title: Grenoble

text: The first references to what is now Grenoble date back to 43 BC. Cularo was at that time a Gallic village of the Allobroges tribe, near a bridge across the Isère. Three centuries later and with insecurity rising in the late Roman empire, a strong wall was built around the small town in 286 AD.


title: Grenoble

text: The Emperor Gratian visited Cularo and, touched by the people's welcome, made the village a Roman city. In honour of this, Cularo was renamed Gratianopolis ("city of Gratian") in 381 (leading to Graignovol during the Middle Ages, and then Grenoble).


title: Grenoble

text: Christianity spread to the region during the 4th century, and the diocese of Grenoble was founded in 377 AD. From that time on, the bishops exercised significant political power over the city. Until the French Revolution, they styled themselves the "bishops and princes of Grenoble".


title: Grenoble

text: After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the city became part of the first Burgundian kingdom in the 5th century and of the later Kingdom of Burgundy until 1032, when it was integrated into the Holy Roman Empire. The Burgundian rule was interrupted between 942 and 970 by Arab rule based in Fraxinet.


title: Grenoble

text: Grenoble grew significantly in the 11th century when the Counts of Albon chose the city as the capital of their territories. Their possessions at the time were a patchwork of several territories sprawled across the region, and the central position of Grenoble allowed the Counts to strengthen their authority. When they later adopted the title of "Dauphins", Grenoble became the capital of the State of Dauphiné.


title: Grenoble

text: Despite their status, the Counts had to share authority over the city with the Bishop of Grenoble. One of the most famous of those was Saint Hugh. Under his rule, the city's bridge was rebuilt, and a regular and leper hospital was built.


title: Grenoble

text: The inhabitants of Grenoble took advantage of the conflicts between the Counts and the bishops and obtained the recognition of a Charter of Customs that guaranteed their rights. That charter was confirmed by Kings Louis XI in 1447 and Francis I in 1541.


title: Grenoble

text: In 1336 the last Dauphin Humbert II founded a court of justice, the , which settled at Grenoble in 1340. He also established the University of Grenoble in 1339. Without an heir and deep into debt, Humbert sold his state to France in 1349, on the condition that the heir to the French crown used the title of "Dauphin". The first one, the future Charles V, spent nine months in Grenoble. The city remained the capital of the Dauphiné, henceforth a province of France, and the Estates of Dauphiné were created.


title: Grenoble

text: The only Dauphin who governed his province was the future Louis XI, whose "reign" lasted from 1447 to 1456. It was only under his rule that Dauphiné properly joined the Kingdom of France. The Old Conseil Delphinal became a Parlement (the third in France after the Parliaments of Paris and Toulouse), strengthening the status of Grenoble as a Provincial capital. He also ordered the construction of the Palais du Parlement (finished under Francis I) and ensured that the Bishop pledged allegiance, thus unifying the political control of the city.


title: Grenoble

text: At that time, Grenoble was a crossroads between Vienne, Geneva, Italy, and Savoy. It was the industrial centre of the Dauphiné and the province's biggest city, but a rather small one.


title: Grenoble

text: Owing to Grenoble's geographical situation, French troops were garrisoned in the city and its region during the Italian Wars. Charles VIII, Louis XII, and Francis I went several times to Grenoble. Its people consequently had to suffer from the exactions of the soldiers.


title: Grenoble

text: The nobility of the region took part in various battles (Marignano, Pavia) and in doing so gained significant prestige. The best-known of its members was Bayard, "the knight without fear and beyond reproach".


title: Grenoble

text: Grenoble suffered as a result of the French Wars of Religion. The Dauphiné was indeed an important settlement for Protestants and therefore experienced several conflicts. The baron des Adrets, the leader of the Huguenots, pillaged the Cathedral of Grenoble and destroyed the tombs of the former Dauphins.


title: Grenoble

text: In August 1575, Lesdiguières became the new leader of the Protestants and, thanks to the accession of Henry IV to the throne of France, allied himself with the governor and the lieutenant general of the Dauphiné. But this alliance did not bring an end to the conflicts. Indeed, a Catholic movement, the "Ligue", which took Grenoble in December 1590, refused to make peace. After months of assaults, Lesdiguières defeated the Ligue and took back Grenoble. He became the leader of the entire province.


title: Grenoble

text: Lesdiguières became the lieutenant-general of the Dauphiné and administered the Province from 1591 to 1626. He began the construction of the Bastille to protect the city and ordered the construction of new walls, increasing the city's size. He also constructed the Hôtel Lesdiguières, built new fountains, and dug sewers.


title: Grenoble

text: The revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV caused the departure of 2,000 Protestants from Grenoble, weakening the city's economy. However, it also weakened the competing glove industry of Grasse, leaving the glove factories of Grenoble without any competition. This allowed a stronger economic development for the city during the 18th century. At the beginning of that century, only 12 glovers made 15,000 dozen gloves each year; by 1787, 64 glovers made 160,000 dozen gloves each year.


title: Grenoble

text: The city gained some notoriety on 7 June 1788 when the townspeople assaulted troops of Louis XVI in the "Day of the Tiles". The people attacked the royal troops to prevent an expulsion of the notables of the city, which would have seriously endangered the economic prosperity of Grenoble. Following these events, the Assembly of Vizille took place. Its members organized the meeting of the old Estates General, thus beginning the French Revolution. During the Revolution, Grenoble was represented in Paris by two illustrious notables, Jean Joseph Mounier and Antoine Barnave.


title: Grenoble

text: In 1790, the Dauphiné was divided into three departments, and Grenoble became the "chef-lieu" of the Isère department. Only two refractory priests were executed at Grenoble during the Reign of Terror. Pope Pius VI, prisoner of France, spent two days at Grenoble in 1799 before going to Valence where he died.


title: Grenoble

text: The establishment of the Empire was overwhelmingly approved (in Isère, the results showed 82,084 yes and only 12 no). Grenoble welcomed for the second time a prisoner Pope in 1809. Pius VII spent 10 days in the city en route to his exile in Fontainebleau.


title: Grenoble

text: In 1813 Grenoble was under threat from the Austrian army, which invaded Switzerland and Savoy. The well-defended city contained the Austrian attacks, and the French army defeated the Austrians, forcing them to withdraw at Geneva. However, the later invasion of France in 1814 resulted in the capitulation of the troops and the occupation of the city.


title: Grenoble

text: During his return from the island of Elba in 1815, Napoleon took a road that led him near Grenoble at Laffrey. There he met the Royalist Régiment d'Angouleme (former 5th) of Louis XVIII's Royal Army. Napoleon stepped toward the soldiers and said these famous words: "If there is among you a soldier who wants to kill his Emperor, here I am." The soldiers all joined his cause. After that, Napoleon was acclaimed at Grenoble and General Jean Gabriel Marchand could not prevent Napoleon from entering the city through the Bonne gate. He said later: "From Cannes to Grenoble, I still was an adventurer; in that last city, I came back a sovereign". But after the defeat of Waterloo, the region suffered from a new invasion of Austrian and Sardinian troops.


