Classic American West Coast Boxing

[Boxingnut]

Do you guys remember Margaret Thatcher?


Shudder.

Hear hear Bennie

Thatcher is 'dead' popular in Liverpool, eh Rob? She wouldn't last five minutes there.
Thatcher is as nutty as a fruitcake these days.

That's what I thought too Bennie until there was all that talk about a state funeral for Thatcher and I read on an Everton fans forum people from Liverpool actually sticking up for her and defending her record. Unbelievable. I wouldn't normally wish ill on anyone but I can't say I am exactly sorry about her health problems.

[Rick Farris]

Frankie Crawford best described Conrad this way . . . "He has a heart that's the size of a pea". Bob Conrad's name kind of equates to a bad joke in L.A. boxing. Unfortunatly for Bob, his health is failing after a serious accident a few years ago. He no longer lives in Southern Cal, and from what I hear is crippled. I will say this, when I was a kid, I loved watching his Tv show "The Wild Wild West". I visited the set of that production with my grandfather at the CBS Studio Center back in the mid-60's, where they shot on stage 5. On stage 3, "Gunsmoke" was in production, and on stage 9, "Gilligan's Island". By the way, after years of little use, the old "Gilligan's Lagoon" set on the CBS backlot, was finally drained, filled with earth and today is a parking lot.

-Rick Farris

Rick, do you ever do any work at Universal? I am a big Lon Chaney fan - have many of his old silents on dvd, etc. I understand that portions of the set in which he shot The Phantom of the Opera still exist on the Universal lot (mostly the balconies from the Opera House), and the tank in which they shot the water scenes, still exist on one of the stages. Do you know if that's the case?

Tom . . . In 1976, I broke into the film industry at Universal Studios, and have worked there on and off ever since, most recently on "Desperate Housewives". The stage Lon Chaney filmed the "Phantom of the Opera" on was Stage 28, and yes, the south end of the stage still has the opera house set, at least the balconies and boxes used for the audience. Of course, legend has it that the stage is haunted, but if so, I've never been aware of any para-normal activity while I was present. I did spend a lot of time on that stage however, on a variety of productions, and have walked over every square inch of the old Phantom House while rigging for film productions. I know that when the stage was not being used, the Universal Studio Tour used to walk guests thru it, however, I don't believe they allow that any longer. The tour keeps tourists quite far from any real filming, or active stages.

-Rick

[bennie]

Well, Rob, would The Iron Lady shed a tear if you were ill?

[bennie]

In this economy, even sex doesn't sell


George Frey / For The Times
Dallas, who works at Donna’s Ranch in Wells, Nev., waits for customers. Signs of the economic free fall have cropped up in many of Nevada’s 25 or so legal brothels. Donna’s Ranch has seen its business plummet nearly 20%.

At Donna's Ranch, a brothel in Wells, Nev., most of the customers are long-haul truckers. High fuel and food prices have drained them of 'play money.' So the working girls sit and wait.

By Ashley Powers

Reporting from Wells, Nev. -- The women at Donna's Ranch are crowded around the kitchen table on a warm summer night, dining on stir fry, tugging at thigh-high dresses, griping about depleted bank accounts. At this northeastern Nevada bordello, which marks a gravel road's end, they woo grizzled truckers and weary travelers for a single reason: money.

Lately, the women don't go home with much.

Economic downturn hits...Amy, 58, once bought a $32,000 Toyota Tacoma in cash; now her $1,200 mortgage saps her dwindling pay. Some weeks, she could make more flipping burgers than flirting under a made-up name. Marisol's daughters think she works at a resort; she struggles to keep up the ruse. It now takes months, not weeks, to bring $5,000 back to Southern California.

"Marisol," one of her regulars tells her, "it costs me in gas what it takes for me to spend a half-hour with you."

Tonight, she tries lingering at the dimly lighted bar that's decorated with red Christmas lights and smells of hot dogs and beans. Wearing a shimmering strapless top, Marisol sips cheap champagne and tries to seduce travelers, some with thick guts and most with thin wallets. After 20 minutes, she gives up.

Signs of the economic free fall have cropped up in many of Nevada's 25 or so legal brothels. The Mustang Ranch, for example, has a steady stream of customers, but the number of women vying for work has soared. Even a 74-year-old applied. This summer, the Shady Lady gave $50 gas cards to those who spent $300. The Moonlite Bunny Ranch offered extras to customers paying with their economic stimulus checks.

