| Daniel Van Meter | |
|---|---|
Daniel Van Meter |
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| Born | Daniel E. Van Meter 9 March 1913[1] San Francisco, California |
| Died | 2000[2] |
| Residence | 15357 Magnolia Blvd, Sherman Oaks, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Employer | Misc |
| Known for | Tower of Wooden Pallets |
| Spouse | never married |
| Children | none |
| Parents | father: James W. Van Meter [3] mother: Ester A. Van Meter [3] |
| Relatives | four brothers[4] |
Daniel Van Meter was an eccentric, best known for his Tower of Wooden Pallets that became a cultural historic monument.[5][6]
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Van Meter was life-long bachelor. He had no career and held odd jobs throughout his life. He was once called as a witness in a murder trial since he found what was left of the victim while going through a trash bin in search of cardboard boxes. He always claimed that if it weren't for eccentric people like him gathering junk (sometimes known as "historical memorabilia") there wouldn't be any need for museums.[7]
He was the son of James Van Meter, the chemist who invented the chloro-cyanic gas used in World War 1. He first owned a ranch on West Adams Boulevard with his brothers. There together they raised goats, chickens, turkeys and rabbits. Van Meter was associated with controversial political organizations like "Friends of Progress" run by Robert Noble and Ellis O. Jones. Noble and Jones were rumored as plotting to overthrow the United States government and as tied to the German American Federation, a pro-Nazi group.[8] He was also convicted in the 1940s under the Subversive Organizations Registration Act and served time in San Quentin State Prison.[9]
Van Meter later lived on Magnolia Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, California. He had purchased the property in 1947 and by 1988 was the only house left on the block. The area had been fully developed into condominium complexes, a fire station, a private school and office buildings.[7] It is near the Sepulveda Dam Recreational Area.[4] Van Meter and his brothers had turned the property into a type of junkyard. On the property amongst a collection of small farm animals was historical memorabilia including a dozen scrapped cars, a gas pump registering gas at 24.9 cents a gallon, a 1938 city bus, old wooden wagons, broken rusting tools, thrown out washing machines and water heaters. This is not to mention an old outhouse and a battleship turret. Van Meter was a bit of a pack rat.[6]
Van Meter is famous for his pile of discarded wooden pallets from a beer company that was designated a historic-cultural monument, which had the same rights and recognition as the Hollywood Sign, the Watts Towers, and the cruise ship Catalina.[7] He enjoyed his special "dwelling" as a hangout to get away from the frenzy of urban society and claimed his tower of some 2,000 rejected broken-down wooden beer pallets surrounded a "Tree of Heaven."[10] Van Meter said he climbed to the top of the wooden structure and looked at the moon and the stars at night. [7] It was a spiritual place to him.[7]
In 1951 when the local beer company had a labor dispute they wished to get rid of thousands of broken-down used wooden pallets. Van Meter said he would take a "few" off their hands if they would deliver them to his property. Five truckloads of the pallets showed up. He decided he had to do something with them, so contrived a wooden pallet tower structure. The 3 foot by 3 foot 6-inch-thick pallets soon became a structure over 20-feet high. It was 22 feet at the base and built in a circle. It took him just a few weeks to construct on his property and was over the grave site of an unknown 3 year old Native American child.[7]