Elizabeth Short (The Black Dahlia)

Over the years I have photographed many celebrity grave sites. Being that I live in Los Angeles I have the pleasure of living near the final resting places of many of Hollywoods most famous and Infamous. There are just a few grave sites that I was adamant to photograph. Of corse Marilyn Monroe was one. When Bettie Page passed that was another.

But the ultimate for me was that of the Black Dahlia, Elizabeth Short. I had been hearing about her since I was a child. My grandmother and Beth were room mates at Camp Cooke in Santa Barbara Ca.   Both Beth and my grandmother were working at the camp PX and it was found out that they were both underage. Beth was taken into custody one night for underage drinking at a local Santa Barbara bar. When Beth was brought back to the camp to pick up her things the authorities checked out my grandmother and found out she was also under age. After that my grandmother was sent back to Los Angeles to her mother. Some time later my grandmother ran into Beth again,Beth told my grandmother that she was living in a room with several other girls and she could no longer afford the rent. My grandmother  took Beth in for  a few days. She asked Beth to leave after only 8 days due to the fact that Beth was not the cleanest person to live with. Also, she would sleep all day and be out all night. 

 Most of my life I heard stories about Beth and I made a promise to my grandmother that if I ever got around the Oakland Ca. area I would take flowers to Beth. I had the opportunity to do so in Oct of 2010.

It was a very emotional visit for me. I became overwhelmed with sorrow. I had a heaviness in my chest.

This is something I have never felt before or since. I plan on going up there again soon.