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The
Houdini Estate +
Laurel Canyon Tunnel
ORIGINAL "HOUDINI ESTATE" RUINS
The Houdini Estate
{photo views from 2401 L.C.}
RE:
The Rock & Roll Treehouse
"The House is rumored to have been used by Harry Houdini for
secret rendezvous and is connected by a secret tunnel that
connects it to the "Houdini House" located directly across Laurel
Canyon."
Many of the popular myths & ghost stories concerning the intersection of
Laurel Canyon & Lookout Mountain derive from Harry Houdini's ownership
of the estate across the street from the Log Cabin/Treehouse estate.
 I
believe that the "Houdini Estate" and "Houdini's Tunnel"
are, by far, the most popular of
the hundreds of myths associated with any of the famed Laurel Canyon properties.
First off, let me say that I had the good fortune to befriend Patrick
Williams, the owner of "The Houdini Estate" back in 1999, prior to
his sale of the property. At that time, he had renovated the main house, cleaned up
the entrance/driveway and the expansive grounds, and built a new guest/caretaker's house. He was
totally enthralled with the Houdini mythology
and accompanying aura, and I'm sure he realized that it added to the
property's value. Whatever the motivation, we shared hours of
conversation on his ideas, my experiences across the street,
a possible
screenplay, etc. I was given free run of the
entire estate for research.
Obviously, I had enjoyed the same luxury across the street for almost 20
years.
"I would
like to take this opportunity to state that at least the "tall
tales" in reference to 2401 Laurel Canyon are based on actual
residents, many of their guests, and indeed, documented incidents.
Maybe not quite as reported, but hey, we all love a good story."
"The "Houdini Estate" stories are another matter entirely."
The Houdini Tunnel:
One of the first things I did after
Bob Crosby took
possession of the property was to search for this infamous bit of
Hollywood folklore - the mysterious tunnel!
Whether Houdini's or not - I had to know!
Bob and
I searched together and I spent several hours on my own, searching both
the upper & lower grounds for this tunnel. I might add that, although
skeptical, I had witnessed multiple discoveries on the grounds -
overgrown stairways, stone benches, meditation areas, intricately
constructed walls & artifacts, etc. {see right}
I can emphatically state that there is no sign of any tunnel near
the Treehouse and adjoining area, The only possibility is down in the
lower lot corner next to the two streets. Crosby excitedly proclaimed
that we had located Houdini's subterranean passage to his Treehouse
Trysts. I felt it was perhaps a very old municipal water meter casing, crushed
by the roots of what was now at least a 6 ft. in diameter palm tree
stump, next to the discovery. Regardless, I found no sign of anything
even closely related anywhere on the "Houdini" lot.
I
use quotation marks with the name "Houdini" because
my
research on the "Houdini" Estate has unearthed some startling
revelations. Back in 1999, while considering a participation in a
"Houdini Estate" screenplay, I tried to find some authentication of the
famed estate ever belonging to Harry Houdini. Not only could I not find
any documentation of ownership, I failed to find anything, beyond
stories, about Harry
Houdini ever visiting. I located several references to Harry's wife, Bess,
who was a guest of the mansion's owner, R. J. Walker (visits ranged from "one" to
"often").
About six months ago, (Thursday, September 11, 2008 07:22 PM)
I purchased a copy of Michael Walker's excellent book:
 LAUREL
CANYON
I would recommend this book to
anyone who is a music fan, or interested in the social history of
California, Los Angeles, Hollywood, the film business, the '60s,
hippies, you name it. Required reading for Baby Boomers and their
children! The subject matter, expressed in the author's most readable
style, is reminiscent of the lyrical, flowing musical styles of the
finest artists from Laurel Canyon. As a result, the well documented book
flows through the chapters with ease.
Pop in Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's 'Deja Vu' CD, and kick back
with a book that is sure to inform, impress, even surprise, the most
knowledgeable Music Fan.
Because the author, Michael Walker,
didn't arrive in Laurel Canyon until 1991, he was forced to rely on
interviews instead of personal experience. He was able to round up an
impressive list of big name Laurel Canyon celebrities, and 'local legends',
to recount their stories of 'the good old Canyon days'.
Personally, I take issue with a few of his sources,
but I wouldn't dare question the opinions of such Canyon stalwarts as Kim Fowley
and Michael Des Barres.
