Los Angeleno

Following mulling over various potential income streams, I settled on the idea of hand modeling as the perfect quick, get-rich endeavor. With a faint recollection of someone, it was probably myself, praising my hands; I envisioned raking in millions by showcasing and posing my hands in various scenarios.

I typed in ‘hand modeling L.A.’ on Google, and behold! There was, disappointingly, one casting agent with open auditions, the Body Parts Models, Inc. Without such inclusive and open sessions, I wondered how aspiring hand models even got their start in the industry.

I envisioned myself poised in the lively food court of the Glendale Galleria Mall, gracefully holding a can of soda. A discerning scout for hand models observes the practical finesse and is awed by how my delicate hands make a medium-sized paper cup gleam. “Excuse me, miss, you should consider being a hand model,” he suggests. Contemplating the idea, I reply, “I’ll give it some thought,” deftly accepting his business card with my nimble fingers.

Meanwhile, I was reading Body Parts Models Inc.’s instructions for their audition on their website. My first step in preparing my hands for their debut involved painting my nails with two coats of Essie’s Ballet Slipper pink. Amidst choices like Powder-Me Pink and Fairy Wings, I locate Ballet Slipper, appreciate its sheer beauty, snag it with a coupon, and head home. Opting to handle my own manicure to avoid micromanaging a professional, the color I picked proves to be a dazzling selection. Now adorned with the perfect hue, I feel ready to exhibit my hands, perhaps while elegantly holding a bouquet of parsley for a grocery store ad.

The next day, I headed to the audition in a Beverly Hills neighborhood. The street, lined with older homes, hinted at a peaceful haven for elderly couples along Coldwater Canyon Drive. The residential setting gave me pause, but a sign on the door, reassuring “talent” (yes, me!), guided entry from the back. Opening the back gate, I discovered a group of America’s most eager and hopeful body parts models.

I was mistaken in thinking I had stumbled upon a niche job market. The attendees weren’t just aspiring hand models; they represented any of the 14 specialized divisions: lip, eyes, hair, neck, ears, feet, and more. I can’t even name 14 body parts, let alone envision them all ‘modeled up’ in an ad.

The lengthy queue wound around the pool (obviously, there was a pool) and meandered through the patio. Each person was unique. I found myself scrutinizing them, attempting to guess their intended modeling focus. Some seemed seasoned and familiar with the process and the layout. I believe I even spotted someone who brought their own fold-out chair.

A couple of staff members helped us with sign-ins and directed people to the pool house for restroom access. I queued up behind a shirtless guy, probably targeting abs, or maybe he was just trying to catch some Beverly Hills sun. Marie Teglovic, the casting agent, eventually emerged. Tall and blonde, her enthusiasm for the job was evident; she paused to exchange hushed words with two members of the staff. Proceeding, she walked through the crowd and stationed herself at the backyard’s highest point, turning it into her stage.

With such a public setup, everyone’s audition was on display. Marie made instant decisions, signaling whether you advanced to the photography line, indicating a potential signing, or if it was a simple exit. Almost everyone proceeded to the photography line. Around 45 minutes into the wait, I witnessed the first rejection. A girl pleaded loudly with Marie to consider any qualifying body parts. In her desperate moment, Marie, unable to dismiss her outright, asked to reevaluate her hands. After a moment’s reconsideration, Marie approved, and the girl went off to have her hands photographed, her expressions of gratitude fading away as she walked off.

When my turn arrived, I exchanged a knowing glance with Marie. To get a head start, I took photos of my hands and emailed an introduction to her. Taking those photos was a notable achievement, as I had to manage the camera while simultaneously posing my other hand in a relaxed, demure manner.

I used a self-timer and held the camera in my mouth to get a shot of both my hands. Despite having friends who could have assisted, I chose to sidestep potential embarrassment and maintain a semblance of self-respect. The email response praised my hands, stating, “These are nice hands!” It also extended an invitation to an “Exclusive Model Casting,” which, as it turned out, was this very same public event listed on their website, open for anyone to observe and participate.

