Secret History

You thought you knew Griffith Park? You have no idea! Griffith Park's namesake, the millionaire industrialist Griffith J. Griffith, was a well respected pillar of the Los Angeles philanthropic community. Until, in 1903, when everything changed. Learn more about the wild & weird history of the origins of Griffith Park in this mini-doc! You can read the narration text, as well as more tidbits from this bizarre story, on my blog: http://natalieraymond.com/blog/2019/3/4/la-layers The Secret History of Griffith Park Written & directed by Natalie Raymond Starring Christine Tran Shot on location on the Griffith Park hiking trails, 2019.

One afternoon out of sheer curiosity I decided to google the origin story of Los Angeles’ Griffith Park. At first it was unremarkable, a large tract of land donated to the city by a wealthy resident. But it didn’t take much digging to discover the strange & violent history of LA’s most famous public space. I took that curiosity & created this little short documentary exploring the weird early life of this landmark & the man who made it possible.

You can read the full narration text plus additional information (there was too much weird stuff to fit into just one 3 min video!) in my earlier blog post. & remember: the history of your local haunts is often weirder than you can even imagine.

LA Layers

I’ve spent the last few weeks learning the strange & sometimes sordid history of Griffith Park & it’s namesake, Griffith J. Griffith, for a short documentary I’ve been working on. As is usually the case, much of my research for the film didn’t make it into the final cut, so I thought I’d share it here along with a couple of photographs I’ve been having a fun time “vintage-ing” up. It’s fun to think of LA in a bygone era. The history of this place is especially interesting to me because LA so frequently stands in for somewhere else. Sometimes I think that means we forget it has its own quirks.

Griffith Park’s initial 3015 acres were donated to the city of Los Angeles on December 16th 1896 by the wealthy industrialist Griffith J. Griffith. He had originally purchased the land to host an ostrich farm which he intended to use to lure Los Angeles area residents to his nearby housing development.

Born in Wales in 1850 Griffith immigrated to the united states at age 15. By 1873 he was living in San Francisco & managing a local publishing company. In 1878 he became a mining correspondent for a local newspaper. He would eventually use his knowledge of mining to amass a large fortune, estimated to be upwards of 1.5 million dollars at the time of his death.

Married to Mary Agnes Christina Mesmer in 1887, he had one child, a son born in 1888.

Well known for his philanthropy, he donated the land for his eponymous park as what he called a “Christmas present” to the city. Stipulating that it must be “made a place of rest & relaxation for the masses,” Griffith told the City Council “I consider it my obligation to make Los Angeles a happy, cleaner, & finer city.”

On September 3rd 1903 his pristine reputation was tarnished when, while vacationing in Santa Monica, he shot his wife Mary in the head. The shot did not kill her, but she was permanently disfigured & lost her right eye. Griffith was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to commit murder. During his trial Mary revealed in her testimony that Griffith, who was generally thought to be a teetotaler, was actually a secret alcoholic who had frequent paranoid delusions.

He was found guilty of the lesser charge of assault & spent just two years in prison for the crime. During his incarceration, Mary was granted a divorce on the grounds of cruelty & full custody of their son. As part of the settlement, the court required Griffith to pay for the boy to attend Standford University. Mary Griffith’s divorce decree was awarded after a record breaking 4 minutes of deliberation.

In 1912, Griffith donated a large sum of money to the city of Los Angeles earmarked for the construction of an observatory, theatre, & children’s camp in the park. Because his conviction, the park council refused the donation on moral grounds. The money, however, remained in a trust until it was eventually used for the construction of the Greek Theatre in 1930 & Griffith Observatory in 1935. The theatre was initially underused & spent some time as a barracks during World War II. Griffith Observatory is perhaps one of the most well known projects of the Works Progress Administration—the New Deal project begun by FDR in the wake of the Great Depression. The observatory’s famous Astronmer’s Monument was built in connection with the Public Works of Art Project, a division of the WPA which specifically sought to employ artists for the “embellishment” of public buildings. One of the five sculptors on the project, George Stanley, was also the creator of the now infamous Oscar statuette.

Throughout his life Griffith frequently used the title “Colonel”, though there are no official military records of his having achieved this rank. His only record of service was with the California National Guard.

Griffith J. Griffith died of alcohol related liver disease in 1919, leaving the bulk of his fortune to the city of Los Angeles. He is buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Griffith Park is one of the largest urban parks in the United States.

Only at High Tide

Recently made the trek from Paris to Le Mont Saint Michel in north western France. The sometimes island is a fascinating site to spend a day exploring. Narration full text: Located about a half mile off of France’s North Western coast, Le Mont Saint Michel has served as everything from an abbey, to a fortified city, to a prison in its many centuries of life. Known as a “tidal island” the mount is isolated by water at high tide, but at low tide the floor of the surrounding bay is reveled. Once connected to the mainland by a tidal causeway, the mount is now accessed by a lightweight bridge completed in 2012. The island has been the seat of the Monastery of Saint Michael since the 8th century, but was populated for much longer, its original structures predating the roman empire. Local lore cites an Irish hermit as the original inhabitant of the island. The mont’s unique position made it one of the few villages not conquered during the hundred years war. Even allowing a small unit of French soldiers to defend the island against the English in 1433. Now a Unesco world heritage site, Le Mont Saint Michel receives more than 3 million visitors per year. Music: "Frozen Star" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

I first learned of this cool sometimes island as a teenager, but never really imagined I'd find myself one day standing on the marshy shoals on the north western coast of france looking at it live & in person.

the mont is awe-inspiring to look at up close. rising out of the water like some kind of science fiction fantasy city. it's said to be the inspiration for minas tirith in the lord of the rings movies. it also has a long & fascinating weird history, including spending some time as an offshore prison.

Documenting Glass Beach

Exploring glass beach, on the California coast. Once a dump site for thousands of pounds of trash, it is now a major tourist attraction only a couple of hours north of San Francisco. Written, directed, shot, & edited by moi. Shot on a Nikon D7500. FULL TEXT: Glass beach, tucked away along highway 1 in Fort Bragg California, was the dumping ground for refuse from a nearby glass factory until the late sixties. The beach & surrounding coastline are dotted with the rusted & hollowed out remains of mid twentieth century American industry. Thousands of pounds of trash, largely glass & ceramic, were dumped onto the coast & swallowed up by the pacific ocean, only to be reborn decades later as contemporary beach treasures. Collecting the glass is prohibited, but between the tens of thousands of tourists who visit the site each year & the pounding waves, the beach’s famed sea glass is dwindling in supply. MUSIC: "Garden Music" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

A place that has been on my bucket list since I first heard of it, Glass Beach is a fantastically weird little gem on the California Coast.

The beach is covered in multi-coloured pebbles of sea glass; a result of its past life as a dumping site for a nearby glass factory. Now a major tourist attraction, there are three beach sites accessible to the public. I spent a late afternoon exploring one & created this (very) short documentary about the beach & its history.

Read the full text from the video on Vimeo.

-N