MansonBlog Tour 2019: What's with Horn Avenue?

While on the Mansonblog tour this year, I requested that we go by a particular street in West Hollywood.

Horn Avenue looking towards Sunset Blvd.

There is a little street named Horn Avenue that is off Sunset Boulevard.  The street is just two blocks long and intersected by a single street, Shoreham Drive.  While just a short street it does have quite a few residents due to a handful of apartment buildings on the long side of the street.  Between the apartment buildings there are single family residences.

 

Horn is conveniently located in the heart of the Sunset Strip just a couple of blocks east of the Whisky a-go-go and a couple of blocks west of Mel’s Drive-In.

Horn Avenue came to my attention because it’s where Bernard “Lottsapapa” Crowe was arrested for forgery at the end of March 1970.  Crowe, who was arrested with three others, claimed that the apartment at 1211 Horn Avenue was his residence.  However, we know that Crowe actually lived on Woodrow Wilson Drive up in Laurel Canyon.

The newspaper article telling about his arrest erroneously gives the name as Horn Street, there is no Horn Street in West Hollywood or Los Angeles.  The house number is consistent with an apartment building on Horn Avenue.  The apartment building where Crowe was arrested has 16 units.

1211 Horn Avenue

Not long after learning about Crowe’s “other” residence I was reading the first homicide report for the Tate murders.  The report details the movements of Wojiciech Frykowski in the afternoon of the night of the murders.  At about 3 PM Frykowski left the Tate residence and went over to Jay Sebring’s home on Easton Drive.  Apparently, Sebring had asked Frykowski to pick up Suzan Peterson who had been Sebring’s companion the previous night, and Frykowski was to take her to her home.

They first made a stop at Witold Kaczanowski’s gallery on Wilshire Boulevard, where Frykowski’s wanted to pick up a key to the house on Woodstock.  The key to the house was not in Kaczanowski’s possession so Frykowski, Peterson and Kaczanowski all went to another person’s home and eventually secured the key.  After dropping Kaczanowski off back at he the gallery Frykowski finally took Peterson home.

Turns out that Suzan Peterson lived, according to the report, on Horn Street!

Okay, a second reference to Horn, be it street or avenue.  Horn sometimes had N. in front of it.  This is true of most the streets on the north side of Sunset Blvd. though it doesn't usually show on maps, just on the street signs.

In an endeavor to find Peterson’s exact address on Horn, I looked through several newspaper articles.  I was not able to determine her exact address but I did find that there had been another arrest on Horn not long after Crowe’s arrest.

 

On June 18 1969 an article in the Van Nuys Valley News reported that law enforcement had made arrests of several people for breaking into travel agencies and stealing blank airline tickets.

According to other articles in the Los Angeles Times the robberies had been taking place for two or three years prior to the arrests but the airlines were reluctant to press charges against those using the stolen tickets, they figured they could eat the loss in favor of good customer relations.  When the airlines found they were suffering more and more losses they decided to report the stolen airline tickets to law enforcement.  Law enforcement had been investigating the robberies for at least six months prior to the arrests.

The initial newspaper article explains the depth of the stolen airline tickets and just how lucrative a business it could be for those who were stealing the tickets.

There were three people of those arrested that got my attention because they lived at 1211 Horn Avenue.  They are David P. Marsh, 23; Stephen E. Pankey, 26; Linda Faye Cody,22. That’s very same address that Lottsapapa was using for his forgery business.  Since it was an apartment building it’s more than likely that they lived in different apartments.

 

Another two people in that group, Dennis A. Blum, 23, and Jack R. Mirsky, 23, lived at 840 Larrabee Street.  This was the same address that Joel Rostau gave when he reported a break-in at his apartment back in March 1969.  Rostau was living a couple of blocks over at 999 Doheny when he was murdered in May 1970.

What the heck is going on?  How is it that these two criminal enterprises, Crowe’s forgery business and the stolen airline tickets, which have a rather symbiotic relationship could be operating in the same building at roughly the same time?

Joe Guntman aka Joe Gunn seemed to be the head of this particular gang of eight people.  His own company Shady Productions was located at 8780 Sunset Blvd. which is a block and a half from the intersection of Horn Avenue.

The Los Angeles Times was more forthcoming in naming the entertainers who were busted using the stolen tickets than the Van Nuys Valley News.  Some of those in the entertainment industry were 15 people traveling with Carlos Santana who were arrested in New York on their way to London and Linda Ronstadt and five backup musicians were stopped in San Francisco on their way to Honolulu.  They said their tickets were given to them by their manager, the tickets were stolen in a robbery in Hollywood on April 27, 1970.

