By using Photoshop, we are able to create a panoramic view of the entire area called the Snake Pit and Topanga beach. This is a complete view of the area during the time that the family would have been frequenting it in late 68' or early 69'. The points of interest are numbered and listed accordingly to the attached key. Both images are relevant to the key. Typically, the points of interest in this area are posted individually. This makes it difficult to get a mental picture of what the area actually looked like and what was where. Now you can, thanks to Photoshop. If there is anything missing, let us know and we'll add it to the image appropriately. Hope you like it!
wow ken-great job! thank you.
ReplyDeleteNice work!
ReplyDeletenice, I'm a visual person and this helps!
ReplyDeleteWow, Ken. Thanks for the hard work. Ie is even better downloaded & viewed at actual size.
ReplyDeleteKen, during your research did you find out why the name "Snake Pit" was given to the area? Nasty name for a pretty place, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteMatt...
ReplyDeleteA gentleman and a scholar named Baretta who was a resident of the Lower Topanga area during the 60's till 2006, or he might still be living in the bushes there wrote this.....
From "The Snake Pit"
"The Snake Pit got its name because there were always a lot of rattlesnakes down there. Every time I turned around some neighbor was having a snake fit….
But that nickname was also coupled with the fact that everyone from Charlie Manson to Johnnie-Satan to Kilroy to Big Dude to Eater to Baretta (and maybe people before us) were considered kind of like snakes because of the personalities and the stuff that went on there.
I guess you could call The Snake Pit a shanty village…. It looked like a little neighborhood out of some past in England…. Some of the houses had been improvised and just popped up out of nowhere….
There was very much a protective atmosphere of locals. Everybody knew everybody, and if they didn't know you, and you had no business down there, then you'd better get the hell out because this was their sanctuary…."
As told to Pablo Capra by Chris Rohloff....
From "The Snake Pit"
"The Snake Pit... was basically the armpit of Malibu. If Malibu had a hood, Topanga and The Snake Pit would be it.
As kids, we were proud to call our neighborhood The Snake Pit because we were all dirt-rat, creeker degenerates. So it was pretty cool!
The Snake Pit was a place that the surrounding community didn't want to have too much contact with. Even to the police, it said, "Keep out!" Police and firemen tried to avoid going there as much as possible because there was weird stuff that happened down there back in the '60s and '70s. Everybody knew about Charles Manson's connection to The Snake Pit, and that they shouldn't deal with those people. The Manson Family lived across the street from us. I was three or four years old, and I'd be on the dirt road playing with their kids."
By Tool....
From "The Snake Pit"
"And when I first went over to… The Snake Pit, everybody was painting and cleaning, and I thought, "All right! This is pretty good."
But that was it. They never did another damn thing the rest of the time that they lived there. They didn't even buy toilet paper. Honest to God! And they'd do this trick (that was kind of a neighborhood thing) where they'd say, "Hey, we're going to the George's Market. You wanna chip in some money?" And you'd give them like $10, and they'd come back with exactly $10 worth of stuff they wanted, and that's it. And not toilet paper!
I already had a bad opinion of brain-dead surf guys anyway, but I never met scum until I moved to the Snake Pit. I'd never seen thieving bums like I did there. Especially ones that would steal from each other and then be friends the next day because those were the only friends they had. So they'd all forgive each other and go, "It's okay because I robbed you last week" – which was even more frightening!"
I'll let you decide for yourself Matt.
I got 2$ that says there weren't no real snakes in Topanga. Snake pit refers to the people who lived there. That's why it got bulldozed.
ReplyDeleteMrPoirot said...
ReplyDelete"I got 2$ that says there weren't no real snakes in Topanga. Snake pit refers to the people who lived there. That's why it got bulldozed."
Actualy MrP. It finally came down to a plant that the houses got bulldozed. Or at least that was the excuse.
A rare form of panzies no doubt.
ReplyDeletebamboo
ReplyDeleteI'll work on something explainng the envolvment of the state and the land holders and why this place existed. It's a good example of red tape, politics, enviromentalist and odd lease agreements. Hopefully I'll have it done tonight. It's a strange story.
Topanga is a place where the urban, populated environment interfaces with the natural environment, populated by diverse wildlife.
ReplyDeleteMountain lions, coyotes, bobcats, rabbits, rodents, owls, hawks, quail, songbirds, lizards and snakes all call Topanga home and are not uncommon.
