Author: Lindsay

The Joshua Tree Inn & Motel

I had never heard of Gram Parsons or the Joshua Tree Inn & Motel, where the musician met his untimely end in 1973, until being interviewed by the “Valley’s favorite talkers,” Bill Feingold and Kevin Holmes, for their radio show on 94.3 KNews this past August. During the show, Kevin asked me if I had stalked the hotel at any point or if I would ever be interested in spending the night in the supposedly haunted Room 8, where Parsons took his last breaths. I told them that heck yeah, I was interested (if there was a large group participating, that is!) and also made a mental note to add the place to the Haunted Hollywood section of my To-Stalk list. While I never made it out there to spend the night in the Parsons room, the Grim Cheaper and I did briefly stalk the motel just a few weeks later.

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Gram Parsons was born Ingram Cecil Connor II on November 5th, 1946 to a wealthy family in Winter Haven, Florida. He became interested in music at an early age, mainly as a way to cope with the 1958 suicide of his father and the subsequent death of his mother from cirrhosis of the liver in 1965. It was not until he was exposed to the sounds of Merle Haggard while spending a semester at Harvard University, though, that Gram realized his true passion was country music. In 1966, he founded the International Submarine Band, but the group broke up before their first album had even been released. Parsons then joined The Byrds in February 1968 and helped to record the popular album Sweetheart of the Rodeo. He didn’t last long with them, though, either. By the summer of that same year, he had cut bait. In 1969, he and former Byrds band-mate Chris Hillman formed the group The Flying Burrito Brothers. Despite recording two albums, they were unable to find commercial success and by 1970, Gram had embarked upon a solo career. His ever-increasing drug habit made producing any new music a rather impossible task, though. At some point, Parsons travelled to England and met up with British rocker Ric Grech, an old friend who managed to help Gram kick his heroin habit. Upon returning to the U.S., a rejuvenated Parsons partnered up with Emmylou Harris and, in 1973, released his first solo album, GP, which was a mild success. He stayed relatively clean from drugs, at least while working on his music, and began recording a second album, Grievous Angel, that was shaping up to be better than his first.

On September 17th, 1973, Parsons decided to head to Joshua Tree, one of his most beloved vacation spots, for a brief stay before embarking upon a tour that was scheduled for the following month. Joining him on the trip were Parsons’ girlfriend, Margaret Fisher, his assistant, Michael Martin, and Martin’s girlfriend, Dale McElroy. The group checked in to Parsons’ favorite area property, the Joshua Tree Inn & Motel.

The quaint, hacienda-style inn, which was originally built in 1950 and sits on 3.37 acres, consists of ten rooms, two of them suites, that surround a large central courtyard with a pool. The charming hotel has been popular with celebrities since its inception and John Barrymore Jr., Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Robert Plant, Keith Richards and John Wayne are all reported to have spent time there.

Parsons booked two rooms for his stay – Rooms 1 and 8. Room 8 is pictured below.

The morning after their arrival, Parsons sent Martin back to Los Angeles to buy drugs. He then headed to the airport for lunch with Fisher and McElroy, during which he drank copious amounts of Jack Daniels. On the return drive to the motel, he stopped in town to purchase heroin and then snagged some morphine from a drug connection who also happened to be staying at the inn.

A few hours later, a panicked Fisher summoned McElroy, claiming that Parsons had overdosed. The two woman proceeded to give him an ice cube enema (yeah, I don’t get it either), which seemed to cure him. At about 10 p.m., Fisher once again summoned McElroy, this time asking her to stay with Parsons, who was asleep, while she went to get food. At some point thereafter, McElroy noticed that Gram’s breathing had become labored and she started administering CPR. She continued trying to revive him for 30 minutes or so until Fisher returned and called 911. Paramedics took Parsons to the Hi-Desert Memorial Hospital in nearby Yucca Valley, where doctors attempted to save the musician. They were unsuccessful and Gram was pronounced dead at 12:30 a.m. on September 19th. He was 26.

