Welcome back to Spooky L.A., a series where we explore the frights and spirits of Los Angeles.
Today’s story takes us through the lovely neighborhood of Los Feliz. Known for its charming Spanish-style homes and restaurants and boutiques lining Vermont and Hillhurst avenues, this Northeast L.A. neighborhood has a dark history filled with ghosts, murders, and a rumored curse.
Historical writer Hadley Meares walks us through the haunting of Los Feliz.
Wait, there’s a curse in Los Feliz?
Los Feliz’s ghostly history dates back to the 1860s. Meares said the telling of the curse started with early L.A. historian, Horace Bell, who told the story of the curse of Los Feliz.
It started in 1863 during the smallpox epidemic. At the time a hilly portion of Los Feliz, then called Rancho Los Feliz, was owned by the bachelor Don Antonio Feliz. He had no children of his own, but he had a niece named Petranilla who he was very fond of.
The story goes that in his will, Petranilla was set to inherit Rancho Los Feliz. But when smallpox hit the ranch, Don Antonio Feliz sent Petranilla off to Los Angeles to escape the disease. When she returned, a group of lawyers had convinced Antonio to sell them the land and leave Petranilla out of his will.