Los Angeles Visionaries Association

What motivates a woman to become a criminal? Are some women just born bad, or are they driven to commit crimes for, or because of, the men in their lives? Felonious Flappers will explore the lives and crimes of some of the baddest girls in Los Angeles, from actress and writer Dorothy Mackaye to the ironically named Helen Love.

What is it about Los Angeles that brings out the evil in a woman? Crime writer Raymond Chandler speculated that a local weather phenomenon could cause a woman to contemplate murder: “There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.”

Whether it’s the climate, their greed, or that they’re just plain evil, curvy killers have always been a part of the fabric of Los Angeles. You may empathize with the femme fatales, or find them repellent, but you are sure to be fascinated by them.

Social historian and writer Joan Renner will present an illustrated lecture which will explore the cases of a few Los Angeles women who found themselves on the wrong side of the law during the Art Deco era.

Presentation will be followed by a rare theatrical screening of the pre-code “lady criminal film” THE LADIES THEY TALK ABOUT starring Barbara Stanwyck.

WHAT: The second of the quarterly LAVA Salons at Musso & Frank, featuring John Buntin.
WHERE: Musso & Frank Grill, 6667 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028.
WHEN: Monday, April 30, 2012 from 6-11pm.
COST: $100 per person, ticket price includes 3-course prix fixe dinner prepared by Musso & Frank chefs, Salon presentations and dessert service. Cocktails not included.
TO PURCHASE TICKETS: Call Musso & Frank at (323) 467-7788 or visit the restaurant Tuesday-Saturday between 9am and 5pm. You can also reserve your seats by email through the Musso & Frank contact page.
FOR MORE INFO ABOUT THE EVENT: Send an email through the LAVA contact page or call Kim Cooper or Richard Schave at 323-223-2767.

On Monday, April 30, you are invited to join John Buntin, author of L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America’s Most Seductive City, for a fresh look at the Los Angeles underworld of the 1920s and ‘30s. This is the culture which informs noir master Raymond Chandler’s short stories and early novels. The corrupt civic machine (“The Combination”) fueled the biggest boom town this country has ever seen, and inspired the real life struggles between Good Guys and Bad Guys which in turn influenced much of the fiction and film of the mid 20th Century. At the Salon we’ll examine the crusading cop who was the real-life inspiration for Philip Marlowe, then shine our light onto other crusaders, prosecutors and policy makers, who through the decades shift from teetotalers to civil libertarians, but always retain those constants of every Chandler hero: a chance at redemption.

Also appearing at the Salon is Howard Prouty (Acquisitions Archivist at The Academy Foundation/Margaret Herrick Library and proprietor of ReadInk) with a talk on Jake Zeitlin, another in his ongoing Salon series on important booksellers in Los Angeles. And before and after the formal dinner and Salon presentations, guests will mingle with Hollywood historian Philip Mershon (proprietor of The Felix in Hollywood Tour Company) and actress Kasey Wilson, appearing in the character of the helpful female book clerk from The Big Sleep.

THE BACK STORY: For much of the mid-20th Century, to rub shoulders with America’s greatest novelists and screenwriters, one needed merely to go to the corner of Cherokee Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard. Here, within the tight triangle of the Writer’s Guild offices, Musso & Frank Grill and the Stanley Rose Bookshop, flowed the commercial and social sap that nourished the tree of American letters. The famous minds who congregated still inspire awe: William Faulkner, Scott Fitzgerald, John Fante, Lillian Hellman, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, William Saroyan, John O’Hara, Dorothy Parker, Nathanael West and many more.

And at the center of it all was the famed “Back Room” of Musso & Frank, the oldest restaurant in Hollywood. Beginning in 1936, in response to the restaurant’s growing popularity, Musso’s expanded its operations into a small room tucked behind the Vogue Theater. A door was punched through the west wall of the dining room, and a haughty door man installed. His instructions were simple: the back room was to be the exclusive domain of Hollywood’s literary lions, their friends and romantic partners. It was called, informally, The Cocktail Room or The Round Table or the Algonquin West.

The party raged on, six nights a week, for twenty glorious years.

