If you are a fan of Mulholland and anything it stood for ,good and bad, this is the best thread ever. I was just up there last night and stopped at grandstand. Even though its no where near the same you can still sit up there and vividly imagine what it must have been like. Keep those memories coming before they are too far gone to put into words.

The other day I was talking with a customer of mine about cars. The subject of racing came up and he asked if I have ever been up to Mulholland Drive? Of course I have.. I raced cars and cycles up there with a Cheshire Cat grin.

Then this 82 man said "that road was built for drivers and riders of every kind". I could only respond that's a fact.

Then he told me about a group of cyclists that used to race around Southern California and up on the hill after World War II. This caught my attention because I know or have heard of just about every group, actor, racer etc up on Mul. Then he begins to tell me the story of The Dirt Diggers motorcycle club.

I have to admit I never knew about them. Half way through Mulholland comes up and I'm thinking dirt Mulholland? The old timer tells me where they raced, sometimes on dirt Mul and sometimes not. I ask what he meant with my unwilling patience at this point? He told me they had many "unofficial endurance races" across Mulholland from the Zoo to the sea.

This morning I find an email with the following quote and link:

The Dirt Diggers were formed at the end of the Second World War in 1945. A few of the founding members were scout riders in the war. These brave souls rode Harley's and Indians with no suspension, as this is all that was available. Many of the bikes were war surplus.

The first president was a man named Neil Hansen. In the forties one of the first cross-country events was called a paper chase. A rider was sent 15 minutes ahead and spread little bits of paper wherever he turned to mark his course. The first rider to catch him was declared the winner. The winner would then help write down finishing positions. Later throwing peanut bags filled with lime marked the courses. The BLM stopped that and surveyors tape has been used ever since.

The Dirt Diggers held field meets and races in what was then Venice flats, now known as Marina Del Rey. Other races were held at White Horse, Crater Camp, along with Mulholland Drive. To advertise some of these races Jack Baldwin would wear billboards and wheelie down the main streets of Santa Monica.

The Dirt Diggers are responsible for many firsts in our sport. The first all girl race was put on by the Dirt Diggers called the Petticoat scrambles. They were the first club to put on a night scrambles, the first to have a program for a race and the first club to put on a F.I.M. sanctioned race in the United States. This was the well-known Hopetown, where they set some major attendance records with an astounding thirty eight thousand in attendance over one weekend.

Some of the racers from Europe being the well known Roger DeCoster, Torsten Hallman, and Joel Robert. Throughout the years the club has been through many hardships at times having as few as three members. The club is now very healthy due to the dedication and enthusiasm.


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Hey that's a young Keenan Wynn and Lee Marvin !!!!!!


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I have a lot of respect for an 82 old guy that can capture my attention.

Mul History
 

Great info. Thanks for posting Jeff.

Sad news here about a Mulholland alum...


The Durango Herald 03/12/2015 | Actor Robert Carradine, wife injured in crash

What year was this taken? Steve sanett maybe?
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A little write up on Phil

The Last Banzai Runner Phil Henry - The Fanatic

1980's eye on L.A. Story on the banzai runners
http://youtu.be/JzHDwCRr6D4

Not sure if that is the Sanett car but I dig the photo.

Phil Henry is an awesome bad ass in my book. Guys been around a long time in the automotive circle and still plays the go fast game.

I've seen the Bonzai Runner video before. Another time gone by when brute horse power was king.

Sadly Jas passed away back in 2003. I had been to his business ACI/JRLA many times in the past. As history shows us now it was Jas that really kept Lamborghini alive for a long time until the bottomless pockets arrived. Unfortunately when Chrysler jumped in things changed. Jas was instrumental in getting more high end grey market cars "federalized" that anyone I know of. ACI even got Wiegerts Vector out of the driveway an onto the streets.

Yesterday I'm kicking it watching a couple of old re-runs of Emergency and Adam 12.

A much simpler time in the world with no traffic, no gates, no guardrails.

Life was good in 1968.




