When I first moved to Los Angeles, I found myself a bit obsessed with the corrupt history of this city (especially during the 40's). I was constantly reading books by various authors around the subject--fiction and non fiction--Raymond Chandler, James Ellroy, Kenneth Anger. I was excited when a friend I knew here shared a similar obsession. We would drive around LA together, checking out locations where weird and often sad incidents took place. During this time, another friend of mine, Heather Gabel, came to town. We got to talking about the history of Los Angeles and she chimed in with lots of additional information. For years she had read endless interviews, books and articles on Elizabeth Short (more commonly known as the Black Dahlia). Her fascination with the Short's story totally drew me in. The movie was so horrible that I hadn't ever been attentive to what had really happened to her. Long story short, Heather and I talked forever about this woman's life and the ideas of what could of happened to her. Heather had all of her own theories, it was pretty amazing! SO, we decided that we would do a shoot revolving around those theories-- where she was in the weeks between last being seen and turning up murdered. I had never done a little project like this, it was really great doing the research and finding a location, clothing, props. We shot it in an extremely sketchy hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The entire place was being renovated except for this one room. I can't explain how strange the energy of the hotel was... never once did I doubt that it's past was still lingering. As great as the shoot was, I think we were all relieved to get out of that place. Here's a few photos from the shoot, hope you like them...
CP