In 1955, Musso & Frank expanded to the east, and the contents of the “Back Room”—the long bar, chairs, light fixtures, coat racks—were moved wholesale into the “New Room.” The “New Room” was no longer the exclusive retreat of literary Los Angeles, but the writers kept coming. Today, Musso & Frank’s clientele still includes celebrated novelists, screenwriters, poets and songwriters, all of whom cherish the old world hospitality, traditional Continental cuisine and opportunity to soak up the same rarified air that nourished the greats.

In honor of this ongoing writerly tradition, LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association) is delighted to announce the January 2012 launch of The LAVA Salon at Musso & Frank, a quarterly literary salon and prix fixe dinner celebrating the great writers and personalities who have frequented the establishment. The LAVA Salon at Musso & Frank is the brainchild of Kim Cooper & Richard Schave, proprietors of literary tour company Esotouric—Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles, James M. Cain’s Southern California Nightmare, Charles Bukowski’s Haunts of a Dirty Old Man, John Fante’s Dreams from Bunker Hill—who for the past twenty months have been hosting a free cultural Salon on the last Sunday of the month at Clifton’s Cafeteria (recently moved to the Los Angeles Athletic Club). With this new Salon series, LAVA expands its congenial, intelligent and unpredictable cultural programming into Hollywood with a quarterly literary Salon event held in Musso & Frank on a night when the restaurant is closed to the general public. Seating is extremely limited, and this intimate gathering is sure to sell out quickly.

LAVA co-founder Richard Schave, the Salon host and co-curator, says “I would argue that along the bar in the old Cocktail Room, somewhere between the drinking, bragging, fighting and general hell-raising, the better half of the Hard-Boiled School of American Letters was hashed out and put down on paper. The purpose of the Salon is two fold. First, to set the record straight on some basic milestones: the rise and fall of the original Cocktail Room and its reincarnation as the “New Room” and the symbiotic relationship Musso & Frank shared with the legendary bookshop next door, Stanley Rose’s. Secondly, a more ephemeral aim: in these hallowed rooms, that still bear the nicotine stains from Raymond Chandler’s pipe and Charles Bukowski’s cigarettes, we want to seek out and amplify the spark which all those great souls have left behind. Musso & Frank is just bricks and mortar, but incredible ideas and connections were forged here, and we believe that spark is waiting to be reignited and make its impression felt in Los Angeles again.”

Each Musso’s Salon evening will focus on different aspects of Hollywood’s literary lore, feature fascinating speakers and special guest historians, and be hosted by LAVA co-founder Richard Schave.

Mark Echeverria, 4th generation General Manager/Proprietor of The Musso & Frank Grill, says “For 93 years The Musso & Frank Grill has been a keystone in Hollywood’s ever-evolving history. Some of the world’s greatest people have walked through our doors, sat at a booth or a bar stool, and dreamt the unimaginable. That is what makes Hollywood so unique: unimaginable things come true. Musso & Frank Grill has always been that inspiration in people’s lives to make the impossible, possible, and it is now time to tell the true story of the people who put Hollywood on the map, and the restaurant they did it in—The Musso & Frank Grill. We are extremely excited to work with LAVA to bring you living history in a setting where history continues to happen, even 93 years later. So please enjoy an authentic dinning experience you would have found in the early decades of last century, and bring yourselves back to the time era of the literary giants, and truly get a journey through the history of Hollywood, in the restaurant that Hollywood grew up around, The Musso & Frank Grill.”

Future Salons will focus on the life and works of Charles Bukowski, F.Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, Nathanael West and other fascinating characters who’ve contributed to nearly a century of literary culture at Musso & Frank.

To purchase a ticket for this special event, click here. If you'd like to be contacted when another crime lab tour and lecture are scheduled, subscribe to LAVA's occasional Crime Lab Newsletter.

Visionary Professor Donald Johnson, in association with LAVA and Esotouric, invites you to participate in a special four-hour event at LA’s regional crime laboratory, on the campus of Cal State LA. Space is very limited and pre-reservation required for this unprecedented opportunity to tour the crime lab, learn from working forensic investigators and educators, and discover the real art and science of crime scene investigation.

