Hello, BLA Surfers:

Just a short one today to alert you to the latest additions. For the quick tour, click here: http://www.beneathlosangeles.com/bla/New/

Ever heard of Abbot Kinney? If you live near Venice, CA, you've at least seen his name on a major boulevard there, though you may not be aware that he was the founder of that city, and the reason for its canals. Only a few remain today, but there were originally a whole lot of them, as his dream was to recreate Venice, Italy, right here at the Pacific Ocean. That was about 100 years ago. Today, he rests at Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica, but you can visit him right here at Beneath Los Angeles.

One of his Woodlawn neighbors is the actor Leo Carrillo, best known for playing Pancho in the 1950's series The Cisco Kid. He was also active in California politics, which somehow led to a beach and state park being named in his honor up in Malibu.

Others recently added from my most recent visit to Woodlawn include Billy Haines (movie star turned interior designer), Irene 'Granny' Ryan, Merle Norman and in the spirit of the Olypmics, tennis champion May Sutton Bundy.

Also, as promised in my previous letter, Jonathan 'Dr Smith' Harris, and Eric 'Son of Spartacus' Douglas have been added as well.

And finally, during a recent visit to Inglewood, I finally located the curb side grave of Big Mama Thornton, the legendary blues singer who first belted out Hound Dog before Elvis made it a hit, and was the writer of the Janis Joplin hit Ball & Chain. Poor thing is practically out in the street, as you'll see. And while visiting the Little Mouse (infant son of Charlie Chaplin, 1919), I stumbled across a Fake Charlie Chaplin almost right next to him. How weird is that?

Hope you're enjoying the end of summer days. Happy Hunting!

Steve
http://www.BeneathLosAngeles.com

(Published: Wed Mar 20 2019; Hits: 340)

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