 

The weekend prior to the arrests of the gang, Eric Burden and War were stopped at the Anchorage Alaska airport with tickets that were stolen in the Los Angeles area.

A 1972 newspaper article told of a group of people who were arrested back east for stealing and selling airline tickets.  In this article the FBI and Interpol joined forces for the arrests because “underworld figures” were using the tickets to smuggle drugs and to unload “millions of dollars in stolen securities throughout Europe.”

 

It’s not a stretch to consider that Joel Rostau may have been using stolen tickets when going abroad while he was unloading securities Europe, stolen from the U.S. mail at airports.  If one were to purchase a fake driver’s license and social security card from “Lottsapapa” and his crew it would be a simple thing, back in those days, to get a passport in an assumed name and to conduct business under the radar.  Grab yourself some cut-rate airline tickets and you’re good to go!

While on tour, Dreath and I endeavored to locate reverse street directories for West Hollywood so we could find out exactly in what apartment each of those arrested resided and when. Also, to find out what was the address where Suzan Peterson lived on Horn Avenue.  We went to the West Hollywood Library only to find that there was no such animal for the years we required that included Horn Avenue.  The adult services librarian, David Davis, did his best to help us going as far as phoning other library branches to see if they had the information we sought and even sent a follow up email after we returned home.

 

So, if all that isn’t enough, I also learned that there is a connection to Horn Avenue with Dianne Linkletter, who committed suicide October 4 1969 by jumping out her sixth-floor kitchen window to her death.  Dianne lived at 8787 Shoreham Drive.  Remember I said earlier that the only street to intersect Horn Avenue was Shoreham Drive.  The location of Dianne’s apartment in that building was across the street from 1211 Horn Avenue.

Shoreham Towers fronts Shoreham Drive. Dianne's apartment was on the left facing 1211 Horn Avenue.

 

Dianne had apparently called her friend Edward Durston to come to her apartment in the middle of the night because she wanted to talk.  Durston arrived at the apartment about 3 AM.  Durston did not have far to go because he lived at 1211 Horn Avenue.  Though Ed Durston was not considered a suspect in Linkletter's death, his presence at the accidental 1985 death of Carol Wayne, in Mexico, raised some eyebrows.  Wayne was a television and film actress who made numerous appearances on the Johnny Carson Show as Art Fern's Tea Time Movie lady.

Los Angeles Times Oct. 5, 1969

Later newspaper articles said that Linkletter was a friend of Abigail Folger and probably knew Sharon Tate.  The article went on to say that Durston was a “speaking acquaintance” of Voityck Frokowski.

Independent Press-Telegram Oct. 18, 1969

Four days after Dianne Linkletter’s suicide another woman committed suicide, this time by overdose.  She had told her husband that she was despondent over the Linkletter suicide.  The woman, Toni Monti, lived at 1211 Horn Avenue.

If there ever was a place for paranormal activity in West Hollywood, I think it would be on Horn Avenue.

All of this led me to conclude that if “Lottsapapa” had any connection, no matter how small, to the Tate/LaBianca saga, that connection would lie with the victims and not the Manson Family.  "Lottsapapa" sure as heck didn't have anything to do with the Family after he was shot by Manson.  Frykowsky had been to Horn Avenue on the day of his death.  Sebring most likely was familiar with Horn Avenue because of Suzan Peterson.

I was never able to reach that ah-ha moment with all of this information but if you can come up with something, I'm all ears.

Witold K.

Sometimes you just can’t get away from it.

Recently I was at a large organized estate sale held to benefit the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. Among the offerings in the Art section was a print by an artist named Witold K. The name rang a bell, of course, and examination of K’s Wikipedia entry printed and attached to the print confirmed the reason why, because a highlight of the short entry was “In 1969 he relocated to California and briefly occupied the home of Abigail Folger and Wojciech Frykowski (both later murdered at 10050 Cielo Drive by the followers of Charles Manson), and opened his first studio/gallery in Beverly Hills.”

The print on sale at the estate sale

The name Witold K should be familiar to any serious student of TLB. He was, in fact, Witold Kaczanowski, a Polish artist who moved in the Cielo Drive circle in the summer before the murders there, and he appears in the case literature not only in books about the case but also in the official law enforcement files.