“Inside the Mind of the Arsonist” is an exploration of the scientific investigation of fire-related felony offenses, revealed through methods of evidence analysis, profiling and select case histories. Attendees will also have an opportunity to tour Cal State LA’s state-of the-art teaching and research facilities in the Criminalistics Department of the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center.

“Inside the Mind of the Arsonist” is hosted by Ed Nordskog, an active arson/bomb detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and author of the new book ‘Torchered’ Minds: Case Histories of Notorious Serial Arsonists. Copies of Mr. Nordskog’s book will be available for sale at this event, or you can purchase a copy from Amazon at this link.

The presentation consists of two lectures from Ed Nordskog, with a related breakout scientific workshop offering illustration of the concepts raised by the lectures.

LECTURE #1 is an introduction to the six main motives behind the crime of arson – spite/revenge, financial gain, crime concealment, excitement/recognition (hero fires), extremism, juvenile fires (curiosity/experimentation/vandalism)—and to Ed Nordskog’s investigative specialty, a modification of the standard arson investigation in which he “profiles” the arson scene in order to determine a “motive” for the crime. He does this by determining the actual “target” of the arson attack and the method of ignition for the event. This usually indicates a motive and the level of sophistication of the offender. Because arson is a very personal crime in which the victim nearly always knows who set the fire, it is relatively easy to identify a suspect—although proving they were involved is not so easy.

LECTURE #2 focuses on select cases studies of convicted serial arsonists, including nationally known crimes and cases on which Ed Nordskog worked personally. Included will be discussion of Glendale arson investigator / arsonist John Orr and the prolific Washington D.C. arsonist Thomas Sweatt.

Following this second lecture, attendees will have the opportunity to purchase copies of Ed Nordskog’s book ”’Torchered’ Minds: Case Histories of Notorious Serial Arsonists.”

By the afternoon’s conclusion, attendees will have a deeper understanding of the real work that’s done in the field by arson investigators, and the tools and techniques used to interpret crime scenes for the benefit of investigating officers and juries.

ABOUT ED NORDSKOG: Ed Nordskog is an active arson/bomb detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He has been a detective since 1990, working specifically in the arson and explosives world since 1997. He has conducted over sixteen hundred fire investigations and as of this writing has personally arrested and interviewed over 250 persons who were convicted of fire setting and related crimes. He has testified in court as a recognized expert in this field on over fifty-five occasions. He has been consulted by prosecuting attorneys on death penalty cases involving arson and murder on three occasions. He has been personally involved in over twenty serial arson investigations. The author has a master’s degree in emergency services management and is certified as a fire investigator by the California State Fire Marshal and the California Conference of Arson Investigators. He is a graduate of the National Fire Academy Arson Investigation Course, the ATF Advanced Arson Investigation Course, the Forensic Fire Death Investigation Course, and numerous other arson investigation courses. He is involved in course development and teaches fire scene investigation, major arson case investigation, serial arson investigation, and arson murder/fire death investigation. He is a course developer and instructor for the state of California’s Arson and Explosives Investigation Course. He is an instructor for the state of California’s Homicide Investigator’s Course. In 2004, the author was named Arson Investigator of the Year by the International Association of Arson Investigators and Law Enforcement Officer of the Year by the International Association of Special Investigations Units; both of these awards are for his work as the lead investigator on a massive arson for hire scheme, involving fifty-five burned properties. He has received over eighty-five commendations, awards, and medals throughout his law enforcement career related to successful criminal investigations. He is author of the book ”’Torchered’ Minds: Case Histories of Notorious Serial Arsonists” (website).

As part of the Echo Park Shop Hop on December 10, Stories Cafe will host Dr. Paul Koudounaris, the author of The Empire of Death. He will present original photos from his book, as well as give a talk and slideshow related to his research and fantastical travel experiences in the process of compiling this unique tome of macabre art, which illustrates bone-decorated religious sanctuaries from around the world. The book, which entered the UK Amazon sales charts at number one in both religious history and social/cultural anthropology, was compiled over a five-year period of travel and research, which to took the author to four continents to document many sites which had never before been published. Information on the book and a preview of its content can be found at: http://www.tandhhighlights.co.uk/9780500251782.html

The photos will be on display at Stories through January 10.

