Cold Case Crimes Los Angeles

UPDATE!!

2011-10-29T10:59:00.001-07:00

Hello bloggers and sleuthers. Due to moves, new jobs, and that whole thing called "Life" I've been absent from blogging, but I'm now back. New posts on Thelma Todd to follow over the next few weeks as well as some new unsolved Los Angeles crimes!

William Desmond Taylor - The Story Continues

2010-03-06T14:28:00.000-08:00

Welcome! As I have said in previous posts, this blog is not about being able to solve a cold-case crime, although all tips are welcome and as the old saying goes "you just never know". This blog is a look at some of Hollywood's most notorious unsolved cases, with a before-and-after look at the crime scenes and locations associated with them. Many people are intrigued by the crimes and scandals of Hollywood, and having always wondered what the sites look like today, I decided to spend weekend after weekend driving around Los Angeles in the old jalopy, snapping shots, and filming video...Lets now continue with William Desmond Taylor.

I plodded on through the multitude of archival information and VOLUMES of articles and information about Taylor. For a general overview of the Taylor case, please go to the January archive. In addition to the murder itself, Taylor's life before his death was a twisting, turning, bizarre story, and may hold clues to his eventual murder. I have tried to keep this thread as informative as possible, without being too overwhelming, so as not to send you, the reader, into a tedium-induced coma.

William Desmond Taylor starts this thread in much the same manner as he ended the first thread-- dead. Murdered in his home at 404B S. Alvarado Street, numerous suspects and witnesses were interviewed. I found the map below at the Los Angeles Public Library photo index. I immediately noticed the name "Edna Purviance", who was of course Charlie Chaplin's leading lady, which show you the high-class nature of the area at the time. Douglas McLean was also a leading actor in the silent movie era.

As a little refresher, here is a picture of the original street view of S. Alvarado from a 1922 newspaper article. Based on the map above, we can deduce where William Desmond Taylor's bungalow was indicated by the arrow. The "X" I have indicated, indicates the spot where I stood across the street to take my 2010 shot of the same address.

And here is the same address in all its present day Ross Parking-Lot glory!

Note to self: purchase helicopter to re-enact aerial shots !

William Desmond Taylor began life as William Cunningham Deane Tanner (and is buried under his birth name at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery - see January Archive). After arriving in the United States from Ireland he worked in New York as an actor, before marrying a lady by the name of Ethel May Hamilton. Ethel's family was very wealthy and was able to support his endeavor setting up an English Antique shop. The couple had a daughter, Ethel-Daisy, but by 1908 Taylor deserted them. At the time of his disappearance, Taylor had been known to all his acquaintances as "Pete". After Taylor's murder in 1922, this article appeared in the Los Angeles Times. The interview was with Edward Robins, who was the owner of Delmonico's. After Taylor had deserted Ethel and their daughter, Ethel divorced him and married Edward Robbins. I found the most interesting quote of the article "The Vanderbilt Cup Race of 1908 seems to have been a turning point in Tanner's career. He went there with Billy Thaw and never came back". Wow !

Although car racing is not the sort of thing I would necessarily enjoy attending, I'm sure it cannot be such an awful experience that it would force me to abandon my entire family, change my name and hot-foot it to the opposite coast.

To give you an idea of the Vanderbilt Cup Race in 1908, here is a wonderful video that Howard Kroplick put together on youtube. (I love the music that accompanies the video).

After leaving New York, Taylor ended up a "Klondike Pioneer" working in Dawson City between 1908 and 1912 (approximately). He worked (according to the Los Angeles Times) as a time-keeper and clerk at the Yukon Gold Company. By 1913 Taylor had arrived in Hollywood and embarked on a reasonably successful career as an actor, before moving in to the directorial role for which he would become renowned. From 1914 (when he first directed "The Awakening") and 1918 he directed more than fifty (50) films. After serving in the First World War in Dunkirk, he returned to Los Angeles and became the President of the Motion Picture Director's Association.

I had to chuckle. While researching Taylor, I realized that having worn so many "costumes" in his life, it is certainly possible that if he had survived to the 1970s, Taylor could have easily joined "The Village People".

After his death, more people came forward with stories about Taylor's life and his "previous life" before becoming a film director in Hollywood. One man, Mr. Bryan Foster, told the Los Angeles times about his previous encounters with Taylor. Mr. Foster was interviewed at his antique shop, at 324 1/2 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles and recalled how he KNEW Taylor from his days as an antiques dealer in New York. He describes how Taylor, (then known as "Tanner") would frequent his New York store once or twice a week for several years, and how he met and talked with Taylor on numerous occasions. He says in the 1922 article "About a month ago a well-dressed man entered my shop here. I recognized him immediately, but he refused to recognize me, assuming the role of a stranger. I asked him if I could assist him looking over the curios and he said curtly 'No, I'm just looking around'." Bryan Foster goes on to say "At first I thought I might have been mistaken in identifying him as Tanner, but after he walked around my shop I stepped up to him and spoke to him". "Aren't you Mr. Tanner, formerly of the Antique Shop in New York?". Taylor looked Mr. Foster and told him that he was "mistaken". Taylor then left the shop and never returned ! Here is the article:

It strikes me as odd that Taylor would still try and hide. He had been re-acquainted with his daughter, so who ELSE was he hiding from?

Taylor's funeral was held at the St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral on February 7, 1922, which at that time was on Olive Street, in downtown Los Angeles. An interesting note, Taylor's funeral was one of the last funeral's held at this site (the last being February 12, 1922) after the Cathedral had to make way for the Biltmore Hotel. The article below notes "Thousands at Funeral" and describes how actress Mabel Normand, who was the last known person to see Taylor alive (other than his killer) "collapses at Taylor's Casket."