Here, 180 miles west of Salt Lake City, near the junction of Interstate 80 and Highway 93, Donna's Ranch has seen its business plummet nearly 20%. More than three-quarters of its customers are long-haul truckers, and high fuel and food prices have drained them of "play money," owner Geoff Arnold says. That cuts into pay for his 10-member staff and the "working girls."

Marisol, 49, retreats to the kitchen, a homey nook with lemon-yellow walls and a plate of scones that another woman whipped up. Amy is staring at the Lazy Susan, snuffing out a Misty cigarette. "There are two guys," Marisol says, her voice thick with frustration. "They want to relax and drink a beer and think about it."

She plops into a chair, pushes open blue curtains and scans a parking lot, bathed in yellow and pink by the neon advertising DONNA'S. Her face puckers. It's empty.

The brothel's woes start with the barflies, who are hoarding what little money they've saved. Tonight, two of them slouch in their stools and bemoan the economic slump, their voices rising to near shouts.

"The government's got to do something," says Dean Hargis, a tattooed trucker who calls Springfield, Mo., home. "Everybody who eats or drinks anything, they're going to hurt. It affects what I eat, it affects what motel I stay in, it affects what dog food I buy."

David Zett, a long-hauler from Loretta, Wis., gulps a Miller Genuine Draft and bashes oil companies: "They've got you over a barrel and can do whatever they want to you, and they don't even kiss you when they're done."

"Just like this place," Hargis says.

"No," Zett says. "They kiss you."

The bartender, Gayle Salinas, shakes her head. She's pinching pennies too. She used to take home $50 in tips at the end of most shifts. Now she might pocket $12. Her pay is linked to how much the prostitutes make -- and customers aren't choosing their most expensive offerings.

The women negotiate the price of "parties" and their duration, which the bartender tracks using kitchen timers. Ten to 15 minutes costs at least $100. Customers once regularly paid thousands of dollars for extras listed on a hot-pink "menu" -- but these days, for example, few men desire the hot tub or mirrored fantasy room.

Earlier that night, Marisol had guided Rob Siddoway, a gangly, pony-tailed trucker from Tooele, Utah, into the fantasy room. This was his first brothel trip in a year; he used to stop by every few months. "See how comfortable you can get?" Marisol coos. She points to a red-blanketed, circular bed and a pillow stitched with the word LOVE.

"You can see yourself in the mirror," she says. He looks instead at her: olive skin, substantial curves, dark, tired eyes. He passes on buying an expensive party. Marisol isn't surprised. She had played a fortune-telling card game that afternoon; it showed the future would bring little cash.

About a dozen years ago, Arnold plunked down more than $1 million for Donna's Ranch. He's a certified public accountant in Boise, Idaho, and had combed the books of several brothels; buying one seemed business-savvy. He owns another in Battle Mountain, Nev.

"They're easy to run," says Arnold, president of the state brothel association. "If you keep the girls happy, you're done. If the girls are happy, then the guys are happy. I can't think of any other business as good as a brothel, except for a doctor's office -- they're equally profitable."

Billed as the West's oldest continuously operating bordello, Donna's Ranch greets drivers with a sign that depicts a cowboy-hatted, buxom brunet preening atop a truck bed. The red-roofed, single-story brothel is plagued with leaks; a recent earthquake cracked its beige exterior. The women's rooms are small. Most have a double bed, a television and DVD player, and tables with assorted lotions, sex toys and toiletries. There's also a handmade sign that reminds customers: Tips are appreciated.

From 2006 to 2007, the brothel's revenue climbed 7.6%, to about $1 million. This year, Arnold expects to make about $200,000 less. Closing that gap is tricky: Brothel advertising is legal, but billboards and bus ads risk upsetting neighbors. So the bordello sponsors a soccer team in Boise and a rodeo in Wells. It also bought lights for the high school football field and gave local motels pens, which boast that Donna's is "Your Biggest Bang for the Buck."

Arnold's staff clips coupons to slash the $3,300 monthly grocery bill. He brainstorms other cost-cutting measures. He owns 33 acres in Wells -- enough room, by his calculation, for five to 10 cows that could feed his workers.

"That's what we've come to," he says, chuckling at the idea. "Donna's Ranch could be a real ranch."


In the kitchen, Amy alternately smooths her black, rhinestone-trimmed mini-dress and reddened hair that falls to her waist. She appears about a decade younger than she is, with a trim figure, high cheekbones and a tendency to giggle.

