Kim Cooper – Page 6 – 1947 Project

Spend Xmas With the Demon Dog on the James Ellroy Digs L.A. Bus Tour

UPDATE: 12/22 has sold out, 12/29 tour was added and sold out within a day… but you can still get on the waiting lists!

Gentle reader,

We are giddy to announce that our Christmas week tour will be a very special event: "James Ellroy Digs L.A."

Our host on the tour will be the acclaimed crime novelist and memoirist whose highly personal take on L.A.’s underworld from the 1940s through the 1960s is as captivating as it’s horrifying.

Passengers will gather on Saturday 12/22 at Arnie Morton’s downtown (which is opening specially for our group at noon, with a limited snack and bar menu), then get on the bus at 1pm sharp for James Ellroy’s personal guided tour through the city that haunts his dreams and inspires his art.

We’ll accompany the author on an uncensored time travel journey to tony Hancock Park, where he stalked his teenage classmates and later broke into houses. . . to the Hollywood flats to explore some of the heinous 1950s murder cases that fascinated him as a youth and continue to feed his obsessions. . . and out to El Monte, where his mother Geneva was murdered, the unsolved crime that runs through all his work, from "The Black Dahlia" to "My Dark Places."

When asked what passengers could expect on this tour, James Ellroy said, "I dig L.A. because I’m from here. My parents hatched me in a cool locale. I’m desperate to impress people, I’m a good talker, I know a shitload about L.A. and I want to share it. On this tour, you’ll get L.A. crime and social history on an unparalleled AND intimate scale."

So get on the bus at Arnie Morton’s in downtown LA on December 22 and spend your holidays with the demon dog of American literature, on what’s sure to be the coolest ticket in town.

Tickets are $60/person, available from https://www.esotouric.com/ellroy or by emailing to reserve and then sending a check. Seats are extremely limited on this special event tour; and sorry, no discounts or Esotouric season pass tickets will be honored.

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule:
Sat Nov 17 – Pasadena Confidential tour
Sat Dec 8 – Raymond Chandler’s LA
Sat Dec 15 – James M. Cain’s So California Nightmare
Sat Dec 22 – James Ellroy Digs L.A.
Sun Jan 15 – Vroman’s edition, The Real Black Dahlia

Of weeds, critters, beards and burning

November 15, 1927
Los Angeles

All around town, the news is notable.

Off in Owensmouth (Canoga Park to you crazy modernists), the citizens complain there are so many stray dogs in the streets, it’s worse than Constantinople. Consider the deep valley as your next exotic vacation spot.

Mrs. Andria Reyes, 34, has eleven children and a husband who won’t work, and they all have the munchies. That’s more or less the excuse she gave Judge Westover for her small marijuana farming operation.

1120 East 32nd Street was burning, and Mrs. Frankie Weaver, 64, escaped unharmed. But once on the street, she realized she’d forgotten her canary Dickey. Back into the flaming second floor she charged, only to fall back, burned, inconsolable, without her little pet. They found her on the neighbors’ porch, badly injured but unaware of herself, gazing mournfully into the fire, and took her to Georgia Street for treatment.

And in Wahperton, North Dakota, comes the passing of Hans Langseth, who had not cut his beard since July 14, 1875. It measured 17 feet when he breathed his last, and he could not only wear it round his neck like a muffler (mmm, sexy!), but traveled the world as a circus exhibition and won the 1922 world’s longest competition at the Days of ’49 celebration in Sacramento. We hear these things grow posthumously, so let’s call Hans’ crowning glory 17 feet, 1 inch. Huzzah!

1947project Podcast #10, Thanksgiving episode

Pygmies run amok on Main Street, salvation is dispensed from a machine and Crimebo shares some very special Thanksgiving traditions on this latest edition of the podcastination, also featuring Kim Cooper, Nathan Marsak and Joan Renner.

The podcast is available on Moli, through itunes and ourmedia.