Here is a short video I made today of the site of the funeral, and thanks to the investment of a tripod, my filming is much less shaky. Note to pedestrians: even though your interest in what I am doing is flattering and I am thrilled to stand and chat with you about cold-case-crimes, if someone is filming it is generally not the very best idea to stroll right in front of the camera and ask "are you making a movie?" :-) That said, 147 takes later, here is the little clip I managed to get:

As I continue to wade through the archives of the Los Angeles Times, I noted this little gem. It suggests that Taylor was in the habit of keeping women's lingerie. According to Henry Peavey, Taylor's "houseman" who discovered his body, he had seen the woman's night robe before. In addition, Edward Sands (Taylor's former secretary) claimed that this robe was not just kept for sentimental reasons. Edward Sands was a liar, forger and robber, and had numerous aliases, so his salacious suggestion may only be part of his own blackmail of Taylor regarding homosexual encounters that Sands alleged Taylor was involved in. However, let us not forget that Taylor had aliases of his own, and refused to acknowledge people from his previous "life" in New York. So I'm not saying anything, I'm just saying.....

Here is the article:

During Taylor's autopsy, it was discovered that the bullet hole that entered his jacket did not match the bullet hole found in his vest, until his arms were raised. This lead detectives to believe that Taylor had been shot with his hands in the air. My question is, was he holding up his hands as if he were being held up? I'm not so sure, as noted in the article below "the hole through which the bullet entered was powder marked. The marking was of such a nature that they decided conclusively he was shot by a revolver held pressed against his coat." This makes me wonder if he were perhaps in an embrace? I have never held someone up with a gun, but it would seem to me, if you had the "power" of a gun, you would not need to be that close to someone....anyway, the whole article is below.

If you read the first thread I posted about Taylor, you will know I have my suspicions about Charles Eyton (the then head of the Famous Laskeys Players). I don't think Eyton was the killer, but a clean-up guy. I stumbled upon this article about Mabel Normand. Letters that Ms. Normand wrote to Taylor were returned to her but "had never been in the possession of the police, it was declared". Really? Where were they then? Several letters Ms. Normand had written to Taylor had in fact been found stuffed in one of Taylor's boots at the back of his closet and returned to her. So if these particular letters had never been in the possession of the police, who had them, and WHY? Interestingly, the article goes on to say that a representative of Ms. Normand had NOT received the letters at that time. So why did the police claim that they never had possession of the letters that were returned to her, which she hadn't received? *cue circus music* It has been documented that Charles Eyton had removed items from the scene of the crime, although when I telephoned the LAPD cold case crime unit, they only have Charles Eyton listed as a "witness". Hmmmm.

I recently received the entire file copy of his estate (he died intestate). Here are a few little snippets:

Personal property at the time of his death:
This is interesting. Henry Peavey (his servant who found him) claimed for his wages, and in addition, claimed for Milk of Magnesia. However the magnesia was not for Peavey, but for Taylor. Taylor had experienced years of ongoing stomach problems which is not surprising really, given that he spent since 1908 looking over his shoulder!

B.H. Dyas wanted their money for their sporting goods!

He obviously bought some dashing clothes in England!

And if you want proof that even after you are dead, you will still be sent a bill, I give you the following exhibit. (Notice how he is now referred to as William Dean-Tanner, his birth name).

Well, there is a lot more documentation for William Desmond Taylor, but I think that is enough for now!

Thelma Todd

2010-02-27T23:55:00.001-08:00

If you are a new reader of this blog - welcome! I don't claim to be able to solve any of the cold-case crimes I spend my time working on (as anyone who knows me will tell you, I'm simply not that bright). I am just obsessed with researching cold-case crimes and taking photographs and videos of the crime scenes as they are today. My obsession with this is not because I am some salacious gossipy British gal who lives in Los Angeles and has nothing better to do. My own dear brother's death has never been officially determined to be either homicide or suicide, and so, although some of my writing is humorous in describing the antics I go through to get the pictures, I assure you, my research and travels all come from a very personal and heartfelt place...That said, let's talk about Thelma Todd, shall we?

Thelma Todd's life, and of course her death, has all the elements of a great Hollywood Scandal. Money, fame, love affairs and the mob. Dubbed the "Ice Cream Blonde", she was born to Jim and Bertha Todd in Lawrence, MA on July 29th 1905. She was a very bright child who had aspirations of becoming a school teacher, but in her late teens she entered numerous beauty pageants and was discovered by a Hollywood talent scout. The rest as they say, is history, and for Thelma, it was an untimely and tragic history.

Thelma began her movie career in silent films, where much was made of her incandescent beauty, but with the advent of the talking films, she was given the opportunity by Producer Hal Roach, to broaden her acting roles, appearing in comedies with some of the leading comedy stars of the day, such as Harold Langdon, and of course Laurel and Hardy. She appeared in numerous films between 1926 and her death in December 1935. Is it just me, or does the photo below look a bit like Drew Barrymore?

Thelma realized that she could not count on her looks in Hollywood forever, and decided to go into business with her on-and-off boyfriend, Director Roland West, and they purchased a plot of land on Pacific Coast Highway, and thus emerged "Thelma Todd's Roadside Cafe". Roland West was a celebrated director who had begun writing and directing vaudeville productions. His credits included "The Monster" with Lon Chaney Sr. He had received critical acclaim with "The Bat", a thriller starring Jack Pickford and West's wife, Jewel Carmen, and in 1931, he created one of the most hauting movies of all time "The Bat Whispers", starring Chester Morris. The success of "The Bat Whispers" led him direct "The Corsair". This film lead to the end of his marriage, and shortly after he and Jewel became estranged, West took up with The Corsair's leading lady, Thelma Todd. This is Roland West:

Todd had been married briefly to Pat DeCicco from 1932 to 1934. Thelma and Pat's main past-time together was outlandish and often violent drunken brawls. One of the brawls was so vicious that Thelma ended up having an emergency appendectomy in a local hospital.