WHAT: The inaugural quarterly LAVA Salon at Musso & Frank featuring Dan Fante.
WHERE: Musso & Frank Grill, 6667 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028.
WHEN: Monday, January 23, 2012 from 6-11pm.
COST: $100 per person, ticket price includes 3-course prix fixe dinner prepared by Musso & Frank chefs, Salon presentations and dessert service. Beverages not included.
TO PURCHASE TICKETS: Call Musso & Frank at (323) 467-7788 or visit the restaurant Tuesday-Saturday between 9am and 5pm. You can also reserve your seats by email through the Musso & Frank contact page. (UPDATE: The event is now sold out.)
FOR MORE INFO ABOUT THE EVENT: Send an email through the LAVA contact page or call Kim Cooper or Richard Schave at 323-223-2767.

For much of the mid-20th Century, to rub shoulders with America’s greatest novelists and screenwriters, one needed merely to go to the corner of Cherokee Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard. Here, within the tight triangle of the Writer’s Guild offices, Musso & Frank Grill and the Stanley Rose Bookshop, flowed the commercial and social sap that nourished the tree of American letters. The famous minds who congregated still inspire awe: William Faulkner, Scott Fitzgerald, John Fante, Lillian Hellman, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, William Saroyan, John O’Hara, Dorothy Parker, Nathanael West and many more.

And at the center of it all was the famed “Back Room” of Musso & Frank, the oldest restaurant in Hollywood. Beginning in 1936, in response to the restaurant’s growing popularity, Musso’s expanded its operations into a small room tucked behind the Vogue Theater. A door was punched through the west wall of the dining room, and a haughty door man installed. His instructions were simple: the back room was to be the exclusive domain of Hollywood’s literary lions, their friends and romantic partners. It was called, informally, The Cocktail Room or The Round Table or the Algonquin West.

The party raged on, six nights a week, for twenty glorious years.

In 1955, Musso & Frank expanded to the east, and the contents of the “Back Room”—the long bar, chairs, light fixtures, coat racks—were moved wholesale into the “New Room.” The “New Room” was no longer the exclusive retreat of literary Los Angeles, but the writers kept coming. Today, Musso & Frank’s clientele still includes celebrated novelists, screenwriters, poets and songwriters, all of whom cherish the old world hospitality, traditional Continental cuisine and opportunity to soak up the same rarified air that nourished the greats.

In honor of this ongoing writerly tradition, LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association) is delighted to announce the January 2012 launch of The LAVA Salon at Musso & Frank, a quarterly literary salon and prix fixe dinner celebrating the great writers and personalities who have frequented the establishment. The LAVA Salon at Musso & Frank is the brainchild of Kim Cooper & Richard Schave, proprietors of literary tour company Esotouric—Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles, James M. Cain’s Southern California Nightmare, Charles Bukowski’s Haunts of a Dirty Old Man, John Fante’s Dreams from Bunker Hill—who for the past twenty months have been hosting a free cultural Salon on the last Sunday of the month at Clifton’s Cafeteria (recently moved to the Los Angeles Athletic Club). Now, LAVA expands its congenial, intelligent and unpredictable cultural programming into Hollywood with a quarterly literary Salon event held in Musso & Frank on a night when the restaurant is closed to the general public. Seating is extremely limited, and this intimate gathering is sure to sell out quickly.

LAVA co-founder Richard Schave, the Salon host and co-curator, says “I would argue that along the bar in the old Cocktail Room, somewhere between the drinking, bragging, fighting and general hell-raising, the better half of the Hard-Boiled School of American Letters was hashed out and put down on paper. The purpose of the Salon is two fold. First, to set the record straight on some basic milestones: the rise and fall of the original Cocktail Room and its reincarnation as the “New Room” and the symbiotic relationship Musso & Frank shared with the legendary bookshop next door, Stanley Rose’s. Secondly, a more ephemeral aim: in these hallowed rooms, that still bear the nicotine stains from Raymond Chandler’s pipe and Charles Bukowski’s cigarettes, we want to seek out and amplify the spark which all those great souls have left behind. Musso & Frank is just bricks and mortar, but incredible ideas and connections were forged here, and we believe that spark is waiting to be reignited and make its impression felt in Los Angeles again.”

