WALKING-TOUR BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND
We are going to be continuing our ghost story and haunted history walking tour series with a most exciting adventure! Join Shmuel Gonzales (the Barrio Boychik), a sixth-generation local, historian and community organizer in Boyle Heights; and founder of BOYLE HEIGHTS HISTORY STUDIOS - our grassroots museum and cultural center. Together we will share the ghostly storytelling of our culturally rich community, and along the way learn how not to be afraid in the dark!
Join me and some of my ghostly storytelling enthusiasts on this special tour. This time we are going to visit these key historic sites that you have all asked about and that we have only talked about until now. We are also going to swing by some important sites and institutions relating to the diverse ethnic groups of historic Boyle Heights, and reveal some interesting information about how these cultures traditionally handle death and mourning, as well as haunting and poltergeist activity; though all the while focusing on how the people historically related to these sites might have tried to help people’s souls rest in peace.
We are going to be taking an evening walk through part of the historic core of Boyle Heights and go past some of these spooky sites:
- The Linda Vista Hospital – This building has long been recognized as the most haunted building in America! It was originally opened as a hospital to treat railway workers of the Santa Fe Railroad in 1905. It later became a local hospital with a shady reputation, that ended-up closing in the early 1990s. For many years it remained vacant and run down, and often used to film horror film. We will explore both the facts and the urban legends which surround this site, and reveal how it has been positively reclaimed as low-income housing for seniors.
- Hollenbeck Park – One of the most fashionable parks in its day, it is still a central part of the community. Here we will talk about a most notorious ghost which has haunted our park for over a century, known by many locals simply as "The Woman in Black." And maybe we might even run into the ghosts of silver screen actors such as Laurel and Hardy, who filmed their famous classic film "Men ‘O War" in this very lake!
- The Sanatorium and Orphans Home – In the shadow of many beautiful places for people to convalesce in the warm weather of Southern California, sat this Sanitarium with a very dark history and run by madmen doctors. Later on this building got a redeeming second chance, as the location of the Jewish Orphans Home; bringing the first Jewish residents to the neighborhood. We will learn how orphans and senior homes drew many original residents to the neighborhood, and identify these sites. Are there even some seemingly happy spirits hanging out at these places? We will talk all about that too.
- Breed Street Elementary – Many children have rumors about their schools being haunted. Did you know that many of our local schools were built on top of old cemeteries or on sites where graves were once moved from? We will talk about this gruesome history together.
- On this tour will will also talk about the famous ghost story in American folklore – the Disappearing Girl. We will also learn about the foundational history local modern-day Chicano celebration of Día de los Muertos, founded at this neighborhood just 50 years ago.
- And we will discuss so much more along the way!
This tour is intended to be both an informative and lighthearted tour. We will embrace both the cultural and oral histories of the neighbor. We will also talk about how in many ethnic traditions there are healthy ways to come to terms with death and to also perpetuate the memories of our loved ones which will live on in us. On this tour will we honor the souls of all those who came before us, and commit ourselves to always helping the souls of our forebears into the Light!
THE WALKING TOUR will begin at 6 pm for check-in at HOLLENBECK PARK - Located at 415 South St. Louis Street, Los Angeles, 90033. We will be meeting right OUTSIDE of the Hollenbeck Community Center building located just south of Fourth Street on South St. Louis Street.
This is a complete walking tour and you must be able to walk and stand the entire time; there will be few locations for sitting during this walking tour.
PARKING: There is limited parking in the neighborhood surrounding the park. Please, do not park in the Community Center-Gymnasium parking lot as it will be locked at night, and they are very strict. You can also find parking located one block west on Cummings Street, which has many parking stalls up against the freeway. Our location is walking distance from both of the Gold Line stations, equal distance from Mariachi Plaza and Soto Station.
REMINDERS: There are no refunds. If you are ill, please stay home and contact to make arrangements to attend a future event.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS: https://www.bhhistorytours.com/terms-and-conditions