Pat DiCicco deserves a blog all to himself. A first cousin of Albert "Cubby" Broccoli (of James Bond) fame, DiCicco was a bootlegger and a pimp, who described himself as an agent in Hollywood. (I couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of typing the words "pimp" and "agent" in the same sentence). DiCicco was most widely known (and feared) as being mob boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano's right hand man. One theory that constantly gets injected into Thelma's mysterious death is that Luciano wanted Thelma's sidewalk cafe as a front for his drugs and money laundering operation. When Thelma allegedly told him she would not get involved, Luciano was very angry and had her killed. It is also alleged that they were involved in an affair and that Luciano "controlled' Todd through the use of amphetamines. Many theorists have dismissed the mob connection, but as you will see from a newspaper article I found (and post further down), the District Attorney at the time, Buron Fitts, had been given information "possibly linking underworld interests with an attempt to establish gambling resorts near Miss Todd's cafe...." (Los Angeles Times, December 19, 1935). The article doesn't mean that its true, it just means that it was not dismissed as a motive in her death.

In any event, the first video below gives you a good look at "Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe".

The picture below shows you what the area looked like in its hey-day back in the early 1930s (photo from Los Angeles Library photo index).

And here is a picture I took:

Here is another short clip:

Little bit more of the location of the Sidewalk Cafe:

Here is a back-in-the-day photo of the overpass next to the cafe:

and here is a video from on top of the overpass, which was incredibly stupid on my part, as there were HIGH winds that day, and I don't like heights.

So the story goes that on Saturday December 14th, 1935, Thelma attended a party being held by British music hall star, Stanley Lupino, in honor of his daughter Ida. This is the Trocadero back in the day. Its no longer there, except for about 3 steps of the old entrance.

Thelma arrived at the party, and although former husband Pat DiCicco had asked to be seated next to her, he arrived with actress Margaret Lindsay and they then joined another table, which apparently infuriated Thelma. She got drunk and apparently fought with DiCicco. At approximately midnight, DiCicco made a phone call from the lobby of the Trocadero and he and Margaret Lindsay left. Thelma Todd left the Trocadero at approximately 2:30 in the morning, but before she left, she promised various guests that she would see them the following day at a party being given by a Mrs. Wallace Reid. Thelma also told Ida Lupino that she had been secretly dating a wealthy businessman from San Francisco (remember at this time she was still in a relationship with Roland West).

Thelma was driven home by her chauffer, Ernest Peters. (she had been involved in so many car accidents that the studios insisted she have a driver). Peters later gave testimony that he had pulled up at the Sidewalk Cafe at approximately 3:15am, and stated that although Ms. Todd had not seemed drunk, she did not seem herself, and that she had been very quiet during the drive home. In addition, he gave testimony that for the first time ever, Thelma turned down his offer to escort her to the door of the cafe. Roland West confirmed to the grand jury that he had locked the doors to the cafe at 2am as he always did, so it is certain that when Thelma arrived home, she could not have just walked in. Legend has it that unable to get into the cafe and so she trudged 271 steps up the side of the cafe to go to the garage where her own car was kept. Keep in mind, the garage was not part of the Sidewalk Cafe property. The garage is located at 17531 Posetano Drive, and was part of Roland Wests property that was owned by his estranged wife, Jewel Carmen.

Here is (courtesy of LA Library photo index) a diagram indicating the locations of the cafe, the steps and the garage:

Here is a closer view of the steps (which are no longer there):

There are a set of steps that wind up through these hills. I located the stairs at the end of the overpass, and here they are, but as stated earlier, not the original steps.

On the Sunday after the party, there are varying reports that Thelma was still alive. For example, a pharmacy worker claims that Thelma Todd came into his drugstore and asked him to make a telephone call for him, but left immediately. That same Sunday afternoon, various witnesses claim to have seen Thelma driving though the intersection of Hollywood and vine with a "dark haired man".

More strangely, Mrs. Wallace Reid claimed that around 4:30pm on that Sunday afternoon, Thelma telephoned her, using her nickname "Hot Toddy" and apologized for being late to Reid's party, but that she would be attending the party with a mystery guest. (I'll get more into this later).

Here is a shot from the top of the overpass looking down into the patio which fronted Thelma's apartment. The entrance to the balcony from the overpass is gated, and TRUST me, if it hadn't been, I would have SO gone down there and snooped around.

In any event, on Monday December 16th, at about 10:30am, her personal assistant, May Whitehead went to get Thelma's car out of the garage on Posetano Road. It was May's duty to drive Thelma to the Culver City Studios where she was supposed to finish working on a film with Laurel and Hardy. After opening the doors to the garage, she found Thelma, slumped at the wheel of her 1933 Lincoln Phaeton. Thelma was still dressed in her finery from the party on Saturday evening, and wearing $20,000 of jewelery. May Whitehead went back to the Sidewalk Cafe and summoned Charles Smith, who was not only the Cafe's treasurer, he was an assistant film director who had worked with Roland West for many years. What I found most interesting about Charles Smith is that he slept ABOVE the garage where Thelma was found dead, but never heard the car start in the early hours of that Sunday morning.

Here is the crime scene photo of the garage:

And here are a couple of shots I took of the garage at 17531 Posetano Road.

The police were summoned. A captain Bert Wallis, the then head of the LAPD Homicide Squad stated that "There were only 2 and one half gallons of gasoline in the 20 gallon car tank. The garage door was closed but no locked. The battery on the car was dead. This would happen if the motor had been running and stopped. The ignition still being on, the battery would have run down". Interestingly, there was a smudged handprint on the door of the car.

Here is how they found poor Thelma (photos from findadeath.com):

At her side, lay a small white party purse which contained her key to the outside door of her apartment in the Cafe. Her maid stated that she had given Thelma her key on her way out to the party that night, so was Thelma just so drunk she couldn't find it? Roland West testified that he had not just locked, but also bolted the cafe entrance door, which meant that even with her key, Thelma could not have entered the cafe.

Thelma's death was ruled an accident. It was declared that having been locked out of her apartment she walked up the steps to the garage and switched on the ignition to keep herself warm, and that drunk, had fallen asleep and been killed by the fumes. Many have speculated that West, annoyed at her partying, simply followed her up the stairs and locked the garage.