Gram’s story doesn’t end there, though. His step-dad, Bob Parsons, quickly made arrangements to fly the body to New Orleans, where he lived. Gram’s road manager Phil Kaufman had other plans, though. A few months earlier, Gram had made Kaufman promise that upon his death, he would cremate his body in Joshua Tree. Using a borrowed hearse, Phil and a friend kidnapped Parson’s body from LAX and took it back to Joshua Tree National Park, where they proceeded to pour 5 gallons of gasoline on it and light it on fire. Kaufman and his friend split as soon as the coffin was set ablaze. Its charred remains were discovered the following morning by hikers and what was left of Gram’s body was shipped to New Orleans.

Though he did not achieve much commercial success during his lifetime, today Gram is looked upon as one of history’s most influential country-rock musicians. In 2003, the Americana Music Association awarded him the “President’s Award” and Rolling Stone magazine placed him 87th on their list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time” in 2005. Grievous Angel, which was released after Parsons’ death, is now considered a classic.

The owners of the Joshua Tree Inn have since embraced their connection to Parsons, as tragic as it may be. A large guitar-shaped memorial to the musician currently stands outside of Room 8 and a sign on the door of the front office states “Joshua Tree Inn, Home of Gram Parsons’ Spirit.” Most significant of all though is the fact that the very same mirror that was hanging on the wall of Room 8 on the night he passed away is still displayed there to this day. Supposedly, Parsons’ presence is often felt in the room and numerous guests have reported small belongings being moved around in the night.

Despite the macabre circumstances of September 19th, 1973, the Joshua Tree Inn & Motel is an absolutely charming little place. Now that I have wandered the grounds and experienced its tranquility, I would not hesitate to stay there overnight – even in Room 8.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Joshua Tree Inn & Motel is located at 61259 Twentynine Palms Highway in Joshua Tree. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

October 28, 2014
Pete Duel’s Former House

Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. That adage rings true for today’s story, about actor Pete Duel who shot and killed himself at his Hollywood Hills home in the early morning hours of New Year’s Eve 1971. I had Duel’s address written down in the Haunted Hollywood portion of my To-Stalk list, though I cannot for the life of me recall how or where I obtained it. I am unsure if a fellow stalker gave me the information or if I came across it in a book. I really need to start keeping notes on my sources. Regardless of how the address came my way, I was thankful for it and stalked the residence a couple of weeks ago while in L.A.

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Pete Duel was born Peter Ellstrom Deuel in Rochester, New York. He started acting as a child and, in 1959, moved to Manhattan to try his hand at stage productions. Deuel landed a role in a touring production of Take Her, She’s Mine in 1962, which brought him to Hollywood. Once there, he decided to stay. Peter gave himself five years to “make it” in the biz and make it he did. He quickly landed guest roles on several television shows which eventually led to him being cast as John Cooper on the series Gidget. When that show was cancelled after one season, he won a starring role in Love on a Rooftop. That series did not fare well, either, and was also cancelled after its inaugural season. It was at that time that Peter Deuel shorted his name to “Pete Duel.” He moved on to films shortly thereafter and was successful. Then, in 1970, he was cast in a leading role in the western-themed television series Alias Smith and Jones. It was a quick hit. The long hours proved hard on Pete, though, and he fell into a depression. He also developed an alcohol habit. Despite finally achieving the fame he had sought for years, he was not happy. A do-gooder by nature, Pete felt that he should be bettering the world and that his acting in Alias Smith and Jones was too trivial to accomplish that. The man who seemingly had it all wanted more.

In the summer of 1971, Pete and his girlfriend, Diane Rey, moved into a brown-shingled two-bedroom residence in the Hollywood Hills. At the time, the home was a small bungalow set back from the road. It has since been remodeled and a large front portion, which sits perpendicular to the original structure, was added. You can see what the property looked like when Pete lived on the premises here.

The large addition is pictured below. Today, the pad features four bedrooms, four bathrooms and 2,401 square feet of space. I believe that the property may currently be a multi-family home.

