trip that would end his life. Speaking of last meals, a security guard confidentially told GHOULA that a large number of old people die every year while visiting (and dining at) this location.
However, this land is most famous for its “Farmer Market,” which began in 1934, when a group a farmers parked their trucks at this intersection and began selling their fresh produce to the passing traffic. Gilmore, never one to miss a trick, created a parking lot with chalk lines and charged each farmer a small rent. Within the year, the first structure (with electricity and running water) went up when Blanch Magee began selling prepared food at the site. One by one, the produce trucks were replaced by the collection of booths that stand today. To get an idea of what those original stalls looked like go to Gill’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream which opened in 1937, and has the distinction of being the only booth that has never remodeled over the years.
Given this vendor’s history, it is not surprising, there is a story connected to Gill’s involving a short, bald man dressed all in white (with a hair-net), who has been seen by diners standing at the counter as if to order an ice cream cone. Then, on second glance, he vanishes. His identity and history are unknown.
Elsewhere on the property is a structure even older than Gill’s. Hidden from the public (near the massive parking structure) still stands an adobe home built in 1852. It is said to be haunted by the spirit of Earl Gilmore who lived there until 1964 when he died in the very same room (and bed) he was born in.
It is also worth mentioning that a local ghost hunting club (now defunct) many years ago used to hold their monthly meetings at the historic Farmer’s Market. Any further stories, or evidence, they may have uncovered has (at present) been sadly lost. Perhaps, those attending this month’s SPIRITS with SPIRITS can carry on in their phantom-following footsteps.
(to see last month's SPIRITS with SPIRITS location...)
THE TIME: 7pm to 9pm
GHOST(S):
The “Gilmore Island” at the corner of Third and Fairfax has gone through many changes in the last 100 years. Over those decades, it has been home to a dairy, an oil field, a baseball stadium, a race track, a police department, a post office, a bank, a public library, a car-hop restaurant, a residential neighborhood, the amazing Pan Pacific Auditorium, a drive-in movie theater, television studios, an antique mall, a community park, and the entertainment/shopping complex known as “The Grove.”
Legend has it that this place even inspired “The Beverly Hillbillies” TV show at CBS (next door). Apparently, Arthur Gilmore accidentally struck oil while digging a well for water. It is also said that this was the last place James Dean ate in Los Angeles before beginning the road trip that would end his life. Speaking of last meals, a security guard confidentially told GHOULA that a large number of old people die every year while visiting (and dining at) this location.
However, this land is most famous for its “Farmer Market,” which began in 1934, when a group a farmers parked their trucks at this intersection and began selling their fresh produce to the passing traffic. Gilmore, never one to miss a trick, created a parking lot with chalk lines and charged each farmer a small rent. Within the year, the first structure (with electricity and running water) went up when Blanch Magee began selling prepared food at the site. One by one, the produce trucks were replaced by the collection of booths that stand today. To get an idea of what those original stalls looked like go to Gill’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream which opened in 1937, and has the distinction of being the only booth that has never remodeled over the years.
Given this vendor’s history, it is not surprising, there is a story connected to Gill’s involving a short, bald man dressed all in white (with a hair-net), who has been seen by diners standing at the counter as if to order an ice cream cone. Then, on second glance, he vanishes. His identity and history are unknown.
Elsewhere on the property is a structure even older than Gill’s. Hidden from the public (near the massive parking structure) still stands an adobe home built in 1852. It is said to be haunted by the spirit of Earl Gilmore who lived there until 1964 when he died in the very same room (and bed) he was born in.
It is also worth mentioning that a local ghost hunting club (now defunct) many years ago used to hold their monthly meetings at the historic Farmer’s Market. Any further stories, or evidence, they may have uncovered has (at present) been sadly lost. Perhaps, those attending this month’s SPIRITS with SPIRITS can carry on in their phantom-following footsteps.
(to see last month's SPIRITS with SPIRITS location...)
Friday, April 17, 2009
Highlights from April's SPIRITS with SPIRITS
Thanks to all that came out that chilly Monday night. Many new faces, and many new ghost stories. It doesn't appear that anyone had a ghostly encounter with the spirits of the Eden Grill. All the same, it is interesting that everyone there (GHOULA and non-GHOULA) chose to sit outside in the cold, leaving the warm (but haunted) dinning room completely empty. Coincidence? You decide.
(to read about the SPIRITS of this location...)
(to read about the SPIRITS of this location...)
Monday, April 6, 2009
April 13th: SPIRITS with SPIRITS at The Eden Garden Bar & Grill
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, find ghosts! Come see the hot spots with “cold spots” and 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: April 13th, 2009 (Monday)
THE PLACE: The Eden Garden Bar & Grill (175 E. Holly St., Pasadena) map
THE TIME: 8pm to the Witching Hour
THE GHOST(S):
Built in the 1920’s, this gothic church-like building began life as a mortuary and funeral home, and was the home of “Turner & Stevens Co.” whose motto was “serving over 36,000 families since 1895.” Today, one can get service of another kind (namely table service) in this same “den of death.” Ironically, one of Pasadena’s best gourmet restaurants operates in the room that used to the garage/carriage house where the hearse was kept. This may explain why customers over the years have heard the sounds of a horse’s spirit residing in this space. Also, the ghost of an African-American worker in overalls and a yellow shirt has been spotted in the back of the restaurant adjacent to the restrooms. Some claim this playful phantom prankster is also responsible for locking the door to the ladies’ room, and trapping its female occupants
But, the apparitional activity in this restaurant is just the tip of this building’s “cold spot” ice-berg. The whole brick and stone structure (which houses other businesses) is known to be very haunted with disembodied whispers and phantom footsteps heard all over the building. The ghost of a scantily-dressed prostitute has been seen, as well as a vanishing red-headed little girl. Perhaps the strangest phenomenon associated with this building is the “rotting corpse odor” that some say materializes in the basement near the vaults where the deceased were stored decades ago.
Though never proven, there is a legend that an illegal “speak-easy” operated out of the building, using the funeral home as its cover. Furthermore, it is said that an urn containing the ashes of a former Pasadena mayor, who crossed the local gangsters, and then went missing, was found in the walls during a remodel. If there is any truth to these rumors, who knows how many victims met similar fates? And likewise, who knows how many ill-fated ghosts there really are in this historic landmark?
http://www.edengardenbarandgrill.com/
(to see last month's SPIRITS with SPIRITS location...)
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