She waits for the CB radio to crackle. During even-numbered hours, the women take turns sweet-talking truckers. (They cede the odd-numbered hours to Bella's, the other brothel in this city of 1,300 people.) The tactic, which lures more than a third of Donna's customers, is more vital now that business is slumping.

Amy is perched on a chair, legs crossed, a wedge heel dangling off French-manicured toes. At last, a trucker grunts through the airwaves: "Where you girls at?" Amy leans toward a microphone and urges him to pull off at Exit 352.

"Are you the Asian girl?" he asks.

"Bingo!" she says.

Amy has worked in brothels, on and off, for eight years. She needed cash to get her own place, but also blames "a broken heart." Her grown son is the only person who's figured out her line of work, something she admits with downcast eyes.

She typically does three-week stints, but starts wanting to go home to Utah after two. She used to pocket $6,000 each time -- even after splitting money with the house and covering room and board, condoms, licenses and legally required medical tests. But what she wistfully terms the good old days -- when she could see up to 13 men a day and afford to turn down customers -- are gone.

Tonight, the bartender counts four brothel customers. Maybe, Salinas says, things will pick up. Some car buffs are in Wells for a show. "I don't know," Amy says. "They bring their wives." The other women -- who likewise use pseudonyms and hide their jobs from their children and friends -- are discouraged too.

Tori, a blond veteran with a no-nonsense manner -- she waves off questions about her age -- commutes from the Reno area with an array of wigs and sequined get-ups. In the early '90s, she was laid off from a Southern California real estate office; she eventually turned to the brothel circuit: winters in southern Nevada, summers up north. She wants to work in auto sales but makes do at Donna's.

"Some other places want you to work 24 hours," she says. "They don't want you to sleep."

Danielle, younger and more reserved than the other women, is passing time solving word puzzles. She is milky-skinned with a long brown ponytail. She ended up here after a divorce. She periodically flies to South Carolina -- ticket prices have soared -- and tries to return with at least $2,000. But most customers have been trying to bargain down their prices. Some are paying with credit cards -- an indication they don't have as much cash. (The receipts say Apache Wells Development Co., not Donna's Ranch.)

"Whatever they have," Amy says, "you have to take it."

Earlier, when she was parrying with the trucker, Amy curled up at a folding table just big enough for a radio and mike, a water bottle, a gray stuffed kitten, an ashtray and a dry erase board listing selling points:

Free beer. Free chili. Free shower. SOUVENIRS.

"I'm going to bed," the trucker tells her.

"Maybe come here and have a happy ending?" she purrs.

"Tell me what a happy ending is."

"I can't talk about it over the radio."

Silence.

Thanks, the trucker says. Not tonight.

Powers is a Times staff writer.

[email protected]

Over here, the truckers just get greasy spoons.

[dagosd2000]

I was talking to my Italian friend(won't mention his name)whose wife is leaving him after 30 years of marriage.He screwed around a lot and that supposedly is the reason she's leaving him. He's devastated. We talked, or I should say I mostly listened. I see it this way with him. He's not losing his wife as much as he's losing his mother. The woman who took care of him and accepted(or put up with) all his crap.

I'm the same way. When I was little I suffered terribly from anxiety seperation from my mother. She couldn't leave me with a baby sitter,a aunt,
she couldn't leave the room without me going hysterical.

I worried about her dying. I went crazy with the thought. Finally she supressed my fears and told me she wouldn't die. I was 4 years old at the time.

When I married my wife I was very happy. Then 15 years into the marriage my wife had an attack. A pain in her stomach. I rushed her to emergency. The doctors found a benign tumor on her ovary. They said she'd be fine. However the anxiety I felt about losing my mother when I was a kid resurfaced and was transferred to my wife. For years I was panic stricken about losing her. I put the Prozac company in the black. I'm better now,but I know the feelings still lurk in my mind.

I've known women that want to take care of me. Cook my food,wash my clothes,be nice. Sacrafice for me. But I don't like that. Only my mother,my older sister,and my wife I want to take care of me.
As far as sex goes it has nothing to do with love at all.I laugh at the emphasis sex has on our society. It's equated with love and a "soul mate." I don't want to live the rest of my life with a pretty face even if she wants to take care of me.

Now I understand when my father,in his later life,would call my mother "Mom"

Great post, Diego. They ought to make you President.