In the earliest stages of the police investigation into the homicides committed at the Roman Polanski residence officers were checking all possibilities, including whether the killers might have been among Polanski’s social and business circles. One possibly relevant incident within those circles was an altercation that occurred at 10050 Cielo Drive just before spring of 1969. According to the First Tate Homicide Investigation Progress Report:

“In mid March of this year, the Polanskis had a large catered party which included over 100 invited guests. The persons invited included actors, actresses, film directors and producers, business agents for the above-described people, and the Polanskis’ attorneys. Most of the people invited came to the party along with several people who were uninvited. The list of uninvited guests included William Doyle, Thomas Harrigan, and Harrison Pickens Dawson. They came to the party accompanied by an uninvited guest, Ben Carruthers and an uninvited male.

“During the party, a verbal altercation ensued involving William Tennant, Roman Polanski’s business agent, and William Doyle. Doyle apparently stepped on Tennant’s foot during this altercation. Dawson and Harrigan joined in the verbal altercation, siding with Doyle. Roman Polanski became very irritated and ordered Doyle, Harrigan, and Dawson ejected from the party. Ben Caruthers and the unidentified male that had accompanied him to the party escorted the three men from the property.”  (First Tate Homicide Investigation Progress Report, page 8)

Vincent Bugliosi recalled this party incident in Helter Skelter (using pseudonyms for some of the individuals involved; thus does the real life Harrison Pickens Dawson become “Jeffrey Pickett”), and this is where Witold K. enters the picture:

“From William Tennant, Roman Polanski’s business manager, LAPD learned that in mid-March the Polanskis had given a catered party at Cielo with over a hundred guests. As at any large Hollywood gathering, there were crashers, among them Herb Wilson, Larry Madigan, and Jeffrey Pickett, nicknamed “Pic.” The trio, all in their late twenties, were reputedly dope dealers. During the party Wilson apparently stepped on Tennant’s foot. An argument ensued, Madigan and Pickett taking Wilson’s side. Irritated, Roman Polanski had the three men evicted.

“It was a minor incident, in and of itself hardly cause for five savage murders, but Tennant had heard something else: ‘Pic’ had once threatened to kill [Voytek] Frykowski. This information had come to him through a friend of Voytek’s, Witold Kaczanowski, an artist professionally known as Witold K.

“Not unmindful or the similarity between ‘Pic’ and the bloody-lettered PIG on the front door of the Tate residence, detectives interviewed Witold K. From him they learned that after the Polanskis had left for Europe, Wilson, Pickett, Madigan, and a fourth man, Gerald Jones [pseudonym], were frequent visitors to the Cielo residence, Wilson and Madigan, according to Witold, supplying Voytek and Gibby [Abigail Folger] with most of their drugs, including the MDA they had taken before they died. As for Jeffrey Pickett, when Gibby and Voytek took over Cielo, he moved into their Woodstock residence. Witold was staying there also. Once, during an argument, Pickett tried to strangle the artist. When Voytek learned of this, he told Pickett to get out. Enraged, Pic swore, ‘I’ll kill them all and Voytek will be the first.’”  (Helter Skelter, pages 65-66, Bantam paperback edition)

A bit more information about Witold K. can be found in Ed Sanders’ The Family:

“A Polish artist named Witold Kaczanowski aka Witold K. had been brought to the United States through the kindness of Roman Polanski. He naturally came to live in Los Angeles where he cultivated the Polanski’s circle of friends. He was staying, during the summer of murder, at the Woodstock Road home of Abigail Folger and Wojtek Frykowski. He was a frequent house guest at 10050 Cielo Drive during the spring and summer of 1969.” (The Family, revised and updated edition, page 200)

Witold K. on August 27, 1969

The “First Tate Homicide Investigation Report” further elaborated on K. and his relationship to the Cielo Drive circle: “When Frykowski and Folger moved into the Polanski home, they invited Witold Kaczanowski to live at their house on Woodstock Road. Kaczanowski accepted their invitation as he was an artist and at that time was unemployed. Kaczanowski was a friend of Frykowski. They had met in New York some years prior.

“During April, May, June and the first part of July, Frykowski and Folger had many impromptu parties. And open invitation policy existed at the house. Drug use was prevalent. They used hashish, marijuana, mescaline, cocaine, and MDA.

