Kristan Lawson - California Babylon: A Guide to Site of Scandal, Mayhem and Celluloid in the Golden State

The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the authors copyright, please notify the publisher at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank Nadine Bass, Marcia Rufus, Jennifer Cherniss, and David Simon for showing us around; Marji, Jan, and Marc Morrow for their generosity; Jerry Pohlen for suggestions and research on dozens of locations; Marc Wanamaker, Richard Senate, Chris Morrow, Sayre Van Young of the Berkeley Public Library, Robert Kehlmann of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, Koleen Hamblin of Koli Company, and Carolyn Elayne Alexander of the Venice Historical Society for sharing their expertise; the Academy Center for Motion Picture Study, the San Francisco Public Library, the Berkeley Historical Society, the Los Angeles Central Public Library, and the San Pedro Historical Society Archives for the use of their resources and facilities; various film commissions and chambers of commerce throughout the state; the authors of all the books mentioned in our bibliography (and many that arent); and the hundreds of helpful people we encountered on our travels.

INTRODUCTION

A lot of stuff happens in California. Not the Yalta Conference, perhaps. But this is where trends are set, cults go crazy, stars are born. Where flesh and fantasy merge on film and mass killers lurk while riots rage. So much goes down here that sometimes the earth below cannot contain itself and shudders, sending houses crashing down and cars careening.

How many times have you heard a really stirring bit of newsa restaurant massacre; a cults hideout revealed; a favorite singer married, jailed, or deadand found yourself wondering, Where? We crave details: the color of the walls, the view out the window. We want to see for ourselves. It makes us a part of things. It makes things more real.

The same goes for history. Certain moments have changed the worlddiscoveries, concerts, disasters. And each happened somewhere. Each unfolded in a particular location, on a specific roadside or beach, even at a specific address.

California Babylon is about seeing those places where it happenedand, in some cases, where it is still happening. Exactly where was Patty Hearst kidnapped? Where did the Manson Family hatch its plans? Where did they film Vertigo, The Graduate, Chinatown, and Pulp Fiction? Where did Hugh Grant hire Divine Brown? Where do fans still leave flowers on Karen Carpenters grave? Where do the stars savor blintzes? Such things, for better or worse, are essential parts of the California heritage, the California soul.

Appearances mean a lot in California. Call it shallow if you like, but you need to know what something looks like before you can completely understand it. You can hear till the cows come home about Altamont Speedway or the Viper Room or the Heavens Gate house. But hearing about it just isnt enough. Like a pilgrim seeking the Holy Land, you want to see in person where it all happened: the manger, the tomb, the motel, the bullet holes, the stain on the sidewalk.

Lets do it.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

The chapters in this book are arranged south to north, starting in San Diego and ending up at the Oregon border. California Babylon is foremost a hands-on guidebook to be used while traveling; so, wherever possible, entries within each chapter are arranged geographically in a row, as a walking or driving tour. Some of the locations mentioned in the book are private homes: do not trespass or disturb the occupants. If you are looking for a particular site but dont know its exact location, the index at the back of the book contains a detailed listing of every person, place, and topic mentioned in the text.

All information in this book was extensively researched and double-checked, and to the best of our knowledge is true at the time of this writing. The authors personally visited nearly every site mentioned in California Babylon, interviewed current residents, owners, employees, and witnesses (when they were willing to talk), and verified facts with local historians and reliable sources. Weve done our best to correct common errors and misperceptions, so you may come across some details here that differ from those presented in other books. But be aware that things change quickly (especially in California), so by the time you read this a few buildings may have been torn down or restaurants gone out of business. We welcome your updates, comments, questions, or suggestions.

Kristan Lawson and Anneli Rufus

P.O. Box 295

Berkeley, CA 94701

SanDiegoArea

San Diego

SAN YSIDRO

McDonalds Massacre Site

Final score: James Huberty 21Police 1.

Now the Southwestern College Education Center at San Ysidro, 460 W. San Ysidro Boulevard, about a mile north of the Mexican border. The monument to the victims is near the front door of the center. (619) 690-6083. Yum-Yum Donut Shop is at 482 W. San Ysidro Boulevard, just a few yards away. (619) 428-9221.

Repressed madman James Huberty awoke on July 18, 1984, and announced calmly to his wife that he was going out to hunt humans. He loaded up on bullets and walked over to a nearby McDonalds. Then he started shooting. In short order he had massacred twenty-one total strangers. Police quickly surrounded the place and positioned snipers in the nearby Yum-Yum Donut Shop and in a post office. After a standoff a sharpshooter felled Huberty with a single shot, thus obviating the spectacle of a trial. Hubertys record-setting spree remains one of the all-time worst mass shootings in U.S. history, its sheer scale untouched by the spate of shootings that followed in the 1990s. Fearful of bad vibes, McDonalds never reopened the restaurant; instead they tore it down and gave the land away. A new branch of a local community college was built in its place, and the school was thoughtful enough to erect a circular monument with twenty-one columns, each in memory of one of the victims. But the Yum-Yum Donut Shop is still standing. (Note: There is a different McDonalds a few blocks away that is unrelated to the Huberty incident.)

CORONADO

Hotel Del Coronado

Where they filmed Some Like It Hot.

1500 Orange Avenue, directly on the beach in Coronado. (619) 435-6611 or (800) HOTEL-DEL.

From Lucy and Desi to LBJ, a phalanx of celebrities has lapped up the sun at the West Coasts largest beach resort since it opened in 1888. L. Frank Baum wrote some of his Oz tales here. And legend has it that this is where in 1920 Edward, Prince of Wales, may have first seen the woman named Wallis Simpson, whom he later married and for whom he abdicated the throne. The guest list stuns: Charlie Chaplin; Charles Lindbergh; a spate of presidents including FDR, Nixon, and Reagan. Ray Bradbury has been a regular Christmastime guest for more than thirty years. In 1958 Billy Wilder chose the hotel as a location for Some Like It Hot with Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Marilyn Monroe; the actresss pathological lateness drove her director crazy. Other productions, including Peter OTooles film The Stunt Man and Baywatch, have been filmed here, and stars spotted staying here include Madonna, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, and Dustin Hoffman. Palm-fringed and palatial, the Del offers guided walks for those who cant afford to stay.