Monday, May 27, 2019

MansonBlog Tour 2019: Laurel Canyon

MansonBlog did daylong bus tour (more on that in a later post, and no it wasn't black). We started in Laurel Canyon. First stop was the Canyon Country Store.

At the intersection of Kirkwood Drive and Laurel Canyon Blvd. a small inn called the Bungalow Lodge opened in the early 1900s (there's conflicting information on the exact date), catering primarily to hunters. The Lodge served as the burg's "downtown" and brought Laurel Canyon denizens together through nightly picnics, but the wood building went up in flames in 1929. Reconstruction using brick and stones (from the original river that flowed where Laurel Canyon Blvd. is now) began later that year, and the spot was re-fashioned as a local market. Thus, the Canyon Country Store was born.

The tiny market and deli was a hit, and it also lent itself to the gatherings of artists and musicians. At the height of the counterculture movement of the 1960s, Laurel Canyon became southern California's answer to Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco. But instead of psychedelic-focused performers like Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, the canyon became a secluded haven for the more bohemian performers. Laurel Canyon musicians of the era included Neil Young, Carole King, J.D. Souther, Leon Russell, Chris Hillman, Alice Cooper, Stephen Stills, John Mayall, Nico, Leonard Cohen, Judy Collins, Peter Tork, Pamela Des Barres and her band Girls Together Outrageously, John and Michelle Phillips, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Jimmy Webb, and members of The Animals, and The Turtles. The story that Cass Elliot once lived under the store is urban legend. As all Manson scholars know, Catherine Gillies joined the Manson family sometime in 1968 after she had been following Laurel Canyon based Buffalo Springfield around.

Buffalo Springfield during their Laurel Canyon days












Joaquin Phoenix hiding from my menacing camera. He did a sort of casual twisting go go dance to hide his face. Can’t really blame him he looked like he just rolled out of bed. He had socks on but no shoes.


The Jim Morrison house is located behind the store at 8021 Rothdell Trail. When Morrison and his longtime partner Pamela Courson moved into the home catty-corner to the store in the early 1960s, the building's patio became the backdrop to impromptu jam sessions with neighbors Frank Zappa and Joni Mitchell - as well as Morrison and Courson's legendary fights. It became so dear to Morrison that he immortalized it in The Doors’s song, "Love Street" as the "store where the creatures meet."



After the Canyon Country Store we headed further up the canyon:


This house located at 2774 Woodstock Rd. is the one once rented by Voytek Frykowski and Gibbie Folger.


Frank Zappa's house at 7885 Woodrow Wilson Dr. He moved here after the Log Cabin became overrun with fans and freeloaders and died here on December 4 1993. The Log Cabin property is completely obscured by foliage now so we didn't attempt to photograph it.


7708 Woodrow Wilson Dr. This was the last residence owned and lived in by Cass Elliot. She died on July 29, 1974 at the age of 32 while in London to perform a series of concerts as a solo performer at the London Palladium. Beverly D'Angelo is the current resident.


7008 Woodrow Wilson Dr. Bernard Crowe gave this address as his residence in his testimony. If you care to read his testimony you can download it here and here.


The Wonderland Murders house at 8763 Wonderland Ave. Not Manson-related but we couldn't resist this monument to the macabre.


When you reach the top of the canyon, you see this view of the San Fernando Valley.



51 comments:

  1. Laurel Canyon -- once land of the legendary troubadours. I never heard/knew much about LC in the late 60's only discovering much later. Great tour so far and thanks for the memory pics.

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  2. JP looks like he's throwing a temper tantrum. LOL

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  3. I was under the impression that cass elliot's house wasn't actually next door to voytek and abigail's place but, rather, one or two miles away on woodrow wilson drive. Am willing to be corrected if I am mistaken on this issue, but I read something a little while back (not sure if it was on this site, but I don't think so) that included a map indicating that, in fact, elliot's and frykowski's residences were quite some distance apart.

