Background
Van Meter was the son of James van Meter, a Dutch American chemistry
Van Meter was the son of James van Meter, a Dutch American chemistry
There they raised goats, chickens, turkeys and rabbits. Van Meter later lived in Sherman Oaks, California near the Sepulveda Dam Recreational Area. He purchased property there 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.
On the property among 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, and old wooden wagons. He was once called to a murder trial as a witness because 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, there wouldn"t be any need for museums."
Tower of Pallets
Van Meter is noted for his pile of discarded wooden pallets from a beer company. 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
lieutenant was 22 feet at the base and built in a circle.
lieutenant took him just a few weeks to construct on his property and was over the grave site of an unknown three-year-old Native American child. The Tower of Wooden Pallets 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.
Van Meter 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." Van Meter said he climbed to the top of the wooden structure and looked at the moon and the stars at night. lieutenant was a spiritual place to him.