Dateline>City of Angels

With the change in weather, it’s already feeling like October, the month when this blogger’s attention traditionally turns to L.A.’s fascinating body of ghostlore. To help set the mood early, I recently snapped this eerie night shot of an old Victorian in Angelino Heights.

Now a historic overlay zone popular with tourists, Angelino Heights was among the first L.A. suburbs to spring up during Southern California’s late-1800s land boom. Originally, cable cars connected the hillside residences to nearby downtown. According to the Los Angeles Conservancy, the district now boasts more than 50 Victorian homes and the highest concentration of Queen Anne-Eastlake specimens in the City of Angels.

This particular home on Carroll Ave. was built in 1887 for Michael Sanders, a storage warehouse operator. It was declared a city Historic-Cultural Landmark in 1971. Five years later, the entire 1300 block of Carroll Ave. made the National Register of Historic Places.

Despite Angelino Heights’ haunting atmosphere, there are surprisingly few ghost stories floating about. (At least that I’ve been able to uncover.) If anyone out there knows of any good ones, by all means, please share. But in the meantime, don’t worry, there will be plenty of other spooky sites to explore in coming weeks.

If the bulldozers don’t get you, the taggers will… Not to beat a dead horse, but the EPHS News reports that Edendale’s Mack Sennett Marker will not only be preserved, but relocated to a more suitable site.

A lot has been made about the monument’s “misplacement.” The official address of Sennett’s old Keystone Studios was 1712 Glendale Blvd., a few blocks south of the marker’s 1830-1835 location. However, the studios weren’t confined to a single block. In reality they occupied a total of five acres fronting both sides of the Glendale corridor, then known as Allesandro. If the obelisk doesn’t pinpoint actual Sennett land, it’s probably not all that far off from the fringes of his former studio.

Plus, Keystone crews often filmed their hijinks throughout the immediate neighborhood (frequently to the annoyance of residents), as did several other studios up and down the street. Thus the marker’s inscription isn’t that much of a stretch: American movie comedy was indeed born here along Glendale Blvd.

Still, it would be interesting to do a title search on the 1830-1835 Glendale Blvd. tract — or uncover some other documentation about why this site was chosen for Sennett’s monument. The plaque was presented to him during an episode of the famous This Is Your Life television show. The location of his original studio was well known. I can’t imagine the marker landed here haphazardly.

This past week I gave notice at my Day Job as editor of an automotive trade publication. As much as I enjoy working with my group — and all our accomplishments of the past year — I miss being a freelancer. Plus, a number of things have converged recently to convince me the time is right to finish the book I’ve been researching for a while now. I hope to finally publish it by this time next year. Equally important, I’ll also have more time for this blog, starting late October. Visitors can expect more regular entries, plus a few new “coming attractions” by early November. Stay tuned for all the latest developments!

The famed Porciuncula isn’t the only river to make a dramatic impact on Los Angeles. Believe it or not, on January 8, 1847, this otherwise unremarkable stretch of San Gabriel Riverbed in present-day Montebello was the most important site in all California, let alone for the City of Angels.

Here Gen. Jose Maria Flores’ Mexican militia engaged U.S. forces led by Gen. Stephen Kearny and Comm. Robert Stockton in what turned out to be a pivotal battle in the Mexican-American War. The prize was Los Angeles, Alta California’s provincial capital and last holdout against the American Conquest. After completely routing Flores over a two-day period, the U.S. contingent finally marched unopposed into the City of Angels on January 10. Read more

Turn your back for a moment around here and the bulldozers literally move in.

Little more than a week ago I posted a short piece on the Mack Sennett marker that stands along Glendale Blvd., a stone’s throw from where the famous Keystone Studio was once located. Since then, all of the buildings that once surrounded it have been mowed down. Word has it that the tract is being cleared for a multi-unit residential project. (Why anyone would want to reside along the Glendale Freeway’s noisy and congested off-ramp is beyond me — but then, that’s life in Angel City.)

Although excavations lead right up to its footing, the obelisk appears safe for the time being. However, asking around, I’ve yet to discover what fate ultimately awaits it. As L.A. City Nerd points out, it’s not a true civic historical marker, so presumably it can vanish at the property owner’s whim. Obviously, I hope he incorporates it into his new development, given how it’s such an important link to the area’s past.

I read with some amusement Curbed L.A.’s post on a group of newly (some are saying poorly) built homes in Silverlake that are finding no buyers–or renters for that matter. It’s another chapter in a long saga whose backstory Curbed L.A. has no way of knowing. As a former homeowner on the street, however, I’m familiar with all the sordid details. Consider it yet another horror story from a city that’s way too cozy with developers. Read more