franchise alone was represented by everything from a Borg eyepiece and a Klingon head to Cardassian panels.and testified for the prosecution in the Elkouby preliminary hearings, isn't surprised that this material provokes impulses from buyer frenzy to grand larceny. "Television and film are our modern mythology, and these artifacts are touchstones of those myths," he says. "The weight we attach to them is embodied by these objects.
His local newspaper ads during those years netted treasures, often from relatives of crewmembers. "We were pawn stars before," Elkouby says, beaming. "People walked in with incredible stuff all day long. The Shakespeare bust that led to the bat pole in the original Batman TV series? I bought it for $800. It recently sold for around $200,000. You know what I walked away from for $400? The tablets from! I don't know what I was thinking.
But that doesn't mean Stone believes all of what Elkouby sold was legitimate. In fact, Stone, who believes his relationship with the Hard Rock suffered as a result of his purchases — "They think we got a bunch of fake shit out of Elkouby" — notes: "I've never been close to Elkouby and I've never wanted to be close to Elkouby." For his part, Elkouby denies a pattern of specious sales: "There was one time where one Bonnie Raitt item might have been an issue.
According to Elkouby, investigators and the district attorney's office "would've let me go" if he'd named names of individuals who sold to him. "Some of the guys that worked at the studios or on films would call me and say, 'Please don't — this [their production job] is my livelihood.' I was pretty torn, but I never did."Ospina is unsympathetic: "David Elkouby, for the most part, got away with it." A veteran street cop in South L.A.
Told of Ospina's theory, Elkouby says: "Wow, that's a stretch. Beyond false." He takes a beat. "This guy is really something."Ospina's investigation led him to the L.A. auction house Butterfield & Butterfield , then and now a specialist in Hollywood memorabilia. "Their attitude was, '[Elkouby]'s beyond reproach. He's brought forth documentation,' " he says. "I told them it's forged.
Elkouby ultimately pleaded to one count of receiving stolen property. He spent three nights in jail in 1998, then logged nearly a year at a halfway house in South L.A., which he was allowed to leave during the day solely to work at his store. "We were four to a room, with close to 100 people," he says, explaining that when he told the others at the halfway house what he was in for, "mostly they just didn't understand. They'd call me 'Hollywood.
'garbage fetishized by marginal eccentrics' Nailed it right there.
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