Each Musso’s Salon evening will focus on different aspects of Hollywood’s literary lore, feature fascinating speakers and special guest historians, and be hosted by LAVA co-founder Richard Schave.

Appearing at the debut Salon is novelist, poet and playwright Dan Fante, reading from and discussing his new memoir Fante: A Family's Legacy of Writing, Drinking and Surviving (Harper Perrenial). Dan Fante’s parents, the novelist-screenwriter John Fante and the poet-playwright Joyce Fante, were regulars in Musso’s back room and at Stanley Rose’s book store. Dan’s stories about their adventures are ribald, hilarious and deeply moving. Also appearing at the first Salon is Howard Prouty (Acquisitions Archivist at The Academy Foundation/Margaret Herrick Library and proprietor of ReadInk) with an introduction to the culture of Stanley Rose’s shop. And before and after the formal dinner and Salon presentations, guests will mingle with Hollywood historian Philip Mershon (proprietor of The Felix in Hollywood Tour Company) and actress Kasey Wilson, appearing in the character of irresistible, murderous Phyllis Dietrichson (“Double Indemnity”), the only villainess jointly created by James M. Cain (novel) and Raymond Chandler (screenplay).

Mark Echeverria, 4th generation General Manager/Proprietor of The Musso & Frank Grill, says “For 93 years The Musso & Frank Grill has been a keystone in Hollywood’s ever-evolving history. Some of the world’s greatest people have walked through our doors, sat at a booth or a bar stool, and dreamt the unimaginable. That is what makes Hollywood so unique: unimaginable things come true. Musso & Frank Grill has always been that inspiration in people’s lives to make the impossible, possible, and it is now time to tell the true story of the people who put Hollywood on the map, and the restaurant they did it in—The Musso & Frank Grill. We are extremely excited to work with LAVA to bring you living history in a setting where history continues to happen, even 93 years later. So please enjoy an authentic dinning experience you would have found in the early decades of last century, and bring yourselves back to the time era of the literary giants, and truly get a journey through the history of Hollywood, in the restaurant that Hollywood grew up around, The Musso & Frank Grill.”

Dan Fante, speaker at the inaugural quarterly LAVA Salon at Musso & Frank, says, “For me Musso & Frank Grill is the last authentic remnant of Old Hollywood. To walk into the place is stepping into a time machine. The passengers riding with you are guys like Raymond Chandler, Nathanael West, John Fante, William Faulkner, and Charles Bukowski. Not bad company to tip a glass with.”

Future Salons will focus on the life and works of Raymond Chandler, Charles Bukowski, Nathanael West and other fascinating characters who’ve contributed to nearly a century of literary culture at Musso & Frank.

Maja D'Aoust, the White Witch of Los Angeles, hosts a new metaphysical lecture series held on the second Sunday of each month in the historic Annie Besant Lodge in Beachwood Canyon. Maja is the librarian at Manly P. Hall's Philosophical Research Society, where she lectured for four years, the co-author of "The Secret Source: The Law of Attraction is One Of Seven Hermetic Laws, Here are the Other Six" and hostess of the Maja's Mysteries series of Esotouric bus adventures. The theme of tonight's lecture: Le Petit Mort-Moments When Life & Death are One.

Maja D'Aoust, the White Witch of Los Angeles, hosts a new metaphysical lecture series held on the second Sunday of each month in the historic Annie Besant Lodge in Beachwood Canyon. Maja is the librarian at Manly P. Hall's Philosophical Research Society, where she lectured for four years, the co-author of "The Secret Source: The Law of Attraction is One Of Seven Hermetic Laws, Here are the Other Six" and hostess of the Maja's Mysteries series of Esotouric bus adventures. The theme of tonight's lecture: Evaporation, Spontaneous Combustion, & Turning Into Light.