December 30th, 1971 began like any other day for Pete. He worked on his series and then, when shooting wrapped, was dropped off at home. Diane and Pete settled in for the evening to watch the latest episode of Alias Smith and Jones. Pete apparently was not pleased with it, which was not unusual. Diane went to bed shortly after, while Duel stayed up to watch a Lakers game. At around 1:30 in the morning, he walked into the master bedroom and grabbed his .38 revolver. A few minutes later, Diane heard a gun shot and ran into the living room where she found the actor lying nude underneath the Christmas tree. At the tender age of 31, Pete Duel was dead by his own hand – though whether it was an accident or on purpose the coroner couldn’t say. Duel’s blood alcohol level at the time of the shooting was 0.31, so it might very well have been accidental. The fact that shortly before his death he had scheduled his answering service to give him a wakeup call for 6:30 the following morning also lends credence to that scenario. There is a third possibility, as well, though, which many online truth-seekers believe – that Diane actually murdered Pete and altered the scene to make it look like he had killed himself. While Rey was questioned by the police, Pete’s death was officially ruled a suicide.

It took less than 12 hours for producers to recast Duel’s role on Alias Smith and Jones with actor Roger Davis. Audiences never warmed to him, though, and the series, which had been so popular prior to Pete’s death, was cancelled the following year. It is said that money does not bring happiness. Apparently, neither does fame.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Pete Duel’s former house is located at 2552 Glen Green Street in the Hollywood Hills.

October 27, 2014
William Desmond Taylor’s Former House

Last Saturday, my mom, the Grim Cheaper and I attended a book signing for William J. Mann’s latest tome, Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood. My mom had heard about the event on our favorite desert radio show, The Bill Feingold Show Featuring Kevin Holmes, and thought I would be interested in the book as it is about the 1922 murder of silent film director William Desmond Taylor, which remains unsolved. Ironically enough, I had just stalked Taylor’s former home two weeks beforehand, though at the time I knew little about his killing and the ensuing scandal. The signing, which featured a talk by Mann (that’s him in the rather blurry pic above), turned out to be intriguing and I cannot wait to delve into Tinseltown – and hopefully discover some new stalking locations along the way.

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William Desmond Taylor was born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner in County Carlow, Ireland on April 26th, 1872. He began acting in school productions as a youngster and then, in 1890, headed to America, first to Kansas and then to the Big Apple, with dreams of becoming an actor. His marriage to Ethel May Hamilton, the child of a wealthy broker, in 1901, and the birth of their daughter two years later put his acting plans on hold. Things appeared to be going well for the family, though. William opened up an antiques store and he and Ethel became well-known members of New York society. Then, on October 23rd, 1908, Taylor disappeared. While his wife surmised that he might have gotten lost during a bout of amnesia, the truth was that William had simply abandoned his family. Upon leaving New York, he traveled with an acting troupe around Canada and parts of the U.S and decided to try his hand at directing. He arrived in Hollywood in late 1912, armed with a new passion and a new name, William Desmond Taylor. He directed his first movie in 1914 and became wildly successful after that, going on to direct over 60 films.

In 1922, William was living at the Alvarado Court Apartments in Westlake. The upscale complex was comprised of eight, two-unit Spanish-style bungalows situated in a U-shape around a central garden. A 1948 view of Alvarado Court is pictured below.

William’s bungalow is denoted with the orange arrow below. He lived in the eastern side of the structure, in Apartment B.

Sadly, the Alvarado Court Apartments were bulldozed in the 1950s. Today, the site where they once stood is a parking lot for a Ross Dress for Less store.

Taylor’s apartment was located in what is now the northeastern portion of the parking lot . . .

. . . in the area pictured below.