Make me President? I don't have the clout. That's why I post stuff like this. That's the side of me that tries to bring people together. That's Obama's greatest challenge right now.

[dagosd2000]

I was talking to my Italian friend(won't mention his name)whose wife is leaving him after 30 years of marriage.He screwed around a lot and that supposedly is the reason she's leaving him. He's devastated. We talked, or I should say I mostly listened. I see it this way with him. He's not losing his wife as much as he's losing his mother. The woman who took care of him and accepted(or put up with) all his crap.

I'm the same way. When I was little I suffered terribly from anxiety seperation from my mother. She couldn't leave me with a baby sitter,a aunt,
she couldn't leave the room without me going hysterical.

I worried about her dying. I went crazy with the thought. Finally she supressed my fears and told me she wouldn't die. I was 4 years old at the time.

When I married my wife I was very happy. Then 15 years into the marriage my wife had an attack. A pain in her stomach. I rushed her to emergency. The doctors found a benign tumor on her ovary. They said she'd be fine. However the anxiety I felt about losing my mother when I was a kid resurfaced and was transferred to my wife. For years I was panic stricken about losing her. I put the Prozac company in the black. I'm better now,but I know the feelings still lurk in my mind.

I've known women that want to take care of me. Cook my food,wash my clothes,be nice. Sacrafice for me. But I don't like that. Only my mother,my older sister,and my wife I want to take care of me.
As far as sex goes it has nothing to do with love at all.I laugh at the emphasis sex has on our society. It's equated with love and a "soul mate." I don't want to live the rest of my life with a pretty face even if she wants to take care of me.

Now I understand when my father,in his later life,would call my mother "Mom"

Great post, Diego. They ought to make you President.

Shit, if they made Diego President, I'll join Tom and leave the country, go live with diego's in-law's in T.J.

My in laws would love to have you around. Besides you'd get them off my back. If we're both around I'll throw in my hat in 2012.

[Chuck1052]

It was alleged that Maxine Cates, Jack Dempsey's first wife, was working as a prostitute in Wells, Nevada ca. 1920 after getting divorced.

- Chuck Johnston

[dagosd2000]

In this economy, even sex doesn't sell


George Frey / For The Times
Dallas, who works at Donna’s Ranch in Wells, Nev., waits for customers. Signs of the economic free fall have cropped up in many of Nevada’s 25 or so legal brothels. Donna’s Ranch has seen its business plummet nearly 20%.

At Donna's Ranch, a brothel in Wells, Nev., most of the customers are long-haul truckers. High fuel and food prices have drained them of 'play money.' So the working girls sit and wait.

By Ashley Powers

Reporting from Wells, Nev. -- The women at Donna's Ranch are crowded around the kitchen table on a warm summer night, dining on stir fry, tugging at thigh-high dresses, griping about depleted bank accounts. At this northeastern Nevada bordello, which marks a gravel road's end, they woo grizzled truckers and weary travelers for a single reason: money.

Lately, the women don't go home with much.

Economic downturn hits...Amy, 58, once bought a $32,000 Toyota Tacoma in cash; now her $1,200 mortgage saps her dwindling pay. Some weeks, she could make more flipping burgers than flirting under a made-up name. Marisol's daughters think she works at a resort; she struggles to keep up the ruse. It now takes months, not weeks, to bring $5,000 back to Southern California.

"Marisol," one of her regulars tells her, "it costs me in gas what it takes for me to spend a half-hour with you."

Tonight, she tries lingering at the dimly lighted bar that's decorated with red Christmas lights and smells of hot dogs and beans. Wearing a shimmering strapless top, Marisol sips cheap champagne and tries to seduce travelers, some with thick guts and most with thin wallets. After 20 minutes, she gives up.

Signs of the economic free fall have cropped up in many of Nevada's 25 or so legal brothels. The Mustang Ranch, for example, has a steady stream of customers, but the number of women vying for work has soared. Even a 74-year-old applied. This summer, the Shady Lady gave $50 gas cards to those who spent $300. The Moonlite Bunny Ranch offered extras to customers paying with their economic stimulus checks.

Here, 180 miles west of Salt Lake City, near the junction of Interstate 80 and Highway 93, Donna's Ranch has seen its business plummet nearly 20%. More than three-quarters of its customers are long-haul truckers, and high fuel and food prices have drained them of "play money," owner Geoff Arnold says. That cuts into pay for his 10-member staff and the "working girls."