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  4. Matt has accidentally listed the wrong address for Cass’ house. It is about 2 miles away on Woodrow Wilson. Uu

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  5. I have some very different info about Cass Elliot's houses. I'm virtually certain that one of the houses she lived in is directly across the street from Voytek/Gibby at 2773 Woodstock. This was the house of famous gatherings put on by Cass, kind of "Paris salon" style...where everyone met and heard Joni Mitchell for the first time, brought there by David Crosby, where Crosby Stills and Nash first sang together (according to two of the three of them), where Clapton was introduced to the neighborhood, etc. etc. She later had another house at Woodrow Wilson. She was living there when she died in London. Other owners include Dan Akroyd and several others. Sources do disagree on which of those houses hosted the famous Cass parties, but friends of mine who have lived up there for decades place those parties at the Woodstock house. There's no doubt that she lived on both Woodstock (right across from Voytek/Gibby) and also on Woodrow Wilson. I made a post about this a while back, with pictures. I hang around the Canyon quite a bit. I find it to be a really magical place, if one is into the music of that era. Also, from where is the info that Cass living in the basement of the Canyon Store is urban myth? I've heard that she DID live there from several sources. The people at the store says that it's true. I was there about a month ago. The bathroom is all that remains. On my most recent visit, I went into the store because I had to use the restroom. I asked if I could use theirs, and they gave me directions downstairs. While I was down there, the story of Cass living down there occurred to me so I ask once I went back upstairs. Two store workers verified the story. Now, the people at the store could be accused of stating a falsehood to add glamour to the place, but I doubt that they would want to spread false information.

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  6. Jenn,

    According to the county deed records Cass purchased 7708 Woodrow Wilson Drive in January 1967. According to the photographer those pictures of Crosby, Clapton, Mitchell, Dolenze, et al were taken at Woodrow Wilson.

    FYI

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  7. OK, David, good to know, thanks.

    I continue to wonder if Voytek supplied drugs to Cass and friends when she lived on Woodstock.

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  8. SixtiesRockRules! said...
    I was under the impression that cass elliot's house wasn't actually next door to voytek and abigail's place but, rather, one or two miles away on woodrow wilson drive.


    My bad. I must have done this post late at night. Thanks for catching it



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  9. David wrote: "According to the photographer those pictures of Crosby, Clapton, Mitchell, Dolenze, et al..."

    Did Henry Diltz take those pictures, do you know?

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  10. Did anyone dig into Tex's old place on Wonderland? If I'm not mistaken he sustained his infamous knee injury that kept him out of Vietnam there

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  11. Mon, I could be mistaken but it's my understanding that Watson injured his knee while living in Denton, Texas, attending North Texas State University. He totaled a Dodge Coronet while running a yellow light during a party trip into Dallas.


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    1. I heard about that one Matt but the one I'm referring to was the Laurel Canyon one with Neale, one very interesting thing about his time at NTSU though was that he had the Coronet and a small boat aparentely, how does a small town boy going to college afford a new car and boat? Was he dealing in Texas? My guess is yes

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  12. Tex did get in an accident in California, that's where the two attorney's, Perry Walshin and Charles DeLoach came into the picture. Walshin and DeLoach went to Texas just after Tex was arrested for the TLB murders claiming to be Tex's attorneys because they represented him in the car accident court proceeding. The judge in Texas sent them packing with a threat of a $100 fine and 3 days in jail if they didn't leave the state immediately. Bill Boyd was Tex's attorney of choice.

    According to a celebrity home address directory Tex lived on Wonderland Ave. at one time. But the directory does not give a specific house number.

    https://books.google.com/books?id=RnIwCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA443&lpg=PA443&dq=Tex+Watson+wonderland+Dr.&source=bl&ots=gHgFS-JsvV&sig=ACfU3U0ewmG6dHmlMf9inIISxzUoRNEsyw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi4tL-2hsbiAhVPvKwKHWfwBJcQ6AEwE3oECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=Tex%20Watson%20wonderland%20Dr.&f=false

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    1. Deb didn't Walshin and DeLoach also represent Tex's weed connection Eugene Massaro? I remember reading about a connection there

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  14. According to an almost 7-year-old post on this blog, Tex lived at 8584 Wonderland Ave. This would have been in late 1967/early 1968. As Tex recalled it, right after New Years 1968, he and David Neale were getting a ride to work from a friend. It was raining, and the friend skidded on wet Laurel Canyon Blvd.and collided with another car. Tex messed up his knee in the accident, and was hospitalized and had surgery. Shortly after, he sued (either the friend driving or the other driver), utilizing Walshin and DeLoach.

