Who Started the Great Fire of 1969?

(Continued from last time) The Great Fire Who-Dunnit?





No one got killed. Mr. Blaser, my Dad and my brothers managed to save everyone inside.
Bobby Tripp didn't have to go to jail and the grand old house on the corner of Harding Ave and Grandview had been burned down. The next day while the charred remains were still smoldering,Tommy Blaser and I decided to sneak inside the ruins to explore inside even though our parents told us it was not safe and forbade us to go anywhere near the place.





I was a kid on a mission. Yep...I, Markie D, decided to take on the arduous task of  helping the Venice Fire Department with their arson investigation (every fire department needs a just-turned 13-year-old to muddle in their affairs...right? I thought so!) And so I sneaked with my pad and pencil and began taking notes.

As a mentioned last time, I had a long list of  possible suspects.

The 2 prime suspects of this harrowing fire that were on the short list of the Secret Service and of Fire department were immediately ruled out.







The first being Chet Young, the cowardly fugitive who gunned down Bill Lennon and who was now on the run. The second was Charles Manson and 25 of his murderous renegades known as "The Family" who had been briefly arrested on August 16th at Spahn Film Ranch for the Sharon Tate and LaBianca murders and had been under close surveillance since the botched arrest.

1) Chet Young
2) Charles Manson and gang
3) Mr. Blaser (I didn't tell Tommy but his dad made it on my list because of what it was doing to the price of                       real estate on our street) but if he was a suspect then he would have burned our house down                         a long time ago.
         Since he tolerated us and our Venice Tower of bamboo trash, then I figured that I could rule him out.
3) Mr. Blaser 
4) THREE of the four Harding boys who had dressed up as girls and wanted revenge for feeling rejected.
5) Susea Grant might have done it for payback for being dropped on her head from the second story                                     balcony by her brother Cameron to the boisterous chagrin of the Frat guys

6)  Mr. D (that's my dad) he made it on the list, because we needed more parking for our eight hundred cars                                            and armada of trucks filled with trash and car parts.

7) Johnny Gillemot - the paper boy who had not been paid for the subscription to the Santa Monica Evening                                 Outlook by the guys at the "Frat House" who kept giving  him the "run around"
8) The Catholic Nuns who lived behind the "Frat House" which was nothing more than a den of iniquity.
9) Leeland, the guy on the corner of Crestmore who built bombs and liked to blow up things and wanted the                   barn to himself for his "Sin Bin"
10) Walter Daniels... Well, because they lived behind the big old house and for the fact that he was Walter                                     Daniels (don't try to figure it out - just accept it).
11) The Nargies - because they owned the property next door - enough said.













12) Tommy Blaser - because he walked in his sleep and liked to play with matches - NEVER a good                                           combination.

13) The Owner - Mr. Malon. Since the world had turned to conspiracy theories every since the                                                                  assassination of JFK back in '63  (i.e. including the moon landing last month)                                                we might as well add the owner of the property (seeing that it was worth more                                              for the insurance then what he could sell the property for.

This is not comprehensive by any means, but it is my list and one that had many more suspects on it than the Venice Fire Marshall had on his list.

Jimmy the "slurper" who sucked boogers into his mouth when his nose ran and licked his lips so much that he looked like he was wearing Bozo the clown makeup - road me over to the fire station on the handlebars of his Schwinn Stingray so I could present my list to the Fire Chief. When I read my list the Chief rolled his eyes, but I think that's because he was intimidated that I have more people on my list than he had on his. He didn't know things I knew. He didn't know about Susea getting dropped on her head or about the Fraternity jipping Johnny out of the paper route money they owed him or about Tommy and his hankering to burn things with matches or that Leland liked to blow things up. I did!

The Fire Chief didn't know about the four boys who lost a bet and had to dress up like girls and try to schmooze their way into the house and had to get the"Frat boys" to "hit" on them.

The Chief certainly didn't have the Saint Mark's Nuns on his list - but that's because he didn't go to Saint Marks school and didn't have Sister Godzilla in the Fifth grade or have Sister Shultz for homeroom.

Psshaw... What did he know?  Lucky for him I was his 13-year-old Harding Avenue, street rat, who was now his confidential informant.    