title: Grenoble

text: The 19th century saw significant industrial development of Grenoble. The glove factories reached their Golden Age, and their products were exported to the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia.


title: Grenoble

text: General Haxo transformed the Bastille fortress, which took on its present aspect between 1824 and 1848. The Second Empire saw the construction of the French railway network, and the first trains arrived at Grenoble in 1858. Shortly thereafter Grenoble experienced widespread destruction by extensive flooding in 1859.


title: Grenoble

text: In 1869 engineer Aristide Bergès played a major role in industrializing hydroelectricity production. With the development of his paper mills, he accelerated the economic development of the Grésivaudan valley and Grenoble.


title: Grenoble

text: On 4 August 1897, a stone and bronze fountain was inaugurated in Grenoble to commemorate the pre-revolutionary events of June 1788. Built by the sculptor Henri Ding, the Fountain of the Three Orders, which represents three characters, is located on Place Notre-Dame. People in Grenoble interpret these characters as follows: "Is it raining?" inquires the third estate; "Please heaven it had rained", lament the clergy; and "It will rain", proclaims the nobility.


title: Grenoble

text: World War I accelerated Grenoble's economic development. To sustain the war effort, new hydroelectric industries developed along the various rivers of the region, and several existing companies moved into the armaments industry (for example in Livet-et-Gavet). Electrochemical factories were also established in the area surrounding Grenoble, initially to produce chemical weapons. This development resulted in significant immigration to Grenoble, particularly from Italian workers who settled in the Saint-Laurent neighborhood.


title: Grenoble

text: The economic development of the city was highlighted by the organization of the International Exhibition of Hydropower and Tourism in 1925, which was visited by more than 1 million people. The organization of this exhibition forced the military to remove the old city walls and allowed the expansion of the city to the south. This exhibition also highlighted the city's hydropower industry and the region's tourist attractions.


title: Grenoble

text: The site of the exhibition became an urban park in 1926, named Parc Paul Mistral after the death of the mayor in 1932. The only building of this exhibition remaining in the park is the crumbling Tour Perret, which has been closed to the public since 1960 due to its very poor state of maintenance.


title: Grenoble

text: During World War II, at the Battle of the Alps, the Nazi invasion was stopped near Grenoble at Voreppe by the forces of General Cartier in June 1940. The French forces resisted until the armistice. Grenoble was then part of the French State, before an Italian occupation from 1942 to 1943. The relative mercy of the Italian occupiers towards the Jewish populations resulted in a significant number moving to the region from the German-occupied parts of France.


title: Grenoble

text: Grenoble was extremely active in the Résistance against the occupation. Its action was symbolized by figures such as Eugène Chavant, Léon Martin, and Marie Reynoard. The University of Grenoble supported the clandestine operations and provided false documentation for young people to prevent them from being assigned to STO.


title: Grenoble

text: In September 1943, German troops occupied Grenoble, escalating the conflict with the clandestine movements. On 11 November 1943 (the anniversary of the armistice of 1918), massive strikes and demonstrations took place in front of the local collaboration offices. In response, the occupiers arrested 400 demonstrators in the streets. On 13 November, the resistance blew up the artillery at the Polygon, which was a psychological shock for an enemy who then intensified the repression. On 25 November, the occupiers killed 11 members of the Résistance organizations of Grenoble. This violent crackdown was nicknamed "Grenoble's Saint-Bartholomew". From these events, Grenoble was styled by the Free French Forces the title of "Capital of the Maquis" on the antennas of the BBC.


title: Grenoble

text: This event only intensified the activities of Grenoble's resistance movements. The Germans could not prevent the destruction of their new arsenal on 2 December at the Bonne Barracks. After the Normandy landing, resistance operations reached their peak, with numerous attacks considerably hampering the activity of German troops. With the landing in Provence, German troops evacuated the city on 22 August 1944. On 5 November 1944, General Charles de Gaulle came to Grenoble and bestowed on the city the "Compagnon de la Libération" to recognise "a heroic city at the peak of the French resistance and combat for the liberation".


title: Grenoble

text: In 1955, future physics Nobel prize laureate Louis Néel created the Grenoble Center for Nuclear Studies (CENG), resulting in the birth of the Grenoble model, a combination of research and industry. The first stone was laid in December 1956.


title: Grenoble

text: In 1968 Grenoble hosted the X Olympic Winter Games. This event helped modernize the city with the development of infrastructure such as an airport, motorways, a new town hall, and a new train station. It also helped the development of ski resorts like Chamrousse, Les Deux Alpes, and Villard-de-Lans.


title: Grenoble

text: Grenoble is surrounded by mountains. To the north lies the Chartreuse, to the south and west the Vercors, and to the east the Belledonne range. Grenoble is regarded as the capital of the French Alps. It is the centre of the Grenoble urban unit (agglomeration).


title: Grenoble

text: Except for a few dozen houses on the slopes of the Bastille hill of Chartreuse, Grenoble is exclusively built on the alluvial plain of the rivers Isère and Drac at an altitude of . As a result, the city itself is extremely flat. Mountain sports are an important tourist attraction in summer and winter. Twenty large and small ski resorts surround the city, the nearest being Le Sappey-en-Chartreuse, which is about 15 minutes away by car.


title: Grenoble

text: Historically, Grenoble and the surrounding areas were heavy industry and mining sites. Abandoned mills and factories can be found in small towns and villages, and a few have been converted to tourist attractions, such as the coal mine at La Mure.


title: Grenoble

text: The climate in Grenoble depends on the data from the chosen weather station. Grenoble Airport, located northwest of the city has a range from temperate continental climate to oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb, Trewartha: Dc, Do) depending on the chosen classifications. The area contains significant seasonal differences between warm to hot summers and cool to cold winters. Both temperatures above for the summer months and winter air frosts are common.


title: Grenoble

text: In addition, the climate is much gloomier than in the Mediterranean region, although less so than in Northern France. Rainfall is quite heavy by French standards, although the number of rainy days is relatively moderate.


title: Grenoble

text: As a result of winter lows averaging below freezing, snowfall also occurs, although the Grenoble Airport area itself is too mild to sustain a snowpack all winter, unlike the surrounding mountains. The record low of decisively indicates the continental influence, being colder than records in typical maritime climates. Winter nights are also colder than in all other French lowland areas.


title: Grenoble

text: However, the city of Grenoble features a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa) with no dry season. Although the record is incomplete, the newer station will meet the humid subtropical classification if maintained for the required 30-year period.