On the morning of February 2nd, 1922, William’s butler, Henry Peavey, arrived at the bungalow and discovered his boss laying dead on the living room floor. Police were called, but before they appeared, Charles Eyton, the General Manager of Paramount Pictures, entered the home, went into Taylor’s bedroom and removed several letters and documents. The papers were never to be seen again and what was contained within them is anyone’s guess. William’s death had occurred during the midst of the Fatty Arbuckle rape trial, the fallout from which had hit Hollywood hard financially. It was a perilous time for the industry and the last thing studio executives wanted was another scandal, so they had come to “clean up.”

The first doctor to arrive on the scene surmised that Taylor had died of natural causes. It was not until the body was later turned over by the coroner that a bullet hole was discovered. It is believed that Desmond was killed at around 8 p.m. the evening prior. He suffered a single gunshot to the back. Though suspects were plentiful, his death remains unsolved to this day. One commonly-held theory is that William was killed by Charlotte Shelby, the mother/manager of actress Mary Miles Minter, with whom the director was romantically involved. Williams was almost thirty years older than the 20-year-old ingénue and if rumors of the illicit affair were to get out, it would have derailed Minter’s career. Being that Mary was Shelby’s very-valuable meal ticket, the momager was against the romance from the start. Some believe she killed William to put an end to it once and for all. (As it turns out, Shelby had been correct in her fears. Word of the affair quickly got out after Taylor’s murder and Mary’s career did not recover from the fallout.) While we may never know for sure who killed Taylor, William J. Mann claims to have solved the case during his research for Tinseltown and I am chomping at the bit to read his theory.

On a side-note – I also had the pleasure of meeting legendary Hollywood photographer Michael Childers at the Tinseltown signing. He and William J. Mann are close friends and when Mann mentioned his name, I recognized it immediately and raced over to get a picture as soon as the reading was over.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: William Desmond Taylor’s former home was located at 404-B South Alvarado Street, in the Alvarado Court Apartments, in Westlake. Today, the site is a parking lot for a Ross Dress for Less store.

October 24, 2014
New “Los Angeles” Mag Post – About the Fortuneteller’s House from “Phantasm”

Don’t forget to read today’s Los Angeles magazine post – about the Fortuneteller’s house from Phantasm. My posts typically get published in the late morning/early afternoon hours.

October 23, 2014
Elegant Manor

Because there’s nothing this stalker loves more than history and abandoned locations, my BFF Mike, from MovieShotsLA, once took me by a dilapidated old West Adams house known as Elegant Manor that has quite a backstory. This was years ago, though, and, while I knew the place was a filming location (thanks to this 2004 Los Angeles Times article), I kept putting off blogging about it as I was unsure of which productions it had appeared in. Thankfully, fellow stalker David, from The Location Scout website, gave me a tip last October and, while I did not get around to writing about it then, when I recently found out that the residence was the site of this year’s interactive play/haunted house Delusion: Lies Within, I thought it was high time that I finally did so.

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The two-story Italian Gothic/Queen Anne-style home was built for James T. Fitzgerald, a wealthy piano store owner, and his wife in 1906. The 6,665-square-foot brick and stone residence, which was originally known as the Fitzgerald House, was designed by architect Joseph Cather Newsom and featured 15 rooms, 6 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, three parcels of land, a cellar, an attic, a carriage house, vaulted ceilings, a sunken den, gothic arches, multiple fireplaces and wood ornamentation throughout.

After the Fitzgeralds moved out around 1910, the dwelling went through a succession of different owners. In 1952, it was purchased by the Regular Associated Troupers, a group of female circus performers, to be used as their headquarters. By the time Louisiana native Arlillian Moody acquired it from the Troopers in 1977, the home had fallen into severe disrepair. With help from friends, family and neighbors, Moody set about restoring the once great estate to its original grandeur. When the project was complete, she dubbed her new residence “Elegant Manor.” The property, which was named a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1982, served as more than just a home, though. Arlillian allowed it to be rented out for events, film shoots, political gatherings, school functions, and Alcoholic Anonymous meetings. The whole thing sounds very Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil – a fabulous book which I am currently in the midst of reading.

