What happened to the Mulholland "King of the Hill" RSR?

[t6dpilot]

Radu and Derek,

Thanks for the offer - we may take you up on that. It would be fun to do it with fellow Pelicans. I suspect though, that we will spend most of the day Sunday at the Historics, so may miss your drive. I will keep in touch as the time gets near.

[gostraight]

Scott, There is no way we're gonna make the ride that Sunday. Mulholland drive is 6 hrs away from Monterey or Laguna Seca, in Los angeles. Monterey and Laguna are Northern Cal. I was under the impresion that you will come down the following week...

[CRE]

Originally posted by Jeff Hail
Bowmont (in Red)
Grandstands (Green)


Why did the gate get installed? First it made parking more than two cars impossible. No parking, no loitering. I am sure the racing had something to do with it as many used it as a get away. The installation came after the high point of the racing scene. I am also sure the residents who knew what was going on below put some pressure on and formed an association. The A List of Hollywood's who's who that lived on Bowmont: Jon Voight, Morgan Fairchild, Francis Albert Sinatra, Katherine Hepburn.........Bowmont was THE address to have. Add a gate and it defines a demarcation point for the us and them mentality. Gated streets and communities were just getting started back then. Wouldn't doubt the Manson thing years before still had folks up there paranoid. Gates create artificial security.

Great shot of Grandstands. You can still see the footprint of the original lot which was huge by todays remnant. Today there is a concrete sidewalk and benches to enjoy the view east.

NICE SHOTS, JEFF. YES, THEY PUT THE 'GATE' UP DURING OUR (CRE) time on the Mulholland. I don't remember exactly what the date was. Dave. B. might know. I do remember it certainly surprised a few guys that didn't know it was there and had hooked a right onto bowmont at speed only to find the gate!

I suppose it was placed there because a good many used that road to escape the cops and/or as another access to Mulholland.

Once could turn off at the residential sweeper and then through a good many back streets & roads get back to Mulholland via
Bowmont.

-- CRE --

[Jeff Hail]

Originally posted by CRE
NICE SHOTS, JEFF. YES, THEY PUT THE 'GATE' UP DURING OUR (CRE) time on the Mulholland. I don't remember exactly what the date was. Dave. B. might know. I do remember it certainly surprised a few guys that didn't know it was there and had hooked a right onto bowmont at speed only to find the gate!

I suppose it was placed there because a good many used that road to escape the cops and/or as another access to Mulholland.

Once could turn off at the residential sweeper and then through a good many back streets & roads get back to Mulholland via
Bowmont.

-- CRE --

The gate went up summer of 1984. For a couple of months it sat open until the access controls were re-installed. The original controls went missing courtesy of Doug B. one night. (we love you Doug)

We lost access to Bowmont, Hazen Drive and Briarcrest Lane then. Many recall Hazen Drive led up to the KYSR Radio tower on the backside and then up a drive way off Briarcrest to the tower. From the Skyline/ Edwin side there was a huge plateau that you could probably land a helicoptor on. The Edwin side had a deadend and chainlink fence that was locked occasionally. You had to tramp thru 50 yards of brush from the Edwin side to get a good view.

Back in the day it was possible to be on the station property to park and get a birdseye view of going on's below. It wasn't a great view since Sweeper was out of view just east of Bowmont but you could see clean to Grandstands and from Carls to the east with the exception of a few blindspots.

I recall a few times guys were spotting on radios for cop presence from the nest. I also recall some film footage was shot in 1981. There was a film crew that did some daylite and night shots for about a week. I can only imagine it was for K.O.T.M. They had some Night- Suns that made the night become the day.
Most of the footage for K.O.T.M. was shot in Griffith Park and since I didnt have anything to do with it others here may elaborate better than I can.

This all came to an end in October of 1984. The gate was officially residence access only.

CRE..I think many a racer got a rude surprise when they turned onto Bowmont with no where to go. It was Officer Harrison's favorite place to back in and park. Playing cat and mouse. It was dark and you couldn't tell what kind of car was sitting there until it was too late? I personally became cautious until I passed Bowmont to get on it when the gate was up. Most of the time I would pace it back and forth to see who was up there first before making any runs. Kind of like walking the course which I have done.

[Banning]

Jeff, thanks for accuratly determining the date of the Bowmont closure. I knew that it was in the 80's and not in the 70's. Many of us used Bowmont all through the 70's, so it couldn't have been closed during that time. So Bowmont was closed long after the MRA, CRE, TVL, and ACR groups had left the Mulholland scene. It closed during the last group on Mul. This group which we call the drug group was personified by Chuck T. He was the die hard of ALL die hards and refused to give up Grandstands even though his car was impounded nightly. He was responsible for chopping down all the "no parking dusk til dawn" signs for months. Many of those signs are still below the racecourse, over the cliff. I was always impressed by Chuck's voracity at refusing to give in the cops Gestapo attitude. In his own way, he is also a legend of Mulholland.

[Banning]

I just spoke to Mark and he reminded me that there was a fire gate at Bowmont that was always left open. So, even though Bowmont was used as a getaway it did have a yellow horizontal large pipe type gate before the big gates went up that closed Bowmont to thru traffic. From that point on Bowmont was used only by residents, about 1984 as Jeff said.