title: Grenoble

text: The Bouchayer-Viallet site is a powerful symbol of Grenoble's industrial past. This former factory is now converted into a dual-purpose area more closely linked to the Berriat neighbourhood. Innovative business activities as Apple Inc. co-exist with housing, sporting facilities, contemporary music venue and arts centres as Le Magasin. At the entrance to the Bouchayer-Viallet site, Square des Fusillés has been redeveloped and extended taking over an old car park, to facilitate access from the tramway stop and Cours Berriat.


title: Grenoble

text: Redevelopment of the former De Bonne barracks was an important step in the drive to launch sustainable housing in France. In 2009, the site of De Bonne was distinguished as the best eco-neighborhood in France. A shopping mall contains 53 shops arranged around an inner concourse, with one side opening onto the park and the other connecting to the town.


title: Grenoble

text: The Bastille, an ancient series of fortifications on the mountainside, overlooks Grenoble on the northern side and is visible from many points in the city. The Bastille is one of Grenoble's most visited tourist attractions and provides a good vantage point over both the town below and the surrounding mountains.


title: Grenoble

text: The Bastille fort was begun in the Middle Ages, and later centuries saw extensive additions, including a semi-underground defense network. The Bastille has been credited as the most extensive example of early 18th-century fortifications in all of France. It then held an important strategic point on the French Alpine frontier with the Kingdom of Savoy.


title: Grenoble

text: The first cable transport system, installed on the Bastille in 1875, was built by the Porte de France Cement Company for freight. This cable transport system connected a quarry on Mount Jalla, just over the Bastille, and Grenoble. It was abandoned in the early 20th century.


title: Grenoble

text: Since 1934, the Bastille has been the destination of the "Grenoble-Bastille cable car". This system of mostly transparent egg-shaped cable cars known to locals as "Les Bulles" (the bubbles) provides the occupants with an excellent view over the Isère. At the top are two restaurants and installed in the casemates of the fort itself since June 2006, the Bastille Art Centre allows visitors to see contemporary art exhibitions. There is also a small military museum on mountain troops ("Musée des troupes de montagne") and, since 2000, a memorial to the mountain troops ("Mémorial national des troupes de montagne") further along the road, on top of the hill.


title: Grenoble

text: This renaissance palace was constructed at the Place Saint André around 1500 and extended in 1539. It was the location of the Parlement of Dauphiné until the French Revolution. It then became the Grenoble courthouse, until the courts were moved to a modern building in 2002. The left wing of the palace was extended in 1897. The front of the former seat of the nearby Dauphiné Parlement combines elements from a gothic chapel and a Renaissance façade.


title: Grenoble

text: The building now belongs to the Isère Council (Conseil Général de l'Isère). An ongoing renovation project will give this building a new life whilst preserving its patrimonial character and adding a modern touch.


title: Grenoble

text: The city's most prized museum, the Museum of Grenoble ("Musée de Grenoble"), welcomes visitors a year. It is primarily renowned for its extensive paintings collection, which covers Western paintings from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. In the early 20th century, the Museum of Grenoble became the first French museum to open its collections to modern art, and its collection of modern and contemporary art has grown to become one of the largest in Europe. The painting holdings include works by painters such as Veronese, Rubens, Zurbarán, Ingres, Delacroix, Renoir, Gauguin, Signac, Monet, Matisse, Picasso, Kandinsky, Joan Miró, Paul Klee, Giorgio de Chirico and Andy Warhol. The museum also presents a few Egyptian antiquities as well as Greek and Roman artifacts. The Sculpture collection features works by Auguste Rodin, Matisse, Alberto Giacometti and Alexander Calder. In April 2010, the "prophetess of Antinoe", a 6th-century mummy discovered in 1907 in the Coptic necropolis of Antinoe in Middle Egypt, returned to the Museum of Grenoble, after more than fifty years of absence and extensive restoration.


title: Grenoble

text: Situated on the right bank of the Isère, on Place Saint-Laurent, the Grenoble Archaeological Museum presents the archaeological excavations done on its location. The vestiges date back to the 3rd century AD and provide a timeline of the history of Christianity in the region. The museum is situated below a 12th-century Benedictine church, under which Jacques Joseph Champollion-Figeac, brother of famed egyptologist Jean-François Champollion, discovered a 6th century AD church in 1803. It was one of the first classified monuments in France thanks to the intervention of Prosper Mérimée, historic monument inspector. Systematic excavations were conducted from 1978 to 2011, as part of a regional research program on the evolution of churches during the Middle Ages. After eight years of work, the museum reopened on 6 May 2011.


title: Grenoble

text: The Musée de l'Ancien Évêché is the second archaeological museum in the city and is located near the Grenoble Cathedral. Installed in 1998, it houses the first baptistery of the city


title: Grenoble

text: The large community of both foreign students and foreign researchers prompted the creation of an international school. The Cité Scolaire Internationale Europole (CSI Europole) was formerly housed within the "Lycée Stendhal" across from the "Maison du Tourisme", but later moved to its own building in the district. In the centre of the city, two high schools have provided education to the isérois for more than three centuries. The oldest one, the Lycée Stendhal, was founded in 1651 as a Jesuit College. An astronomical and astrological sundial created in the college's main building in 1673 can still be visited today. The second-oldest higher education establishment in Grenoble is the Lycée Champollion, completed in 1887 to offer an excellent education to both high school students and students of preparatory classes.


title: Grenoble

text: The city is an important university centre with over 54,000 students in 2013, of whom 16% arrive from abroad.


title: Grenoble

text: In a 1339 pontificial bull, Pope Benedict XII commissioned the establishment of the University of Grenoble.


title: Grenoble

text: In 1965, the university mostly relocated from downtown to a suburban main campus outside of the city in Saint Martin d'Hères (with some parts in Gières). However, smaller campuses remain both downtown and in the northwestern part of the city known as the "Polygone Scientifique" ("Scientific Polygon").


title: Grenoble

text: From 1970 to 2015, the university was divided into four separate institutions sharing the campus grounds, some buildings and laboratories, and even part of their administration:


title: Grenoble

text: Campuses of the École nationale de l'aviation civile (French civil aviation university), École d'Architecture de Grenoble ( School of Architecture of Grenoble) and Grenoble École de Management (Grenoble School of Management) are also located in Grenoble.


title: Grenoble

text: Grenoble is a major scientific centre, especially in the fields of physics, computer science, and applied mathematics: Universite Joseph Fourier (UJF) is one of the leading French scientific universities while the Grenoble Institute of Technology trains more than 5,000 engineers every year in key technology disciplines. Grenoble's high-tech expertise is organized mainly around three domains: information technology, biotechnologies, and new technologies of energy.