But for now, I got to say good bye. It's time to run inside and watch the Lennon Sisters on the Jimmy Durante Show.

Mad Man vs Policeman and the Rescue

Circa Sept 1969 (cont pt 2)

The old turn-of-the-century house was built without fire-blocks and the gluttonous flames raced up the studs between the walls devouring the old dry wood on its way to the second floor.

Pop...pop...pop went several more windows exploding from the intense heat as the occupants on the second floor found themselves trapped inside - as the hot flames filled the grand staircase (their only means of escape).

Meanwhile one of the officers from the protective detail (stationed at the Lennon house on the opposite corner) searched between houses thinking that it was the crazed-lunatic, Chet Young or that it might have been Charles Manson who was responsible for the Molotov cocktail that had been thrown through the large front window as a distraction to get at the Lennons.  The popping sounds from the exploding windows sounded just like multiple gun shots. The crackling blaze, sounds of gunfire and the heavy dark smoke was like a scene from the war zone in Vietnam.

As it turns out, the officer who had been tackled on the front lawn of the Tripp's house next door to the blazing inferno was not tangled up with a crazed assassin or with one of Charles Manson murderous minions...as he had thought at the time. No, it wasn't a madman at all. Instead it turned out to be my neighbor Bobby Tripp who had just returned from Vietnam and was experiencing a flashback.

Seeing the scuffle from inside the house, Mrs. Tripp frantically ran out in her nightgown and began yelling at the officer, "Don't hurt my son...don't hurt my son, he just got back from Vietnam." Thankfully, the officer didn't let his wounded pride get the better of him.  Heeding the frantic pleas of Bobby's mom, both of them stood to their feet, respectfully dusted each other off and turned their attention to the fire!

In his skivvies and nothing else, Don Blaser was already on the scene with my Dad along with a couple of my draft-card-burning brothers who were building a human ladder out in front, up the corner of the crude balcony that been built a year earlier by numerous "Frat house members" while on an intoxicated binge.

Chewbacca had climbed onto the balcony contraption and shoved his waffle-stomper through the window and began helping the trapped "fraternity members" out of the window and onto the second story overhang as my brothers lowered members one by one down the human chain of Dahlins, Blasers and Tripps.






I don't know if you have been paying close attention, but every time I talk about the "Frat house" I always put it in quotes. It totally looked legit from the outside with its Greek letters ΦΒΧ  that had been fixed to the exterior of the old house (seen above in the picture), but I'm pretty sure they didn't even know what those letters meant in Greek.  The whole thing was sham - a cover for a party house for guys who couldn't make it into a real college Fraternity - an animal house which was the brain-child of Cameron Grant.


Can't fool O' Markie D - no siree!


The Venice Fire department set up mobile command unit at the Tripp's house next door and Myrtle seemed a little too happy have all those young men in uniform running through her house.  She was more than happy to oblige the terrible - awful - no good interruption.

Anyway, the Lennons on the other corner were safe, but still on protective lock-down. The fireman took some time protecting the nearby properties of 900 Harding Avenue and let the majestic old lady burn to the ground.   (Oh by the way - its not like the Lennon Sisters were always standing outside the Lennon house posing for pictures or anything like that - but I think you get the idea)



This is where I come in. This is where I began my investigation of possible arson suspect. I don't think it was Dracula or Frankenstein or anything as insidious as that but it's interesting that just about everyone on the Harding Avenue including the Nuns in the convent on Coeur d'Alene had a good motive to burn the place down.





My list will follow...  But kids please be careful with matches - and I'm specifically talking to you Tommy Blaser.

Protective Custody; Fire; the Fight with the Mad-Man!

Sept 1, 1969  (continued)

At the Lennon house things got crazy that night. Gunshots had been fired...so the Secret Service detail - frantically scrambled into action calling all the Lennons to take cover downstairs in the add-on that was now a family room.  The gunshots they heard (or what they thought were gunshots) were not far from the Lennon house and posed an imminent threat.

BAM... BAM... BAM... BAM... the loose windows at our house rattled from the series of gunshots or explosions or from whatever was going on across the street.