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  15. It's rather convoluted, Mon. In 1972 Walshin was convicted in NYC of smuggling cocaine, his co-conspirator was Ivars Apinitis who plead guilty to the charges.

    Ivars Apinitis was involved a 1968 shooting where one person was killed in Van Nuys, four others were wounded including Eugene Massaro. Massaro and George Piscitelle( who was the one to die) did, what we now call a home invasion on Apinitis, his roommate and a visiting friend. The goal was to collect on a $900 gambling debt.

    So, there is a roundabout connection between Walshin and Massaro. It's possible, I suppose that Walshin represented Massaro at some point. Massaro has been charged with various crimes over the years. He was arrested and charged with arson while he was awaiting trial on the shoot-out charges. None of the articles I have on Massaro state his attorney.

    Walshin and DeLoach were not your basic upstanding attorneys. Just prior to Walshin's 1972 conviction, DeLoach was convicted of pimping and pandering charges in LA. Walshin was also charged in that case but was found not guilty.

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  16. If we are talking about Eugene David "Gino" Massaro he's a little more interesting than just that.

    The home invasion according to an article I have says it was over an 11k drug burn. Massaro and the others went over there to 'silence' the victims one of whom was ripped off for the 11k when he went to buy pot. Apparently, the 'dealer' (whose name I don't remember but could look it up) had a scheme where he would set up the buy and then steal the cash. The guys in the apartment were one of several victims.

    The FBI file on Massaro also suggests he was selling cocaine.

    Massaro had been previously arrested in Florida on a jewelry heist where he was ID'd by the victim from a kiss he gave her.

    The FBI file on Massaro connects him to Joel Rostau and he is mentioned as flying to Switzerland with Rostau out of JFK. San Diego authorities wanted to tie Massaro to Rostau's stolen securities case but were not able to do so. However, Massaro was arrested on an unrelated matter by LASO (I believe) and was found to be in possession of a gun registered to Rostau after Rostau's murder. He was a suspect in Rostau's murder.

    On the home invasion his first trial ended in a hung jury and on the second he was acquitted claiming he was outside and only ran in when he saw one of his buddies run from the apartment. He was shot twice but survived. His lawyer round #2 was Caruso.

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    1. I've read that entire FBI report on Massaro, they basically followed him around for 5 years after suspecting him of some jewelry heists in Miami, Miami police called LA FBI field office after they got word he was moving there and they sent in a report literally every month as to what he was doing, where he was living, what he was driving, he first opened a business supplying businesses and schools jukeboxes that played top 40 hits from coin operated machines, I'm pretty sure these are the "vending machines" referred to by Tex in his book, interestingly enough Massaro had an MO during home robberies of "injuring phone lines"...sound familiar? Anyway the guy shot and killed during the coke heist was George Pischetelle who ran massage parlors, Massaro was injured as well during the heist by a bullet to the stomach I believe, the feds followed him until around 1973 when it appeared he went straight

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    2. David that is VERY interesting to me about Caruso representing Massaro, seems the more you dig in this case the more Paul Carusos name pops up

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    3. David if you ever see the movie Good Fellas you'll see how the Gambino captain Paul Various had a scheme of stealing from JFK or Idlewild as it was known then, they famously pulled off the Lufthansa heist, rumor has it that they are who killed Rostau after he got arrested and were afraid he'd testify, Joel was just one of their "associates" which means not a "made guy" but someone known to made people and his role in the scheme wasn't all that big

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    4. Typo,. Paul Vario not various

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  17. MD said: "that is VERY interesting to me about Caruso representing Massaro"

    A blurb in an LA Times article. Wasn't Caruso on the alternate PD list, like M. Kieth? That would explain his frequent appearances.

    You made me go back and look at the FBI file.

    Per the LA times In '74 he was sued by the SEC for fraud, a 'shell game' along with about 14 others but there is a hint of that in the FBI file in '72. They sold stock in a no asset company to 'old ladies and retired men' drove up the price then dumped their own stock. I never found an outcome of that case when I was looking.

