Check out the incredible post that John Cox at Wild About Harry posted about his visit last month with Patrick Culliton to the Walker’s “Houdini Estate” in Laurel Canyon. He lays out the full history of the famous property, including the guest house where Houdini may have stayed when he came to California in 1919 to film his two features of Famous Players-Lasky, The Grim Game and Terror Island. Below is a snippet from the post:
“ — and when the magician came to California in 1919 to film his two features for Famous Players-Lasky, The Grim Game and Terror Island, he and Bess are said to have stayed at Walker’s guesthouse at 2435 Laurel Canyon Blvd.
Now, it needs to be said that we don’t (yet) have smoking gun evidence that puts Houdini and Bess in the Walker guesthouse in 1919. But we do have circumstantial evidence. In Harold Kellock’s Houdini His Life Story (page 271), it says that Houdini spent “his leisurely evenings at home in the modest bungalow he had rented in Hollywood” and that “fellow players returning from late parties, who might have been moved to investigate the solitary light burning in the Houdini bungalow, would have seen the Handcuff king and escape artist scratching busily with his pen at a table littered with manuscripts and old volumes.”
The house at 2435 did indeed sit on a bluff above Laurel Canyon Blvd where, yes, one would have been able to see a solitary light burning in the window while driving to and from parties in the Hollywood Hills. The property was also practical — being relatively close to the Lasky studio (which sat at Sunset and Vine), and scenes from The Grim Game were shot in Laurel Canyon. There is also no other address for Houdini at this time. “
Los Angeles Relics Postcard
Also check out John’s post from May 28, 2011:
“The card shows A Shady Nook in Laurel Canyon Hollywood, California; But to Houdini buffs, it shows much more!”
Thanks for the shout-out. 🙂