There are also speculations as to the varying degrees of blood and gore at the death scene. many claim there was blood everywhere and that Thelma had obviously been beaten. Others claim there was not a mark on her, nor was her makeup even smudged, but there was just a small trickle of blood coming from her nose. I have seen her autopsy pictures on findadeath.com Why not check them out for yourself and see if you think she looks beaten. I have gone ahead and ordered the 100+ page autopsy report and the moment it plops into my mail box, I'll read it and let you know what I think. I didn't really have the money to order it, but I just couldn't help myself. As thanks for my patronage, the nice folks at celebritycollectables.com are apparently sending me a free gift, which has something to do with Judy Garland. I have no idea what it is, but I'll be sure and share it with you, when it arrives.

Couple of other things about the death scene. Thelma's shoes were noted to be immaculate and clean, which is completely inconsistent with having schlepped up almost 300 steps ! In addition her death was confirmed by the LA County Coroner as having occurred between 5 and 8am on the Sunday morning. Alcohol and carbon monoxide were found in her system, as were peas. Yes, peas. Nothing interesting about peas, except that peas were not on the menu at the Trocadero at the party on the Saturday evening. So, is it possible that Thelma Todd WAS still alive all throughout the Sunday as various witness claim. Wherever it was she may have been, she certainly was served peas.

Although copyright ownership prevents me from reproducing entire articles from the LA Times that were published after 1929, here is a little snippet from an article that ran on December 19, 1935. As you can see the articles states that thelma was seen "Long after Death Hour", and what is intriguing about this is that the witness was none other than Jewel Carmen, estranged wife of Roland West!! It is Roland West pictured in the article below.

The above picture is from the public viewing held for Thelma Todd. Many sites claim her service and viewing was at Forest Lawn. There was a memorial service for her at Forest Lawn, but the above picture is located at 720 W. Washington Blvd at what used to be "Pierce Brothers Morticians". I recognized the building immediately as I have driven by it many times, but not realized the significance to Thelma Todd.

Having recognized the property, I decided to drive the exhausting 1.2 miles from my house and take a couple of shots, so that you can see what it looks like today. I tried to stand in the exact location where the original photographer of the above picture would have stood, but not wanting to stand in the middle of Washington Blvd and be squished by Saturday traffic, this was the best I could do. (and yes, driving 1.2 miles in Los Angeles IS exhausting).....I thought it was really sad to see the building all boarded up, and the chain link fence really ticked me off !!

I took some other shots too. Such a shame that such a glorious old building (and in fact the entire neighborhood) has become such a run-down place to look at. This is the side of the building - boarded up, the windows and original doors are all sealed shut and the bars on the window are breaking and rusty.

Here is a shot from across the street:

This is the window behind which Thelma Todd's viewing took place. I cannot begin to tell you the blood-curdling anger I felt seeing that graffiti on the window. Is NOTHING sacred in Los Angeles anymore? apparently not!

This is a photo of Thelma's viewing. (again, courtesy of Los Angeles Public Library photo index - they deserve a medal those library folks, they really do). I was determined to see if I could get in and find the room !

I walked around the side of the building and noticed an open door with a sign that suggested that I not enter unless I was someone official. To the normal individual, this sign would immediately send you scurrying on your way, but I decided (just like I do with Stop Signs), that it was merely a suggestion and not an order, and went inside the building anyway. It was pitch black, but I could hear music coming from somewhere. I made my way to where I figured the actual room where Thelma's viewing took place. I must admit, standing there in the dark (and it really was lights out) I felt myself shaking a little bit. I truly understand what it was like for Clarice Starling in "Silence of the Lambs" when she was in the dark with the gun and couldn't see anything, and Buffalo Bill was following her around wearing his night-vision-goggle-things. I took the following shot and hoped that the flash would work. It did, although its a little blurry, but compared to the original picture from the viewing above, its a pretty good "clutch" as a good friend of mine would say:-)

As I made my way out in the dark ("have the lambs stopped screaming Clarice"), I went down a little passageway and found another door that looked like it might go to the outside of the building. I turned the handle of the door and voila ! No, not the outside, but instead a very nice young Korean man, who could not have been more surprised to see me. Actually, I can't remember which one of us was more suprised at that particular moment. I explained that I was a blogger working on cold-case-Hollywood-crimes, and I THANKFULLY had brought along my printed-out version of the picture of the outside of the building from Thelma's viewing, which he immediately recognized as the building we were standing in. It turned out that Jason, a member of the Church that operates a few little functions there, was very intrigued by the whole notion (I have the luck of the Irish -- thanks Dad) and agreed to show me around. We went back to the room where I had stood in the dark and Jason switched on the lights for me. My sincere thanks to Jason, not only for showing me around and being so patient while I tried to figure out how to turn off the damn flash function on my camera, but also for not having me arrested for trespassing.

Here is another shot of the viewing room. You can see clearly that the window that was behind Thelma in the original shot is now covered by a white board, and if you look to the right, there are shuttered windows along the wall. These are the arched windows (that you can see on the exterior shots).

Well, theories and rumors have run riot over poor Thelma since 1935, and probably, the more that arise, the less clear we all are as to what happened. RIP Thelma Todd.

Thelma's mother pictured below quietly accepted the accidental death verdict. Why?

Did she really accept it? Why, in light of a possible second autopsy, did she choose to have her daughter cremated. Was her mother pressured by someone to "make it all go away"?
Thelma was cremated and her mother kept the ashes, with instructions that upon her own death, Thelma's ashes be placed into her coffin. They were and they are buried in a family plot in Massachussetts (picture below from findagrave.com).

I will post further updates on Thelma as I find additional information. Please feel free to email me with information, or photographs.

William Desmond Taylor - An Introduction

2010-01-18T19:27:00.000-08:00

William Desmond Taylor was born in April 26, 1872. His birth name was William Cunningham Deane-Tanner in Carlow, Ireland, and he was the son of a British Army Officer. The young Taylor set sail for America in 1890. Taylor arrived in Hollywood in 1912, and initially had a great deal of success as an actor, appearing in several films, including four notable performances alongside actress Margaret "Gibby" Gibson. Taylor made his directorial debut in in 1914, directing the feature film "The Awakening". Until his death in 1922, he directed over fifty films. In July 1918 he enlisted in the British Army as a private, and was assigned to the Royal Army Service Corp. After his return to Los Angeles, he became the President of the Motion Picture Directors Association, and during his career directed many of the greats of that era including Mary Pickford, Wallace Reid, Dustin Farnum, and his protegee Mary Miles Minter, who starred in the 1919 version of "Anne of Green Gables".

