A focus of this tour was paying respects to victims. We knew that Ronald Hughes (this post was a labor of love for me) is interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park. It was a little difficult to locate. It's tucked between tall buildings and the entrance doesn't look like an entrance. Once in, we found him relatively quickly. His family is also interred next to him.
Paul Fitzgerald is in this cemetery too. He is possibly in a locked section of the cemetery or in an unmarked grave.
After talking about him a little someone discovered that a celebrity was buried very closely. Then another, and another, and another. It was a gold mine.
On Spahn Ranch Day we joined a group that was already planning to tour the ranch. They were involved with the history of the ranch dating back to Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson.
Along for the hike was Michael Channels (TMZ's "Manson's Pen Pal"). You may be aware that many years ago he found bones at the Donald Shea burial site. The History Channel recently paid to test to see if they were human. They were. Channels also found by the Shea site was this old pipe wrench. There will be more on the wrench in upcoming posts.
The group eventually broke up into three separate groups according to interest. My small group was interested mostly in the back ranch area. The ranch was over 500 acres so there is a lot to cover. It also requires being able to hike up steep hills.
MY goal though was to see the high cliffs. To get there involves some very steep climbing over boulders and crags. It's not for everyone. The route is determined by where the poison oak is least dense, so we had to be creative. You also need to be constantly on guard for rattlesnakes. You don't want to surprise them.
Only a select group was willing to make the trek up to the cliffs. Our guide for that portion was Anthony and his very agile dog Zimmerman. Gratitude to them for getting us up there.
It involved climbing over boulders, jumping across gaps and squeezing through caves:
BUT, the reward was spectacular views of Spahn from the highest points possible. It was a beautiful sunny and breezy day. You are so high up at the cliffs that you can't hear anything. It's just pure Spahn:
Later we rejoined the group down at the LIFE magazine cave for refreshments (It was "4/20" after all).
On the last day of the tour we drove out to lower Topanga Canyon where part of the goal was to find the ‘Spiral Staircase’. The Spiral Staircase, as most know, is where Manson and the Family stayed for a time in 1968 and where Diane Lake joined the Family.
Descriptions of the Spiral Staircase can be found in Dianne Lake’s book and Ed Sanders’ The Family.
_____
Lake:
“The name came from the fact that the wooden house had a spiral staircase on the outside, which was the only way to access its upper floor. There was no first floor to speak of because years of neglect had left it filled with sand. It was nestled into an area people dubbed the snake pit, probably because it was in a floodplain and had a lot of perfect hiding places for snakes. Up the road a bit was the Rancho Hotel, which had small bungalows where people would stay to have easy access to the beach.”
*****
“The staircase entrance led right into one of two living rooms. The bathroom and small galley kitchen were just the right size. Surprisingly, all the plumbing worked and the fixtures were brought to a shine. The view from the kitchen window reminded me of a jungle, the trees and vines so overgrown that they created a natural barrier to the rest of the world. Even though the Pacific Coast Highway was a short walk away, this house was far back enough from the road to feel isolated.”
Lake, Dianne. Member of the Family: My Story of Charles Manson, Life Inside His Cult, and the Darkness That Ended the Sixties (Kindle Locations 1751-1754). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
_____
Sanders:
“When Manson and the group first arrived, they lived at a secluded house at the mouth of Topanga Canyon near the Pacific Coast Highway. The house was called the Spiral Staircase, after a spiral staircase at its entrance, and it had slid off its foundation and rested askew. Apparently its first floor had a creek flowing through it. The place was located behind the Raft Restaurant on Topanga Canyon Lane, and according to Manson there were windows that opened out onto the hill in back and some doors opening on a twenty-five-foot drop straight down into the creek.”
Ed Sanders, The Family, pp 23, 2002 Edition.
_____
There are many legends regarding the Spiral Staircase. What is known is that it was located in an area in lower Topanga collectively known as The Rodeo Grounds. More specifically, the building stood in a part of the Rodeo Grounds known as The Snake Pit. The Snake Pit got its name from the number of rattlesnakes there and the unsavory types who gravitated to the cottages in the late 60's and after. Local legends claim that devil worshippers, motorcycle gangs and drug dealers once hid in the Snake Pit.
The Spiral Staircase stood somewhere behind what is today called the Topanga Ranch Motel.
Local legends also claim the Rodeo Grounds got its name from the fact that Tom Mix (a 1920’s cowboy actor) held actual rodeos there for the cowboys who worked the ranches in the region. In 2005 the state of California conducted a historical/archeological review of the area. Part of the objective was to identify any historically relevant buildings in the area before the state bulldozed the cottages down for a state park. That study was unable to confirm the Tom Mix connection.
The Motel in 1939
Another rumor claims that William Randolph Hearst (or more likely one of his companies) owned the property in the 1920’s and built an auto court there where his Hollywood buddies could come and spend the weekend. Names like Peter Lorre and Errol Flynn come up in that discussion. Hearst did not build the auto court (Topanga Ranch Motel) but may have built the cottages along Topanga Lane (in the Snake Pit) that included the Spiral Staircase. One rumor claims the Spiral Staircase was actually a dining hall, dance pavilion and ‘speak easy’. Fact or fiction? Again, the state study could not corroborate those claims.
