Jack Hitt

Yeah, yeah.

I think Thaddeus wanted to share that balloon experience, right?

Being at the edge of the world, right?

The outer edge.

And so he created this large funicular train, you know, the kind that goes up the steep slope.

And I've seen pictures of this funicular.

You know, I feel perfectly safe for some reason in a funicular.

But this trolley car, oh, my God.

I mean, Dr. Seuss could not have drawn it more rickety.

Yeah.

I would never even get anywhere close to this trolley car.

But it would take you to Mount Lowe's Alpine Tavern Hotel.

And there was a casino there.

There was a zoo up there.

At night, there was this massive searchlight that they had...

appropriated from a world's fair that they could shine and you could see downtown Los Angeles.

You know, daytime, you could see the Pacific Ocean from up there.

And he sort of democratized the entire sort of experience of what he had done in that balloon.

He went bankrupt sort of right around the turn of the 20th century, lost all of his money.

You know, he longed to be buried at Arlington for his service in the war.