Linda requested to see my hands, and I awkwardly extended them for her scrutiny. Her rejection was somewhat prolonged, expressing that she didn’t find my hands suitable. She inquired if I had anything else to showcase, referring to any of the 14 eligible body parts. While I did have nice elbows, I politely denied the other parts of my body to her; I’d decided by then that she didn’t deserve to see them and left.

Around a month later, I received an email from Marie asking for hand models on her roster to confirm attendance for an audition. I had assumed that if companies chose your photo, you simply showed up for the shoot. This was my misconception; that you needed only one audition—the one to get signed.

I couldn’t grasp that it involved more effort than that. I was mistaken. Once signed, you may attend several auditions before securing a booking. While this prospect might excite someone passionate about hand modeling, for me, I realized that hand modeling wasn’t the fast-money-making job I’d thought it was, and honestly, it required too much effort. I chose not to respond to Marie’s email. Let’s be clear—I turned down hand modeling; it wasn’t the other way around.

Although hand modeling isn’t listed as a skill on my resume, I find ways to bring it up in everyday conversation. Don’t ask me to pass the salt; it turns into a whole-body affair. “Here we have a fine pink Himalayan,” I say, delicately lifting the salt with only my thumb and index finger, pinky up.

When residents in Los Angeles opened the front pages of the L.A. Times on the morning of January 29, 1934, some of them might have spilled their coffee out of shock at seeing the headlines. It was strange, exciting, and there was also an error. It read “Lizard Peolpe’s Catacomb City Hunted.” Legends about the lizard people had always been there, but it must have been the first time that print media featured a story on the topic.

Jean Bosquet, an L.A. Times reporter, wrote the story on the claims of G. Warren Shufelt, a mining engineer. According to Shufelt, he had created a machine, “Radio X-Ray,” and mapped the area, which displayed amazing things.

Shufelt said the X-ray showed a massive network of tunnels beneath Los Angeles covering a vast area. Supposedly, these tunnels weren’t built by our ancestors but by another race called the “Lizard People.” He also said that several locations in the tunnels contained treasures.

The Newspaper Report That Aroused The Curiosity

So, did Lizard People exist and inhabit the undergrounds of modern L.A.? Or were they just rumors or folk tales of the past? We may never know, but it’s an exciting theory. But many people like Shufelt believed it. Here is a quote from the Jean Bosquet story dated January 29, 1934.

“Busy Los Angeles, although little realizing it in the hustle and bustle of modern existence, stands above a lost city of catacombs filled with incalculable treasure and imperishable records of a race of humans further advanced intellectually and scientifically than even the highest type of present-day peoples, in the belief of G. Warren Shufelt, geophysical mining engineer now engaged in an attempt to wrest from the lost city deep in the earth below Fort Moore Hill the secrets of the Lizard People of legendary fame in the medicine lodges of the American Indian.”

The reporter must have been over-excited because he hardly takes a breath to give the reader this exciting and weird information. The article continues and mentions that Shufelt and his assistants truly believed that there were indeed tunnels and treasures under Los Angeles. So they had already started digging and inserted a shaft 250 feet inside the earth. The entrance of the shaft was on North Hill Street.

Shufelt trusted his device entirely, and therefore, he wanted to continue inserting the shaft below until it reached a thousand feet. He and his aides planned to stop after that if the venture yielded no positive result. The dig didn’t produce the desired outcome, so Shufelt and his aides abandoned the project by December of that year.

Along with the story, the newspaper also printed a map created by Shufelt according to his findings with the help of the X-ray machine. Readers can understand the structure of the tunnels by looking at the image printed on page 5 of the paper.

The image showed an artist’s imagination of the Lizard People working on the top right-hand side. On the left-hand side, it showed Shufelt and his assistants at the entrance of the shaft and below the engineer working with his device. The series of tunnels occupied the center of the image/map.

The tunnels were basically under the areas of Fort Moore Place, North Broadway, and North Hill Street. The article indicates that Shufelt and his aides believed that the Lizard People had a “Key Room” located under Broadway and 2nd Street. The “Key Room” was supposedly a place where the ancient race made plans and stored all their treasures and important information written on gold tablets.

Investigations into people’s hunt for treasure by a Times reporter indicated that some enthusiasts dug but didn’t find any significant amount of gold. The reporter also discovered that a Times report from around May 1934 said that an old-time prospector requested to dig on the hill, but the authorities denied permission. It was because the county made a deal with Shufelt and his assistants to share 50-50 of any profit obtained from the dig.

