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Why? That just so happens to be me, with my Grandma Estelle on her 75th Birthday. I thought it was really funny, as we were both so shocked.
Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
When you say you have a new club, do you mean the "blunt object" kind of club, or the "let's watch the entire first season of TNG in a row and tape UM's eyes open so he has to watch it all and suffer through it in Portugese?!"
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I know I had a dream once that involved a Flare convention, but this thread reminds that some of ya'll I just don't think I want to meet in person.
-------------------- The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.
Registered: Mar 1999
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capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
Member # 709
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Holy City was once home to thriving cult and businesses A brothel in Los Gatos! Not exactly in Los Gatos, but up in Holy City, when self-styled "Father" William Riker ran his cult city in the early and mid-1900s on the old two-lane Santa Cruz Highway about seven miles south of Los Gatos. This was before a freeway bypassed his domain, thus spelling its demise.
Riker had been a street preacher in San Francisco, where he offered discipleships to followers who liquidated their assets, including, in a few cases, homes. With this money and some of his own, he purchased a large tract of mountain property on both sides of the road and set up services for the public's physical and spiritual needs. In the early days of automobiles, it was a rare vehicle that could motor nonstop to Santa Cruz without water to cool a steaming engine.
He established a gasoline station with plenty of radiator water on hand, as well as a restaurant, a grocery store and a print shop to stamp out his messages. Over a string of storefronts was the message "Holy City is the Comforter and the New Jerusalem." He also acquired one of the state's early radio licenses to spread his "word."
Even the giant Santas spaced along the bending road through Holy City offered messages from Riker. It was said that the Santas once lined Hollywood Boulevard in Southern California.
Riker's disciples, whom he expected to be celibate, worked these many enterprises and were assured a comfortable lifestyle--especially during the Great Depression.
As World War II approached, Riker became an outspoken admirer of Germany's F�hrer, Adolph Hitler, and corresponded with him. When the United States entered World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Riker urged American servicemen not to fight against Germany but to aim their guns toward the Japanese.
For this advice he was hauled into federal court in San Francisco on charges of sedition. His defense attorney was the late Melvin Belli, who got Riker off by telling the court that Riker was a "harmless old kook." When Belli asked for his fee, Riker threatened to sue Belli for calling him an "old kook," the very term that got him off. Belli got his fee.
As for the brothel, it came to these ears in an unexpected way.
A year ago last spring, the Los Gatos High School Class of 1937 held a reunion at Los Gatos Lodge, to which my wife, Barbara, invited me (LGHS '35) to tag along. You know her from previous columns as my "better half, better speller and better memory."
Because some of the '37ers came from afar and were staying at the lodge, a few locals invited the travelers to breakfast in the lodge's dining room. The event later turned into a walk down memory lane, with everyone recalling something of old Los Gatos.
When the nod went to longtime mountain resident Andy Lund, he spoke of Holy City and Stumble Inn, a bar a few hundred yards down the two-lane road toward Los Gatos. Travelers arriving in Holy City would first notice Stumble Inn. Lund said the second story served as a brothel. Perhaps Riker's disciples were not as celibate as he advised.
Registered: Sep 2001
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...You guys sure help in supporting the typical image of a Trekkie...
Well, if I had a camera (that worked) I'd give you my pic, but then you wouldn;t believe me if I showed you. I would end up giving you a pic of my bro or something.
-------------------- Matrix If you say so If you want so Then do so
Registered: Jul 2000
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-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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This is my older brother, Reynolds.
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That's MY line! Thief! ![[Mad]](mad.gif)
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