title: Grenoble

text: Many fundamental and applied scientific research laboratories are conjointly managed by Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble Institute of Technology, and the French "National Centre for Scientific Research" (CNRS). Numerous other scientific laboratories are managed independently or in collaboration with the CNRS and the French "National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control" (INRIA).


title: Grenoble

text: Other research centres in or near Grenoble include the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the Institut de radioastronomie millimétrique, one of the main research facilities of the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (Nuclear Energy Commission, CEA), the LNCMI and the European branch of Xerox Research (whose most notable center was PARC). and the recent development of Minatec, a centre for innovation in micro- and nano-technology, only increases Grenoble's position as a European scientific centre. Biotechnologies are also well represented in the Grenoble region with the molecular biology research center BioMérieux, the Clinatec center, the regional center NanoBio and many ramifications of the global competitiveness cluster Lyonbiopôle.


title: Grenoble

text: Meanwhile, Grenoble has large laboratories related to space and to the understanding and observation of the universe as the Institut de radioastronomie millimétrique, the Institut de planétologie et d'astrophysique de Grenoble, the Laboratoire de physique subatomique et de cosmologie de Grenoble, the Institut Néel but also to a lesser extent the Institut des sciences de la Terre (part of the Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble).


title: Grenoble

text: In order to foster this technological cluster university institutions and research organizations united to create the GIANT (Grenoble Innovation for Advanced New Technologies) Campus with the aim at becoming one of the world's top campuses in research, higher education, and high tech.


title: Grenoble

text: The city benefits from the highest concentration of strategic jobs in France after Paris, with 14% of the employments, 35,186 jobs, 45% of which specialized in design and research. Grenoble is also the largest research center in France after Paris with 22,800 jobs (11,800 in public research, 7,500 in private research and 3,500 PhD students).


title: Grenoble

text: Grenoble is also renowned for the excellence of its academic research in humanities and political sciences. Its universities, alongside public scientific institutions, host some of the largest research centres in France (in fields such as political science, urban planning or the sociology of organizations).


title: Grenoble

text: Grenoble is one of the co-location centres of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology's Knowledge and Innovation Communities for sustainable energy.


title: Grenoble

text: Industry occupies a large part of the local economy. High-tech industries have a significant presence, especially in the field of semiconductors, electronics, and biotechnology. STMicroelectronics, Schneider Electric and Soitec have major manufacturing and R&D facilities. Traditional industries in fields such as heavy equipment manufacturing and chemistry are still present and include Caterpillar, GE Renewable Energy, and Arkema.


title: Grenoble

text: The town was once famous for glove manufacturing, for which introduced an innovative technique in the 19th century. A few small companies continue to produce gloves for a very high-end market.


title: Grenoble

text: The presence of companies such as HP or Caterpillar in the area has drawn many American and British workers to Grenoble, especially in the surrounding mountain villages. The region has the second largest English-speaking community in France, after Paris. That community has an English-speaking Church and supports the International School. Many of these Americans, British, Australians etc. go to Grenoble with the intention of returning home after some time but the mountains and general lifestyle often keep them there. Some choose to put their children in the international school "cité internationale", while the "American School of Grenoble" is the alternative for those who prefer to have the core curriculum in English. With numerous associations like Open House, this large English-speaking population organizes family events making life in Grenoble harder to turn away from.


title: Grenoble

text: Publisher Glénat has its head office in Grenoble. Inovallée is a science park with about 12,000 jobs located at Meylan and Montbonnot-Saint-Martin near Grenoble.


title: Grenoble

text: téléGrenoble Isère is the local TV channel with France 3 Alpes. The local newspaper is Le Dauphiné libéré.


title: Grenoble

text: Grenoble hosted the 1968 Winter Olympics. The city is surrounded by ski resorts nestled in the surrounding mountains. Stade Lesdiguières is located in Grenoble and has been the venue for international rugby league and rugby union games.


title: Grenoble

text: Grenoble is the home of first rugby union, FC Grenoble, and ice hockey teams, Brûleurs de loups, and a second-tier football team, Grenoble Foot 38.


title: Grenoble

text: The abundance of natural sites around Grenoble as well as the particular influence of mountaineering practices and history make many Grenoble inhabitants very fond of sports and outdoor activities (e.g., hiking, mountain biking, backcountry skiing, rock climbing, and paragliding). The Tour de France cycling race regularly passes through the city.


title: Grenoble

text: A comprehensive bus and tram service operates 26 bus routes and five tram lines. It serves much of greater Grenoble, while a new cable car system known as the Métrocâble is scheduled to be completed in 2022. Being essentially flat, Grenoble is also a bicycle-friendly city.


title: Grenoble

text: The Gare de Grenoble is served by the TGV rail network, with frequent high-speed services (3 hours) to and from Paris-Gare de Lyon, usually with a stop at Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport. While Grenoble is not directly on any high-speed line, TGVs can run at reduced speeds on the classic network and enable such connections. Local rail services connect Grenoble with Lyon, and less frequently to Geneva, to Valence, and to destinations to the south. Valence and Lyon to the west provides connections with TGV services along the Rhône Valley. Rail and road connections to the south are less developed.


title: Grenoble

text: Grenoble can be accessed by air from Grenoble-Isère Airport, Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport and Geneva International Airport, with the airport bus connections being most frequent to Lyon Saint-Exupéry.


title: Grenoble

text: Highways link Grenoble to the other major cities in the area including the A48 autoroute to the northwest toward Lyon, the A49 to the southwest toward the Rhone valley via Valence, the A41 to the northeast toward Chambéry, the Alps, and Italy and Switzerland.


title: Grenoble

text: A partial ring road around the south of the city, the Rocade Sud, connects the motorway arriving from the northwest (A48) with that arriving from the northeast (A41). A project to complete the ring road, with a tunnel under the Bastille as part of the likely routes, was rejected after its environmental impact studies.


title: Grenoble

text: In 2016, the speed limit was lowered to on 80% of the streets of Grenoble and forty-two neighboring municipalities, to both improve safety and reduce pollution levels. The limit, however, remains on the main arteries.


title: Grenoble

text: Grenoble hosts several festivals: the Détours de Babel in March, the Open Air Short Film Festival in early July, and the "Cabaret Frappé" music festival at the end of July.


title: Grenoble

text: The Summum is the biggest concert hall in Grenoble, and the most famous artists produce there. Another big hall, "Le grand angle", is located nearby in Voiron. Smaller halls in the city include the "Salle Olivier Messiaen" in the Minim Monastery.


title: Grenoble

text: The main cultural center of the city is called MC2 (for "Maison de la culture, version 2"), which hosts music, theater, and dance performances. The Conservatory of Grenoble is founded in 1935.


title: Grenoble

text: There are several theaters in Grenoble, the main one being Grenoble Municipal Theatre ("Théatre de Grenoble"). Others are the "Théâtre de Création", the "Théâtre Prémol", and the "Théâtre 145". Grenoble also hosts Upstage Productions, which performs once a year through an exclusively English speaking troupe.