The noise woke up everyone on Harding, on Grandview, on Naples, on Coeur d'Alene, on Angelus Pl and even those on Crestmore... One giant explosion followed by other loud pops that sounded like gun shots.

AGAIN, this was in the wake of the Charles Manson murder spree and right after the murder of Bill Lennon.

A detail of Agents were stationed in the Lennon house for their protection from the murderer who was still at large and considered extremely dangerous. In high alert they drew their weapons and called for backup. These trained Officers were not about to take any chances and locked-down all 22 of the Lennons who had been staying in the Harding House under protective custody.

Meanwhile, black ugly smoke had begun to billow and blow in a slow ominous crawl from the Fraternity House that was now a  blazing inferno eastward on the slight ocean breeze across the Tripps and the Nargies - over the Saint Mark's nunnery (the convent) - over the Daniels - over Bob and Jeanette Lennons house that soon engulfed the Lennon Sister's house on the way to the Smiths, Saint Marks Rectory that moved slowly east across Lincoln Blvd.



Was this a ploy? Was this Chet Young or followers of Charles Manson trying to create a diversion to "smoke-out" the Lennon clan on the corner.  One of the officers on duty at the Lennon house, went outside to investigate only to be ambushed on the front lawn of the Tripps (which was directly next door the the grand turn-of-the-century house that was now ablaze in flames). The officer who had been tackled was now engaged in a life-and-death hand to hand combat on the lawn directly next to something that looked and sounded just like something you'd expect to see at the war zone in "Vietnam."

In the violent altercation, there was a tussle for the officer's gun, - the poor policeman looked like he was outmatched by the crazy guy who had attack him and wrestled him to the ground.

My dad, who had served in World War II, and I had both jumped up in a flash - he because of his service in the War and me because of  the PTSD from my service as baby boy to the Dahlin-hippie-Wolf-Pack.




I threw off my boxing gloves...(that's another story),climbed out my window, onto the carport roof and beat all of my other brothers outside. They thought the gun-shot-noise was my Staff-Sergeant dad beating the ceiling with a boom handle because it was street cleaning day and buried their heads...(Blog Post - 7/1/2013  street cleaning circus PS this is the true story for all you Venetians who want to know the real history of why they began street cleaning in Venice)

Who was the mad man on the Tripp front lawn?  Manson and his murderous cronies had still not been arrested yet and Chet Young was still on the loose!




Find out next time... One thing for sure - Harding Avenue was definitely not Mayberry and there was always something crazy going on... only this time there was a fight on the lawn between an officer and a crazy dude, people trapped upstairs in the burning inferno and now things had gotten really scary that Don Blaser had run outside in tightie-whities.

What's going to happen with the Lennons?
Does Don Blaser know he has no clothes on?
Will the hippies trapped in the "Fraternity House" get out alive?
Will my brothers sleep through all this excitement?
Will Leland or Tommy Blaser be blamed for this?

The Secret Service and Gunshots on Harding!

I have been trying to write the unbelievable, bizarre, incredible, "too-crazy-to-be-true" stories of my growing up years in chronological order the best I can remember.  I began this blog about a year ago - beginning by telling about my first day in 5th grade (as my class moved up from one end of Saint Marks grammar school to the other end of the school building) in Sister Godzilla's class.















That first day of 5th grade was after my wild family let the monkeys out of the LA zoo - 5/3/13
                   It was after my brothers had learned how to harness  electricity for inventive forms of sibling and
                      neighbor torture, which also happened to include the occasional visiting nun - 4/26/13
               ...It was also the summer my family left me at behind at Salton Sea that ended in a high speed                              Highway Patrol chase to Indio - 5/27/13                                                                                                ...It was after nearly a dozen broken bones and having my leg nearly severed completely off


I continued to work my way through stories about our notorious neighborhood pranks and dangerously stupid UFO launchings that almost burned down the Lennon Sisters house on the corner, fishing for the old grouch next door, and the improbable meeting of a lifetime that led us to cross paths with the President of the United States (LBJ) while on one of our wild adventures across country - 9/14/13






With 30,000  visitors from 86 countries around the world to my blog, I am now in that chronological telling of the history of the world - or the history of Venice or the history of Saint Marks or the history of Harding Avenue in the summer of 1969, just after having my 13th birthday.



