George Hodel – Boy Genius, a KFI Radio Classic Music Host at Age -16 -Becomes a Los Angeles Record Newspaper Crime Reporter at at Age-17-and Another Twilight Zone Black Dahlia Connection to the Noir Film L.A. Confidential and Hollywood’s Famed Architects Schindler/Neutra and Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. and Jr.
August 31, 2024
Birch Bay, Washington
THE BIZARRE LINKS OF PEOPLE AND PLACES TO THE SERIAL CRIMES OF GEORGE HILL HODEL
Hit the Twilight Zone intro HERE:
First, let’s go back in time a hundred years:
Below is a 1923 newspaper article in the Los Angeles Examiner announcing that KFI’s classic music radio host George Hodel will feature cellist Dione Neutra, wife of soon-to-be-famous architect Richard Neutra. My father was just 16 and had his own radio show on L.A.’s most popular radio station.
Los Angeles Examiner….A Paper For People Who Think Thursday, August 6, 1923
SONG SERIES ON KFI BILL
Dione Neutra, Versatile Swiss Musician, Will Present Vocal and Cello Numbers
Signalizing the response of the Anthony Studio of KFI to the Anthony Studio of KFI to the constant demand of the public for notable departures from the ordinary, George Hill Hodel presents Dione Neautra, versatile Swiss musician who has a charming soprano voice and ability as a cellist. Her program from 8:30 to 9 will be devoted to a series of songs which she studied under the great European singing master August Becker. After long years of concert and recital work Mme. Neutra has come to Los Angeles to make her home.
…
Author Notes:
Dione and Richard Neutra’s wedding in 1922 in Germany. The couple was married less than a year before George Hill Hodel had her perform on his classical music Anthony Studio KFI radio show in August 1923.
Just five years later, Richard Neutra designed and built his most famous architectural residence: the Lovell House, 4616 Dundee Drive, constructed in the Los Feliz District of Los Angeles from 1928 to 1929.
Sowden/Hodel Residence circa 1945-1950
Now, here’s where Hollywood Fact and Hollywood Fiction merge into a truly bizarre SURREALITY.
As seen in the below graphic, let’s start with Hollywood Facts:
As presented in my series of investigations, we have George Hodel as the Black Dahlia Avenger linked to a dozen serial crimes, but for now, we are just going to review four. Three of those murders, I believe, were committed at his/our then residence, the Sowden/Franklin House at 5121 Franklin Ave. The home built by famed architect, Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. in 1926. Those victims were: 1) Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short in 1947, 2) Actress Jean Spangler in 1949, and 3) “Jane Doe, the DA wire-recorded murderer in 1950. Murder victim 4) Real Estate Agent Gladys Kern was slain in an unoccupied “For Sale” home at 4217 Cromwell, just a mile from George Hodel’s residence, in 1948, while showing the vacant home to her killer.
Now let’s transition to Hollywood Fiction and examine one of the nation’s most beloved films, Curtis Hanson’s L.A. Confidential, released in 1997, just two years before George Hodel’s death in 1999.
Two outstanding stars in the film were Kevin Spacy, who played LAPD detective Sgt. Jack Vincennes and David Strathhairn, who played L.A. mover and shaker Pierce Patchett.
Sgt. Jack Vincennes Pierce Patchett
Spoiler Alert: Two scenes of the movie were filmed in the interior of Dr. George Hodel’s (our former home), the Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. built Sowden/Franklin House at 5121 Franklin Ave.
The first scene shows Piece Patchett and his girls, cut to look like Hollywood actresses dancing with tricks in the living room.
The second scene is filmed in the kitchen (prior to the 2003 major remodel) and portrays a conversation between Sgt. Vincennes and his superior LAPD Captain Dudley Smith, played by actor James Cromwell.
Pierce Patchett’s girls dance with tricks at George Hodel/Sowden House
L.A. Confidential Lovell House scene with Pierce Patchett Murder Click for Video Clip
L.A. Confidential Sowden House scene with Sgt. Jack Vincennes Murder Click for Video Clip
Lovell House Click for Video Clip
The Schindler/Neutra/Frank Lloyd Wright/Lloyd Wright/Galka Scheyer/George Hodel Linkage
There is no doubt that my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel, would have known all of the above four architects personally and socially during his long residence in Hollywood, which spanned the years 1907-1950. We have documentation that he knew both Wrights, father and son, and Schindler, whom George had commissioned to design some furniture for the home he lived in in 1939, at 1800 Huntington Drive in San Marino (now the San Marino Chamber of Commerce). This was one of our residence homes in 1939, prior to George purchasing the FLW Sowden house in 19445. (See below Schindler drawings)