Common snakes to Topanga are rattlesnakes, gogher and king snakes.
Of course the two legged thieving scumdog human snakes were common to the area known as The Snake Pit.
Makes sense that that's how the area earned its name.
I can see how the Family could singlehandedly destroy a neighborhood. They were antisocial types who'd steal water from a cesspool yet they thought they made the rules and had all the answers. They all mostly ended up in jail, dead or on welfare.
ReplyDeleteIn 1924, the Los Angeles Athletic Club purchased 4/9 of the 1,700 acre parcel known as Lower Topanga Canyon from W.R. Hearst. In 1943, the Club purchased the remaining interest in the property. The Club owned all of Lower Topanga and the structures that were on it.
ReplyDeleteThey leased these houses on terms that ranged from 90 day to 17 year leases. Many of the homes in the area were neatly maintained, but plywood additions and jury-rigged repairs appeared to be the rule rather than the exception. In their leases, it was made clear that the Athletic Club took no responsibility for maintaining the houses that it owned. Many of the houses had bad plumbing or no electricity.
"In their leases, it said, “We (the club) are not responsible for items A through Z. You will pay for everything. Don't come to us for any problems, because you are on your own.”
During the 60’s, they had plans to develop the area, so they waited for the 17 year leases to expire. At the same time, the State was threatening condemnation to acquire the property to turn it into a State Park. In 1973, the Athletic Club sold the 1.1 mile strip of Topanga Beach and the cottages that were on it to the State. In Jan. of 1979, the State demolished all of the cottages on the beach. The State began condemnation proceedings on almost all of the rest of the Topanga property in 1979, but gave up the effort a year later, apparently after running out of money for park acquisitions.
More to come....
A quote from a Los Angeles Athletic Club Official at the time…
ReplyDeleteA senior Athletic Club official, who agreed to speak with The Times only on condition that he not be quoted by name, said that the present condition of the property along the creek is the direct result of the state's on-again, off-again attempts to acquire the Athletic Club holdings.
"They did nothing but back us further and further in the corner," the official said. "If they hadn't started all this threat of condemnation back in the mid-'60s, we would have gone down there and developed the area into a modern commercial property." The low rents charged by the club were based on the clear understanding that residents would perform their own maintenance, the official said. In recent years, county rent control regulations have prevent the club from raising the rents to levels that would allow major renovations, he added.
More to come....
Sign a 17 year lease? Sign a 17 year lease in a flood zone? Sign a 17 year lease in a flood zone knowing that your slumlord is in no way obligated to make repairs? There's a sucker born every day.
ReplyDeleteSigning a 17 year lease in the late 1950's for a house on the beach, knowing your rent would never be raised above $150 for 17 years. For a surfer, this would be a dream. Topanga Beach at the time was the place to be.
ReplyDeleteThe 1960's Hollywood persona was inspired by the Topanga Beach and Malibu beaches. The Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello movie series was based upon the lifestyle there. "Musle Beach Party" was filmed at Topanga Beach in 1964. They used surfers from Topanga Beach such as Miki Dora as "Stunt" surfers in the series. If you can stand watching these movies, they filmed portions of them at Topanga. This allows you to see what the place looked like just a few years before Charlie and friends entered the picture. I believe that once the hardcore drugs entered the picture, that that is what started the downhill spiral of the area.
They all mostly ended up in jail, dead or on welfare.
ReplyDeletesays Mr Poirot.
But that's not true is it? They mostly ended up pretty well, married, families. Of course some are Christains, I'd call that coming to a bad end.
Yes you are right. Some did quite well. Nancy Pittman for instance.
ReplyDeleteBTW this affluency is why Nancy doesnt do interviews. Catherine Share and Linda Kasabian do interviews.
ReplyDeleteHow do we know Nancy did well? The "woody" is her brothers. Her kids are as fucked up as they get. I've seen no evidence she did well.
ReplyDeleteKen619 said...
ReplyDeleteHow do we know Nancy did well? The "woody" is her brothers. Her kids are as fucked up as they get. I've seen no evidence she did well.
2 of Nancy's 3 sons are in jail more than they are out.
i also received a very nasty e-mail from one of them,
they are carrying on the lives of crime mommy and daddy did so poorly.
Somewhere on that very tattooed hide, O. must have a great, big red heart with "Mom" written on it.
ReplyDelete