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February, 2003 A
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But Is It Haunted? 616
North Doheny Drive
Is It Haunted?
In Los Angeles, the big buzz is about the resurgence of a Hollywood favorite, the House Of Fisher Boutique and it's legendary owner, Max Fisher. And ISPR.Net has the exclusive first scoop. Since 1993, Max has operated the highly successful and haunted All Star Café and House of Fisher Boutique inside the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood. After a sudden and unexpected turn of events at the Knickerbocker Hotel in 2001, Max moved his House of Fisher Boutique to the lobby of the formerly haunted Vogue Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, just 2 blocks east of Mann's Chinese Theatre and the Hollywood & Highland mall.
The House of Fisher Boutique is open Thursday through Sunday, from Noon until 8:00 p.m. With the amazing selection of antiques (perfect to try your hand at psychometry), gifts, specialty candles and novelty bath products, it's the most perfect place in Hollywood and Beverly Hills to find absolutely unique gifts for everyone - including yourself. The following is courtesy of All Star Café.Net: About David Fisher, A.K.A. Max Fisher David Fisher, as Max, who appeared in films in his childhood days, has returned to the silver screen after a long hiatus. You can see him in films like, The Doors, Upstairs Neighbor and Relax, It's Just Sex with Jennifer Tilly. The later two were shot at the All Star Café. Max also appears in the music video Higher Ground by the group Harliquin's Grove. Again shot at the All Star Café. Also shot at the All Star, KCET TV's movie production of Long Shadows. Max Fisher and the All Star Café have appeared on the Haunted Knickerbocker episode of Sightings.
All the stars would gather here at the original bar of the Knickerbocker since 1923. It has now been reborn into the ultimate 1920's coffeehouse as the All Star Theatre Café & Speakeasy (1993 - 2001). Valentino would ride his horse down from the Ivar Hills to drink and dance the tango. Frances Farmer had lived in the hotel, which was mandatory per Paramount (Paramount Pictures). It was this bar that Frances was dragged nude through with only a shower curtain wrapped around her, then subsequently the lobotomy was performed on her. In the 1930's and 1940's, it was deemed unbecoming for Paramount to have a strong-willed woman as a movie star, as Frances could not be controlled by the studio chiefs. Thus the lobotomy was performed in an effort to keep her quiet and more under the studio's control. Unfortunately the studio along with her mother had wanted the fame and money of her daughter being a movie star, but in a controlled environment. Sadly enough, after the lobotomy, the mother had kept from Frances, the official documentation from the mental institution that declared her sane and competent. In the 1950's, a woman who lived on Gower, had taken care of Frances until her death. See the film: "Frances" with Jessica Lange or read Farmer's autobiography, "Will There Really Be A Morning?" Bess (Harriet) Houdini, widow of Harry Houdini would conduct seances on the roof of the Knickerbocker in a futile attempt to communicate with her dead magician husband. These bizarre seances would be conducted every year on the anniversary of Houdini's death on Halloween in 1926. Harriet would hold seances until 1936, when she gave up her quest to speak with her husband using the secret code word between them. Each October 30th, Max holds his own annual Houdini séance. Everyone is welcome. In 1962, Irene, a famous dress designer to the stars, (Marlene Dietrich, "Easter Parade", "Gas Light", etc.), leaped to her death from a bathroom window and fell onto the hotel canopy where she went unnoticed for several days. Her suicide note read that she had financial woes with her husband. The note was made out to the hotel guests, and apologized for any inconvenience that her death might cause them. Cary Cooper was one of her lovers. Elvis Presley used to live in the Knickerbocker Hotel, which was his favorite hotel when he was in Hollywood. Elvis loved this hotel, and the famous song that Hoyt Axton's mother wrote about it - Heartbreak Hotel. On Elvis trading cards, the king of rock & roll is pictured on various poses on the hotel beds. Room 1016 was his suite. D.W. Griffith had lived on the 10th floor. One day, he managed to drag himself downstairs only to collapse dead under the art deco chandelier in the lobby. Unfortunately, D.W. Griffith had become an alcoholic. The Hollywood he had created had forgotten about him. Note: the art deco chandelier in the lobby cost $125,000 in the 1920's! Marilyn Monroe used to sneak through the back kitchen of the All Star Café to rendezvous with Joe Dimaggio in this bar. Joe Dimaggio and Marilyn Monroe had their honeymoon in the Knickerbocker Hotel. Their plan of escape was elevator #3 as shown in an episode of the television series Sightings. William Frawley (Fred Mertz in I Love Lucy), used to live in the Knickerbocker Hotel. He would come down every night to have a cracked walnut put in his drink. One day, he went out in front of the hotel and dropped dead on the sidewalk of a heart attack. The chandeliers in the center of the All Star Café are from the kitchen of Liberace's Hollywood mansion. The ice in your All Star Café drink is from the ice machine Liberace kept in his own bar. In the film, The Graduate, the All Star Café bar is where Dustin Hoffman's character would meet Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). Mae West, Barbara Stanwyck, Lana Turner, Frank Sinatra, The Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, Cecil B. DeMille, Hedda Hopper, and a cast of others have all lived at the Knickerbocker Hotel as well. |
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| Daena Smoller ISPR 4712-541 Admiralty Way Marina del Rey, CA 90292 323.644.8866 E-Mail: Dsmoller@ispr.net |
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