(Pictured to left is 900 Harding Ave. Venice. CA. circa 1965 i.e. "The Fraternity House")




My last posting has to do with the tragic death of Mr. Lennon and the pursuing turmoil it presented to the Lennons as well as to our neighborhood with the confusion that was stirred up by media frenzy linking the murder of Bill Lennon to the recent La Bianca-Tate murder spree of Charles Manson and his cult followers. Turns out that the murderer, a disturbed psycho, by the name of Chet Young, had also expressed murder threats against President Johnson back when he was in office.  Thus, necessitating the invasion of the Secret Service to our street for protection of the Lennon clan.

What I found out in my visit to Branson last summer from Joey Lennon was the key to solving the timing of the Great Fraternity-House Fire. He and Billy Lennon told me the events that took place while they were in protective lock-down by the Secret Service that shed light on the exact timing of that event.  I had previously put this event in my blog early in 1969 (for choosing 1969 I get a B+  because no one I had talked to - who lived on Harding during the big fire - could agree on the exact year - let alone the exact time that it happened).

Joey and Billy Lennon, however, knew exactly when that fire took place. It was almost 45 years ago to this exact day.

Most of the Lennon family - including all of the Lennon Sisters, their husbands and kids had all come back to live in the big house on Harding Ave for their protection - because Chet Young had gotten away and was still on the loose.  From across the street where we lived, it looked like a hundred Lennons were crammed in there at the time- but what does a 13-year-old know...none-the-less, it was a big number that exceeded the number of Venice hippies, friends and strays who were crammed in my house.

Since I shared my memories on the big fire I have heard some stories of others who have shed more light from their perspective (including the Tripps, who lived right next door, and an actual person who told me about how they were trapped inside on the second floor of the fraternity house at the time of the fire).

Now what I would like to do, since there are many new people to my blog, is to paste all of that together with the new information in its correct chronological time frame that took place within weeks of the Bill Lennon murder during the time of the invasion of the Secret Service to our street on Harding Ave (at this exact time 45 years ago).

At the Lennon house things got crazy that night. Gunshots had been fired...so the policemen and Secret Service detail frantically scrambled into action calling all the Lennons to take cover downstairs. The gunshots they heard (or what they thought were gunshots) were not far from the Lennon house and posed an imminent threat.  BAM... BAM... BAM... BAM... the loose windows at our house rattled from the serious of gunshots or explosions or from whatever was going on across the street.

To Be Continued.

PS if you are reading this and have memories of that night, I would very much like to hear your recollection - value your input and would like include your memory of the event in the upcoming continuation of the big event - so please share in a comment below or on FACEBOOK and I'll add it into the story.

Mr. D's Birthday... A Tribute to the "Dad of Harding Avenue"

It's a little bizarre that I had a dream last night about my dad.  It's been 29 years since my dad died and I still have dreams that include him...but that's not the weird part - the thing that made it so interesting to me was that today (Sept 1st,) is his birthday. Coincidence? I don't know, call it what ever you want, but since today is Carl R. Dahlin's birthday, I think I use this Labor Day Blog as a pictorial tribute to a truly great man and awesome dad!

Let's go back to the beginning...first of all Dahlin is a Swedish surname. My Dad's family immigrated from Sweden into Canada and then into the United States where they settled in Michigan - Those Swedes always looking for cold weather I guess.

Here is a picture of little Carl growing up in a Suburb of Detroit!


Dad's mom and two of his sisters. His mom is direct descendant of Leif Ericson (you know the guy who discovered America)!





Two of his blonde haired-sisters with all of the recessive genes you'd expect as Swedish imports!



Aunt Sally and Aunt Pearl

 Enlisted in the Army   Oh by the way - Watch out Elvis (Good looking guy right?)

Rising through the ranks - Staff Sergeant   Teaching hand to hand combat (Martial Arts to the Marines)

Meets a sweetie pie from Santa Monica - Hilberta Joan Sommer (her tribute blog post ) 

they get married and start having babies - He's not quite sure how to change diapers at first...

My mom's not sure how to do baby laundry at first...

