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I've got a little entertaining story to tell.
See the photo, it's about 1978 and John H. is in his prime racing his modified 911L on Mulholland nightly. He can whoop the butt on just about anyone on Mulholland except for Charlie and myself in my RSR.
One day, I'm in my driveway working on my car as usual and suddenly, here comes John flying down to my house at full speed. He jumps out and says, "come over to the other side of the house to look down Benedict, there's lots of cops searching for me". Holy crapp! We go look down Hutton Dr. and there are cops driving around fast. He was caught speeding in lower Beverly Hills and led the cops up Benedict Canyon. John felt that to get away from the mayhem, he would go the my house to escape. What a mistake!


While we are being entertained watching the black and whites driving around below and the Helicopters that are now circling the canyon, all of a sudden, the choppers turn towards us. They fly directly to my mountaintop. As John and myself run back to his Porsche, here come police cars down my driveway. Oh Shucks! Turns out the police were told to proceed immediatly to my address when the dispatcher found that it was a modified Porsche that they were looking for. You see, the New West article with John and myself had come out and it had my license plate showing, so by that time they knew where I was located on Mul. So it was assumed that it was me who they were looking for, unfortunately John instead was caught at my house of all ironic deals. He was handcuffed and put into the back of a patrol car.


Now he wants me to get into his car to remove his pipe, with all the police around. Holy crapp! So, I ask politely to get the tools out of the car so that they won't get stolen in the impound yard.
I reached in and retrieved the pipe and tools in question with no problem. I felt relieved to have helped my buddy.


Now he wants me to get the small bag of herb out of his pocket. You gotta be kidding, I thought. Well this seemed impossible now with Officers all over the car. I saw him being driven away, and his Porsche impounded. I didn't know what would happen.


Somehow John managed to pull the bag out, and shove it under the front seat of the patrol car. When they arrived at the WLA Police Station, the cops searched their car but not under the front seat. Talk about luck! But for years I've always wondered what happened to the next guy arrested in that same police car trying to explain that that bag wasn't his.


We still talk about this harrowing expereince to this day, and remember it's details. It's one part of Mulholland life and times for John and myself we won't ever forget.

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This is a recent photo taken at the Petersen Automotive Museum at a book signing for "The Mulholland Experience". Left to right are: John Hall, Mark Mitchell, Bart Rome and Mulholland Gary. All these gentlemen are notorious mulholland personalities, great guys, and good friends. These are hardcore Mulholland boys that became legends in their own way. Bravo!

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The very same!

Chris,
Most of the known racing took place east of Coldwater as we all know. West of Coldwater was a little quieter but there are some serious fun zones that were challenging there as well. I honestly preferred the West side. It was faster and graceful if one could hold the line.

But there was something about the Java/ Sumatra/ Dixie area of Mulholland and the Police. A lot of guys used to ditch down those streets because any farther west was a gauntlet with not many places to run and hide if you were id'd. I think that may have been a part of your grief a few times. I can recall many a time I would be flying west through the S Straight and that feeling in my stomach would hit me just as I hit the left turn before Java. Not knowing if a black and white was going to be backed in waiting at Dixie or Java I would stay on it.

I did experience a Helicopter incident and that pesky spotlight from above in that area. I had to leave my car in a driveway and hide in the brush at 100am. Anyone who has ever experienced the sound of rotor blades a hundred feet over your head for any amount of time knows how un-nerving it is. It’s bad enough when a patrol unit is looking for you. Playing hide & seek with a bird was no fun and adding just to the west I could see flashing lights. I was sure it was the end of the road for me that night. Fortunately the patrol to the west went east and the bird went about a half mile south. I hid for another hour with my heart pounding my chest- I was scared and shaking. No jacket, fifty five degree's and a touch of Mul fog.

If for some reason that incident caused a fly over or visit to your place please accept my belated apology for any inconvenience.

Through the years so many were mistaken for others. It was often heard through the grapevine that the cops were always looking for someone in a " " car. Lack of credible identification caused much confusion. Probably why so many racers didn’t get taken away because the cops weren’t really sure who was who?

A look back, was it worth it then? I am sure most would agree yes. Would we do it today on Mulholland? No way.

I met Gary at the booksigning. First time in the daylight!
I recall your sister put the video together, thought it was cool..
Who is "Stilts"? Was that Mark Ralph or someone else?