Peter Lorre’s first movie according to IMB was in 1930. Errol Flynn’ first was 1933 so it is unlikely they hung out there in the 1920’s with Hearst.
Sometime around 1930 Hearst’s corporation sold the area to the Los Angeles Athletic Club (LAAC) who proceeded to rent the cottages for the next 80 years on a month to month basis to various squatters and other bohemians. By the 1960's there were no formal written leases for the cottages. If you moved in to a place you just started paying the rent to the LAAC. The LAAC was an absentee landlord and left the place pretty much alone. In 2001 the LAAC sold the land to the state which in 2006 leveled the cottages in the Snake Pit and Rodeo Grounds converting the area into a state park.
Where was the Spiral Staircase?
According to this Manson arrest report from 1968 (thanks, Deb), the address of the Spiral Staircase may have been 3924 Topanga Lane (or Topanga Canyon Lane). That address no longer exists. [Aside: note the booking date on the report, 2-15-67, clearly that is a typo.]
The map at the top is from 1925. The one below that is from the web site, below. The 1925 map shows the then existing buildings. I marked the Snake Pit (lower circle) and the Rodeo Grounds.
Here are a couple aerial photographs. The first is from 1927. The Snake Pit is behind the motel (the organized buildings in the bottom, center). Many of the cottages where there in 1927 which is at least some evidence that William Randolph Hearst did build the original cottages in the Snake Pit. The Rodeo Grounds is the the rectangular area in the upper right. The creek is the snake-like line.
Three photos from 1940, 1964 and 1971.
1940
1964
1971
I believe the most probable location for the Spiral Staircase is at the “X”. It is at the end of a dirt road (Topanga Canyon Lane) and rather secluded. It stands on the edge of the creek and is no longer there in the 1971 photograph. Depending on who tells the story, The Spiral Staircase was either torn down after the January 1969 flood or was washed away during that flood.
The January 1969 Flood
[Aside: new ‘shacks’ or cabins were built by the residents after the various floods and fires that swept the area over the years.]
More aerial photos can be found here: http://mil.library.ucsb.edu/ap_indexes/FrameFinder/
It has been a personal goal of mine to find an actual image of the Spiral Staircase. I have not been successful to date. One reason may be because only Manson and the Family actually called it ‘The Spiral Staircase’. No local sources use that name, except in connection with a bookstore further up the valley. It could be that the 'Spiral Staircase' is like 'The Yellow Submarine' a Family name for the house.
Various sources claim the Spiral Staircase was owned either by a woman named “Ginger” or by a fellow named “Bay Johnson” in 1967-1968. I have not been able to confirm either owner and given the LAAC owned the land from about 1930 until 2001 it is more likely they were renters if they were connected to the property at all.
Some have claimed that this photo of the band, Love shows the Spiral Staircase. It is not the Spiral Staircase.
“The building featured on the cover of the "Love Story" double CD, with the spiral staircase was yet another different location (not "The Cedars" or the Trip house). Kenny Forssi, in a '90's interview said it was a geodesic dome type construction situated on the opposite side of the canyon from the Hollywood sign. It was some kind of temporary exhibit that was lit up at night, but nobody ever lived there. Love simply used it and the central spiral staircase for some early promotional photo shots.”
This isn't the Spiral Staircase either. That is not sand. It is shag carpeting.
It is 18726 W. Topanga Beach Road: https://plus.google.com/photos/106119680304600398704/album/5542069363653182689/6539096201485631186
Nor is this bookstore further up the canyon the actual Spiral Staircase. The manager claims that about once a year someone stops there asking about the Manson house. Although the bookstore was likely named after the Spiral Staircase, the manager insists, if he is asked, that the name has nothing to do with Manson. In fact, he gets rather defensive when the subject comes up (we asked him).
We stopped in at Dearly Departed Tours & Museum. There wasn't time to take the TLB tour, but owner Scott Michaels was gracious enough to spend a little time with us discussing his business, MansonBlog and possible motives for the crimes. We did spend some time in his museum. It has some artifacts like Jane Mansfield's car, the comforter that Rock Hudson died on and John Dillinger's death mask.
Scott was the one who raised the funds to put a marker on Donald Shea's grave, without which it would be difficult to find. He is also responsible for raising the funds and paying for grave stones for other forgotten celebrities. According to Michaels:
"These people spent their lives yearning to be recognized, and to end up in an unmarked hole in North Hollywood is a shame."
It was bogusly suggested here in the comments section recently that the grave markers are an effort by Michaels "put in a marker so you could have another stop on your F***ing tour". Fact: Dearly Departed Tours makes ZERO stops at cemeteries, so the markers have no effect on DDT's bottom line.
Michaels was complimentary of our efforts on the blog. Next year we will be sure to allot time to take the tour.
