Haunted Hangout: Beverly Garland Hotel

Some relatives were in town this weekend, staying at the Beverly Garland Hotel, so we finally had an excuse to try out the restaurant there, and the food was quite good. The hotel itself is quite nice, too — small rooms but a comfortable ambiance and many amenities (swimming pool, exercise room, etc).

The Beverly Garland Hotel qualifies as a “Haunted Hang-out” because it is named after an actress who starred in several low-budget sci-fi horror films in the 1950s (IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, CURUCU – BEAST OF THE AMAZON, NOT OF THIS EARTH, THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE). In the 1990s, Ms. Garland also appeared on television in THE NEW ADVENTURES OF LOIS AND CLARK and in the direct-to-video horror film HAUNTED SYMPHONY (a.k.a. HELLFIRE, with CHARIOTS OF FIRE’s Ben Cross).

The hotel also used to host the Ray Court Hollywood Collectors and Celebrities Show, where you could find lots of stars from old horror and sci-fi flicks who would autograph memorablia for you. Court has moved his show to the Hilton Hotel in Burbank, but next August (Saturday and Sunday, the 27th and 28th, to be exact), the hotel will host a new dealer’s convention, called Mark Sinardi’s Showstopper Stars Spectacular. Guests will include Jonathan Winters (MORK AND MINDY), Jeff Conway (TAXI, BABYLON 5), Deborah Dutch (DINOSAUR ISLAND), Gary Graham (ALIEN NATION television series), June Lockhart (LOST IN SPACE), Margaret O’Brien (THE CANTERVILLE GHOST), Terry Moore (MIGHTY JOE YOUNG), John Saxon (FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET), Armin Schimmerman (STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE 9), Yvette Vickers (ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN), and Beverly Garland herself.

Call 818-766-7311 for more information about the show.