When Moody fell ill in 1993, her son Ronald Carroll began managing the property. He did not care for it as well as his mother had, though, and soon the events being held at the residence took a wild turn. Raves were a common occurrence, as was gang activity. When Moody passed away in 2001, things only got worse. In January 2004, two teen siblings were shot and killed by gang members during a party on the premises. Shortly thereafter, the city stepped in and removed 33 (!!!) disabled vehicles and over 20 tons (again !!!!) of trash from the property. They also put a halt to the home being used an an events venue. Ronald subsequently put the pad on the market for $2.1 million. I do not believe that he ever found a buyer, though, and, from what I’ve been able to glean online, I think that the estate eventually went into foreclosure before being sold by the bank. Elegant Manor, which was no longer so elegant, was put up for sale again in 2008 for $1.9 million. It appears to still be on the market. You can check out some great photographs of what the interior currently looks like here. It is actually in a lot better shape than I would have guessed, considering its past.

As I mentioned, Elegant Manor is currently being utilized as the site of Delusion: Lies Within, an interactive haunted house that makes use of a different abandoned mansion each year. (Last’s year show was held at the Beckett House, which I blogged about here.) The 2014 story focuses on a popular dark fantasy novelist named Elena Fitzgerald who has not been seen in years and her long missing daughter, Mary. The vast majority of dates for this year have already sold out, but some limited tickets are available here.

David, from The Location Scout, let me know that Elegant Manor appeared in the 2004 horror movie The Hazing (also called Dead Scared).

Elegant Manor was also where Stinger Ray (Hawthorne James) lived in the 1979 flick Disco Godfather. I couldn’t find a copy of the movie anywhere, but was able to make some screen captures from this “concentrated version” of it online. The back of the house, which you can see a photograph of here, was featured in the scene in which Stinger talked to the media.

And the interior of the house appeared in the scene in which Sweetmeat (Jimmy Lynch) threw a party.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Elegant Manor is located at 3115 West Adams Boulevard in the West Adams District of Los Angeles.

October 22, 2014
Los Angeles County Hall of Records

Today’s location is a serious fail on my part. For a couple of years now, I have had the Los Angeles County Hall of Records on my Haunted Hollywood To-Stalk list, not due to its filming history, but because I mistakenly thought the building was where Marilyn Monroe’s autopsy was performed in 1962. I finally stalked the Hall of Records while in L.A. a couple of weeks ago and added it to my blogging calendar. It was not until I sat down to write this post that I discovered my mistake – Marilyn’s autopsy actually took place at the similarly named Los Angeles County Hall of Justice. Whoops! (And yes, I really am that blonde! In my high school’s Senior newspaper, one of my best friends Scott bequeathed me “a clue.” I left him several years’ worth of memories and inside jokes condensed into a witty paragraph and he left me two words: a clue. I still haven’t gotten over that one, though his bequeath seems pretty fitting today. ;)) Because the Hall of Records has a series of rather spooky tunnels located beneath it, though, I figured the place was still Haunted Hollywood post-worthy, nonetheless.

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The Los Angeles County Hall of Records was designed by prolific architect Richard Neutra and his associate Robert Alexander in 1962. Neutra was also responsible for designing the Lovell Health House from L.A. Confidential, the Ohara House from The Holiday, and the Kaufmann House in Palm Springs.

The 15 story, T-shaped building was constructed out of glass, concrete, granite and terra cotta tiles.

Employing a similar system to one he used at the Kaufmann House, Neutra outfitted the south side of the Hall of Records with solar-activated aluminum louvers that would move throughout the day in order to keep the interior offices shaded. Sadly, those louvers, which are pictured below, have not been operational in years.

Ceramicist Malcolm Leland brought another unique element to the building’s façade. – an eight-story extuded terra cotta screen that covered the structure’s ventilation ducts. That screen is denoted with orange arrows in the photographs below.