Why is this only an introduction to Taylor? There is so much information surrounding his death and the numerous suspects, it would be difficult to encompass all the details into one comprehensive thread. So this is just scraping the surface of the events surrounding his murder which to this day, remains officially unsolved.

At the time of his death, Taylor was living at 404B Alvavarado Street.

I have added photos and video of some of the areas of the places connected to Taylor. Please note: in the video I state that he was found on February 22nd. This is a mistake on my part (mainly due to nerves of never having filmed anything before in my life - other than my pets - and I had no idea how difficult it would be to film, talk, walk and remember facts all at the same time). He was found on February 2nd, 1922, believed killed the night before on February 1.

This is where 404B South Alvarado Street is located. (formerly known as the Alvarado Court Apartments), which were a set of trendy and affluent bungalow buildings where many of the Hollywood "elite" lived at that time. In the picture below (from a newspaper article in 1922) you can see the building as it was. The arrow indicates Taylor's Bungalow and the "X" is where I stood in modern times to take a similar shot.

And here is my shot of the same property from 2010.

This image from classichollywoodbios.com, shows the shot of the front of Taylor's bungalow. Look carefully at the newspaper aerial shot above, and you will see the little pagoda, pictured more closely here:

On the evening before his death, Taylor had been entertaining comedienne Mabel Normand. She left his apartment at around 7:45 (he escorted her to her chauffeur driven car) and she left. At about 8:00pm neighbors heard what they initially thought was a car back-firing. Neighbor Faith McLean went to the window and saw someone enter Taylor's home. It appeared to be a man in a long coat, wearing a muffler and a plaid cap over his face. McLean said the man looked at her casually and went inside Taylor's home as if he were supposed to be there. McLean later claimed that the person was "funny looking" and walked "effeminately" and years later, could not confirm if the person she was was in fact a man.

Taylor's body was found at about 7am on February 2nd, 1922, by his servant, Henry Peavey.  Evidently, Peavey pushed open the front door of the home, having picked up a milk bottle from the door step, but did not enter the home.  Peavey screamed so loudly, that it alerted neighbors, one of whom alerted the police.  The Officer that arrived was Detective Lietenant Tom Ziegler.  Taylor's body was fully clothed, and lying on his back.

Items found on Taylor's person included: a wallet holding $78, a silver cigarette case, and ivory toothpick and a Waltham pocket Watch. In addition, he was wearing a two-carat diamond ring. However, a large amount of cash that Taylor had shown to his accountant the day before his death was missing, and was never accounted for.

One suspect was Edward Sands, who had worked as Taylor's valet and cook until 7 months before Taylor's death. He had numerous aliases, and although he was born in Ohio, he spoke with an affected Cockney accent.

The summer before his death, Taylor had returned to Europe, and while he was gone, Sands had forged a number of Taylor's checks and wrecked his car. Sands had also burgled Taylor's bungalow and left his footprints on the director's bed. After Taylor's murder, Sands disappeared completely. For a really comprehensive look at the "Case Against Sands" check out this website: www.silent-movies.com (under the heading "Taylorology").

Sands had in fact deserted from the Navy at one point, only to re-enlist using a different name. I had to laugh at this, because in my family, many years ago, a male relative of mine deserted the British Army during World War II. When the authorities finally caught up with him, he had enlisted in the Navy, rather stupidly I might add, using the same name he deserted with !

There was a witness who claims to have seen someone fitting Sands description loitering on Alvarado Street on the evening of the murder. The witness was a woman called Mrs. M.S. Stone, who lived at the Duke Apartments on South Carondelet Street.

Mrs. Stone told the officers that she walked every evening from her home, along Sixth Street and turned left onto Alvarado, to have dinner with her son-in-law, a Mr. A.W. Wachter of 412-A South Alvarado Street. Mrs. Stone described a man of Sands description loitering outside Taylor's home, transferring something from his left hip pocket to the right hand pocket of his coat. "I walked behind him" she said, "and when he reached Maryland Street he turned out of Alvarado".

I took a wander down to Carondelet Street, and made the same walk Mrs. Stone did all those years ago. It probably didn't take me more than about 5 minutes to get from Carondelet Street back up to the Ross Parking lot. The Street that intersects Alvarado at that parking lot, is Maryland Street. None of this proves anything, obviously, I just thought I would have a wander around to be honest.

It has been reported that shortly after Taylor's death, Sands committed suicide in Connecticut, but that his death was kept a secret by then LA District Attorney Thomas Lee Woolwine.

Many authors and investigators maintain that Woolwine was very friendly with many of the Hollywood "elite" and that his non-disclosure of Sands' suicide, kept the police investigation firmly ON Sands, so as to detract attention from celebrity suspects, like Mary Miles Minter, who was high on the list of suspects, along with her mother, Charlotte Shelby.

Coded letters found in Taylor's apartment suggested that there had been a romantic relationship between the 49 year old Taylor and the 19 year old actress. The letters were at odds with her on-screen image as a modest young girl and Minter was vilified in the press. After completing four more films for Paramount Pictures, they failed to renew her contract. She maintained her love for Taylor until she died in obscurity (although very wealthy) in 1984.

Take a look at this video of retired LAPD Detective William Cahill, to see what he says about Taylor, Mary Miles Minter, her mother, and the District Attorney. It is very interesting...

I took one last look around. It is hard to believe that this trash-filled parking lot was once the beautiful Alvarado Court Bungalows.....(but then, a lot of Los Angeles has disintegrated in this same manner).

I left the Alvarado/Maryland intersection and headed over to Paramount Pictures on Melrose Avenue.

