Preserving human bodies in honey doesn't sound like a great idea, but other proposals by Frederick Shaw showed great foresight -- including hang-gliding, vegetarianism and outlawing monopolies.Mystery obscures the life of Frederick Shaw (1827-1914), the indigent inventor, health promoter, social crusader and purported naked man of Laurel Canyon.
Did he really attempt to hang-glide from atop a second-story building in downtown Los Angeles, breaking his hip in the process?
Did his mail-order bride really flee his property when she discovered that he lived in a tree?
And was he really insane, as a judicial panel ruled, or just a hermit whose vegetarian diet, clothing-optional lifestyle and boundary disputes annoyed the neighbors?
Nineteenth century news accounts were not always reliable, so the answers are difficult to find, though it appears that Shaw was not insane.
In fact, it is clear from the many long letters Shaw wrote to the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers that he was ahead of his time, "a one-man think tank," in the words of Ralph Shaffer, author of " 'Crazy Shaw' Frederick M. Shaw: Southern California's Forgotten Dreamer."
(Excerpts from Steve Harvey's "Only in L.A.")
September 28, 2008
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