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    1. Caruso also represented Tom Harrigan Voyteks MDA connection when he was initially a suspect in the Cielo murders and if I'm not mistaken had something to do with the Labiancas case and then obviously you have his connection with Atkins

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  18. dave1971 AKA susanatkinsgonorrhea AKA rudywebershose AKA Lou Gehrig AKA Mon Durphy wrote :

    one very interesting thing about his time at NTSU though was that he had the Coronet and a small boat apparently, how does a small town boy going to college afford a new car and boat? Was he dealing in Texas? My guess is yes

    I seriously doubt Watson was dealing in weed back then. There is no way in hell a country boy like him would have risked it in 1966 Texas. Roky Erickson, of the legendary Texas pysch/garage band 13th Floor Elevators (who, incidentally, passed away yesterday at 71) was caught with a single joint in Austin (in 1969) and went to a mental institution to avoid a potential 10-year prison sentence. Accord to Tex, he didn't even try pot till a stewardess at Braniff turned him on to it in early 1967. Shortly after that, he moved to California. As far as the new Dodge Coronet and the boat, Tex sounds like he had a pretty good work ethic and probably had money for such things. His parents sound like they spoiled him a bit too.
    .

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    1. He supposedly worked picking onions and also at dads station so who knows

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  19. He's Got Levitation!
    RIP Roky!

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  20. Classic Roky:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_8eTDaj-38&list=LL0SZ3yUouIXtQ5xte12M_Dg&index=35&t=0s

    Enjoy!

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  21. Mon Durphy said...
    Typo,. Paul Vario not various

    Wasn't Paul Various related to Johnny Dangerously? (;-)

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  22. Being a fan, I'm sure you're familiar with this -

    https://youtu.be/c9piNUYzhQ0

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  23. Useless Trivia Dept. - the later bass player for the 13th Floor Elevators was one Danny Galindo. One of the Tate-Labianca homicide detectives was also named......Danny Galindo.

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    1. Wasn't Danny the only one to work both cases not counting Lt Helder?

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  24. Laurel Canyon area is so cool. I've been to all those locations numerous times. I don't like the new paint at Folgers Woodstock house. I liked the brown look.

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  25. Gorodish - Useless? Perhaps so, but cool as hell!

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  26. Question about the Jim Morrison house. I remember reading that Morrison had a home somewhere in Los Angeles area that he basically kept for tax purposes. I believe that the house went up for sale a few years ago and that Morrison never stayed there, that he preferred to crash at dive motels. Is this the same house?
    Whatever happened to the shop he financed for Pamela Courson?

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  27. Mon Durphy said...
    Wasn't Danny the only one to work both cases not counting Lt Helder?

    Yes, Galindo worked both scenes but he was the sergeant so it would have been his job to assign the detectives and officers to the cases and the detectives and officers working both cases would have answered to him.

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  28. THEMIS?

    Info and photos here -

    http://born-late.blogspot.com/2011/05/store-where-creatures-meet.html?m=1

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    1. Whoa. Just looked at those pictures again. Didn't notice the pictures of Sharon Tate wearing clothes from Themis the first time.

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  29. Thanks. Those are some interesting pics. Would love to know the backstory of some of those people in those pictures.

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    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZpD5jO3DKM

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    2. Thanks for sharing the link to the video Doug!

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  30. Mon Durphy said...
    I thought Helder assigned those guys

    Just like the military, there's a pecking order. The lieutenants assign the sergeants, the sergeants assign the detectives and so on. Of course, the higher-ups put in their 2 cents about who should work the cases, especially when it's a high profile case.

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    1. Did Galindo ever catch any heat for not catching the connection to the crimes earlier?

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  31. Did Galindo ever catch any heat for not catching the connection to the crimes earlier?

    Only from himself. This is from his obituary in the L.A. Times, April 8, 2010 :

    On the night of the LaBianca murders he [Galindo] was asked by a television reporter if the Tate and LaBianca murders were related and regretted his answer. "I told him, 'I think it's more of a copycat case.' I introduced that expression, and I've lived with it forever. It was a hell of a mistake on my part," he said in the Los Angeles magazine piece, "because it wasn't until much later that things would begin to fall into place."

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  32. Here's the link to the playlist for the "Laurel Canyon MiniSeries". Very interesting, and a drone is used to film a lot of territory that would otherwise not be seen. And the Family gets some focus on them, later in the series.
    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMGnMaveEzfma6qiSlhb0EOmvKyNSpg2c

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