Bad dads, loud pygmies and danger on the set

November 8, 1927
Los Angeles

Oddities around town:

World class crumb-bum Joseph Peck returned from a trip to Fort Worth only to discover he was to be made an example by the City Council, seeking to alleviate the costs associated with relief payments provided to mothers whose husbands refused to support their families. Blanche Peck, 42, of 2939 West Avenue 37, has been raising five children, ages 1 to 11, without any help from Joseph since December 1925. Now she’ll be guaranteed $2 a day for a year. That’s Papa Joe’s pay for pounding on L.A.’s new rock pile.

In Griffith Park, camera operator Clifford Shirpser was shooting an exploding airplane for a new William Wellman picture when he stumbled over a stone and went ass over teakettle. The heavy camera went up, then brained the fallen technician. He came to after fifteen minutes. (Shirpser was likely shooting additional footage for Wings, which had debuted in New York in August, but which did not receive its Los Angeles premiere until January 1928.)

And wee, noisy Ill Ill the "untamed, tree-climbing pygmy" barker, recently arrested in front of the Dreamland Palace at 539 South Main Street, copped a guilty plea for violating the city’s anti-ballyhoo ordinance on two occasions, and paid $100 in fines, thus avoiding a tree-free stint in the Lincoln Heights callaboose.

The Origins of the Bundy Method

November 1, 1927
Los Angeles

Trick or treat… or how’s about a smattering of hammer blows about the head?

Such was the reward for would-be good Samaritan C.P. Kirsch, who picked up a shabby fellow who was hobbling along on crutches in the darkness beyond the Adams Street train line. The guest sat in back with Kirsch’s mother-in-law Edith Kneale, and once they were underway, pulled out a hammer and began hitting Mr. Kirsch over the head—but rather gently, since Kirsch turned around and fought back, chasing the would-be slayer away with his crutches under his arm. The victim and Mrs. Kneale both reside at 2353 West 29th Place.

And on the subject of folks hit over the head with more accuracy, R.I.P. Linda Stein. The Ramones curse strikes again.

1947project Podcast #9: Halloween Episode, October 26, 2007

Kids are running amok in 1927 Los Angeles, setting fires, eating razors, crawling under fumigation tents and stealing babies from their mothers. And the adults aren’t behaving much better, what with the married guys conning nice working girls into bigamistic unions and the guy what found the fountain of youth and knows where the Czar’s fortune is banked, and all he needs from you is $25,000 and a nice spot to rub his mystic peapod paste.

Then there’s our own Crimebo the Crime Clown, and he is in a funk. There are so many things he hates about Halloween, can he count the ways? You bet!

Tune in to hear about how Peter Pan tried to kick Crimebo’s ass at the Chinese Theater, how the apocalypse is coming with a rain of cheese and Nathan’s love letter to crude oil. It’s all here on the 1947project Podcast, featuring Crimebo, Kim Cooper, Nathan Marsak, Mary McCoy and Joan Renner.

So give it a listen, won’t you?

Here is the Ourmedia link, where you can stream or download.

The podcast is also available on Moli, and on itunes.

The Case of the Randy Chaplain

October 25, 1927
Culver City

Orville Clampitt cannot, it seems, stay out of trouble. First there was that business last year with the euphoniously-named Miss Lucille Swallow out Kansas way, and the San Francisco court martial the then-Army Chaplain (and "Beau Brummel of the Presidio") endured over accusations of "objectionable conduct" in violation of three of the articles of war. These charges were brought by the lady after she discovered that Clampitt, who was otherwise a delightful companion, was married with a quartet of kids.

"I forget when I first met Capt. Clampitt," Miss Swallow told reporters after eluding Army minders, "But he was awfully nice. He used to take me out for walks and to picture shows and to dinners. The question as to whether he was married never came up."

During the court martial, Miss Swallow produced love notes from the accused, and there was testimony that he had deliberately disguised his handwriting. But then several surprise witnesses appeared to claim Miss Swallow was "out to get" Mr. Clampitt because he’d refused her demands for money, and he was found not guilty.