Marisol, 49, retreats to the kitchen, a homey nook with lemon-yellow walls and a plate of scones that another woman whipped up. Amy is staring at the Lazy Susan, snuffing out a Misty cigarette. "There are two guys," Marisol says, her voice thick with frustration. "They want to relax and drink a beer and think about it."

She plops into a chair, pushes open blue curtains and scans a parking lot, bathed in yellow and pink by the neon advertising DONNA'S. Her face puckers. It's empty.

The brothel's woes start with the barflies, who are hoarding what little money they've saved. Tonight, two of them slouch in their stools and bemoan the economic slump, their voices rising to near shouts.

"The government's got to do something," says Dean Hargis, a tattooed trucker who calls Springfield, Mo., home. "Everybody who eats or drinks anything, they're going to hurt. It affects what I eat, it affects what motel I stay in, it affects what dog food I buy."

David Zett, a long-hauler from Loretta, Wis., gulps a Miller Genuine Draft and bashes oil companies: "They've got you over a barrel and can do whatever they want to you, and they don't even kiss you when they're done."

"Just like this place," Hargis says.

"No," Zett says. "They kiss you."

The bartender, Gayle Salinas, shakes her head. She's pinching pennies too. She used to take home $50 in tips at the end of most shifts. Now she might pocket $12. Her pay is linked to how much the prostitutes make -- and customers aren't choosing their most expensive offerings.

The women negotiate the price of "parties" and their duration, which the bartender tracks using kitchen timers. Ten to 15 minutes costs at least $100. Customers once regularly paid thousands of dollars for extras listed on a hot-pink "menu" -- but these days, for example, few men desire the hot tub or mirrored fantasy room.

Earlier that night, Marisol had guided Rob Siddoway, a gangly, pony-tailed trucker from Tooele, Utah, into the fantasy room. This was his first brothel trip in a year; he used to stop by every few months. "See how comfortable you can get?" Marisol coos. She points to a red-blanketed, circular bed and a pillow stitched with the word LOVE.

"You can see yourself in the mirror," she says. He looks instead at her: olive skin, substantial curves, dark, tired eyes. He passes on buying an expensive party. Marisol isn't surprised. She had played a fortune-telling card game that afternoon; it showed the future would bring little cash.

About a dozen years ago, Arnold plunked down more than $1 million for Donna's Ranch. He's a certified public accountant in Boise, Idaho, and had combed the books of several brothels; buying one seemed business-savvy. He owns another in Battle Mountain, Nev.

"They're easy to run," says Arnold, president of the state brothel association. "If you keep the girls happy, you're done. If the girls are happy, then the guys are happy. I can't think of any other business as good as a brothel, except for a doctor's office -- they're equally profitable."

Billed as the West's oldest continuously operating bordello, Donna's Ranch greets drivers with a sign that depicts a cowboy-hatted, buxom brunet preening atop a truck bed. The red-roofed, single-story brothel is plagued with leaks; a recent earthquake cracked its beige exterior. The women's rooms are small. Most have a double bed, a television and DVD player, and tables with assorted lotions, sex toys and toiletries. There's also a handmade sign that reminds customers: Tips are appreciated.

From 2006 to 2007, the brothel's revenue climbed 7.6%, to about $1 million. This year, Arnold expects to make about $200,000 less. Closing that gap is tricky: Brothel advertising is legal, but billboards and bus ads risk upsetting neighbors. So the bordello sponsors a soccer team in Boise and a rodeo in Wells. It also bought lights for the high school football field and gave local motels pens, which boast that Donna's is "Your Biggest Bang for the Buck."

Arnold's staff clips coupons to slash the $3,300 monthly grocery bill. He brainstorms other cost-cutting measures. He owns 33 acres in Wells -- enough room, by his calculation, for five to 10 cows that could feed his workers.

"That's what we've come to," he says, chuckling at the idea. "Donna's Ranch could be a real ranch."


In the kitchen, Amy alternately smooths her black, rhinestone-trimmed mini-dress and reddened hair that falls to her waist. She appears about a decade younger than she is, with a trim figure, high cheekbones and a tendency to giggle.

She waits for the CB radio to crackle. During even-numbered hours, the women take turns sweet-talking truckers. (They cede the odd-numbered hours to Bella's, the other brothel in this city of 1,300 people.) The tactic, which lures more than a third of Donna's customers, is more vital now that business is slumping.

