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.