The building’s original purpose was to house the department of the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk and its records (for which the property was named). To house those records, Neutra designed a a large windowless wing on the south side of the structure (denoted with orange arrows below). In 1991, the department and its records were moved to Norwalk, so “Hall of Records” is currently a bit of a misnomer. Following the move, the windowless wing was converted into office space for county workers.

Today, the Hall of Records is mainly occupied by the District Attorney’s office.

It is what is beneath the building that fascinates me, though. According to Atlas Obscura, eleven miles of underground tunnels run underneath the Hall of Records and its surrounding properties. The passageways connect the structure to the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, the Hall of Justice and the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. The tunnels are closed to the public, but are apparently fairly accessible. What I wouldn’t give to see them!

The Hall of Records is also a filming location. For 2011’s The Lincoln Lawyer, the building’s hallways masked as the hallways of the courthouse where Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey) defended Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe).

You can check out photographs of some of the areas that appeared in the movie here.

The underground tunnels have also appeared onscreen. The scene at the end of the 2008 thriller Eagle Eye that was supposed to have taken place below Washington, D.C.’s Library of Congress was actually lensed in the Hall of Records tunnels.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Los Angeles County Hall of Records is located at 320 West Temple Street in downtown Los Angeles.

October 21, 2014
Santa Fe Depot from “The Trouble with Angels”

It is no secret that I love abandoned places, especially during this time of year. (What I wouldn’t give to be able to see this in person!) Recently I stalked Monrovia’s former Santa Fe Railroad Depot and it had my heart going pitter-patter. The now defunct train station is also a filming location and, while it appeared in a comedy and not a horror movie, due to its current dilapidated state I figured it would fit in perfectly with my Haunted Hollywood postings.

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The Santa Fe Railroad Depot was originally constructed in 1925 for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

The Spanish colonial revival-style structure replaced a wooden station constructed on the site in 1886 that serviced the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Railroad. Fun fact – the initial depot also serviced a mule-drawn railway car that shuttled passengers to and from Monrovia’s business district.

Santa Fe Depot fell victim to the decline of railway use in the second half of the 20th century and wound up being shuttered in 1972. The property was left vacant and allowed to dilapidate over the four decades that followed.

In coordination with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Gold Line Foothill Extension, there are plans currently in the works to turn the depot and the land surrounding it into the Monrovia Station Square Transit Village – a 25-acre mixed-use center that would feature retail stores, restaurants, offices and housing. The project is set to be completed by the end of 2015, although I am not sure how feasible that date is considering the current state of the property.

The Santa Fe Railroad Depot was featured twice as the St. Francisville Train Station in the 1966 comedy The Trouble with Angels. While a portion of the movie was shot on location in Pennsylvania (the stunningly gorgeous St. Mary’s Villa for Children and Families in Ambler masked as St. Francis Academy), the vast majority of the flick was lensed in L.A. Interestingly, two different locales were used as the St. Francisville Station. As the St. Francis school bus arrives at the depot to pick up Mary Clancy (Hayley Mills) and the girls in the film’s opening scene, a shot of the Merion, Pennsylvania depot was shown. A matching Google Street View image of that spot is pictured below.

When the girls are actually shown getting off the train, though, the location switches to the Santa Fe Depot in Monrovia.

Santa Fe Depot was also used in The Trouble with Angel’s ending sequence in which the girls leave St. Francis Academy. You can see a great shot of the side of the station that appeared in The Trouble with Angels here and you can read a fascinating blog post about the making of the movie here.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Santa Fe Depot, from The Trouble with Angels, is located at 101 West Duarte Road in Monrovia.

October 20, 2014
Yvette Vickers’ Former Home

Boulevard of broken dreams – that phrase pops into my head every time I venture down Hollywood Boulevard and see the men and woman costumed as super heroes or movie stars charging tourists to take a photograph with them. I can’t imagine it is what anyone who sets out for Los Angeles hopes to do and is a reminder of the sad turn a life in show business can take. Even those who gain notoriety at some point in their career are not immune to a tragic end – like Yvette Vickers, the actress and Playboy Playmate who was found mummified, alone and forgotten, in her decrepit Benedict Canyon home in 2011. The Grim Cheaper and I ventured out to see her residence in person shortly after her body was discovered, though I never blogged about it. When I learned recently from my buddy Scott Michaels, of the Find a Death website, that the structure had been torn down, I figured it was finally time that I do so.

