They arrived, took Karen out this door to the ambulance, This is from a report filed by the Paramedics who were there. At 8:50, her mother (immortalized by Louise Fletcher in the film, The Karen Carpenter Story) ((Honestly, if Louise Fletcher is in ANY film, it’s gonna be good.)) entered the kitchen, and found Karen unconscious on the floor. She went down to the kitchen around quarter to 9 in the morning. Sometime the next morning, Karen got up, and donned a red jogging suit with a vial of Ativan in the pocket. That night Karen spent the night in her parents house, in her old bedroom on the second floor. I ate there in August 2007 and met a waitress that claimed she knew the Carpenters, and that Karen preferred booth 25 and often ordered bean broth.
It’s no longer a Big Boy, but a Carrow’s. On FebruKaren had her last supper with her parents, at the local Bob’s Big Boy in Downey. Here is a shot of the inside of the condo. Here are the buildings, though I don’t know which one she lived in. Karen GTFO and was living in a condominium in LA at 2222 Avenue of the Stars. Such a happy place… Until that day in February of 1983.Īt the time, Richard was living in a home near his parents, in Downey. Richard no longer owns them, but they still have those names on them. They decided to name the buildings by their first big hits, Only Just Begun and Close To You. They also invested in apartment buildings across from one another in Downey, California, where they went to school. Thanks for the viewpoint of Carpenterland. For a number of years after Utter McKinley went out of business, it was an abandoned building – the for sale sign was out there for the longest time and the place looked terrible. That has been reported a number of places. I have heard that the Carpenter family did not like the work they did on Karen. I’m not sure if they own that – it was rumored to be a real “dog” of an investment at one time. They also owned a small mini mall on Florence Avenue Tecum Road. I was the ice cream girl at the local Savon Drugs Store in high school in 1983/1984. He always gave me this really creepy feel. I have run into Richard a few times from when I was a little kid thru just a few years ago. He always would cut short by saying that Karen is dead and that past secrets should die with her. He would always touch on the subject of them and he always said that there was a lot more going on in that family than people knew. When I went to Cerritos College in neighboring Norwalk, CA, I had a music professor who was a past teacher of Richard and Karen. You kept to your own problems and there was always a “what would the neighbors think” attitude. It has changed now, but it was a real “white” living in the 1950’s attitude, Republican (not that there’s anything wrong with that – S) haven.
Growing up in Downey was weird in itself. A few friend’s parents & aunts/uncles went to school at Downey High with Richard & Karen and they all have stories. My name is Sharon and I grew up in Downey, Ca the home of the Carpenters. July 2001, friend Sharon sends us this testament about living in Downey: She was nice and polite, but as we know from Louise Fletcher’s Oscar worthy portrayal, she had difficulty displaying warmth. Another time Karen’s mom Agnes came to the door. I got to peek in the house, and saw an old drum trophy that Karen won in band, and the piano that Richard used to play. She gave us Karen and Richard literature to take away, and she spoke to us for about 20 minutes. I rang the bell and spoke to Evelyn Wallace. Wouldn’t you? The house was featured on the Now and Then album. With the duo’s first big money, Richard and Karen spent some of their money building a house for their parents in Downey, where they had lived since 1964. Oh those Carpenters! They are on the edge! I understand that the Carpenters got a lot of hate mail, because they supposedly sold out to “hard rock” with the guitar solo at the end. I think Goodbye to Love is one of the greatest songs ever written. The Carpenters had 23 hit singles including Top of the World, and We’ve Only Just Begun, and sold over 80 million albums. Karen and Richard Carpenter were one of the most successful singing duos in music history. We came out right in the middle of the hard-rock period… it was hard-rock everywhere! But we were ready to make our music, you know? And it was such a turnaround, I guess it caught people by surprise.
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