Lizard People: Fact Or Fantasy

What made G. Warren Shufelt so convinced that the Lizard People really existed in the past and that they left behind a vast series of tunnels and gold underneath Los Angeles? After Shufelt’s machine showed the results, which he believed to be an extensive tunnel system, he met a Hopi Native American in Arizona who told him the legend about the “Lizard People.”

As per the story that appeared in the L.A. Times, The Hopi chief told Shufelt that around five thousand years back, a massive inferno burned down the whole area of present Los Angeles. The inferno is said to have been caused by a meteorite. Therefore, the “Lizard People” built at least three cities beneath the spot where L.A. stands today. It’s believed that the tunnel system is so vast that it reaches up to the sea coast.

The term “Lizard People” bestowed on the ancient race isn’t because they were reptilian in nature, as some conspiracy theories suggest today, or the kind shown in movies. Instead, they considered the lizard as a vital being, and it symbolized long life. This race built the underground cities in the shape of the lizard, according to Shufelt’s narration. 

One of the cities shaped like a lizard below Los Angeles had its head under the Dodger Stadium. The site beneath downtown Central Library was the location of the tail.  

The curiosity regarding the “Lizard People” increased even more when the “Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research” received a letter from a woman on September 26, 1934, who made some weird and shocking claims. 

The woman mentioned in the letter that she had a vision one evening on December 22, 1933, when she was with some friends. According to reports, her friends also confirmed the clairvoyant moment which the lady had. 

She described that in her vision, she saw two civilizations at different times. One was a more recent one that had excelled in art and architecture and surpassed whatever is present today. The other vision was about an older civilization that consisted of cities underground with giant tunnels, some extending to the oceans.

She thought that this older civilization built underground tunnels to prevent attacks from other people and also to safeguard their society. Her friends said that Miss Edith had the vision before there was any mention of the Lizard People by the local media.

An Alternate Theory

While many people got curious about the Lizard People, the tunnels, and the buried treasure, others had different views regarding the story in the L.A. Times. Several individuals have said that the mining engineer’s “discovery” was nothing but an attempt to gain attention, and his claims were “tall tales.”

The report said that G. Warren Shufelt spread the rumor so that he would get a chance to dig and look for the so-called treasure. This theory emerged after being compared to another rumor suggesting Protestant graveyards in the 1930s held significant treasures.

It was a kind of “get rich quick scheme” with great promises but which delivered nothing. It seemed like that because digs and hunts didn’t yield anything that Shufelt initially claimed.

Urban Legend

Whether it was a hoax or not, Shufelt’s story about the network of underground tunnels and the Lizard People has become an urban legend. Locals and visitors are still curious, and indeed, Shufelt’s machine was right about one thing. There are tunnels beneath Los Angeles. 

Rumors abound that people used these tunnels to transport alcohol during the prohibition era. These tunnels are enormous, and some areas have huge hall-like spaces, but these are considered natural formations and not artificial. 

Though the story says that the Lizard People were superior humans who revered lizards, there is another theory regarding them. According to this theory, they are called lizard people because they’re reptilians who can shift shape at will. 

The assumption is that this race has a serpent/lizard head and a human body and has already infiltrated humankind and taken over the world. But that is a story for another time.

Though the project was discontinued, Shufelt disappeared from public view, and the stories stopped in the papers; people’s imagination didn’t. If anyone asks a resident about the Lizard People, they’ll hear the most amazing stories. 

Rumor, hoax, legend, or whatever people call it, there is something to ponder. Most legends have some truth to it. So, who knows? Maybe there existed a race who were superior to modern humans and built the underground tunnels and cities.

While there isn’t any evidence yet, experts may someday develop highly sophisticated devices that can capture images hundreds and thousands of feet beneath the ground. Then only will the answers be found, and everyone will know whether there indeed are the famous tunnels and treasure trove. 

Until then, enthusiasts can read stories, ask old-timers about it, and examine the map on various platforms. They can come up with their opinions regarding the legendary superior humans because, whether real or not, no law prohibits people from fantasizing about anything.