title: Grenoble

text: There are two main art centres in Grenoble: the "Centre national d'Art contemporain" (also called "Le Magasin") and the "Centre d'art Bastille".


title: Grenoble

text: After World War I, one street in the centre of Smederevska Palanka (Serbia) was named French street (Francuska ulica) and one street in Grenoble was named Palanka street(Rue de Palanka). The same neighborhood also has a Belgrade Street (Rue de Belgrade).


title: Dennis Franz

text: Dennis Franz Schlachta (; born October 28, 1944), known professionally as Dennis Franz, is an American retired actor best known for his role as NYPD Detective Andy Sipowicz in the ABC television series "NYPD Blue" (1993–2005), a role that earned him a Golden Globe Award, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards. He also portrayed two different characters on the similar NBC series "Hill Street Blues" (1983, 1985–1987) and its short-lived spinoff, "Beverly Hills Buntz" (1987–1988).


title: Dennis Franz

text: Franz was born October 28, 1944, in Maywood, Illinois, the son of German immigrants Eleanor ( Mueller), a postal worker of Ashkenazi Jewish descent,and Franz Ferdinand Schlachta, who was a baker and postal worker of German & Polish descent. He has two older sisters, Heidi (born 1935) and Marlene (born 1938).


title: Dennis Franz

text: Franz is a 1962 graduate of Proviso East High School in Maywood. During his high school years, he was active in baseball, football and swimming. He attended Wilbur Wright College and Southern Illinois University Carbondale, graduating from the latter with a bachelor's degree in speech and theater in 1968.


title: Dennis Franz

text: After graduating from college, Franz was drafted into the United States Army. He served eleven months with the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam.


title: Dennis Franz

text: Franz began his acting career at Chicago's Organic Theater Company. Although he has in the past performed Shakespeare, his appearance led to his being typecast early in his career as a cop. (By Franz's own count, the character of Andy Sipowicz was his 28th role as a police officer). He also guest starred in shows such as "The A-Team". Other major roles were on the television series "Hill Street Blues" in which he played two characters over the run of the show. Franz first played the role of the corrupt Detective Sal Benedetto in the 1982–1983 season. Benedetto eventually commits suicide when a large-scale scam he was running fails. Franz returned to the series in 1985 as main character Lt. Norman Buntz, remaining until the show's end in 1987. He also starred in the short-lived "Beverly Hills Buntz" as the same character.


title: Dennis Franz

text: During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Franz worked regularly with directors Brian De Palma and Robert Altman. He appeared in three of Altman's films from this period, and five of De Palma's, most prominently as a low-budget movie director in "Body Double" (1984).


title: Dennis Franz

text: Franz went on to win four Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Andy Sipowicz on "NYPD Blue". The character of Sipowicz was ranked No. 23 on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters list. In 1996, while still on NYPD Blue, Franz appeared in the Disney cartoon "" in which he provided the voice of Captain Klegghorn, the commanding officer and head of the Anaheim Police Department. The series ran from September 1996 to January 1997.


title: Dennis Franz

text: In 1994, Franz made a cameo appearance as himself in "The Simpsons" episode "Homer Badman", in which Homer is accused of sexually harassing a babysitter and the case becomes tabloid fodder, generating an exploitative television movie, "Homer S.: Portrait of an Ass-Grabber", in which Franz portrays Homer.


title: Dennis Franz

text: On May 11, 2001, Franz was a contestant on a celebrity edition of the hit television game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", winning $250,000 for his charity, the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance.


title: Dennis Franz

text: Franz also was a commercial spokesman for Nextel in the early 2000s. The concept was that Franz "refused" to do the commercials, saying they were not something he did.


title: Dennis Franz

text: He starred as Earl, the abusive husband, in the Dixie Chicks' music video "Goodbye Earl", and a role in country star Sammy Kershaw's music video "Queen of My Double Wide Trailer", as airport police captain Carmine Lorenzo in the 1990 film "Die Hard 2" and as Nathaniel Messinger in the 1998 film "City of Angels". It was his final film role to date.


title: Dennis Franz

text: After the end of the show in 2005, Franz retired from acting to focus on his private life. He has told the "New York Post" he would be interested in returning to acting if given the right opportunity. He and his wife spend their summers in their lake home in northern Idaho. He spoke of wartime experiences and post-war trauma of veterans at a Memorial Day Concert in 2012. (He spoke in the first person but it was not his own story.) He and his former "NYPD Blue" co-star Jimmy Smits made a surprise appearance at the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards, presenting the award for Outstanding Drama Series to "Game of Thrones".