“William Doyle, Tom Harrigan, Pic Dawson, John Deturo, Charles Tacot, Ben Caruthers, Cass Elliot, Witold Kaczanowski, along with several other narcotics users, were frequent visitors and party goers at the Polanski residence.”  (First Tate Homicide Investigation Progress Report, page 9)

A later investigative report also included some information from Harrison Pickens “Pic” Dawson as to his recollections of his experiences in the summer of 1969:

“Dawson admitted drug use since a teenager and stated that his worst experience with drugs was during the period he spent in Los Angeles. At that time he was on heroin and “was out of it” most of the time. He indicated that this was the reason he was unable to recall some incidents. Dawson stated the Cielo address was always full with people who were under the influence of narcotics. He gave a videotape to investigators, indicating the tape pictured Abigail Folger, Witold Kaczanowski, Wojiciech Frykowski and an unknown female under the influence of narcotics. (This tape was reviewed at Scientific Investigation Division and does in fact show the above-mentioned people smoking marijuana. The tape is in Evidence, item No. 74).” (Second Tate Homicide Investigation Report, page 14)

(And as an aside, isn’t it interesting how many different ways there are to render the first name of the male Polish victim of the Cielo Drive homicides?)

More information from the official police investigation:

“Kaczanowski was present at the Polanski home in the early part of July and overheard Doyle and Harrigan tell Frykowski they were going to get him the drug known as MDA. Kaczanowski did not see Doyle and Harrington after this meeting.” (First Tate Homicide Investigation Progress Report, page 10)

The following official summary of Voytek Frykowski’s activities on the afternoon of the day he was murdered shows just how tightly Witold K. was entwined with the Cielo crowd:

“Investigation disclosed that when Frykowski departed from the Polanski residence at approximately 1505 [on August 8, 1969] he drove directly to the Jay Sebring residence. At that location he picked up Miss Suzan Peterson, who had been Sebring’s companion for the preceding night. Frykowski drove Suzan to the art gallery operated by Kaczanowski at 9406 Wilshire Boulevard. The purpose of this trip was to obtain a key for the Woodstock house; Abigail Folger had Frykowski’s key at the time.

“At the gallery there was a short conversation between Frykowski and Kaczanowski and Kaczanowski was invited by Frykowski to come up to the Polanski residence that night. It was ascertained that Kaczanowski did not have the key to the Woodstock house in his immediate possession, but the key was at his girl friend’s, Christina Lerewska’s, house.

“While Frykowski and Kaczanowski were conversing at the gallery, Suzan Peterson was browsing in a dress shop adjacent to and connected with the gallery…. [Then] Kaczanowski and Suzan were driven to Christina’s house by Frykowski. The key to the Woodstock house was obtained from Christina and Kaczanowski was returned to the gallery.

"[At the Woodstock house] Frykowski [explained] to Suzan that Kaczanowski was an artist but not a businessman and there were some disparaging statements made by Frykowski as to the key to the house not being readily available….

“At a time (estimated about midnight) Friday night, Frykowski called, presumably from the Polanski residence, to Kaczanowski’s art gallery and asked Kaczanowski why he was not up to the house. Frykowski in the conversation admonished Kaczanowski that he was spending too much time at the gallery, working too hard, etc. Kaczanowski declined the second invitation and stayed on at the gallery.  He returned to the Woodstock house at approximately 0300 hours, 8-9-69.” (First Tate Homicide Investigation Progress Report, pages 13-14)

Many people have claimed that they were planning to be at the Polanski house on the night of the murders there, but Witold Kaczanowski might be one person whose claim was actually grounded in more than just a desire to bask in a macabre limelight. As such, he became involved in the case after the murders as both a potential target for further violence and as an assistant to the police. Again, from The Family:

“Around this time [just after the murders], artist Witold K., speaking nervously in Polish, called a friend in New York from a phone booth in Los Angeles. He claimed that he knew who the killers were and that he was afraid.

“Friends in New York then called a New York Times reporter in Los Angeles and related the development. The reporter thereupon called the Los Angeles police.

“Since Witold K. expressed fear for his life, the police promised him twenty-four hour protection if he would talk. Then his friends called Witold K. back at the phone booth where he was waiting and he agreed to the guard. Three police cars picked up Witold K. and took him to the apartment at Paramount Studios where Roman Polanski was in seclusion.

“Witold K. told police that Frykowski was offered an exclusive dealership to sell the drug MDA, evidently in the Los Angeles area. Subsequent friction developed, he claimed, and one of the suppliers threatened Frykowski’s life. Witold K. claimed not to know the names of the possible killers but to know them by face only. And that they were Canadian. One close friend claims that Witold K. went around, escorted by police, to many prestigious addresses in Frykowski’s notebooks to try to locate the killer — always leaving behind his business card. Witold K. claimed that the identity of the killers was contained perhaps in these notes and diaries but he seems to have said that ‘it would take two weeks’ for him to decipher the killers’ identities from Frykowski’s notebooks….