I had planned on enclosing a
few quotes from Walker's informative and quite accurate record of
Laurel Canyon's history and its rightful place in Rock & Roll
History.
The author discusses the "Canyon Myths", and includes his opinion on
many...
"Everybody
in the canyon, it seems, has a version of Houdini-house
reality—but the real reality is that Houdini himself probably
never lived there".
- there’s
supposedly a secret tunnel beneath Laurel Canyon Boulevard
that connects the properties—”I never found out if that
was true,” Zappa said.
Then I happened
upon his equally informative, but
lengthy, website,
and discovered this fascinating update:
http://www.laurelcanyonthebook.com/?cat=38
.
THIS IS ONE I CAN BELIEVE!
*
In addition
to the above quotes, I have liberally used quite a bit of
information from Michael Walker's pre-eminent work, including many of Henry
Diltz's fine photos from the era.
Harry Houdini has been credited with the
famous line about his biography:
"When the legend is greater than the truth -- print the legend!"
I enclosed
the above quote to emphasize that whether or not Harry Houdini had
"even heard of" the Laurel Canyon Tunnel, he wouldn't have debunked
the myth. Whatever the case, I've copied the following excerpts from
another website about Houdini and this one goes way beyond the simple
claim of Houdini's ownership of the property.
Author
- Troy Taylor -
http://www.prairieghosts.com/hollywood6.html
 Bess
Houdini continued to hold séances in hopes of communicating with her
late husband but as the years went by, she began to lose hope that she
would ever hear from him. The last "official" Houdini séance was held on
Halloween night of 1936, 10 years after Houdini had died. A group of
friends, fellow magicians, occultists, scientists and Bess Houdini
herself gathered in Hollywood, on the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel.
Eddy Saint, a former carnival and vaudeville showman who had also worked
as a magician had arranged the gathering. He had been recommended to
Bess a few years before in New York to act as her manager, although
concerned friends had actually hired him to watch over her and to
protect her from being taken advantage of. A genuine affection developed
between then and eventually they began sharing a bungalow together in
Hollywood, a place where Bess had enjoyed living during her husband’s
brief movie career.
http://www.prairieghosts.com/houdini.html
On a dark night around
1918, a full moon was gazing down upon the Hollywood hills. On a rugged
hillside stood a gothic, castle-like mansion that had been built several
years before by the wealthy owner of one of the city’s largest furniture
stores.
This was the first tragedy to occur that could be connected to the gothic
mansion, but it would not be the last. In fact, it has been said that
the place is cursed and that all those who occupied the house were
plagued by bad luck and disaster. In addition to the murder, other
strange events have taken place here over the years and many of those
have involved the man who purchased the house from the furniture store
owner. His name was Harry Houdini and he lived in the mansion during his
short career with the fledging movie industry in the 1920’s. While he
lived in the house, it became a frequent host to séances, strange
experiments and more.. and some say this cursed castle may have finally
cost the famous magician his life!
Houdini continued to attend séances
and hosted many of his own in his new home in Hollywood.
Houdini became involved with the new
film industry in California. He believed that he would earn a fortune in
this new aspect of his career and invested over $100,000 in the
business. The venture was launched by one of his friends, Arnold
deBiere, and Houdini starred in a number of the company’s own
productions. He appeared in the films as an escape artist with a flair
for the supernatural. The films included, The Man from Beyond, Terror
Island, The Master Mystery and several short serials. Unlike his stage
career, the movies never showed a profit and one of them, Haldane of the
Secret Service, was a total disaster. After losing most of his
investment, Houdini and his friend deBiere got into a violent argument
at the Laurel Canyon mansion. They never again spoke of or to each
other. As far as Houdini was concerned, deBiere was dead to him.
Houdini’s Hollywood investments had him spending a lot of time in
southern California and he soon purchased a house here. He bought a
looming castle from the estate of a local furniture magnate and soon
moved in. The house certainly fit his theatrical personality with its
parapets, battlements and spooky towers. The foundation of the mansion
was honeycombed with tunnels, secret passages and chambers.
*
One tunnel
even ran beneath what is now Laurel Canyon Road.
*
In one of the castle’s lower chambers was a deep pool in which Houdini
practiced his underwater escapes. For years, it was even rumored that in
these subterranean passages was a hidden chest containing Houdini’s
greatest secrets. If it’s here, it has never been found.
Séances were conducted regularly in Houdini’s home, mostly in an attempt
to communicate with his mother
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