Amy is perched on a chair, legs crossed, a wedge heel dangling off French-manicured toes. At last, a trucker grunts through the airwaves: "Where you girls at?" Amy leans toward a microphone and urges him to pull off at Exit 352.

"Are you the Asian girl?" he asks.

"Bingo!" she says.

Amy has worked in brothels, on and off, for eight years. She needed cash to get her own place, but also blames "a broken heart." Her grown son is the only person who's figured out her line of work, something she admits with downcast eyes.

She typically does three-week stints, but starts wanting to go home to Utah after two. She used to pocket $6,000 each time -- even after splitting money with the house and covering room and board, condoms, licenses and legally required medical tests. But what she wistfully terms the good old days -- when she could see up to 13 men a day and afford to turn down customers -- are gone.

Tonight, the bartender counts four brothel customers. Maybe, Salinas says, things will pick up. Some car buffs are in Wells for a show. "I don't know," Amy says. "They bring their wives." The other women -- who likewise use pseudonyms and hide their jobs from their children and friends -- are discouraged too.

Tori, a blond veteran with a no-nonsense manner -- she waves off questions about her age -- commutes from the Reno area with an array of wigs and sequined get-ups. In the early '90s, she was laid off from a Southern California real estate office; she eventually turned to the brothel circuit: winters in southern Nevada, summers up north. She wants to work in auto sales but makes do at Donna's.

"Some other places want you to work 24 hours," she says. "They don't want you to sleep."

Danielle, younger and more reserved than the other women, is passing time solving word puzzles. She is milky-skinned with a long brown ponytail. She ended up here after a divorce. She periodically flies to South Carolina -- ticket prices have soared -- and tries to return with at least $2,000. But most customers have been trying to bargain down their prices. Some are paying with credit cards -- an indication they don't have as much cash. (The receipts say Apache Wells Development Co., not Donna's Ranch.)

"Whatever they have," Amy says, "you have to take it."

Earlier, when she was parrying with the trucker, Amy curled up at a folding table just big enough for a radio and mike, a water bottle, a gray stuffed kitten, an ashtray and a dry erase board listing selling points:

Free beer. Free chili. Free shower. SOUVENIRS.

"I'm going to bed," the trucker tells her.

"Maybe come here and have a happy ending?" she purrs.

"Tell me what a happy ending is."

"I can't talk about it over the radio."

Silence.

Thanks, the trucker says. Not tonight.

Powers is a Times staff writer.

[email protected]

Over here, the truckers just get greasy spoons.

Sometimes I watch this thing on HBO,Cathouse :
The Series. I remember one time back in the day,me and a bunch of other degenerates drove up to Reno to get layed in the Mustang Ranch. It was 10 bucks. Now these guys walk in there with their credit cards and they're running them through the machine wiping out their life savings. Are they nuts? They market this show like this is the ultimate place to get layed. Live your fantasy. Beside these gals aren't that young and the fake boob jobs and plastic surgery.

When Tom comes to San Diego ,me and Frank will take him to the Boom Boom Club where the girls are a lot younger and prettier and for a couple of saw bucks you'll get change. BTW,they're all checked ,like in Reno,by the docs. They all carry "Cartas de Sanidad."

[dagosd2000]

It was alleged that Maxine Cates, Jack Dempsey's first wife, was working as a prostitute in Wells, Nevada ca. 1920 after getting divorced.

- Chuck Johnston

Chuck
You're right on that score.

[kikibalt]

Sometimes I watch this thing on HBO,Cathouse :
The Series. I remember one time back in the day,me and a bunch of other degenerates drove up to Reno to get layed in the Mustang Ranch. It was 10 bucks. Now these guys walk in there with their credit cards and they're running them through the machine wiping out their life savings. Are they nuts? They market this show like this is the ultimate place to get layed. Live your fantasy. Beside these gals aren't that young and the fake boob jobs and plastic surgery.

When Tom comes to San Diego ,me and Frank will take him to the Boom Boom Club where the girls are a lot younger and prettier and for a couple of saw bucks you'll get change. BTW,they're all checked ,like in Reno,by the docs. They all carry "Cartas de Sanidad."

Diego,

Don Fraser too is moving to Tijuana now that Obama won the country's highest office, you can take him to the Boom Boom Club when you take Tom.....