He promptly retired to Santa Cruz, where he registered as "William Jones" in a hotel where a "Mrs. Jones" was also staying. It was bad publicity over this indiscrete act that resulted in Clampitt being dismissed from Army service, and the offer of a $50,000 motion picture contract for himself and his photogenic horse Red Head.

But no, said Clampitt, he wished only to return to Vancouver, where his wife and children waited. That was April. And today, he was picked up by Culver City police, following the arrest of boy burglar Spencer Farley, discovered in the act of looting the Schwartzkoph manse at 1725 Gardena Street, Glendale.

Farley told officers that his home address was Orville Clampitt’s car, in front of Clampitt’s home at 215[?] Silver Ridge Avenue, and that he was stealing so he could give gifts to Clampitt’s 13-year-old daughter. It seems the whole family has relocated, in hopes of starting a new life. Clampitt stated he’d been hired as actor John Gilbert’s double, a claim denied by Gilbert’s studio.

When questioned, Clampitt admitted he was allowing Farley, 15, to live in his car, because the boy claimed his mother threw wild parties and refused to let him sleep at home. While he thought it weird that Farley wouldn’t tell him where he lived, he was sympathetic to the boy’s plight… at least until he discovered that the kid was taking his car out at night! Stolen golf clubs and various trinkets were seized from the Silver Ridge address.

Clampitt will be released tomorrow when it’s determined he knew nothing of Farley’s thefts. Henceforth he disappears from the public record save for an April 1929 theater review of his cameo in Edward Horton’s play "The Hottentot," at the Majestic Theater. Red Head the horse had a leading role as the comic foil to Sam Harrington, who masquerades as the famous jockey who shares his name, and eventually must ride the fearsome Hottentot in a race. After each show, crowds gathered on Broadway to watch Clampitt ride Red Head, now mild as a merry-go-round pony, away from the theater and, we hope, home to his wife and kids.

Dahlia surprises/ James Cain’s deathday/ Crimebo awaits you

Gentle reader,

1) Saturday’s edition of "The Real Black Dahlia" was a reminder that, as
many times as we may offer some of these tours, this city is alive and
nebulous, and new and wonderful (or terrible!) things can happen at any
time. In this case, the new things were quite wonderful:

    a) Parked at the Hirsch Apartments (supposed murder scene according to the blackdahliasolution.org theory), I was suddenly sure that the main door was about to open, so I got off the bus just in time to catch it as some
residents went out. Soon the hallway was packed with our passengers as they
stood in the black and hideous heart of this fascinating building.
    b) At Trinity and 33rd Street, one of the floating murder scenes suggested
by John "Severed" Gilmore, some kids were initially shocked to see a tour
bus pull up, and then delighted the passengers by holding up several
enormous Red Eared Slider turtles.
    c) We had a charming passenger named Laurie who regaled us with tales of her youth, dancing in the chorus at the Florentine Gardens and hanging out in
the nearby home of Black Dahlia suspect Mark Hansen–who, she assured us,
was a swell fella.

2) As we approach Saturday’s 30th anniversary of the death of domestic noir
master James M. Cain, may I remind you of some upcoming Esotouric literary
tours? There’s our passage through "Cain’s Southern California Nightmare" on
December 15, the Raymond Chandler tour on December 8 (just in time for the
publication of Judith Freeman’s "The Long Embrace," the first book to
explore his marriage to the mysterious Cissy), and on Cain’s deathday itself
(Saturday 10/27), the new edition of "Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles
Bukowski’s LA," now co-hosted by "Bukowkski: Born Into This" director John
Dullaghan and now including a stop for libations at Buk’s favorite liquor
store.

3) And coming up this Sunday, it’s the sole 2007 edition of "Halloween
Horrors with Crimebo the Clown." This is one of our wildest tours, featuring
a selection of unusually disgusting, wacky and seasonal crimes. We’ve added
some hideous new locations and some chilling surprises, and the Clown has
learned new tricks that are certain to repulse, so join us do, in costume or
otherwise, on 10/28!