[Banning]

I just spoke to John H. (Johnny Mul) and asked him about the gate on Bowmont. He used Bowmont nightly in the mid to late 70's as a route to mul and as a getaway route. He was in the ACR, two groups after the CRE, chronologically speaking. All of us were unhappy about the closing of Bowmont, from all eras. More gates and fences with the 80's. More freedoms lost.

[KevinP73]

Even though now days no one would likely try to evade the police as the penalties are extreme I'm wondering what happened to the guys back then who tried to evade but weren't successfull? Was it just a ticket or were the penalties severe back then also?

[47Hammer]

I remember one night we were up there and Steve came blasting through westbound in his stock VW bug and a Black & White was sitting at Bowmont. Steve flew by the the cops gave chase only to crash at the bottom of the corkscrew. Steve on the other hand ran out of gas on Coldwater and was later busted with a major butt whippen.

[ErVikingo]

http://www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/highway1/la-hy-125mulholland21jun21,0,4017451.story?page=3&coll=la-class-autos-highway1

[Banning]

Police evasion? Have I got stories to tell...................

[lfot]

Originally posted by Banning
Police evasion? Have I got stories to tell...................

Yes???

[gostraight]

Originally posted by Banning
Police evasion? Have I got stories to tell...................

please...Do tell!!

[TRE Cup]

For those of you interested in a fun event (and its free!) go to this site: http://www.bench-racing.com/html/no_frills.html

The "Iron Bottom" (which refers to what your butt feels like after this event!) is an absolute blast that recalls a lot of what Mulholland driving was like
It is open to ANY car built before 1975 (so who is to say that a 1989 911 is not like a 75 ?)

[Banning]

There are so many incidents of racers getting caught, but perhaps not as many as those that got away, by a margin. In the old days...(1960's) many officers would stop, give advice and dangers of the road, tell you to stop driving irresponsibly, and let you go on your way. Kind of Mayberry like, if you will. The officers acted more like fathers than the "no tolerance"- persona like we have today in Law Enforcement. The environment/world has become more hostile and dangerous, and so Law Enforcement has stepped up, reacted accordingly and has become more strict. Frankly, I miss Mayberry.

There were some officers that frequented Mulholland and were well known for chasing some of the racers. I won't mention any names here.
Once, a 1978 Camaro Z28 was brought up to catch racers, dressed in black with white doors. This has been talked about here before.

In reference to your original question, some of my friends were caught evading. What happened next depended on the situation. For instance, if you were caught creating a public hazard by evasion of Police pursuit by speeding/reckless driving, then most likely you are going to jail. This is not always true, but most of the time. At least you are getting a nasty citation that will require a court appearance by yourself or your attourney. Now if you are beligerent, non respective and rude to the officers or if you have really been blatently hauling ass evading them, then you had better hope that there are lots of people around when you get caught. They will respond to your disrespect by teaching you a lesson if there is no one around.

1975- Robert F. chased down Dixie, lost control in first dirt turn, came to stop, handcuffed, wailed on, car lenses broken out. Warned not to file complaint. Weekend in Jail. Fines and probation. Never drove Mulholland again.
1978- George M. chased eastbound from Beverly Glen, lost control/head on at Sumatra, handcuffed hand over shoulder, ribs broken, hospital time, fines, probation, warning from Judge. Never raced Mulholland again. Became racecar professional and Porsche team driver.
1979- John H. chased to apt., handcuffed, wailed on badly., jail, warned not to file complaint, filed complaint, got in deep trouble, needed lawyer. Never raced Mulholland again.

These are just a few examples that come to mind and are some of the most severe. Today, forget it! It would not be a smart idea to show any disrespect to any officer, especially by evading. Take my advice, pull over and be as cordial as possible. Maybe you won't get a cite.

[Banning]

Here is a funny one. Chuck T. often would bring his date or girlfriend up to Mul as a passenger. When he would get chased by police pursuit, and knew he was not going to get away, he would pull over real fast, tell his girl to get naked and hop into the back seat where he would join her. By the time the cops got up to his windows he was getting it on with his date. When it went to trial, and the cops were asked what Chuck was doing when they pulled him over, the case was always dropped. Chuck was really quite creative, don't you think?

[lfot]

Originally posted by Banning
Here is a funny one. Chuck T. often would bring his date or girlfriend up to Mul as a passenger. When he would get chased by police pursuit, and knew he was not going to get away, he would pull over real fast, tell his girl to get naked and hop into the back seat where he would join her. By the time the cops got up to his windows he was getting it on with his date. When it went to trial, and the cops were asked what Chuck was doing when they pulled him over, the case was always dropped. Chuck was really quite creative, don't you think?

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

[gostraight]

Originally posted by lfot
HAHAHAHAHA!!!

hey Derek, thank God you didn't get chased the Sunday I was your passenger!!!

[KevinP73]

Originally posted by gostraight
hey Derek, thank God you didn't get chased the Sunday I was your passenger!!!

Not that there is anything wrong with it.

[lfot]

Something tells me we wouldn't both fit in the back.