What I Read & Watched Week 2 + Murder Houses
The first book I finished was Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, an exploration of optimal experience. Although people tend to feel the least challenged and enriched by experiences such as watching television, they often prefer to be partaking in the consumption of media as opposed to activities that challenge them such as that of their work.
The second book that I read was Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor E. Frankl. Frankl writes with impartiality about his experience across four concentration camps and conveys the message of the power of self regardless of the extrinsic factors acting upon the individual. Towards the last section of the book I found myself disinterested in the Logotherapy section, a theory founded by Frankl’s upon the key belief that the primary motivational force of an individual is to find a meaning in life. Although I’m still uncertain about my meaning, I do believe that this book was a good reminder to consciously act with the intention of undertaking meaningful tasks that will ultimately shape the future.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Amazon Prime Video) is the idea behind this weeks topic. To be honest, the film itself disappointed me. It felt aimless and like it wasn’t going anywhere but I still sat it out unlike my viewing partner who called it quits halfway through. Now onto the redeeming qualities: it does have some entertaining dialogue and a few ridiculous moments. Brad Pitt is also still hot though.
While We’re Young (Stan) by Noah Baumbach features Adam Driver (Kylo Ren from Star Wars) as a pretentious fedora-wearing hipster. I started watching this with the intention of only watching half of it and finishing the rest the next day. Surprisingly, it was interesting enough to captivate enough of my attention to finish in one night, robbing me of my precious bedtime but that’s ok. A cynical examination of authenticity and whether that’s even necessary anymore. Ignoring the crimes committed by the headwear in this movie, I wasn’t disappointed.
My Life as a Zucchini (SBS on Demand) is only about an hour long but still packs quite a punch. Before watching this, I didn’t know that moving lumps of clay were capable of making me cry. Did I feel hurt by the fact that it made me cry? Yes. Would I watch it again? Also yes.
If you only have time for one of these, I’d make it My Life as a Zucchini.
Last year (pre-covid) when planning my trip to LA with friends, I mentioned that I really wanted to go see some infamous murder houses. Unfortunately for my curiosity, I was denied this basic pleasure and blown off with a “Maybe we can just drive past one.” In hopes of sparking your interest and allowing for a little self-indulgence in one of my favourite topics I will now discuss those of greatest significance.
Coming in in first place is Sowden House located in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles.
Inspired by the Mayan pyramids and designed by Frank Lloyd Wright’s son, Sowden house is a striking architectural masterpiece complete with a stage, secret room, central courtyard, and ornamented concrete blocks. The property was purchased in 1945 by George Hodel, a doctor specialising in venereal disease who also happened to be a monstrosity of a human being. Hodel frequently beat his children in the basement and held drug-infused orgies in his bedroom.
In 1949, his 14-year old daughter ran away claiming that her home life was depressing due to the sex parties occurring at her house. She claimed that Hodel and other adults had raped her during a party at the house and that he had impregnated her. He was later acquitted and moved to the Philippines.
Upon growing up, Hodel’s son Steve had become an LAPD detective. Following his career, he became convinced that his father was responsible for the Black Dahlia murder as well as other unsolved murders that occurred in Los Angeles in the 1940s and had committed them in the basement of Sowden House. Steve found that George Hodel had been one of the six suspects on the LAPD’s list for the Black Dahlia case and had bugged his home. The transcript is exposing with George stating
“Realise there was nothing I could do, put a pillow over her head and cover her with a blanket. Get a taxi. Expired 12:59. They thought there was something fishy. Anyway, now they may have figured it out. Killed her.”
“Supposin’ I did kill the Black Dahlia. They couldn’t prove it now. They can’t talk to my secretary any more because she’s dead.”
Spooky.
Next up we have the Los Feliz Murder Mansion.
Here we have yet another story of a crazy doctor — this time a professor of cardiology. Are we spotting a theme yet? The house was sold after and remained empty afterwards but has been alleged to be haunted. Ghost hunters have reported seeing faces that stare out of the windows and the sound of a woman calling out “No!” and then screaming followed by silence.
On December 6, 1959, Dr. Harold Perelson struck his wife to death with a ball-peen hammer, attempted to kill his daughter and then committed suicide by ingesting Nembutal and 31 tranquilizer pills. In the early hours, neighbours awoke to the sound of Judye Perelson (daughter) screaming and pounding on their door.
It remains undetermined as to what drove Perelson to commit these acts with some speculation of financial troubles. Prior to the murders, his wife had been considering sending him to an institution for the mentally ill. On the bright side, all three of their children survived and were placed in the custody of their aunt. The house was sold in July 2016 for $2.3m with all belongings removed prior to the sale.
Finally, we have the Menendez House located at 722 N. Elm Drive, Beverly Hills, CA, 90210.
In one of L.A.’s most publicised murder cases of all time, the Menendez house is where the Menendez Brothers murdered their parents José and Mary Menéndez in 1989. The house had previously been rented to Prince and Elton John.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were 21 and 18 at the time respectively shot their parents 15 times before driving to a movie theater, disposing of their weapons and changing into clean clothes before returning to their home, pretending to discover the scene and calling 911. Both are serving two consecutive life sentences for murder and were placed in separate facilities but were reunited in the same San Diego prison as of 2018.
Initially, Erik and Lyle were not considered suspects. However, after they began to spend extravagantly after the murders, suspicions arose. In the half year after the murders, they spend approximately $1 million on parties, travel, and shopping. However, they also attended therapy sessions with Dr. Jerome Oziel. Eventually, Erik confessed to the therapist what they had done and Oziel’s girlfriend overheard the taped session and went to the police.
Thanks for reading.
That’s all for this week and best of luck!