To purchase a ticket for this special event, click here. Last minute guests, yes, you can bring cash to the crime lab today (check in is at 11:30am for a noon showtime). If you'd like to be contacted when another crime lab tour and lecture are scheduled, subscribe to LAVA's occasional Crime Lab Newsletter.

Visionary Professor Donald Johnson, in association with LAVA and Esotouric, invites you to participate in a special four-hour event at LA’s regional crime laboratory, on the campus of Cal State LA. Space is very limited and pre-reservation required for this unprecedented opportunity to tour the crime lab, learn from working forensic investigators and educators, and discover the real art and science of crime scene investigation.

“Deep Identifications: Using National Evidence Databases To Solve Local Crimes” is an exploration of the scientific investigation of violent death, revealed through methods of database-driven evidence analysis and select case histories. Attendees will also have an opportunity to tour Cal State LA’s state-of the-art teaching and research facilities in the Criminalistics Department of the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center.

“Deep Identifications: Using National Evidence Databases To Solve Local Crimes” consists of one crime investigation lecture by LASD Criminalist Dale Falicon, a two-part crime investigation lecture by LASD DNA Tech Lead/CODIS Administrator Steve Renteria, and related breakout scientific workshops offering illustration of the concepts raised by Mr. Falicon’s investigations.

LECTURE #1 is Dale Falicon’s presentation on his role in a fascinating “cold case” investigation, the 2003 closure of a 1957 double homicide, resulting from the arrest and conviction of Gerald Mason. Mason, a transient, kidnapped four teenagers in Hawthorne, stripped them, raped one and stole their car. Pulled over about 1:30am at Rosecrans and Sepulveda for a routine traffic stop by El Segundo PD officers Richard Phillips and Milton Curtis, Mason shot and killed both men. Mason fled the scene and a 48-hour manhunt followed. No substantial leads were found, and the case remained cold until September 2002, when a deathbed confession (soon proved false) renewed El Segundo’s interest in the investigation. ESPD asked the LASD to re-examine the existing evidence in the hope that new clues would be discovered. Investigators turned to the evidence collected at the scene to see if modern crime investigation techniques could do something that was impossible at the time of the murders. Dale’s work with a composite fingerprint taken from two partial fingerprints resulted in a positive match against the recently introduced “IAFIS (Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System)”, and the name of a convicted felon: Gerald Mason. Tracked down in Columbia, South Carolina, Mason confessed to the crime and was imprisoned for two life terms. He had been a law-abiding citizen in decades since the crime, and was a wealthy retiree respected in his community.

LECTURE #2 is Steve Renteria’s presentation on his use of DNA evidence in two remarkable murder cases, and the provocative questions that were raised. Case #1 is the Phil Spector / Lana Clarkson murder investigation. Questions raised include: should DNA technology be used to answer questions which are not actually an issue in a specific crime scene purely to counter the impact of “The CSI Effect” on the jury? When should common sense take precedence over what the professionals think the jury needs to hear? Case #2 concerns the death of “Christina,” a woman kidnapped from an ATM and killed by her captors. Questions raised include: should crime labs apply an assembly-line approach for all cases in order to maximize numbers of samples tested? Why does each case and each item of evidence need special attention in order to get the most information possible?

By the afternoon’s conclusion, attendees will have a deeper understanding of the real work that’s done in the field by criminalists, and the tools and techniques used to interpret crime scenes for the benefit of investigating officers and juries. Come discover the reality, so different from and so much more interesting than, what you’ve seen on TV.

Cost: $36.50 per person. To reserve your spot, click here.  Last minute guests, yes, you can bring cash to the crime lab today (check in is at 11:30am for a noon showtime).  

A portion of the proceeds from this event supports the research of Criminalistics graduate students at Cal State Los Angeles.

LAVA - The Los Angeles Visionaries Association is pleased to announce a free roof-top screening of a newly-discovered circa 1949 short color film of Main Street and other downtown Los Angeles locations, the Union Rescue Mission-produced Of Scrap & Steel. The screening celebrates the launch of a new series of downtown stories on the In SRO Land time travel blog, featuring material from the Union Rescue Mission Archives. 