Ron, you got the memo several weeks ago when Keith surfaced and was added to the CRE mailing list. Get with the program, GEEZE! ;)

I've had a couple Emails with Rocky since he appeared. Next time he's in L.A. we will get together. I'll take him by the old liquor store on Ventura Blvd to get a few Miller Quarts for old time sake! :D

"Stilts" was a nickname Gary recieved because of his 58? Vette that was lifted considerably.He rarely brought it up there,but his ranch"ero"is virtually unchanged in the last thirty years-less the white arrow that ran the length of the side.

Gary or 'Ol Man Gary as we used to call him always got lots of harrassment from the cops. That's because he was older, he was there every night, and he knew lots of the lore of Mulholland which made him interesting to talk to. The cops thought he was some kind of ringleader, we assumed he was Charlie's liason.

Both were wrong. He didn't know Charlie except for seeing him on Mulholland and maybe exchanging a few words. Never a ringleader, Gary has always been the great spectator. He never organized races or took bets or anything like that. He just loved Mulholland likes he still does to this day. A long time ago, he just drove one day from his High School in the Valley up to Mulholland Drive. It was love at first sight. He found the peace, quiet, and beautiful nature there unresistable. I totally understand this, having lived there since birth myself.

He found great places to park where he could read whatever he wanted to, alone and in peace. Later he met the racers and liked to hang out with others as a social thing. He is very knowledgable about the law and was helpful in certain situations.
Nothing has changed for him, he still hangs out on Mulholland but in a different spot. Gary is part of Mulholland lore himself. When something happens on Mul, he usually knows about it first. Just a couple of months ago, he called me telling me that a Porsche had crashed badly near my house and that the driver was yelling about a pothole or something. It was early morning. This was close to Marlon Brandos driveway he said.

The next day I was passing by that spot and saw a two foot by three foot piece of the road missing at the outer edge of what we call Sideways. This is the hard, off camber turn that is a left for you if you are going west; just a couple turns west of European Straight. The poor Porsche probably dropped the right rear wheel into the large pothole while hanging it out, no wonder it flipped over and almost went down the cliff. Ouch!

I don't know how you'all feel about the potholes but it's getting rediculous on Mulholland. They keep patching but not resurfacing. They are probably worried that if the road gets new asphalt, it will be Le Mans up there on Mulholland. But it's too dangerous now, maybe at 2:00 am on a weeknight it might work, maybe. However I cannot recommend it anymore............I miss the old days just like the rest of you.

Jeff, thanks for your comments. I love Mulholland "West" the most, just like you do. Faster, smoother, a longer drive, and for me close to home making it easy to ditch whomever.

I agree that the Dixie/Java/Sumatra area is unusual. Many racers dove up/down those streets evading. The cops probably were hip to what was happening and sometimes concentrated there.

In the research for the book, The Mulholland Experience I found that there were other groups of racers that preceded the MRA. One group in 1960 was using Dixie as a meeting place and used it to ditch black and whites. Some of these racers went on to become famous Race Car Drivers. So even before Grandstands was called the pits, racers used different areas of Mulholland as their ground.
Quite interesting!

Chris, Have you taken any speed runs down Dixie Canyon latley? I'll never forget that ride in your V8 Monza, who was with us in the backseat? Dave? I think that day I said I'll kill you if you don't slow down. Pucker factor on that one....9 And I was always kinda glad I could never fit in the seats in your Carrera, because that car had no belts and I'm a bad passenger. I think we first met the night that guy Tony came up on the hill in his Black lowered 911S and let me take it for a speed run, John jumped in and we jammed over to your house and down your driveway for the first time. That was my first drive in a Porsche and I remember thinking, this car drives different that my Mom's Datsun 710.

Hi Bart, I loved those Dixie runs, I'm so glad you got to experience running it with me. I almost ate it on Dixie about 30 times, what a blast! Dust flying, big invisible ruts hidden in the fine dust, no gaurdrails with a cliff on one side and a vertical wall of rock on the other, and driving to the ragged edge, awesome. Talk about a good time.

