17 replies to this topic

[mikemgmve]

One of the most interesting places to eat is the Old Spaghetti Factory, right off the 210 (exit Buena Vista - it's on the north side of the freeway). Inside you'll sit in rooms that were once class rooms, and other offices, as well as an old-fashioned trolley car in the middle of the biggest dining area - which you can also eat in.

The building, or the school - was established in 1909. I believe the building was built for the sole purpose of being the school, and so nothing else was there before it. It's always been reported to be haunted, and I've read only a select few stories. I dined there today (it's right near my work) and decided to ask the waitress about it. She told me she'd only been there 60 days, and hadn't experienced things, and told me the one bit she knew (which I'll post in a second). She left, and a minute later, two waiters came up (a guy and a girl) excitedly, sat down near us and said "so you wanna hear some ghost stories?!" - we laughed, and said OF COURSE!!!

First of all, the general stories we were told:

The room directly to the right of the steps of the entrance (and which is now used as a private dining room - large round table that seats 8) was to be the principles office - there's a painting on the wall of a moon over a lake - that is to be the location where he hung himself.

Next to that room - in the north eastern corner of the building, is another dining area. During a period, after the school had been closed down and boarded up, some kids had broken into the building. Police arrived on the scene and shot (by accident?) one of the kids in that very room. The waiter stated that on occasion, they will find the condiments on several tables on the floor. I'm not sure if he means they have been knocked off - or if they have been simply moved and placed to the floor.

Directly across from the Principle's office is one of 2 staircases heading down. This one leads to an employee's only area (the one on the other side leads to the restrooms). Supposedly 4 children fell down the steps (when it was a school), and died from injuries to their heads. Laughing and children talking is heard in these areas.

Another story we were told is that the basement was used as a morgue during WW2, for the Japanese Interment camp over at the Santa Anita Racetrack.

The waiter informed me he was also closing up one night, counting his till when he started to hear the piano playing in one of the other rooms. He went to go check and see who it was, also to tell them to stop because it's an antique. No one was in there - and the music had stopped. He left, heard it some more, laughed and called out to his friends who he thought were playing a prank. He went to go check again, see if they were hiding, but found no one. He would have still thought it was joke had he not then experienced one of the keys pressing down by themselves, he said he ran out of the room, counted his till as quickly as possible to close out and left (he was last one there).

Another experience he told, was that of a penny falling to the ground, and literally shooting off in one direction, not just falling and rolling, but like it had been pulled off in one direction. He mentioning something about how copper is a strong reactor, or conductor, or so he had heard, in the paranormal. Never heard that before myself.

The female waiter, then stated how she experienced something odd int he kitchen. They have a freezer/refrigerator (I believe opening from the top) where they keep the salad plates chilled. One day her and another co-worker opened it up and 3 plates shot out across the room.

There seem to be few stories of this restaurant on the web, so I thought I'd contribute a bit of what I've heard about, and now know from asking. It's a great place to eat in general, the waiting areas at the basement by the restroom really creeps me out, as it's already very lowly lit (even in the middle of the day).

[Vivienne_DuBois]

Are you speaking of the one in Duarte, Mikemgmve? My then-husband and I used to eat at the one in Sacramento. Just trying to get my spooky eating places in order, here...

[Vivienne_DuBois]

Oh, duh! "Formely Duarte School"

My bad.

I can't recall much about the one in Sacramento, anyhow. Good food, though.

[earth_spirit]

How interesting! This caught my eye because there are not one, not two, but three haunted Spaghetti Warehouses in Texas. Supposedly, the ones in Fort Worth, Austin and Houston all have been reported to have many incidents of paranormal activity.

And now there's one in California, too?

[Puti]

I just had to look this up, since I'm in Texas. Wikipedia says there are 21 locations in 9 states! NY,PA,OH,IL,TN,GA,FL,OK,TX. And that it started in 1972 in Dallas. I don't know how accurate Wikipedia is. I wonder how many of them have stories to tell though.