title: Dennis Franz

text: In 1995, Franz married Joanie Zeck; they met in 1982. He is the stepfather of Zeck's two daughters from her previous marriage.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a coming-of-age epistolary novel by American writer Stephen Chbosky, which was first published on February 1, 1999, by Pocket Books. Set in the early 1990s, the novel follows Charlie, an introverted and observant child, through his freshman year of high school in a Pittsburgh suburb. The novel details Charlie's unconventional style of thinking as he navigates between the worlds of adolescence and adulthood, and attempts to deal with poignant questions spurred by his interactions with both his friends and family.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: Chbosky took five years to develop and publish "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", creating the characters and other aspects of the story from his own memories. The novel addresses themes permeating adolescence, including sexuality, drug use, rape, and mental health, while also making several references to other literary works, films, and pop culture in general. Because of the mentioned themes, it was banned in some American schools for its content.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: In 2012, Chbosky adapted and directed a film version starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, and Ezra Miller. The film boosted the novel's sales, and the book reached "The New York Times" Best Seller list.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: Throughout the 1991–1992 academic year, Charlie, the fifteen-year-old protagonist, begins writing letters about his own life to an unknown recipient addressed, "dear friend". In these letters, he discusses his freshman year of high school and his struggles with two traumatic experiences: the suicide of his only middle-school friend, Michael Dobson, and the death of his favorite aunt, Helen.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: His caring English teacher, who encourages Charlie to call him Bill, notices Charlie's passion for reading and writing, and acts as a mentor by assigning him extracurricular books and reports. Although he is a wallflower, Charlie is befriended by two seniors: Patrick and Sam. Patrick is secretly dating Brad, a football player, and Sam is Patrick's stepsister. Charlie quickly develops a consuming crush on Sam and subsequently admits this to her. It is revealed that Sam was sexually abused as a child, and she kisses Charlie to ensure that his first kiss is from someone who truly loves him.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: Similar to his own experience, Charlie witnesses his sister's boyfriend hit her across the face, but she forbids him from telling their parents. He eventually mentions the occurrence to Bill, who tells Charlie's parents about it. Charlie's relationship with his sister rapidly deteriorates and she continues to see her boyfriend against her parents' wishes. Eventually, he discovers that his sister is pregnant and agrees to bring her to an abortion clinic without telling anyone. His sister breaks up with her boyfriend, after which her relationship with Charlie begins to improve significantly.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: Charlie is accepted by Sam and Patrick's group of friends and begins experimenting with tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. At a party, Charlie trips on LSD. He cannot control his flashbacks of Aunt Helen, who died in a car crash on her way to buy him a birthday gift. He ends up in the hospital after falling asleep in the snow. At a "Rocky Horror Picture Show" performance, Charlie is asked to fill in as Rocky for Sam's boyfriend Craig, who was unable to attend the show that night. Their friend Mary Elizabeth is impressed and asks Charlie to the Sadie Hawkins dance and they enter into a desultory relationship. The relationship ends, however, during a game of truth or dare when Charlie is dared to kiss the prettiest girl in the room. He kisses Sam, and Mary Elizabeth storms out of the room in response. Following this, Patrick suggests that Charlie stay away from Sam for a while, and the rest of his friendship group shuns him. Without friends to distract Charlie from his thoughts and struggles, his flashbacks of Aunt Helen return.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: Patrick and Brad's relationship is discovered by Brad's abusive father, and Brad disappears from school for a few days. Upon returning, Brad is cold and mean toward Patrick, while Patrick attempts to reconnect with him. However, when Brad derogatorily attacks Patrick's sexuality in public, Patrick physically attacks Brad until other football players join in and gang up on Patrick. Charlie joins in the fight to defend Patrick, and breaks it up, regaining the respect of Sam and her friends. Patrick begins spending most of his time with Charlie, and Patrick kisses Charlie impulsively but then apologizes. Charlie is sympathetic because he understands that Patrick is still recovering from his romance with Brad. Soon Patrick sees Brad engaging with a stranger in the park and Patrick is able to move on from the relationship.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: As the school year ends, Charlie is anxious about losing his older friends—especially Sam, who is leaving for a summer college-preparatory program and has learned that her boyfriend cheated on her. When Charlie helps her pack, they talk about his feelings for her; she is angry that he never acted on them. They begin to engage sexually, but Charlie suddenly grows inexplicably uncomfortable and stops Sam. Charlie begins to realize that his sexual contact with Sam has stirred up repressed memories of him being molested by his Aunt Helen as a little boy. Charlie shows signs of PTSD from the incident and the revelation of his abuse helps the reader understand his views of relationships and love.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: In an epilogue, Charlie is discovered by his parents in a catatonic state and does not show any movement despite being hit reluctantly by his father. After being admitted to a mental hospital, it is revealed that Helen actually sexually abused him when he was young—memories he had unconsciously repressed. This psychological damage explains his flashbacks and derealization phases throughout the book. In two months, Charlie is released, and Sam and Patrick visit him. In the epilogue, Sam, Patrick, and Charlie go through the tunnel again and Charlie stands up and exclaims that he feels infinite.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: Charlie eventually comes to terms with his past: "Even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there". Charlie decides to "participate" in life, and his letter-writing ends.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: Chbosky incorporated both fictional ideas and personal experiences to the novel, making it semi-autobiographical. After five years with these elements in mind, he had the idea of writing the novel during a difficult period in his life. He was experiencing an unpleasant breakup of his own, which led him to ask why "good people let themselves get treated so badly." The author tried to answer the question with the sentence "we accept the love we think we deserve". This quote references the struggle of finding self love, encompassing one's life and hope for the future, and not just romantic love.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: The story began when Chbosky was in school, evolving from another book on which he was working. In that book he wrote the sentence, "I guess that's just one of the perks of being a wallflower", which led him to realize "that somewhere in that ... was the kid I was really trying to find." Chbosky began writing the novel in the summer of 1996 while he was in college, and within ten weeks he completed the story. He rewrote it into two more drafts, concluding the published version in the summer of 1998.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: Charlie was loosely based on Chbosky himself. In the novel, Chbosky included much of his own memories from the time he lived in Pittsburgh. The other characters were manifestations of people Chbosky had known throughout his life; Chbosky focused on people's struggles and what they are passionate about, attempting to pin down the very nature of each of the characters. The characters of Sam and Patrick were an "amalgamate and celebration" of several people Chbosky has met; Sam was based on girls who confided in him, and Patrick was "all the kids I knew who were gay and finding their way to their own identity."


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: The idea of anonymous letters came from a real experience; during his senior year in high school, Chbosky wrote an anonymous letter to Stewart Stern about how "Rebel Without a Cause" had influenced him. A year and a half later, Stern found Chbosky and became his mentor. By using a series of letters from Charlie to an anonymous character, Chbosky found "the most intimate way" to talk directly to the reader. He thought the letters would help him keep the story cohesive, "to convey the highs and lows of being young—one day, you're on top of the world and you've had the greatest of times. Then, three weeks later, you’re terribly depressed".


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: Critics have identified primary themes of teenage reality and nostalgia. According to David Edelstein of the "New York Magazine", Chbosky captures the "feeling you belong when among friends, yet you'd soon be alone" and notes that "the pain of loss ... [is] almost as intense as the bliss ... it's nostalgia with an emphasis on nostos, pain [sic]." Marty Beckerman of "Word Riot" said that "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" connects with young people because its scenes are "so universal and happen to so many teenagers." Chbosky wanted to convey respect for teenagers, to "validate and respect and celebrate what [teenagers] are going through every day", and said the novel is for "anyone who's felt like an outcast."


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: Read by all ages, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is targeted at a teenage audience. The book addresses a range of themes dispassionately. These themes include drugs, friendship, body image, first love, suicide, eating disorders and sexuality. Chbosky appreciates the importance of entertainment in adolescence: "Books, songs, and movies are more than entertainment when we're young. They help all of us discover who we are, what we believe, and what we hope our life can be." As such, the book contains several cultural references across all mediums: musically the book references The Smiths and Fleetwood Mac, literarily the book references "This Side of Paradise", "On the Road", "Peter Pan", "To Kill a Mockingbird", "Hamlet", "The Stranger" and "Walden", and theatrically the book references "The Rocky Horror Picture Show".


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" was first published on February 1, 1999 by Pocket Books through its MTV Books imprint. It became the subsidiary's best-selling book with 100,000 copies in print as of 2000, and was included on school reading lists and gathered a cult following. By 2012, the novel had been published in 16 countries in 13 languages, and that same year it placed at number 16 on NPR's list of the "100 Best-Ever Teen Novels".