[kikibalt]

It was alleged that Maxine Cates, Jack Dempsey's first wife, was working as a prostitute in Wells, Nevada ca. 1920 after getting divorced.

- Chuck Johnston

Chuck
You're right on that score.

Diego, did you do business with Maxine Cates?....

[bennie]

[raylawpc]

Sometimes I watch this thing on HBO,Cathouse :
The Series. I remember one time back in the day,me and a bunch of other degenerates drove up to Reno to get layed in the Mustang Ranch. It was 10 bucks. Now these guys walk in there with their credit cards and they're running them through the machine wiping out their life savings. Are they nuts? They market this show like this is the ultimate place to get layed. Live your fantasy. Beside these gals aren't that young and the fake boob jobs and plastic surgery.

When Tom comes to San Diego ,me and Frank will take him to the Boom Boom Club where the girls are a lot younger and prettier and for a couple of saw bucks you'll get change. BTW,they're all checked ,like in Reno,by the docs. They all carry "Cartas de Sanidad."

Diego,

Don Fraser too is moving to Tijuana now that Obama won the country's highest office, you can take him to the Boom Boom Club when you take Tom.....

I'll doubt I'll be in San Diego now. I'm already planning to move to New Zealand in November. The whiole reason for going to San Diego was to see the rugby tournament and I can see all the rugby I want in NZ without coming back to the USSA.

[raylawpc]

I thought patent leather shoes were all the rage for shipyard workers back then.

[raylawpc]

Frankie Crawford best described Conrad this way . . . "He has a heart that's the size of a pea". Bob Conrad's name kind of equates to a bad joke in L.A. boxing. Unfortunatly for Bob, his health is failing after a serious accident a few years ago. He no longer lives in Southern Cal, and from what I hear is crippled. I will say this, when I was a kid, I loved watching his Tv show "The Wild Wild West". I visited the set of that production with my grandfather at the CBS Studio Center back in the mid-60's, where they shot on stage 5. On stage 3, "Gunsmoke" was in production, and on stage 9, "Gilligan's Island". By the way, after years of little use, the old "Gilligan's Lagoon" set on the CBS backlot, was finally drained, filled with earth and today is a parking lot.

-Rick Farris

Rick, do you ever do any work at Universal? I am a big Lon Chaney fan - have many of his old silents on dvd, etc. I understand that portions of the set in which he shot The Phantom of the Opera still exist on the Universal lot (mostly the balconies from the Opera House), and the tank in which they shot the water scenes, still exist on one of the stages. Do you know if that's the case?

Tom . . . In 1976, I broke into the film industry at Universal Studios, and have worked there on and off ever since, most recently on "Desperate Housewives". The stage Lon Chaney filmed the "Phantom of the Opera" on was Stage 28, and yes, the south end of the stage still has the opera house set, at least the balconies and boxes used for the audience. Of course, legend has it that the stage is haunted, but if so, I've never been aware of any para-normal activity while I was present. I did spend a lot of time on that stage however, on a variety of productions, and have walked over every square inch of the old Phantom House while rigging for film productions. I know that when the stage was not being used, the Universal Studio Tour used to walk guests thru it, however, I don't believe they allow that any longer. The tour keeps tourists quite far from any real filming, or active stages.

-Rick

Thanks Rick. In 1989, I was at Universal Studios with my family and asked one of the tour guides about the Phantom stage. She pointed it out to me, but informed me that it was off limits even then to tourists. I recalled her saying that it is the oldest stage on the lot.

Interestingly, Chaney was under contract with M-G-M during his heyday. Yet two of his most famous movies - "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "The Phantom of the Opera" - were shot at Universal when he was "on loan" from MGM.

Frank, like you, Chaney loved hunting and fishing in the Sierras. He owned a cabin in the Sierra Nevada that still exists. For many years, it was owned by the National Park Service, and it very difficult to reach - way out in the middle of nowhere. The cabin is so well built that the Park Service has said it would cost a fortune to remove.

I forgot the mention: Chaney was a big, big boxing fan and never missed the fights at the Hollywood Legion Stadium (unless he was out-of-town on location for a film or a publicity tour). He always sat ringside on the first row.

[kikibalt]

[bennie]

I thought patent leather shoes were all the rage for shipyard workers back then.

Is that Kearns smirking in the background?

[raylawpc]

I thought patent leather shoes were all the rage for shipyard workers back then.

Is that Kearns smirking in the background?

