QUIZ – What Lies Beneath? #1
A few of you got it! Nice shootin’, Tex! The answer is after the jump. :)
Okay, we’re going to try a new game. Here’s how it goes… first we’ll give you a location (see below). Now, it’s been widely stated that something (or someone) *very* notable once happened (or lived) within yards of the exact point shown on the map.
Within 24 hours we’ll give you the full details… but just to be sadistic and challenge you, we’re going to give you a little time to guess what we’re referring to first. And don’t you dare go cheating by googling the address. That’s not fair!!!
Happy guessing!
***********
Okay, here goes. The cul de sac shown directly below was once the location of (drum roll please)…
… the bungalow where one-time frontiersman, prospector, saloon-keeper, gambler and famous lawman Wyatt Earp, principal survivor of the Gunfight at the OK Corral, spent the last days of his life with his common-law wife Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp (“Sadie”). Earp died on the property on January 13, 1929 at the surprisingly ripe old age of 80. The photo at right is said to have been taken on the property shortly before his death.
As documented by the West Adams Historical Association:
“Josephine described the next part of their lives, from 1901 to Wyatt’s death in 1929, as “our happiest years together”… She said of those days, “We would wander over the deserts of Nevada, Arizona and California with a camping outfit during the pleasant fall, winter and spring months…
“They generally spent the hot summer months in Los Angeles, where they rented various small houses, the last of which was the house at 4004 W. 17th Street in West Adams.
“In the early 1920s Wyatt tried to get the silent film industry to take up his story. He became friends with early Western stars William S. Hart and Tom Mix, and in several letters suggested that Hart use Wyatt’s biography as the basis of a film…
“Wyatt Earp died at the house on 17th Street on January 13, 1929. William S. Hart served as a pallbearer and Western actor Tom Mix attended, as did many of the old timers from Tombstone, the Klondike, and the Nevada and Whipple Mountain mining camps. A lengthy obituary in the Los Angeles Times said in part, “it was like a reunion of the sturdy men and women who knew Wyatt as a wiry, six-foot, two-gun officer of the law in mining town, cow camp and almost anywhere along the frontier where trouble was apt to pop loose.”…
“Josephine arranged to have Wyatt buried in the Hills of Eternity Jewish cemetery in Colma, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. At the time of her death in 1944 she was living at 1812 W. 48th Street in South Los Angeles.
31 Responses to “QUIZ – What Lies Beneath? #1”
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I was gonna say that this was the site where the Black Dhalia was found, but that was further south, near Crenshaw and Vernon. So….you have me stumped!
I live in West Adams! Was this where Wyatt Earp used to live?
Might be Black Dahlia- I thought it was Norton and 34th but I could be wrong…
Is this where Marvin Gaye’s parents lived, and he was shot?
I know Wyatt Earp lived around there. Wasn’t he a lifeguard in Santa Monica?
the rodney king los angeles riots.
hotel where JF Kennedy’s brother was shot?
no, that’s at the ambassador hotel close to wilshire blvd. i believe they tore it down in 2005 to put some LAUSD building there. they shot the movie bobby in an old abandoned hotel up the street on the edge of alvarado park. pretty cool building.. they only use it to shoot movies in now. i lived across the street at the time and we could see them shooting it out front.
Right, Bobby Kennedy was shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire, which was once located right across the street from the HMS Bounty… the restaurant/bar where we had our most recent HiddenLA cocktail night.
Oh geez I stood on that very spot once, in the kitchen. Very strange indeed…
House where Wyatt Earp died.
Thought it was the Rodney King site but that can’t be right…can it?
Marion Parker’s abduction?
Site of discovery of Black Dahlia murder victim’s remains.
black dahlia is actually S. Norton Ave and 39th Street.
Great story! I love how the folks here who were wrong were all guessing violence and murders, and it was actually a gunslinger who died peacefully of old age!
there was just a story on him on PBS’ “American Experience” I don’t think it mentioned this; I lived in Newhall and knew he was friends with Wm S Hart it’s documented when you see Bill’s Mansion up there.
SUPER COOL!!!! I love this new game!
I knew he died in LA but in a general way. It is cool to have the actual location. Makes it and him more real.
Any idea why his wife had him buried in a Jewish cemetery?
Earp also ran several brothels in his early days, before he became a prominent lawman in Tombstone. There is an excellent PBS documentary which I think is still available to watch on http://www.pbs.org – American Experience…
http://video.pbs.org/video/1390089466/
Wyatt Earp is buried in a Jewish cemetery??? What’s the story on that? Thought you had to be Jewish.
According to JewishJournal.com, Wyatt Earp’s wife was Jewish but he wasn’t.
He was buried in a Jewish cemetery in Colma—was Wyatt Earp Jewish?
Wow… looking at Old Pics there were some Nice area’s back then. The West Adams is still nice in Parts… where the restored homes area 48th St….NOPE 39th Norton Oh My down the street from one of my Offices… we should get some Then and Now pics
Interesting. Was Wyatt Earp Jewish?
Brava!!!
Send more please. :-)
I live in that neighborhood. The signs around it (Venice to Washington, Arlington to Crenshaw) say its called “Arlington Heights” I always figured west adams was closer to USC.
haha all these different neighborhood names can be confusing!
Nice one. I drive right by there all the time. Now I know something new.
His real name was Erpstein!
I thought Wyatt Earp lived San Bernardino? maybe I was thinking someone else.
The Whole story of the OK corral is very small in comparasion to the stuff
that went on in Pioche, Nevada.