Bruin Lores

Friday, October 2, 1998

Bruin Lores

CAMPUS: From secret tunnels to spinning buildings and misguided
flying squirrels, UCLA has a wealth of legends of dubious origins
and even more questionable credibility

By Michelle Navarro

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

The Janss brothers couldn’t agree.

Since UCLA was built on the land the two brothers sold for only
$2,000 an acre, a monument was to be constructed in their
honor.

But what was it going to be? Harold Janss, the older brother,
envisioned an impressive set of steps, escalating toward the main
area of campus (now Royce Quad).

Edwin Janss didn’t agree.

Nevertheless, Harold Janss had the upper hand in their company,
and thus gave $50,000 during the 1930s to make his wish come
true.

There was still one problem, however – Harold Janss was ill.

The elder brother was fully aware of his condition and took
precautions to keep his sibling from changing his plans lest he die
before the steps were completed.

Harold stipulated in his will that he be buried somewhere
beneath the 87 steps should this untimely death occur.

And as the story goes, Harold did die and was buried under the
sixth step, ensuring the future of the sweeping red bricks at
UCLA.

Not only did his grave hold the steps in place, it also brought
a curse to any student who stepped on it – a curse that would keep
that unlucky Bruin on campus over four years.

Is this bit of history fact or fiction?

Just looking at the number of students staying here five or more
years, it seems to be true. And wouldn’t it be nice to use a curse
as an excuse for becoming a seasoned student?

Unfortunately, it isn’t true. It’s just one grain in the mound
of tall-tales circulating around campus.

Passed down from the many-years to the first-years, they are the
legends of UCLA, the superstitions that keep students rubbing the
right hind paw of the Bruin for luck – and the giant whoppers about
buildings like Royce and Bunche halls.

Several may seem too far-fetched to believe, but don’t write
them all off yet. There may be a little truth in a few.

You be the judge.

Was the Bombshelter originally built to provide protection
during the war? Are the lights in the Sculpture Garden there to
help imported flying squirrels find their way in the dark?

There is no proof to support any of those stories, but that
doesn’t stop students from believing them. Quite often, one can
spot a student carefully skipping the sixth step, just as the
legend dictates.

Most students get their first history lesson on the legends of
UCLA at freshman orientation. All summer counselors take their
groups of unsuspecting first-years on guided tours, where they tell
the anecdotes of Medical Center marathons and sinking gardens in
Dickson Plaza.

"The stories are much more interesting than just telling the
names of buildings," said Michael Chandler, an administrator for
the Orientation Program.

"They also give the students a common bond of knowledge," he
said, "But we make sure students don’t leave believing most of the
stories."

Even so, the tales aren’t the only thing students share after
hearing them, as many also share the shame of being duped so
easily.

"They’re not true?" asked Floridia Cheung, a fifth-year history
and East Asian studies student, in disbelief.

Why shouldn’t one believe that the inverted fountain was modeled
after a toilet bowl? After all, with a little imagination, the
fountain (combined with Franz Hall) could pass for a giant
toilet.

And maybe there was a crane enormous enough to turn Bunche Hall
around so the reflection from the windows wouldn’t blind drivers on
the San Diego freeway. Go figure.

According to Chandler, a few USC students were so convinced that
Harold Janss laid beneath the steps that they actually came one
year and tried to dig up the grave. The chipped brick is there to
prove it.

Apparently, most of these stories were simply created in the
minds of students and several came from orientation counselors.
Ones about the Janss steps or Royce Hall, however, are so old that
no one knows where they come from.

The folklore of Royce Hall claims a green ribbon is hidden on
one of the towers.

It is said that Josiah Royce gave the hall as a gift to the
university with the condition, as ordered in the will, that a
ribbon be eternally left on Royce Hall.

Royce’s reasoning was that all gifts have ribbons, and since the
building was a gift it should have its proper ornamentation. If the
ribbon was untied, the ownership was to return to the Royce
family.

Archive sources indicate that municipal bond issues in Los
Angeles, Venice, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills provided the land
on which Royce Hall and the rest of the campus rests. The building
was paid for by the state at a cost of over one million
dollars.

The legends that are actually true are few, but interesting,
nonetheless.

For example, the rumors of underground tunnels are true. There
are concrete tunnels beneath the ground which span the entire
campus, and according to Dennis Bitterlich of the University
Archives, and they are wide enough and tall enough to walk
through.

However, they were made for carrying the steam, water, gas,
telephone and electrical lines of the campus and allow for easy
access when maintenance is needed.

During the rainy seasons in the 1930s and ’40s they were used in
the registration process. Students would fill out their cards and
take their pictures in the Women’s Gymnasium and then travel by the
tunnels to the Men’s Gymnasium to pay their fees.

In 1967, George Lincoln Rockwell, the American Nazi leader, used
the tunnels to escape an awaiting crowd of angry students after
giving a controversial speech at Royce Hall.

Nowadays, it isn’t recommended that students break into the
tunnels, which can become hot and dangerous.

Chandler said the orientation program and campus tour guides
have stopped telling students about the tunnels because too many
students have been hurt trying to invade them.

Another legend, less dangerous than the former, involves a fish
and UCLA’s main flagpole. The 100-foot steel flagpole was a gift
from Jake Gimbel, a Bruin supporter and member of the Gimbel
department store family.

At the foot of the flagpole is a plaque bearing a picture of a
South American fish. It was placed there by Gimbel in tribute to a
discovery made by a Gimbel-funded science expedition in South
America.

A native legend asserted that an electric fish roamed the
waters. It wasn’t taken seriously until Gimbel’s group actually
found the fish, which was named porotergus gimbeli as written on
the plaque below the flagpole.

So although other ancient institutions like Harvard and Yale may
have towers of history to brag about, UCLA Bruins can stand tall
and proudly proclaim that they have a flagpole dedicated to a
fish.

HENRY YANG

One of the many UCLA legends involves the dedication of the main
flag pole in Royce Quad to a fish.

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© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board