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Carls

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Bowmont


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Mid Pits

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Mid Pits

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I'm pretty sure that the top pic in the previous post was taken from the little section of street at the top of Laurel Pass Ave looking East. They filmed some scenes of an Adam-12 episode there. In the story they put in a bus bench at the intersection. Then some guys drove up and stole a ladies purse.

I was thinking the same on that location. They had a better vantage point in 1968.

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And here is some footage of that episode ("Dirt Duel"). I watched them film the purse snatching shots. When they chase the bikers you will notice that they do flip-flop on the direction of travel.

Also, the dirt area where the bikers head off is where The Summit is now. Yes it used to be a big hill. I used to ride my mini-bike there all the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETIElGzs3nM

Here you can see the radio antenna in the background so the dirlttrail visible through the back window is the back side of Grandstands.

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One Adam 12 in pursuit of bikers at the location of Carls Turn.

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I believe this is that little road on the south side of Grandstands back side of the hill.

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The camera had to be standing in Grandstands here. I know the view to the west too well.

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Pretty amazing that of all the moving footage in existence which is not a lot Adam 12 had quite a bit in different episodes and years.

One of those actors looked a bit familiar... checked it out on IMDb and my hunch was correct...

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Times past
 

Cool old shots from the old days, thanks for posting Jeff.

I love the shot of how Bowmont used to look like in photo3, and how flat and nice it was in Mid-Pits shown in photos 4 and 5.

Reminds me of the good 'ol days when we all had way too much fun, lol. :cool:

Interesting coincidence
 

Cool video, thanks for the link.
Loved how they mentioned Indian Dunes to settle a race.
My friends and I went there on a weekly basis, the hills, Shadow Glen, the river, and the big track, good times.

Some big coincidence here:
The big hill where The Summit now stands is where the Vette came down the hill to Mulholland in the movie King of the Mountain...and...the cliffs above the river at Indian Dunes is where they filmed the same Vette falling to it's demise in a fiery crash. Very cool. :cool:

The Summit
 

When they were initially grading The Summit they had left a large berm around the area and up against Grandstands. This was around 1972. I was out with my girlfriend Debbie in my Fiat 850 Spider cruising Mul when I thought it would be cool idea to go over the berm to the flat lots of the Summit Development on the other side as I had done before. I rolled up to the top of the berm and said, "Let's get a running start and get some air". My passenger was screaming, "It's a complete drop off, you're crazy".

I told her to relax and that I knew what I was doing. But what I didn't know was that a grader had under cut the berm on the Summit side. I could not see it from my vantage point with the setting sun and all. She said to me, "You are frigging nuts but OK". So I backed up about 40 feet and off we went. This was just 30 feet west of Grandstands. We cleared the top of the berm which was about 8 feet high and Bamm! Nose first into the dirt. We got tossed about.

I then screamed, "Why didn't you tell me it was a complete drop off?"
Boy was she pissed off, lol.

The car fell flat after a few seconds of having the rear up-ended.
I got out to check the damage.

The entire front end of the car was now straight. It had been previously bent down in a front end accident and I could not afford a frame straightener but now it was fixed for free (along with a little thrill, hahaha).

Later I finished all the bodywork, painted the car (my first auto paint job), and sold it to get a used red 1967 Porsche 912 from the Used Car Lot across from the Playboy Building on Sunset Blvd.

I was lucky to have many fun times over the years on Mulholland with many crazy results. Almost all were Maniac-ville and I am working them into the next book which is taking more time than I anticipated. There just isn't enough time in the day as we all learn over the course of our lives.

Great modeling!!!

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I can only imagine a modern movie shot with todays cameras??


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Where was the location of RPM from King of the Mountain?

Models
 

That is a correct and accurate representation of the Vette from King of the Mountain.
Someone is good at modeling.

I wish I could find an accurate version of Charly's Vette. It is needed for the cover of the next book. Victor met a guy at the Supercar Sunday event years ago that came close to Charly's car.
The car in question has to be Marina Blue, black side pipes, primered wheelwells, Blue Streak Racing Tires sticking out beyond the fenders, bodywork all there, and correct early Stingray body.

If we can't find a car we may have to resort to making a model like the one above.