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For those not familiar with the story, Yvette Vickers grew up with dreams of becoming an actress. The petite beauty graduated from UCLA with a degree in theatre and quickly landed a role in Sunset Boulevard. Though it was an uncredited part, it was quite a substantial first break. Other small roles followed. She was featured in a White Rain Shampoo commercial and the movie Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman, as well as its sequel, Attack of the Giant Leeches. In July 1959, she was named the Playboy Playmate of the Month. Yvette never obtained the level of fame she so desired, though, and spent the next few decades piddling in bit parts, until they, too, dried up. She dabbled in real estate for a time and, then in early 2000, worked the fan convention circuit. Sadly though, Vickers was going blind due to macular degeneration. During her final years she became paranoid and delusional, convinced she had stalkers. It was not long before she was a complete recluse, holed up in her tiny cottage on Westwanda Drive.

Reports differ as to when Yvette purchased the Benedict Canyon property. According to a fabulous Los Angeles magazine article from 2012 titled “Left Behind,” Vickers originally moved into the residence with her first husband (she had three over the course of her life), jazz bassist Don Prell, shortly after their wedding in 1953. She was then granted the home when the two divorced in 1957. Scott Michaels’s account states, though, that Yvette purchased the bungalow in 1980 at a cost of $56,000. Either way, it was inside the 1948 dwelling pictured below that Yvette lived out her final years. The miniscule residence measured one bedroom, one bath and a scant 676 square feet, and sat on a 0.19-acre plot of land. By all accounts, towards the end, the cottage was dilapidated and falling apart in places. Broken windows were held together by duct tape, holes in exterior walls were covered over with tarps and exterior foliage had grown through to the interior of the house. Yvette had also become something of a hoarder, with boxes, clothing and paraphernalia cluttered throughout the tiny structure.

On the morning of April 27th, 2011, Vickers’ neighbor Susan Savage happened to pass by the house, spotted some cobwebs in the mailbox and became alarmed. She had not seen Yvette in months and, though that was not unusual, decided to check on her. Of entering the home, Susan said, “I knocked on her gate for long time; it was impossible to open. It was bolted twice, nailed shut, and then, braced at the base with a 2×4. Trust me, it was NOT easily accessible from the street. If it was, our mail carrier might have been able to make contact sooner. I ended up scaling her steeply graded hillside, stepping over high metal barricades and bloodying myself in the process, till I finally got onto her property. All the doors and windows were locked and reinforced from within. I knocked on every door/window, calling her name the whole time. I could see that the lights were on, but there was no response. I went down to the front door of the house, and saw the broken window pane which is how I ultimately got in.” When Savage reached the dwelling’s second floor, she discovered what was left of Yvette’s body, mummified on the floor. It had likely been sitting there for months. Though a lot of criticism was soon thrown at neighbors and friends for not notifying authorities that the 82-year-old had not been heard from in months, it is obvious that Yvette was, at least in her final years, someone who did not want any sort of contact with the outside world.

Next-of-kin was Perry Palmer, Yvette’s half-brother. The two had not known of each other’s existence until much later in life and never grew close. Perry had the home cleared of all of Yvette’s belongings a couple of months after her death and the property was put on the market as “a major fixer-upper” in September 2011 for $499,000. You can check out some photos of what the interior of the house looked like at that time here and you can check out a great video filmed by Scott Michaels about the home here. The residence ultimately sold in January of the following year for $275,000 and was torn down at some point thereafter. Boulevard of broken dreams, indeed.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Yvette Vickers’ house was formerly located at 10021 Westwanda Drive in Beverly Hills.