 Four boys and the 'O Ford Woody

  

Late 50's  - early 60's begins selling lots at Salton Sea... An Inland Sea Paradise destined to rival Palm Springs... 

Four oldest Brothers and Ian Williamson (a neighbor friend who is about 9 feet all) 







Five boys then comes the First GIRL yeah! 

















Paints the VW van  red - eight of us on Easter Morning 1960 (with "Nana" in the van - my mom's mother). 











They get the hang of it ("hang" of it - get it? it's pun based on pictures above) and begin to have lots and lots of really beautiful children...to many kids for small house on Euclid in Santa Monica and buy the big house on Harding in Venice.

 He takes all 132 of us to Kings River

 Then lots of fishing! There he is on Santa Monica pier baiting hooks!

Fishing below Pine Flats Dam (Kings River) 1962 

He takes us to Salton Sea...  Dad is laying on the ground taking a nap! (Who knows what Karl and Steve Smith are doing?)  I'm flexing (some things don't change). 

My dad let Bill Lennon and the famous singing Lennon Sisters move into to Harding with all 11 of their kids. 

He also let Don and Mary (Lennon) Blaser move in right next door... and their 9 kids! 

Tommy Blaser out in front of the Blaser house with Karin (my baby sister) and Mr. Blaser's Lincoln Continental in driveway and the Fraternity house pictured in background 900 Harding Avenue.   

Then my dad let another Lennon Family move in across the street - Bob and Jeanette and their nine kids... We were surrounded by Lennons, 36 of them - with our mob we had enough to take over the World. 

  More Real Estate 

Then partners with Don Blaser - Dahlin/Blaser Realty

Another new car  - 1967 Ford Esquire Station Wagon will all the  bells and whistles and FM RADIO! 

 As the official designated unofficial Mayor of Venice _ I.e President of the Venice/ Marina Lions Club...President of the Venice/Marina Chamber of Commerce...Board member of Bank of Marina Del Rey...Treasurer of Venice Boy Scout Troop 32... President of the Venice board of Real estate (in other words he was involved in everything -  which made it mandatory for him to Golf!  

He brought home lots of Trophies... he won many closets to pin and Long Drive competitions! 

....earning him the occasional nap! 

 

not the most flattering picture (I know), but not only were my brothers ornery so was my sister and her gaggle of friends... Weenie Tripp, Theresa Blaser, Debi Gas, Mimi Lennon, Mary Blaser, Theresa McCarthy, Sally Lennon and an bunch of others who would put his hair in those great, big, giant, pink-foam curlers and put make-up on his face while he was sleeping and then sneak out and without saying a word and let the poor guy wake up and and head out doors into the neighborhood...without suspecting a thing -  looking like (Well, use your imagination)!  

Dad with Karl and Bob (at Bob's wedding with my 1959 220s Mercedes convertible in the background). 

with a bunch of us in the front yard... too many to name...

 With Ray Vandermark and little Mary Blaser and Barbara Blaser and Mrs. Blaser and me and Tony and Steve Kissel and Pinky Parlett, and David Smith and Theresa McCarthy Dahlin, Marylee (top) and Billy Blaser right in the middle of it all. 

Goofing around with Christine Blaser and Sally Lennon and little Mary Blaser and Theresa. 

with mom and crazy dog "Bluin" who got the frontal lobotomy from Veloci-Rooster (post XXX) 

messing around with wigs  circa 1980 

even the dog gets a wig makeover 

Dad hold pictures of his parents

diagnosed with cancer 1983...

begins losing weight... 

With Peggy Lennon (other "Harding" Lennons the one with 13 kids) 

His Last Birthday party at the Blaser's house everyone singing "Happy Birthday Mr. D" written by Markie Lennon.

Surrounded by the family, near the end. 

Dies January 25th 1985

Saint Mark's church filled to capacity as Lennon Sisters sign the "Our Father" as we commend his spirit into the loving arms of our Father who is in Heaven. 

  

If I had to guess, I'd say he's probably goofing off in heaven right now and golfing with Bill Lennon and with some of the other good 'O boys from the "Harding Ave Gang"...  (pictured Frank Nargie) 

....when he's not fishing with Karl (RIP). 

I miss you Dad!  We miss you dad and Venice misses you!

 Circa 2014