This post was written by George who was unable to attend. We only shot the video and a few pictures:
Academic study of crimes goes by the wayside when you visit the locations where events actually occurred. The physical layouts of crime scenes can often give the interested observer valuable insights into how those crimes went down, often even providing glimpses into the minds of the perpetrators. The walk that the killers took to the Roman Polanski residence on the night of August 8-9, 1969 is a good example of this.
After driving from Spahn's Movie Ranch to Cielo Drive that night the car containing Charles "Tex" Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian initially drove up the spur roadway up to the cul-de-sac ending at the gate of 10050. There, Watson got out of of car and shimmied up the utility pole supporting the phone lines into the property and cut those lines before backing the car back down to Cielo Drive proper and parking on the downhill side of the turnoff. Then the group walked back up the gate and around it to enter the property and kill everybody there except caretaker William Garretson.
I've been to Cielo Drive on several occasions, but I've always driven up to the top. Although I was unable to attend this year's MF Blog Tour I suggested to Matt that a reprise of the walk up the hill to the gate at the former 10050 address might make for an interesting post.
The walk video shows how narrow the roadway leading up to Cielo really is. (The last time I visited the gate, on the 2015 MF Blog Tour, I had to back my own vehicle down the hill as there was no room at the top to turn around.) It also shows how dark and isolated the area is still today, even though there are now more lit-up residences on the street and there was a fuller moon on the Tour walk than on the night of the murders. It is dark and lonely, and occasional glimpses of the lights shining down in Los Angeles only serve to accentuate the remoteness and isolation. The repetitive call of a bird emphasizes the indifference of nature to the madness of man.
What was going through the minds of the Tate assailants on the night of their visit as they made that same walk up the hill? Pumped up on adrenaline and (for some) speed, the heat of the night, the paranoia and awareness of violence brought on by the knowledge of the previous weeks' incidents involving the murder of Gary Hinman and the presumed murder of Bernard Crowe, the pandemonium and pressure of getting ready to flee the city and go to the desert -- not to mention the uncertainty of not knowing what they would have to do once they go onto the property -- it must have been an intense experience indeed.
The Tour walk up Cielo could only hint at that experience.
The Tate killers parked at the bottom of the Cielo Drive side cul-de-sac at the location of the arrow at the upper left then walked up the narrow roadway to the gate of the property of their unsuspecting victims, indicated by the arrow on the right.
The moon phases on the night of the Tour walk and the night of the murders.
To views of the current gate on the way up:
The base of Cielo looking up. The car was parked to the left of where I'm (Matt) standing to take the photo:
This is the base of Cielo Dr. Beind the person walking, on the other side of the bush is where the car was parked. The perspective shows how narrow Cielo is:
Day one: MansonBlog visited a few of the memorials that we have missed in our previous visits. First would be TLB's first victim, Steven Earl Parent. Parent dies first at Cielo Drive on August 9, 1969. He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Parent is interred at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Rowland Heights, CA. It is a blue collar but well maintained memorial park.
We immediately noticed that flowers are not allowed to be placed on Thursday prior to 3:00 PM. The reason being that the park is mowed on Thursdays. We arrived at noon. We paid our respects regardless.
Parent left home at early in the morning for his job at a plumbing supply shop: Valley City Supply. He returned home in the late afternoon to change his shirt and drive to LA to his second job at Jonas Miller Stereo not far from Jay Sebring's hair salon where he worked until about 9:00 p.m.. From there he drove back to El Monte to visit a friend who worked either at Dale's Gas Station or the nearby grocery store named Fry's and asked his friend who worked their if he wanted to go for a drive. His friend asked if he could come back when he got off work at about 11:30 p.m. Steven declined and proceeded to Cielo Drive.
We then travelled the 26 miles to Angeles Abbey Memorial Park in Compton. To set the scene, this is adjacent to Watts and Crenshaw. All are poor neighborhoods. The cemetery is what can best be described as a potters field. The lawns are non existent. Burned and parched at best. As we searched for the grave of Donald Jerome Shea, we saw memorials that were covered in sand from moles and other ground-born critters. Graves of young children long since forgotten. Some of which we brushed off debris with our hands as we paid our respects.
We surmised that these plots, which in Parent's well maintained memorial park differed from Angeles Abbey in that one plot equals six. In the same plot that at Queen of Heaven contains one soul, here contains the remains of six people. The city of Compton, in an effort to bury the indigent has interred six people into a single grave. Six cremated people are buried at the same time in one place. If your family could not afford the plate bolted to the grave marker then you are only recorded in the sexton's office - an entry in a book.
As we understand it, Scott Michaels of Dearly Departed Tours paid to have Shorty Shea's name and dates attached to the marker. Thank you, Scott. A noble gesture to a victim of a horrible crime. There are six people interred here, only two are acknowledged.
Last on our stops was Vincent Bugliosi, prosecutor of the TLB killers. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale CA. It is an immaculately maintained, scenic resting place in what can best be described as a gated community for the dead. The lawns are green, manicured and attractive.
Bugliosi's plot is on a protected, celebrity list - meaning that the sexton's office will not tell you where it is. But, MansonBlog was able to locate it. Here is the marker:
