Have you heard the one about the woman in the water tank? That’s not a setup for a joke so much as an urban legend rooted in one of the most tragic establishments in Los Angeles: the Hotel Cecil. Most famous for being the backdrop for the mysterious death of tourist [...]
One evening in 1940, nine-year-old Dorothy Lee Gordon was kidnapped as in the most insidious of ways: simply and quietly by a man whom, according to her friend, pulled up alongside them as they walked home from church and said “Get in the car, Dorothy. I’m going your way.” Weeks later, [...]
The night of February 17, 1929, left two bodies on the floor of the imposing Greystone Mansion of Beverly Hills. To this day, we don’t know the exact circumstances of Ned Doheny and his personal secretary, Hugh Plunkett, but Hadley lays out the various rumors and theories regarding what transpired on [...]
What’s in the box? What’s in the box?! A hatbox is inherently suggestive of a bygone era, in which men and women wore proper hats that they would protect in transit with a container called a hatbox. In this week’s story about Winnie Ruth Judd’s 1931 arrival by train in Los [...]
Long before Los Angeles drew tourists wanting to glimpse the good life, it attracted gawkers who wanted a look at downtown’s seedy vice-ridden backside. Our second episode focuses on the part of L.A. once known as Hell’s Half Acre, a kingdom of a red light district ruled by one Bartolo Ballerino [...]
Underbelly L.A. kicks off its first season with a trip far into the city’s past. In 1836, one of early Los Angeles’ most prominent families, the Felizes, saw their son struck down. A manhunt resulted in mob rule and a double execution — and a permanent stain on the young city’s [...]