While Detective Ziegler waited for the Los Angeles Coroner to arrive, (and presumably also doing his best to keep morbid on-lookers from gazing at the death scene), Charles Eyton and other un-named individuals arrived. Eyton is, in my opinion, a key individual in the Taylor case. Born in New Zealand in 1871, Eyton began his career by promoting prize fighters, and went on to work as a boxing referee. The picture below (found on the internet) shows his work in the boxing world.

Charles Eyton caught my eye, not as the murderer but as "the clean-up guy."

His prominence in the Hollywood community would have allowed him to get away with activities that the average Joe could never do.  In 1922 Eyton was the General Manager of Paramount Pictures (actually, technically speaking he was the GM of the Famous-Players Lasky Corporation, a subisidary of Paramount Pictures).  Eyton also produced a numer of film serials, most of which starred his wife, the famous actress Kathlyn Williams.

Another reason that I am highly suspicious of Eyton's actions is that when he arrived at the crime scene, he immediately went to the upper floor of Taylor's home (the bedroom) and began removing personal letters, items and other effects from the house.  All this, under the watchful eye of Detective Zieger? Really?  Additional reports have stated that it was Eyton himself who turned Taylor's body over and saw the gun-shot wound.  Why was Eyton allowed to touch the body?

Was Detective Ziegler simply cowing to a powerful movie mogul, or was this an outrageous act of police cooperation in removing evidence from a crime scene.  Was Ziegler told to let Eyton do what he wanted at the scene?  Under later interrogation by police, Eyton claimed that the letters and other items were "love letters" from married women, and that he removed them to protect Taylor from incriminating and embarrasing stories (he and Taylor had been close friends for many years).  Eyton confirmed that he destroyed everything he took from the house, thereby  destroying potential evidence, although he claimed it was just to protect his friend, and not to obstruct the investigation.  Is it possible, and I think it is, that Eyton had a VERY good idea who the murderer was, and was desperately trying to protect her. Yes, "her".

In addition, it was Kathlyn Williams name on Taylor's Death Certificate. Yes, the wife of the man who removed items from the crime scene, unhindered by the first officer on the scene was also then asked to identify Taylor's body.  Obviously she could identify him (she knew him), but still,  the whole scene stinks to me. 
The Hollywood Forever Cemetery is where Taylor is now at rest. Its located on Santa Monica Blvd, right behind the Paramount Pictures Studios.  I wandered into the little shop where they sell maps and flowers and made my purchases.  The lady in the shop was most helpful about finding my way around the grounds.  When I told her who I was looking for and why, she was very interested, as her son has recently graduated from the Los Angeles Police Academy, and just started in the Down Town Traffic Division.  I thanked her and continued on my way.




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As you can see from his crypt, Taylor was born William Deane-Tanner. The yellow rose on the left was put there by yours truly. I wonder who left the rose on the right........???????

Dr. George Hodel - Black Dahlia Murderer? Part II

2010-01-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

My friend Akbar arrived at 11am promptly, and we immediately took off to the scene of THE crime. The Black Dahlia murder scene !! I would like to point out at this juncture, that while I do not endorse or refute Steve Hodel's theory about his father, I must admit, the more I see of this case and the evidence linked to it, the more I believe him, with regard to the Black Dahlia murder. Before I delve into our whole day and the events and photographs, here is a picture of "Sowden House" (Dr. Hodel's House) in circa 1971. (picture from the Library of Congress)

Compare this to my prior picture from yesterday.

We drove the 1.2 miles from my house on W. 30th Street to the scene where the gruesome discovery of Elizabeth Short's blood-drained and dismembered body was made. Namely, 3815 S. Norton Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90008. Below is the graphic scene which met the Los Angeles Police Department on January 15, 1947. (Photographs from LAPD)

Here is what 3815 S. Norton looks like today:

The "Norton" street sign, only a little more than a mile from my house

Close-up of the house number. Doesn't it look different? Who would have known it was the same place?

As a brief aside, Steve Hodel maintains that his father was involved in the "Cleveland Torso Murders". Why? He believes that his father was involved in the January 7, 1946 kidnapping and murder of six-year-old Suzanne Degnan, who was kidnapped from her parent's Chicago apartment, strangled and expertly dismembered. (Her blood was expertly drained from her body, as was Elizabeth Short's). WHY the connection. Check out the name of the NEXT street to S. Norton Avenue, a picture I took today.

Back to the Black Dahlia Murder: A very interesting point to note here is that at this gruesome crime scene, not just a body was found. Can you believe that architect Frank Lloyd Wright has some (unrelated-to-the-murder) involvement here? The Crime Scene shows that around the scene of the dismembered torso, lay numerous cement bags. Below are Los Angeles Police Department Crime Scene Evidence Photographs from the LAPDshowing the bags, one of the bags with bloodstains.

Here is another bag, shown more closely, with bloodstains.

The connection with Frank Lloyd Wright? Intriguing isn't it? Here is what we know for sure. On January 22, 1947, there was an inquest into Elizabeth "Black Dahlia" Short's death. It was concluded from witness, including the Deputy Coroner, that the victim died from "blunt force trauma to the head". One of the witnesses was a Lieutenant Jesse Haskins, from the LAPD University Division, who testified to jurors, that the murder has been committed in a different location to where the body had been found. He also testified that at the scene of the crime, the body had been placed on large 50lb (empty) cement bags, which he surmised the body had been placed on in order to prevent spillage of blood in the car which he believed the body had been transported to Norton Avenue to be dumped. Here is the intriguing connection. From 1945 to 1947, Frank Lloyd Wright had been hired by Dr. George Hodel to oversee the repair and some construction and renovation work at the Sowden House (Dr. Hodel was working in China at the time). The House had been designed and built by Lloyd-Wright in 1926 for a Mr. John Sowden, but later purchased by Dr. Hodel in 1945. In April 1946, Dr. Hodel wrote to Lloyd-Wright about completing some work in China. The letter itself is not of huge importance, but WITHIN the paperwork, a receipt was found. A receipt that showed that CEMENT WORK and repair was completed at Sowden House, that required ten, 50lb bags of cement. The cement work was completed at Dr. Hodel's House (The Sowden House) in January 1947. Below is a copy of the receipt from Steve Hodel's website:

This now leads us on to the "Red Lipstick Murder". Connection? Interesting. Dr. Hodel mailed the aforementioned letter to Frank Lloyd-Wright in April 1946. Although he typed the address, he printed the word "Registered" on the envelope. Here is the envelope (photograph courtesy of Steve Hodel's website).