Yes. He's the one who set up the shot. Ooops . . .

[raylawpc]

It was alleged that Maxine Cates, Jack Dempsey's first wife, was working as a prostitute in Wells, Nevada ca. 1920 after getting divorced.

- Chuck Johnston

I know she was living in Wells at the time she made the "slacker" charges against Dempsey.

Didn't she die in a fire at a brothel?

[kikibalt]

Sugar Ray Robinson vs Carmen Basilio

[Rick Farris]

Rick, do you ever do any work at Universal? I am a big Lon Chaney fan - have many of his old silents on dvd, etc. I understand that portions of the set in which he shot The Phantom of the Opera still exist on the Universal lot (mostly the balconies from the Opera House), and the tank in which they shot the water scenes, still exist on one of the stages. Do you know if that's the case?[/quote]

Tom . . . In 1976, I broke into the film industry at Universal Studios, and have worked there on and off ever since, most recently on "Desperate Housewives". The stage Lon Chaney filmed the "Phantom of the Opera" on was Stage 28, and yes, the south end of the stage still has the opera house set, at least the balconies and boxes used for the audience. Of course, legend has it that the stage is haunted, but if so, I've never been aware of any para-normal activity while I was present. I did spend a lot of time on that stage however, on a variety of productions, and have walked over every square inch of the old Phantom House while rigging for film productions. I know that when the stage was not being used, the Universal Studio Tour used to walk guests thru it, however, I don't believe they allow that any longer. The tour keeps tourists quite far from any real filming, or active stages.

-Rick[/quote]

Thanks Rick. In 1989, I was at Universal Studios with my family and asked one of the tour guides about the Phantom stage. She pointed it out to me, but informed me that it was off limits even then to tourists. I recalled her saying that it is the oldest stage on the lot.

Interestingly, Chaney was under contract with M-G-M during his heyday. Yet two of his most famous movies - "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "The Phantom of the Opera" - were shot at Universal when he was "on loan" from MGM.

Frank, like you, Chaney loved hunting and fishing in the Sierras. He owned a cabin in the Sierra Nevada that still exists. For many years, it was owned by the National Park Service, and it very difficult to reach - way out in the middle of nowhere. The cabin is so well built that the Park Service has said it would cost a fortune to remove.

I forgot the mention: Chaney was a big, big boxing fan and never missed the fights at the Hollywood Legion Stadium (unless he was out-of-town on location for a film or a publicity tour). He always sat ringside on the first row.[/quote]
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tom . . . A good friend of mine is Josh Chaney, who is a key grip and a boxing fan. Josh is related to Lon Chaney, and when we were doing the TV show "Friends", Josh was in his 20's and I taught him how to box . Josh was at last years WBHOF banquet as my guest, and he made a very special plaque for referee Gwen Adair, and another for Armando Muniz. Like you, Josh can't make this years event, but maybe next year? Josh never met his famous relatives (Lon Sr. & Jr.) but he has a lot of stories from his father you might find interesting.

-Rick Farris

[raylawpc]

One of Lon Chaney's great-grandsons (Lon Jr.'s grandson) has a website honoring his famous grandfathers:

http://www.lonchaney.com/

[Rick Farris]

If you check the cover story on Rudy Cruz, look to the bottom for the contact address of Cruz's manager, and you'll see it's the Barbara Hotel on 6th St. The Barbara was owned by Jack Dempsey, and quite elegant during it's time. The suites all had Baby Grand pianos, which were JAck Kearns idea, and every time Doc wanted to impress a lady, he would give them a Baby Grand piano. Dempsey had quite a history in Los Angeles, and quite a bit of it took place around the Barbara Hotel. Today, a vacant lot sits were The Barbara" once stood. It's located on a corner in the Rampart District of L.A. and that particular corner of 6th St. & Bonnie Brae is a junkie hangout. That area fell on hard times decades ago.

-Rick

[dagosd2000]

It was alleged that Maxine Cates, Jack Dempsey's first wife, was working as a prostitute in Wells, Nevada ca. 1920 after getting divorced.

- Chuck Johnston

Chuck
You're right on that score.

Diego, did you do business with Maxine Cates?....

I'm not into screwing dead people,although some of the women I've had were pretty lifeless

[Randyman]

Sugar Ray Robinson vs Carmen Basilio

For pure toughness and durability it's pretty hard to top Carmen Basilio. He ranks with the best of them.