October 17, 2014
Today’s “L.A.” Mag Post – About the Kimberly Crest House from “Hell Night”

Be sure to read my latest Los Angeles magazine post – about the Kimberly Crest House from Hell Night. My posts typically get published in the late morning/early afternoon hours.

October 16, 2014
Fosselman’s Ice Cream from “Phantasm”

When I was a little girl, my grandma would regularly take me out for an afterschool treat at our local ice cream parlor. I cherished those trips, and now the memories of them, and was absolutely devastated when the parlor closed down about 15 years ago only to be replaced by a gift store. So when I came across this Freddy in Space posting about an old time ice cream shop still in operation – one that is a filming location, no less – I just had to stalk the place.

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Fosselman’s Ice Cream Company was founded by Christian Anthony Fosselman at his family’s Waverly, Iowa bottling plant in 1919. Christian’s father, who hailed from Germany, had established the brewery in the 18th Century, which Christian later took over. Besides beer, the company also manufactured soda. When the prohibition years halted the sale of alcohol, Christian began producing ice cream which he would freeze using blocks of ice from the nearby Cedar River.

Once mechanical refrigeration became more common, Christian decided to move the operation, as well as his family, to sunny Southern California. They settled in Pasadena in 1924 and opened up the first West Coast Fosselman’s Ice Cream parlor on Fair Oaks Avenue. Christian moved the store to South Pasadena’s Mission Street in 1936 and followed up with sister parlors, first in Alhambra in 1941 and then in Highland Park in 1946. While the South Pas outpost soon became an area landmark, it was shuttered in 1974 when the building that housed it was set to be demolished. (A plaque currently marks its former location at 1515 Mission Street.) The Highland Park store was also closed around the same time, but the Alhambra Fosselman’s remains standing to this day – over seventy years after its inception!

The parlor is still owned and operated by the Fosselman family and all of the ice cream served is handmade daily on the premises. While there are over 200 flavor variations in the Fosselman’s repertoire (from such staples as Cookie Dough, French Vanilla Bean and Strawberry to the more exotic Brown Butter, Lychee and Rum Raisin), “only” 48 are available on any given day. From what I’ve been able to gather via online reviews, all are pretty darn fabulous. In fact, The Guardian UK’s Killian Fox proclaimed that Fosselman’s serves the “Best Milkshakes” on the planet in his 2009 article The 50 Best Things to Eat in the World, and Where to Eat Them.

Apparently, the locals agree. When the Grim Cheaper and I stopped by at around 11 in the morning on a recent Saturday, the place was jam-packed!

We opted for a scoop of Coffee & Cookies – a Columbian coffee-flavored ice cream hand-mixed with Oreo cookies. Because I am diabetic, I only had a couple of licks, but the small bit I did sample was easily some of the best ice cream I have ever tasted.

Way back in 1979, Fosselman’s Ice Cream masked as Reggie’s Ice Cream in the horror flick Phantasm. Well, sort of. The parlor only appeared in a deleted scene – the scene in which Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) started an ice cream fight with his brother’s friend Reggie (Reggie Bannister). I had yet to see Phantasm at the time that I stalked Fosselman’s and had to actually order a special edition of the DVD in order to watch the deleted scene. Now having seen it, all I can say is: Egads, what a terrible movie! I did enjoy the Fosselman’s scene, though. As you can see below, little of the shop has changed since Phantasm was shot over 35 years ago.

I was thrilled to spot some signage featuring the Fosselman’s logo in the background of the deleted scene.

The storefront used for the exterior of Reggie’s Ice Cream – which did make Phantasm’s final cut – is located about 140 miles south of Alhambra in the town of Julian. In real life, it is known as Julian Café & Bakery.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to the Freddy in Space blog for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Fosselman’s Ice Cream, aka the interior of Reggie’s Ice Cream from Phantasm, is located at 1824 West Main Street in Alhambra. You can visit the parlor’s official website here. The exterior of Reggie’s Ice Cream is the Julian Café & Bakery located at 2112 Main Street in Julian. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.

October 14, 2014