Unfortunatly, Dixie has been closed now to thru traffic. There are fire gates at the top and bottom of the dirt section. When the traffic was too heavy on the canyon roads of the 90's, I always used Dixie as a shortcut to the Valley. I used to go down to Ventura in the morning and pick up my friend that used to help me with my projects. I saw a lot of illegal dumping of debris on Dixie, and one day we smelled bad stuff over the side. I called the Police and they found another body dumped over the cliff in vegitation(this had happened for years). Neighbors got together, signed petitions, and rallied with the Councilman to close Dixie. I was responsible for getting all signatures north of Muholland.

When I was young I used Dixie on my bicycle to go get candy at the liquor store on Ventura. One day in 1966 I was hauling ass down the long upper straightaway when I hit one of those hidden ruts and went flying over the handlebars. I sat there in the dust and for about 10 minutes everything was in black and white, no color vision at all. Ahh my first concussion, thanks for the memories...

AWESOME. HEARD THAT SOMEONE FROM THE GANG HAD LOCATED YOU! INTERENET IS GREAT FOR HOOKING UP WITH LOST BUDDIES. WHO IN CRE HAS YOUR NUMBERS? WE HAVE A
REUNION EVERY YEAR OF SORTS.

WHEN I READ YOUR RACE WITH CHARLIE MY FIRST THOUGHT WAS "HEY THIS IS B.S. I NEVER SAW A MUSTANG THAT COULD HOLD WITH CHARLIE."** THEN I REMEMBERED YOUR CAR AND REMEMBERED THAT YOU INDEED HAD A RACE WITH HIM AND EVEN RECALLED YOU HAVING THE FLAT.

** ALTHOUGH I DID SEE CHARLIE BEING CHASED BY A FAST BACK MUSTANG WITH THE BOTTOM OF THE RIGHT FRONT FENDER FLAPPING IN THE BREEZE ONE NIGHT. I DIDN'T RECOGNIZE THE
CAR BUT SOMEONE TOLD ME IT WAS CARL. THE SAME CARL
WHO WAS NAMED FOR CARL'S TURN. IT WAS SAID THEIR RACE BEGAIN AT THE HOLLYWOOD FREEWAY. I KNOW WE FIRST SPOTTED THEM FROM THE GRANDSTANDS AS THEY ROUNDED A FEW TURNS ON THE OTHERSIDE OF LAUREL. THEY WERE HAULING BUTT. CARL IN THAT OLD MUSTANG WAS GIVING IT HIS ALL.

STILL GOT THE HOTS FOR THAT WATRESS AT THE COFFEE SHOP ON VENTURA? LOL

BY THE WAY WE KNOW WHERE BULLWINKLE IS!

That's probably one of the reasons that he's moving. http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/king2.gif

_________________________________________
Jeff Hail wrote:

I remember in the summer of 1987 they did a full re-pave from Barham to the Glen. I had just bought a Starion ESiR and it was like glass. Fall came and they paved from the Glen all the way to Encino Hills. For a about 3 years there was a spike of activity. Nothing like the late 70's but the road was smoother than it had been as long as I could remember.

Major construction projects west of the Glen (where the surveillance cameras are) caused a lot of heavy truck traffic back and forth. This took its toll and accelerated the degradation on the road again. Runoff has forever been a problem.

Dixie Canyon was fun. Dark and quiet. I remember when I was going south up to Mul the home at the top of the ridge always had these flood lights that would radiate out into the mist on the valley side.

Camino de le Cumbre was also cool. The S turns at the lower part by the girls school. Flat turns but you could carve around them.

Does anyone remember a guy named Ron Harford? He was few years older than I and may have gone to school with someone here. He lived off Sunshine Terrace just east of Laurel. He ran a beater car for a couple of years. Ron worked for Dennis Davis at Europa Bicycles on Van Nuys Blvd late 70's early 80's.

Ron had this 68 Ford Squire Station Wagon that got T-boned hard in the center post. He never fixed it but drove it like that for probably 10 years. The frame was bent like a banana, the wagon dog tracked something wicked. I remember running into Ron on the hill in that wood grain and white Squire many times. The rear end looked like it was on casters when it went around turns. It just made people point and laugh.

