2/25/42: The Battle of Los Angeles

Every so often, when I'm driving around I'll see these old air raid sirens. They've been rusting here ever since World War II. Most people who walk in the shadows of these things probably have no idea there was an air raid in Los Angeles back in 1942. And almost everybody would be shocked to hear that it wasn't an attack by enemy bombers that set the sirens wailing - but something otherworldly.

At around 3 o'clock in the morning on February 25th, 1942, residents of Los Angeles were rattled out of bed by the loud thumps of anti-aircraft guns lobbing 12-pound shells into the sky. Super bright spotlights criss-crossed above the blacked-out city and converged on a mysterious and massive object that drifted across Santa Monica then hovered over the MGM Studios in Culver City.

Here's an eerie description from the LA Times:

"The object...caught in the center of the lights like the hub of a bicycle wheel surrounded by gleaming spokes. The fire seemed to burst in rings all around the object."

All kinds of shrapnel and unexploded ordnance rained down on the city, causing lots of damage. 6 people died. After about an hour of getting shot at, the object leisurely made its way down to Long Beach and disappeared over the ocean.

The days after were filled with all kinds of theories about what had happened that night, but it remains one of those great unexplained moments in time.

There are still plenty of people trying to figure it out. Here's a website with some creepy eyewitness accounts and some pretty amazing pictures.

Meanwhile, I'll keep an eye on the sky, and an ear open for the air raid sirens.

Ghost Hotel

Jean Harlow, Douglas Fairbanks, Joan Crawford...they all hang out here. It's the legendary Ambassador Hotel, which closed its doors the same month I arrived in Los Angeles back in 1989. It had been dying a slow death ever since a terrible day in June of 1968, when Sirhan Sirhan shot Robert Kennedy in the kitchen of the old Cocoanut Grove.

It was the Cocoanut Grove that put this place on the map. The nightclub got its name from some prop palm trees that were leftover from a Rudolph Valentino movie. The first Oscar was handed out here. Marilyn Monroe was discovered poolside. Howard Hughes had a permanent suite. It's been in a million movies. In fact, it's where Dustin Hoffman hooked up with Mrs. Robinson.

Years ago, one of my many odd jobs found me working here as a grunt on a tv show. I was putting down cardboard so the crew's equipment wouldn't scuff up the nasty, rotting carpet in the lobby. In walked Donald Trump and his entourage. Turns out he had just bought the place, and was planning on tearing it down to build the world's tallest building. The 90's recession and the L.A. School District changed his plans.

They're supposedly turning it into a school, but for the moment - it remains empty, except for a hundred or so feral cats...and the ghosts of old hollywood.

The Man

Every morning on the way to daycare, we drive past this garage with a big fiberglass man on the roof. Willa and Talia have a game where they try to be the first one to spot him. "The Man!" "There's the Man!" "He's waving!" We always wave back.

Fake Tree #1

I've seen these around town for a few years. They're cellphone towers disguised as trees. In the beginning they were much easier to spot, but lately the designs have improved. There's a really cool palm tree version right off the 405. I'll try to catch a picture of that one, too.

Gone to Carolina

We're having a wonderful time in Blowing Rock with Pop and Cie-Cie. Willa and Talia rode the choo choo and the ferris wheel at Tweetsie Railroad, then we saw the bears at Grandfather Mountain. The girls also met their first tadpole. I've been especially enjoying the early evenings on the deck with rolling mountains as far as the eye can see. This is a very special place. Click here for the pics.