ABOUT THE FILM: In mid-1948 the Board of Directors of the Union Rescue Mission approved the expenditure of $5,000 to make the 30-minute film Of Scrap & Steel which portrays the redemption and good works of Arthur Hawkins, an alcoholic executive who ended up on the streets of Los Angeles and whose life was saved when he turned to the URM for help. Porter Hall (Arthur Hawkins) is one of only two actors in a film otherwise populated by real Los Angeles characters. (You may recall Hall's performance as the pesky guy on the train in Double Indemnity.) 

Of Scrap & Steel  was only shown in screenings organized by the URM or related organizations, and would have been completely lost if Liz Mooradian, URM historian, had not saved a deteriorating 16mm print and had it transferred to video before it was too late. Of Scrap & Steel is just one of the remarkable artifacts discovered in the Union Rescue Mission archives and explored in the In SRO Land blog.

This entertaining and powerful short film is a compelling snapshot of life on Skid Row (Main Street) circa 1949, and a fascinating document of the important work that the URM continues to do with the most needy in the community. Although downtown Los Angeles features in numerous noir films, it is extremely rare to see color images of eastern downtown, and rarer still to see full-color live-action footage of the vibrant street scene that included rescue missions, pawn shops, amusement parlors, bars, restaurants and the ever-patrolling paddy wagon in search of drunkards to haul away to jail or County work crews.

This free rooftop screening is jointly organized by LAVA - The Los Angeles Visionaries Association, the In SRO Land time travel blog and the Union Rescue Mission. Seating will be provided, and attendees are encouraged to dress warmly for the cool night air. 

Gourmet box dinners: “Meals with a purpose” will be available for purchase ($7, cash only), with a choice of sandwich (vegetarian, roast beef or chicken), cookie, fruit, crackers and beverage. 100% of proceeds from your meal donation goes to the URM, and the proceeds from each dinner will feed two other people.

Limited free parking is available at the URM’s underground parking lot. Just tell the attendant you are there for the film. Please carpool: if each guest arrives with one other person in their car, there should be enough parking for all. Those arriving later will have to leave their keys with the parking attendant. Should the URM lot fill up, there is also off-site, paid parking available at Joe’s Parking Lot at 1st & San Pedro. A free shuttle will run between this parking lot and the Union Rescue Mission from 5pm-9pm. Nearest Metro station: Little Tokyo.

Rain check: if it's raining on October 20, this event will be rescheduled for October 27. 

Schedule

6pm Doors open (reserved guests check in at the main entrance and are sent up to the roof)

6pm-7pm Box dinners available for purchase, guests can watch the sunset (6:13pm)

7pm

• Introduction to the URM by Rev. Andy Bales, CEO
• Historians Nathan Marsak & Richard Schave introduce the film in the context of the neighborhood's history, and their work on the In SRO Land time travel blog.

7:30pm Film screening

8pm Q & A

8:30pm Event ends

To sign up for this free event: First register as a user on this site, and then return to this page. Refresh the page and the signup tab will appear just to the left, above this paragraph. Click "signup" and reserve your spot. No plus-ones; each guest must register individually.

Los Angeles art historian and author Paul Koudounaris presents his new publication, The Empire of Death: A Cultural History of Ossuaries and Charnel Houses (Thames & Hudson, October 2011). Question and answer and discussion afterward. Books will also be available for purchase. Lecture accompanied by slide show.

From the Publisher:

In this tour de force of original cultural history, Paul Koudounaris takes the reader on an unprecedented international tour of macabre and devotional architectural masterpieces in nearly 20 countries. This is the first book to bring together the world's most important charnel sites, ranging from the crypts of the Capuchin monasteries in Italy and the skull-encrusted columns of the ossuary in Évora in Portugal, to the strange tomb of a 1960s wealthy Peruvian nobleman decorated with the exhumed skeletons of his Spanish ancestors. Illustrated with specially taken photographs of sites rarely open to the public and forgotten archive images of others long destroyed, this mesmerising, shocking and deeply moving book is an essential memento mori for our modern age.