Ron was into road bicycles (velodrome ) and would come down Laurel at 60-70 miles an hour doing the Ironman. He got clipped by a car once and got some pretty bad rash and few nights in a hospital bed. Healed and got back on to do it over again. Ron is the only person I know who rode Mulholland on a bicycle and could keep up with traffic. He would get in front of cars and not let them pass. He wouldn't slow you down it was him going fast enough on a bike that you didn't want to pass him. Being a racer I thought this was hilarious. Ron was the only one I ever knew who died up there. Early 90's I found out after loosing touch with him he got clipped again by a car and didn't make it.

Ron looked like Johnny Knoxville of Jackass. Maybe he reincarnated?

Pretty funny as tax time approaches.
I found the frequency codes tucked away in a drawer for my scanner I used to keep in my car. Have no idea how much grief this saved me and a lot of other guys on Mulholland Drive.
Late eighties the cops switched to dual side bands and then went encrypted on the tac frequencies. Made scanners useless.

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Considering the time we were pretty high tech savvy. I am sure the cops wondered when they had someone boxed in where they disappeared to? It must have drove them nuts.

In the early eighties the cops got smarter, They would do drive bys at Grandstands and take down license plates to see who they were registered to. A lot of guys got popped that way. If they knew you were a regular and knew where you lived they knew which way you would leave.

I used to fill up at the 76 Stations on Coldwater/ Ventura and Vineland/ Ventura. I got to know the attendants pretty well and many times the cops would be in the parking lot late at night just watching cars. If you went up the hill they went too minute or two behind you.

How many times did we see our friends pulled over in front of Harvard School getting an invitation to make a donation or an equipment inspection?

A good friend of mine Eric Odnert who passed away in 1988 was one of the few Cafe racers on the Hill. He had a Ducati Mike Hailwood Special (Red, White and Green) and a stable of RD400's. He would just get nuts up there. If the cops eyed him he would just go faster and disappear. Nothing like the sound of Desmodromic valves and open exhaust on Mulholland to get your blood pumping.

The cops got smart one night, they got his license plate number when he was hanging out at Grandstands. The cops knew they couldnt catch him up there. Next time Eric ran from them they were waiting for him at his house when he came home. He would call me up at 300am to tell me the cops just visited. That happened 4 times. They never gave him a ticket because he would demand they prove it was him "did you see my face"? Of course not because he always wore a full face.

Chris, any relation to Gene Banning , author of "Speedway", copyright 1983 ?? Excellent Indy 500 (pre and post war) reading, especially all of the SoCal connections .
Marty

Hi Maltese Falcon, sorry no relation to Gene Banning.

I love these stories that have been posted on this thread. It's really entertaining to hear about all the exploits on Mulholland.

I recall that in the 70's, we used to go down to Four 'n Twenty restaurant on Laurel Canyon to have pie or a late dinner. Most of you have experienced that. One night I'm following John H. in his newly repainted burgundy Lotus Elan. We turn left to go down Laurel from Mulholland. The road was slightly damp from foggy conditions as it sometimes is. We were still going pretty fast. As we go around a downhill right I see John start to lose control. He spun around and around in slow motion right in front of me. I had to play gaurd for him so that no cars behind us would hit him. Unbelieveably, he regained control while pointed downhill and still moving. He just put his foot into it and kept on going just like he had planned it that way. When we got to Four 'n Twenty we had some good laughs talking about the spin. Definetely good for a cheap thrill. Way to go Johnny.

Note: John's passenger was a little pale and wide eyed from the experience.

Gone a week & look what happens
 

"CRE
Junior Member

Registered: Feb 2007
Location:
Posts: 25


SEEMED A BUNCH OF THOSE GUYS WERE WORKING AT A PIZZA PLACE IN THE VALLEY AND WERE PRETTY SET ON BRINGING THE PLACE TO IT'S FINANCIAL KNEES. TOMMY MIGHT HAVE WORKED AT THE SAME PLACE.



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03-07-2007 06:17 PM



TRE Cup
Senior Member

Registered: Feb 2002
Location: North Hollywood, Calif
Posts: 4976
Jacopo's on the corner of moorpark and woodman. When a a-hole client would call in, they would spit on the pizza before putting it in the oven!
I always remembered to tip well to OTHER pizza places after seeing that! They probably were responsible for its demise"




SSB
Grand Pooh-bah

No,no,no,no,no,no. It was Gallo's Pizza and I worked there with Glen & Rich making our specialty, "Skull & Crossbones Pizza's" Special flavoring? I never heard or saw that. Remember I ate there too.