“Witold K.’s painting career was enhanced by his revelation. One newspaper account showed a picture of Witold K. posing with several of his paintings on the Polanski front lawn. A friend has claimed that Witold K. even sold a couple of his paintings to two policemen investigating the case.” (The Family, pages 288-289)

From the Los Angeles Times, August 28, 1969

During this tour of duty K. volunteered some evidence he believed might be relevant to the case:

"Officers were working a security detail for homicide division at 2774 Woodstock Lane for Kaczanowski, Witold, who lived at the residence. At approximately 1300 hours 8-15-69, Kaczanowski walked into the living room and handed officer Newell [badge number]11529 the below described brown bag and narco. Kaczanowski stated he found the the bag behind a dresser in the right rear (s/w) bedroom of the house. Kaczanowski further stated that he had never seen the bag before and he did not know who owned it or put it there.
"The bedroom in which the narco was found was formerly occupied by Miss Folger, Abigail, who was a victim of a 187 P.C. under DR# 69-059-593.
"There is an additional property report under the same DR# 69-059-593.
1 Bag, paper, brown, containing item # 2
2 Bag, clear plastic, containing a brn/grn leafy substance resembling marijuana.
Above items were marked “R.D. N. 11529” for ID.”

The police report wherein Witold surrenders a pot stash

Of course none of the information provided by K. was any help in determining the identities of the Cielo Drive killers. Still, it is interesting to examine this aspect of the police investigation into the homicides if for nothing else than that it gives the student of the case a more thorough view of the comings and goings at 10050 Cielo Drive in the months preceding the murders there.

After his exciting brush with “Manson Family” fame Witold K. closed his Beverly Hills gallery and moved to New Mexico where he settled in the Santa Fe area and kept working on his art. Eventually he relocated again to Denver, Colorado where he resides today.

Witold K. in 2013

Back at the estate sale, just as it was closing up I took a friend over the the Art section to show her the print. The price had been reduced by over half, into the affordable range, so I got it. And why not? It was for a good cause. And it was also a good reminder to have of the infinitely layered and complex nature of TLB, a case that is so intertwined with the American experience that even today you can find some kind of link to it just about anywhere.

Signed print, # 46 out of 60, Witold K. 1973, Tesuque, New Mexico 

Witold K.’s web site is here.

Witold K.’s Wikipedia entry is here.

In a 2012 interview K. did not mention his TLB connection.

Screams from Tate murders: Who was it?

"Oh, God, no, please don't! Oh, God, no, don't, don't, don't...."

We've all read about the assortment of peculiar noises, gunshots & screams heard that awful night of August the 9th, 1969, and various sources have told different stories as to what actually occurred, and in what sequence, but do we really know 100% what happened? I would have to say a big "hell no!" I don't think anyone does, except for the monsters who were responsible. I'm sure this has been discussed over & over, but I wanted to mention it AGAIN. According to the prosecutor of this case, a man named Tim Ireland heard, at approximately 12:40 A.M., a man screaming "Oh, God, no, please don't! Oh, God, no, don't, don't, don't...." This was verified by police. (Mr. Ireland probably did not sleep too well for many months afterwards. I know I wouldn't of.) Also, according to defector witness Linda Kasabian, she saw Wojciech Frykowski stumbling out of the house, covered in blood. She also said he was screaming. Did she ever testify as to WHAT he was screaming? I don't know. This "point of view" has also been shared by the actual perpetrators too. Of course, whatever comes out of their yap is worthless, because it's usually self-serving bullshit, but.... What doesn't make sense is, IF, and I mean IF it was Wojciech screaming, why on earth would he have screamed in English? This is something I have never been able to understand. This man did not know English that well, and most likely would of been screaming in his own language, which was Polish. He was also fluent in French, since that is how Abigail Folger was able to communicate with him upon their first meeting. The only possible reason I could think of why he would of screamed in English was to try to get help, but he was probably so scared, and mortally wounded, he wouldn't of even known to do that. All of the victims were most likely in shock, and their brains probably couldn't even function beyond anything, much less trying to remember English phrases. This is one of MANY things about this case I just don't get. I know a lot of people think that Sharon & Jay were outside at some point during the attacks, because their blood was found on the porch. I always thought that was a mistake, caused by the incompetent crime scene technicians at the time. Of course, anything is a possibility. After all these years, one has to wonder WHY Tex & Pat aren't telling the truth about what really happened. Who are they protecting, and why? Sounds, screams, and other clues just don't add up to their version of what happened. I question a lot about this case. What do you think? Was it Wojciech Frykowski, who Tim Ireland heard, or Jay Sebring? Let us know what you think! I'm very curious to know what our readers think.