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: Critical response was mixed; "Publishers Weekly" called the novel "trite", dealing with "standard teenage issues" in which "Chbosky infuses a droning insistence on Charlie's supersensitive disposition." Although "Kirkus Reviews" said it had "the right combination of realism and uplift", the reviewer criticized Chbosky's "rip-off" of J. D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye". Although other reviewers made similar comparisons, Chbosky said he "was not trying to mimic [Salinger's] style as a writer"; he saw "how readers could compare Charlie to [Salinger's] Holden Caulfield", but "they are very different people with unique problems and perspectives". More positive was Francisca Goldsmith of the "School Library Journal", who said the novel "cleverly" makes the readers the recipients of Charlie's letters, and it "will engage teen readers for years to come." Common Sense Media's Kate Pavao praised its relevant themes for teenagers: "Readers will find themselves quickly feeling sorry for the protagonist and worrying about him throughout his transformative journey." For "The A.V. Club", Marah Eakin wrote that although for an adult ""Perks" suffers from an overabundance of pure, raw angst ... unlike some more arrested development-friendly young adult fare like "Harry Potter", "Perks" speaks to a more specific age range and does it well."


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" has appeared six times on the American Library Association's list of 10 most-frequently-challenged books for its content. A Wisconsin school board refused to ban the book, angering local parents. The Glen Ellyn District 41 school board in suburban Chicago unanimously voted to reinstate the novel after it was removed from eighth-grade classrooms at Hadley Junior High School because of a parent's objection to its sexual content. Groups like PABBIS (Parents Against Bad Books in School) work to restrict literature considered "controversial" from being accessed by younger children. The group believes these "bad books" should be moved to the adult section. In 2009, "Perks" was repeatedly challenged for descriptions of masturbation, sexually explicit conduct, drug use, and talk of suicide, and there have been multiple pushes across the United States to move this literary work from the children and young adults section to the adult section. Parents have raised issues with the novel for its "pornographic" content and "vulgarity," but others have argued that the book deals with real and common teen issues concerned with growing up, so it presents a truthful viewpoint. Issues are also raised surrounding the book's themes of homosexuality, as well as a "glorification" of the use of drugs and alcohol. In an interview, Chbosky said that he knew of two school boards which have banned the book (in Massachusetts and on Long Island). Since he "didn't write it to be a controversial book," he was "surprised" by the bans.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: Since he wrote "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", Chbosky aspired to adapt it into a film, calling this a "lifelong dream of his". After the publication of the novel, the author said he received film offers, refusing them because he "owed the fans a movie that was worthy of their love for the book". In 2010 Mr. Mudd began developing a film version, and the author was signed to write and direct the film by producers John Malkovich, Lianne Halfon and Russell Smith. The film, shot in the Pittsburgh area from May 9 to June 29, 2011, starred Logan Lerman as Charlie, Emma Watson as Sam, Ezra Miller as Patrick, and Nina Dobrev as Charlie's sister, Candace.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: With the announcement of a film adaptation, the novel received more attention; its sales increased from 88,847 copies in 2011 to 425,933 in 2012, and it reached the "New York Times" bestseller lists. It entered the Children's Paperback Books category on the June 23, 2012 list, and had 1.5 million copies in print in November 2012. As of May 11, 2014 it appeared on "The New York Times" top 10 list for the 71st non-consecutive week, and was in the top 15 on the November 23 list.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: The film premiered on September 8, 2012 at the Toronto International Film Festival, and was released theatrically in the United States by Summit Entertainment on September 21. According to Metacritic it has received "generally favorable reviews", with an average of 67 out of 100 based on 36 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reported an 85% approval rate, based on 172 reviews. The film grossed over $33 million worldwide from a $13 million production budget.


title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

text: Some scenes were omitted from the film adaptation: In the book, Charlie's parents are notified by Bill that Candace is being abused by her boyfriend, to which his parents take direct intervention in the abusive relationship in the book. Also omitted from the film is the side-story where Candace gets pregnant by her abusive boyfriend and is accompanied by Charlie to the abortion clinic. In addition, the poem was deleted from the film before its release. There is a special features section on the DVD with scenes that were shot but didn't make it into the film.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: The Battle of Saipan was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands from 15 June to 9 July 1944 as part of Operation Forager. It has been referred to as the "Pacific D-Day" with the invasion fleet departing Pearl Harbor on 5 June 1944, the day before Operation Overlord in Europe was launched, and launching nine days after. The U.S. 2nd Marine Division, 4th Marine Division, and the Army's 27th Infantry Division, commanded by Lieutenant General Holland Smith, defeated the 43rd Infantry Division of the Imperial Japanese Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saitō. The loss of Saipan, with the deaths of at least 29,000 troops and heavy civilian casualties, precipitated the resignation of Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tōjō and left the Japanese archipelago within the range of United States Army Air Forces B-29 bombers.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: In the campaigns of 1943 and the first half of 1944, the Allies had captured the Solomon Islands, the Gilbert Islands, the Marshall Islands and the Papuan Peninsula of New Guinea. This left the Japanese holding the Philippines, the Caroline Islands, the Palau Islands, and the Mariana Islands.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: The Mariana Islands had not been a key part of pre-war American planning (War Plans Orange and Rainbow) because the islands were well north of a direct sea route between Hawaii and the Philippines. At the time, naval air/sea/logistics ability were not envisioned as being able to support operations against a place so far from potential land-based support. But, by early 1943, Admiral Ernest King, Commander in Chief of the United States Fleet, had become increasingly convinced of the strategic location of the islands as a base for submarine operations and air facilities for Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombing of the Japanese home islands. From these latter bases, communications between the Japanese archipelago and Japanese forces to the south and west could be cut. From the Marianas, Japan would be well within the range of an air offensive relying on the new B-29 with its operational radius of .