Tickets and additional info for all tours are available at
https://www.esotouric.com

Yrs,
Kim

Upcoming Esotouric bus tour schedule:
Sat Oct 27 Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski’s LA
Sun Oct 28 Hallowe’en Horrors featuring Crimebo the Clown
Sat Nov 10 Hotel Horrors and Main Street Vice tours
Sat Nov 17 Pasadena Confidential tour
Sat Dec 8 – Raymond Chandler’s LA
Sat Dec 15 – James M. Cain’s So California Nightmare
Sun Jan 15 – Vroman’s edition, The Real Black Dahlia

Nice try, bub

October 18, 1927
Los Angeles

Lewis J. Patterson married Marie Misuraca in the morning in judge’s chambers, then sent wifey off to work with plans that they would meet for lunch. We can imagine her morning, chattering gaily with colleagues, showing off her ring, perhaps passing around a photograph of her groom. Then the trip from office to restaurant, giddy with excitement to see him again.

And over a meal the contents of which we do not know, his graceless announcement that the marriage wasn’t exactly legal, since whaddayaknow, he hadn’t gotten around to divorcing the last Mrs. Patterson, but that shouldn’t stop them from setting up house and marrying for real sometime in the future, should it?

According to the lady, it surely should. She appeared today before Judge Sproul and said, "He asked me to wait around until he could get it and then marry him over again. I told him that was not the way I married, and everything was off."

The Judge agreed. Annullment granted. (Marie seems to have landed on her feet: in October 1928 the Times published announcement of her marriage to Carl J. Lawrence. We can only hope there was no first Mrs. Lawrence lurking around to complicate things.)

Book club tonight, bus tours galore

Gentle reader,

Baby, it’s getting cold outside, but it’s toasty on the crime bus, so join us do. Tours and events run all this weekend and next, starting with:

TONIGHT, Thurs 10/18, 7pm, LA READS: the site specific Los Angeles book club discusses Nathanael West’s apocalyptic Hollywood fantasy "Day of the Locust" at Clifton’s Cafeteria at 6th and Broadway downtown. https://www.lareads.com

Sat 10/20, 12-5pm, THE REAL BLACK DAHLIA: an exploration of Elizabeth Short’s Los Angeles, from her 1947 death to the slew of theories, suspects and mysteries surrounding this unsolved slaying. https://www.esotouric.com/dahlia-10-20-07

Sun 10/21, 1-6pm, WHERE THE ACTION WAS: the debut rock and roll history excursion through Hollywood and West Hollywood, hosted by myself and Catalog of Cool scribe Gene Sculatti. SEE where the Velvet Underground were shut down by the man, SMELL the unconvincing coroner’s verdict on Bobby Fuller’s demise, TASTE psychedelic gelato crafted by Scoops exclusively for us, HEAR rare, weird and historic sounds, TOUCH the pretty colors as Esotouric takes you down the Sunset Strip and into the rock and roll past. https://www.esotouric.com/action-10-21-07

Sat 10/27, 3-7pm, CHARLES BUKOWSKI’S LA: join Richard Schave and Buk documentarian John Dullaghan on a tender, yet loutish journey from Skid Row to Crown Hill to Hollywood (east and otherwise), in which a young man finds his place in the Post Office, and an old man finds his way as a writer. https://www.esotouric.com/buk-10-27-07

Sun 10/28, 11am-3pm, HALLOWEEN HORRORS WITH CRIMEBO THE CLOWN: only offered in October, this no-holds-barred tour of the most grisly, wacky, Halloweeny crimes and oddities to strike our city, from downtown to the eastern Valley to Hollywood and Echo Park. There will be thrills, chills, sugar rushes and disgusting photos enough to please even your blackened little heart, and the clown TRULY cannot wait to see you. https://www.esotouric.com/halloween-10-28-07

Coming up:
Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice – Saturday November 10th
Pasadena Confidential – Saturday, Nov 17th
Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles – Saturday, Dec 8th
James M. Cain’s Los Angeles – Saturday, December 15th

As always, please let us know in advance if you wish to ride. We can often save seats for passengers bringing cash to the bus door (for all tours, please check in half an hour before departure) if you call Richard at 310-995-4591.

yrs,
Kim