As Steve Hodel points out on his website, Dr. Hodel has a unique way of printing the letter "D". Now compare the letter "D" written in lipstick on the body of "Red Lipstick Murder" victim, Ms. Jeanne French, who was found murdered in 1947, at Grandview Avenue.

Here is the newspaper article regarding the Jeanne French crime scene, located at (approximately) 3200 Grandview Avenue Bld, Los Angeles, 90066. French was 40 years old and believed murdered on February 10, 1947. The words "Fuck you, B.D." were found written on her body, in red lipstick.

Here is the 3200 Grandview Blvd address today

There is no EXACT house address with the number 3200. However, on the way to the address, Akbar and I noticed a lot of waste-land to one side of the street (mentioned in the police report). Either one of these houses is the area where poor Jeanne French was found. I photographed the street sign so that you can see we are pretty accurate in our hunt.

It is in the area of ONE of these two houses that Jeanne was found. Akbar and I are at odds as to the EXACT location of her body, but I suspect, given Akbar's brain-power (and his tom-tom) that he is probably right...LOL

And so we move on to the "White Gardenia Murder". Mrs. Ora Murray was 42 years old and her semi-nude body was found on July 26, 1943. She was found, bludgeoned to death at the entrance to the parking lot of the Fox Hills country Golf Club Parking lot at around 7am, a white Gardenia flower placed below her right shoulder. See below the screaming headlines from 1943.

The Country Club is no longer there, but the entrance to the park is, and we found it.

Ora Murray's murder is interesting. Ora had been repeatedly struck with a blunt instrument, breaking her wrist-watch, which broken during the attack had stopped at approximately 1:50am. At the scene, detectives evidently found a torn credit card, which they said they would investigate (but never did). A man by the name of Roger Lewis Gardner was extradited to California from New York and formally arraigned for her murder. Ora's sister, Latona, claimed that she had seen Mr. Gardner at the Zenda Ballroom (where they had all been dancing that night). He was acquitted due to lack of evidence. The interesting thing here is that Ora Murray had been wearing a Native American bracelet, given to her by a mystery man named "Paul". An identical bracelet was given to Mrs. George Hodel by her husband when they were married!! Coincidence? You decide. As I said before, I don't endorse or refute Steve Hodel's findings, but the coincidences with George Hodel to all of these situations are very hard to ignore. Here is another photo of the entrance to the park.

As I ventured a little further into the park, I took this shot, which is where I am certain, was the original parking lot.

At the top of the entrance, is a serene little seating area. It gave me chills to think that a poor woman was bludgeoned to death here.

I took some additional pictures today of various places in the Downtown Los Angeles area where Dr. Hodel had various offices. Some of them, I still have to research the EXACT address, but the following photograph I know FOR SURE to be one of his former offices, when it was his office at the Los Angeles County Health Department. The exact location is 808 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012:

How ironic that such a filthy looking building was once part of the Health Department !

Shot from across the street:

The office is right in the heart of China Town

Here is a shot down Spring Street with all the Asian-inspired wares you can buy !

The Los Angeles Times has followed this case closely. Here is a shot of the Times from the Freeway

Here is another shot of the Times Building

And here is yours truly, working hard to bring you these stories....

Dr. George Hodel - Black Dahlia Murderer? Part I

2010-01-11T20:02:00.000-08:00

Dr. George Hodel, as might know, is long suspected by his son, Los Angeles Police Detective (Ret'd) Steve Hodel, to be the murder of Elizabeth Short (The Black Dahlia). Dr. Hodel first blipped the police radar in October 1949, when his daughter Tamar accused him of molesting her. Although acquited of the charges, the molestation case led LAPD to include Dr. Hodel, who specialized in public health and sexually transmitted diseases, among it's top suspects in the Dahlia case. Authorities put Dr. Hodel under surveillance for two months in 1950, to ascertain whether there was a possibility of implicating him in the murder. In the final report to the grand jury, dated Febraury 20, 1951, Lieutenant Frank Jemison of the LA County DA's office, wrote:

Doctor George Hodel, M.D. 5121 Franklin Avenue, at the time of this murder had a clinic at East First Street near Alameda. Lillian DeNorak [Lenorak] who lived with this doctor said he spent some time around the Biltmore Hotel and identified the photo of victim Short as a photo of one of the doctor's girl friends. Tamar Hodel, fifteen year old daughter, stated that her mother, Dorothy Hodel, has told her that her father had been out all night on a party the night of the murder and said, "They’ll never be able to prove I did that murder." Two microphones were placed in this suspect's home.

Hodel's home was, as stated above, 5121 Franklin Avenue, Los Angeles, California. Below is the actual map from the surveillance report being conducted on Dr. Hodel at the time. The locations that we visited (and will visit tomorrow) are all in this EXACT same area, as you will see from the various addresses of the photos that I will post (map below from www.stevehodel.com)

Akbar and I traveled to half of these locations, and will complete our journey tomorrow. But in the meantime, take a look at some of these interesting pictures.

The above article details murdered woman Gladys Kern, aged 50. Gladys was murdered on February 17, 1948. Ms. Kern was a realtor and was showing the the house pictured in the above newspaper article to a prospective male buyer. Take a close look at the artist rendering in the newspaper article and a picture of George Hodel !!

The address is 4217 Cromwell Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90021. Here is a picture I took of the house yesterday

Ms. Kern was stabbed multiple times in the back with a long-bladed knife after the suspect, posing as a prospective buyer, met her at her office and had her take him to the above then-vacant house for sale.