[Puti]

OOOPS! sorry! I looked up "Spaghetti Warehouse". I'll go do my homework.:-)

[Puti]

Well pooooo! Now that I looked up the correct name..."The Old Spaghetti Factory" and not "Warehouse", I see there are lots of them and they are older. Don't see anything listed for Texas though, darn!

[Yosei]

I just had to look this up, since I'm in Texas. Wikipedia says there are 21 locations in 9 states! NY,PA,OH,IL,TN,GA,FL,OK,TX. And that it started in 1972 in Dallas. I don't know how accurate Wikipedia is. I wonder how many of them have stories to tell though.

Well, they are a chain that furnishes with real antiques. There are plenty of stories about antiques with attached ghosts, so I wouldn't be totally surprised...

[mikemgmve]

Oh, duh! "Formely Duarte School"

My bad.

I can't recall much about the one in Sacramento, anyhow. Good food, though.

It's all good - I realized I only listed Duarte - but forgot to mention California! hahaha, so yeah, to everyone else who didn't figure it out - Duarte, California

[ekpi_ghost_hunters]

Has there ever been an investigation as to what is actually there? Sometimes stories are just that, stories, but there might be some to significance to the claims of hauntings. You could try looking at the local library or county clerks office to find information on any deaths in the building or on the premises.

[earth_spirit]

Good point, Yosei! I thought maybe ghosts had a thing for spaghetti or something, but as you pointed out, the chain furnishes its restaurants with actual antiques. Perhaps there's a connection . . .

[The_H.U.N.T]

Since we live in Houston, I thought I'd share with you. I , myself have eaten there and took photos during the day. Did not get anything but there were some creepy spots in there. The waitress had plenty of experiences along with the rest of the staff. Some of them quit working there within a few days after starting because of things, food, etc flying at them after hours.
My friend and I were allowed to go upstairs as there were no events and no customers. Its another dining area, bathrooms, etc. That is where the Trolley car is also. Its in the middle of the room and there are tables and chairs in it so you can eat there.

Upon going up there we explored the area to our right first, within a couple of minutes both of us got pain in our head like a horrible headache coming out of nowhere. Strange. We got out of that corner and we were fine again. Walking toward the back end of the area we stumble upon this HUGE painting on the wall and man is it CREEPY!!! Its super old and it looks like its watching you. Gives you a VERY weird feeling as if something or someone is either behind it or right by it.

Take a look: Creepy photo

We decided to go check out the bathrooms. Why not? No one in there. We opened up the womens door and started to go in and came to a REALLY quick halt. We were in there for maybe a minute and we both backed out very quickly. We both felt something or someone was in there with us that was not of the living and it wanted us out!! So we left.

A month or so later we were talking to someone else who use to investigate there that told us the women's restroom upstairs in that place is one of the most haunted areas Funny thing is, we didnt tell him our experience in there until AFTER he told us that.

I would LOVE to have my group investigate there. I will have to check into it though because there is another group here in Houston that has been around for years and I know they kind of have places that are sort of "thiers". I believe the restraunt is one of them. Fortunately I do know the Founder/Lead guy so I'll ask him.

[Puti]

I hope I haven't lead everyone in the wrong direction.....Back up to my previous post you'll see that I mistakenly looked up Spagetti WAREHOUSE instead of the Old Spagetti FACTORY. I think this is 2 different chains of restaurants, in 2 different parts of the country. Sorry!
mikemgmve started this thread about "The Old Spagetti Factory". Maybe they're the same? What do I know? I read off of Wikipedia.

[The_H.U.N.T]

From what I gather they are two different chains but we went ahead and started talking about both I think. LOL. Although its odd that both are strikingly similar with the antiques, spagetti etc

[Yosei]

Sometimes for some reason or another the same company will market the same thing under different names in different parts of the country, though, like Faygo/Shasta. I think this could be a case of that, because I seem to recall that the logos are also identical except for the words. I suppose it doesn't really matter much from a ghosthunting perspective, though!