#Stately: Howard to Visit Agency

by Farook Leivitch
October 25, 2006

Film maker Ron Howard will be on hand next Tuesday to present his short film Broken Dream, inspired in part by the so-called "haunted" break room of the Los Ritos Complex. The public is invited.

"I first heard about the Iago Hurley story a couple years ago when I was in town for a series of multimedia conferences," Howard said. "It was really intriguing and I felt compelled to tell Hurley's story and let others discover this local phenomena."

According to legend, the three buildings of the Los Ritos Complex were built on an ancient Indian burial ground by the developer Franz "Iago" Hurley. Not long after construction, visitors to the first floor break room of building three began hearing footsteps on the tile floor and grunting noises from the snack machines.

"If you believe in the tales then you believe that the first business to rent the building was Bjorn Macro Systems back in '92," said local historian Dwight Jefferson. "They had a worker who claimed he had ancestor buried beneath the building and he performed some sort of ceremony. People say that there was strange music one Friday and when they went in all they found was a can of grape Fanta and gobstoppers. No one ever saw the man again. Some think he was fired but that’s just an old wives’ tale."

The State Administration of Human Services and Health Related Stuff is the current occupier of building three and only a few have sworn to hearing noises. "More than anything I hear stories," SAHSHRS employee Ursula Banks said. "Sometimes it's an Indian burial ground, sometimes it's an old circus whose members got sent off to insane asylum but escaped. Frankly, the first story I heard when I started working here was that a state employee on the first day took a longer-than-normal break and his supervisor stormed in, swore loudly at him and then glared so hard at the poor guy he burst into flames."

Whatever story the people have, they are proud that Howard has directed a movie based on their local tale.

"It makes me feel good," Banks said. "I don't believe any of the tales but I'll be there."

Howard will speak at three o'clock and, following a brief question and answer session, will present Broken Dreams. The program will be followed by a reception.

Howard is best remembered as the voice of Richie Cunningham in the “The Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour” Saturday morning cartoon (1982) and “One Vision” (1998).