Shortly after the killing, the suspect, (using the same downtown L.A. mailbox from where the Black Dahlia letters were mailed, a box three blocks from George Hodel’s medical office) mailed a note to the police. The police had the killer’s note before the body was discovered the following day.

Numerous handwriting experts have evaluated the note and determined that the handwriting belongs to Dr. Hodel.

Dr. Hodel lived at 5121 Franklin Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027. The drive from Dr. Hodel's house to Ms. Kern's house took us 5 minutes. This is Dr. Hodel's house. It is actually called "SOWDEN HOUSE" in historical references and documents

if you look at the top of the house, it almost looks like a weird kind of Mayan temple.Here is another shot I took

For obvious reasons, the house number is not obvious from street view (but I found it)

We crossed the street using the safety of a pedestrian crossing to get a better shot from further out. Spooky looking, isn't it?

While we were turning around on Normandie Ave, we suddenly realized that the alleyway we were turning in was probably the BACK of the Sowden House. We drove along the narrow alleyway, and yep, Akbar spotted the "5121" on the side of some discreetly tucked away trash cans. This is one of the back gate entrances with a large Buddha at the side...interesting that someone left the gate open...

Here is the other gate, firmly locked, and note the security cameras at both gates

Another mystery that occured was on August 18th, 1949. It was know as "The Merry Widow" murder, although the missing woman, 48 year old Ms. Mimi Boomhower, has never been found. The case is still unsolved by the LAPD. Ms. Boomhower resided on the 700 Block of Nimes Road, Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California. Her address, in Bel-Air should clue you into the fact that this was a VERY wealthy woman. Below are the last photographs taken of Ms. Boomhower (taken at some time in 1949)

The Police Report given described Boomhower as a caucasian female with a heavy build. She had furs and diamond jewelery valued in the thousands of dollars. Boomhower last talked to a friend from her home in Los Angeles, California on August 18, 1949. The friend had telephoned between 7 and 8 p. m. to discuss an approaching social event. After the call, Boomhower changed her dress and tossed the discarded garment on her bed. She left her car in the garage and an uneaten salad on the dining room table. Then she disappeared.Mrs. Boomhower's white handbag was found in a telephone booth at a supermarket in Los Angeles five days after she disappeared. Scrawled in ink on a side of the purse was this message: Police Dept.—we found this at beach Thursday night." . That was the night of her disappearance. In the purse were a credit card , driver's license, car keys, compact and lipstick. The purse showed no evidence of exposure to sand or salt water".

This is the area of Bel-Air where she lived. Her address in the records was given as 701 Nimes Road, but I did not see 701, only 700. Anyway, this photo gives you an idea of Bel Air homes.

From the top of Bel-Air you can see Downtown Los Angeles

And Century City

The disappearance of actress Jean Spangler has never been solved. Steve Hodel firmly believes his father, Dr. George Hodel was the murderer. Here is a newspaper clipping from back in 1949

On October 7, 1949, Spangler left her home in Los Angeles around five p.m., leaving her daughter with her sister-in-law and telling her that she was going to meet her former husband to talk about his child support payment that had been due a week before, then on to work on a movie set. The last person to see her was a clerk in a store near her home, who said she appeared to be waiting for someone. She has not been seen again. Spangler's mother was visiting family in Kentucky at the time. Spangler's sister-in-law, Sophie, went to the police and filed a missing person report the next day. Two days later on October 9, Spangler's purse was found near the entrance gate to Griffith Park in Los Angeles with both of the straps on one side torn loose as if it had been ripped from her arm.

IMPORTANT NOTE: THE ENTRANCE TO GRIFFITH PARK IS TWO MINUTES FROM GLADYS KERN'S HOUSE !

Sixty police officers and over one hundred volunteers searched the 4,107-acre natural terrain park, but no other clues were found. There was no money in the purse (her sister-in-law said that she had no money when she left her house the evening of her disappearance) so the police ruled out robbery as a motive. There was an unfinished note in the purse addressed to a "Kirk," which read, "Can't wait any longer, Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away,". The note ended with a comma as if it hadn't been finished.

Neither "Kirk" or "Dr. Scott" could be located, and neither Spangler's family nor her friends knew anyone by those names. Spangler's mother, Florence, returned to Los Angeles and told police that someone named Kirk had picked up Jean at her house twice, but he stayed in his car and didn't come in. Police searched for Kirk and questioned every doctor with the last name Scott in Los Angeles, but none of them had a patient with the last name Spangler or Benner, Jean Spangler's former married name. Spangler had once been involved with a person she called Scotty,who had beaten her, threatening to kill her if she broke the relationship off, but her lawyer said she had not seen him since 1945.

Spangler had completed a bit part in the then unfinished film "Young Man with a Horn" tarring the actor Kirk Douglas. Mr. Douglas was vacationing in Palm Springs and heard about the disappearance. He called the police and told them he was not the Kirk mentioned in the note before police knew there was any connection. Douglas was interviewed by the head of the investigating team and stated that he had heard the name and that Spangler had been an extra in his new film, but he didn't know her personally.

Friends of Spangler told police that she was three months pregnant when she disappeared and that she had talked about having an abortion, which was illegal at that time. The police talked with several people who frequented the same nightclubs and bars that Spangler did, who told them they had heard that there was a former medical student known as "Doc," who had said that he would perform abortions for money. Police searched for "Doc" with the idea that Spangler had gone to him to have an abortion and died as a result, but they not could locate him or anyone who would say that they had actually met him. Jean Spangler was last seen on October 8, 1949, at 1:30am at a restaurant called "The Cheesebox". She was witnessed to have been sitting with a "male, 35, tall, dark hair and clean cut". The Cheese box was located at 8033 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046. This is what it looks like today:

It sits on the corner of Sunset Blvd/Lauren Canyon Blvd. Here are some more shots I took, so you can see the street numbers. The Cleaners next door is 8031.

Well, that's all for now.....tomorrow, Akbar and I are heading back out on the road, and will focus on the areas nearer my house, which include Dr. Hodel's downtown Los Angeles office and private medical clinics, as well as the location of the body of Elizabeth Short "The Black Dahlia".