title: Battle of Saipan

text: The capture of the Marianas was formally endorsed in the Cairo Conference of November 1943. The plan had the support of U.S. Army Air Force planners because the airfields on Saipan were large enough to support B-29 operations, within range of the Japanese home islands, and unlike a China-based alternative, was not open to Japanese counter-attacks once the islands were secure. However, General Douglas MacArthur strenuously objected to any plan that would delay his return to the Philippines. His objections were routed through formal channels as well as bypassing the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appealing directly to Secretary of War Henry Stimson and President Franklin D. Roosevelt.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: MacArthur’s objections were not without tactical reasoning based on the experience of the invasion of Tarawa (Operation Galvanic), but were voiced before the vastly improved experience in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands (Operation Flintlock - Kwajalein, Eniwetok and other islands/atolls), the increase in naval forces, the successful attack on Truk and the Carolines islands by carrier-based aircraft (Hailstone), and coordinated armed services experience gained by all these operations in Admiral Chester Nimitz’s Pacific Ocean Area of operations.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: While not part of the original American plan, MacArthur, commander of the Southwest Pacific Area command, obtained authorization to advance through New Guinea and Morotai toward the Philippines. This allowed MacArthur to keep his personal pledge to liberate the Philippines, made in his "I shall return" speech, and also allowed the active use of the large forces built up in the southwest Pacific theatre. The Japanese, expecting an attack somewhere on their perimeter, thought an attack on the Caroline Islands most likely. To reinforce and supply their garrisons, they needed naval and air superiority, so Operation A-Go, a major carrier attack, was prepared for June 1944.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: The bombardment of Saipan began on 13 June 1944 with seven modern fast battleships, 11 destroyers and 10 fast minesweepers under Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee Jr. The battleships delivered 2,400 shells, but to avoid potential minefields, fire was from a distance of or more and crews were inexperienced in shore bombardment. The following day, two naval bombardment groups led by Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf arrived on the shore of Saipan. This force was the main naval fire support for the seizure of the island and consisted of 7 older battleships, 11 cruisers, and 26 destroyers, along with destroyer transports and fast minesweepers. The old battleships, commissioned between 1915 and 1921, were trained in shore bombardment and were able to move into closer range. Four of them (, , and ) were survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: The landings began at 07:00 on 15 June 1944. More than 300 LVTs landed 8,000 Marines on the west coast of Saipan by about 09:00. Eleven fire support ships covered the Marine landings. The naval force consisted of the battleships "Tennessee" and "California", the cruisers and , the destroyers , , , , , , and . Careful artillery preparation — placing flags in the lagoon to indicate the range — allowed the Japanese to destroy about 20 amphibious tanks, and they had placed barbed wire, artillery, machine gun emplacements, and trenches to maximize the American casualties. However, by nightfall, the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions had a beachhead about wide and deep. The Japanese counter-attacked at night but were repelled with heavy losses. On 16 June, units of the U.S. Army's 27th Infantry Division landed and advanced on the airfield at Ås Lito. Again the Japanese counter-attacked at night. On 18 June, Saito abandoned the airfield.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: The invasion surprised the Japanese high command, which had been expecting an attack further south. Admiral Shigetarō Shimada, Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), saw an opportunity to use the "A-Go" force to attack the U.S. Navy forces around Saipan. On 15 June, he gave the order to attack. But the resulting battle of the Philippine Sea was a disaster for the IJN, which lost three aircraft carriers and hundreds of planes.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: Without resupply, the battle on Saipan was hopeless for the defenders, but the Japanese were determined to fight to the last man. Saitō organized his troops into a line anchored on Mount Tapochau in the defensible mountainous terrain of central Saipan. The nicknames given by the Americans to the features of the battle — "Hell's Pocket", "Purple Heart Ridge" and "Death Valley" — indicate the severity of the fighting. The Japanese used many caves in the volcanic landscape to delay the attackers, by hiding during the day and making sorties at night. The Americans gradually developed tactics for clearing the caves by using flamethrower teams supported by artillery and machine guns.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: The operation was marred by inter-service controversy when Marine General Holland Smith, dissatisfied with the performance of the 27th Division, relieved its commander, Army Major General Ralph C. Smith. However, Holland Smith had not inspected the terrain over which the 27th was to advance. Essentially, it was a valley surrounded by hills and cliffs under Japanese control. The 27th took heavy casualties and eventually, under a plan developed by Ralph Smith and implemented after his relief, had one battalion hold the area while two other battalions successfully flanked the Japanese.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: By 6 July, the Japanese had nowhere to retreat. Saitō made plans for a final suicidal banzai charge. On the fate of the remaining civilians on the island, Saito said, "There is no longer any distinction between civilians and troops. It would be better for them to join in the attack with bamboo spears than be captured." At dawn of 7 July, with a group of 12 men carrying a red flag in the lead, the remaining able-bodied troops — about 4,000 men — charged forward in the final attack. Behind them came the wounded, with bandaged heads, crutches, and barely armed. The Japanese surged over the American front lines, engaging both Army and Marine units. The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 105th Infantry Regiment were almost destroyed, losing well over 650 killed and wounded. The two battalions fought back, as did the Headquarters Company, 105th Infantry, and supply elements of 3rd Battalion, 10th Marine Artillery Regiment, resulting in over 4,300 Japanese killed and over 400 dead US soldiers with more than 500 more wounded. For their actions during the 15-hour Japanese attack, three men of the 105th Infantry Regiment were awarded the Medal of Honor: Lt. Col. William O'Brien, Cpt. Ben L. Salomon, Pvt. Thomas A. Baker, all posthumously. The attack on 7 July would be the largest Japanese Banzai charge in the Pacific War.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: By 16:15 on 9 July, Admiral Turner announced that Saipan was officially secured. Saitō, along with commanders Hirakushi and Igeta, committed suicide in a cave. Vice-admiral Chuichi Nagumo, the naval commander who led the Japanese carriers at Pearl Harbor, also committed suicide in the closing stages of the battle. He had been in command of the Japanese naval air forces stationed on the island.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: In the end, almost the entire garrison of troops on the island — at least 29,000 — died. For the Americans, the victory was the most costly to date in the Pacific War: out of 71,000 who landed, 2,949 were killed and 10,464 wounded. Future Hollywood actor Lee Marvin was among the many Americans wounded. He was serving with "I" Company, 24th Marine Regiment, when he was hit by shrapnel in the buttocks by Japanese mortar fire during the assault on Mount Tapochau. He was awarded the Purple Heart and was given a medical discharge with the rank of private first class in 1945.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: Gen. Smith and V Amphibious Corps anticipated that taking Saipan would be difficult and they wanted to have a mechanized flamethrowing capability. Research, development, and procurement made that a long-term prospect. So VAC purchased 30 Canadian Ronson flamethrowers and requested that the Army's Chemical Warfare Service in Hawaii install them in M3 Stuarts, and termed them M3 Satans. with the CWS had 24 ready for the battle.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: While the battle officially ended on 9 July, Japanese resistance still persisted with Captain Sakae Ōba and 46 other soldiers who survived with him during the last banzai charge. After the battle, Oba and his soldiers led many civilians throughout the jungle of the island to escape capture by the Americans, while also conducting guerrilla-style attacks on pursuing forces. The Americans tried numerous times to hunt them down but failed due to their speed and stealth. In September 1944, the Marines began conducting patrols in the island's interior, searching for survivors who were raiding their camp for supplies. Although some of the soldiers wanted to fight, Captain Ōba asserted that their primary concerns were to protect the civilians and to stay alive to continue the war. At one point, the Japanese soldiers and civilians were almost captured by the Americans as they hid in a clearing and ledges of a mountain, some were less than 20 feet (6.1 m) above the heads of the Marines, but the Americans failed to see them. Oba's holdout lasted for over a year (approximately 16 months) before finally surrendering on 1 December 1945, three months after the official surrender of Japan.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: Oba's resistance was so successful that it caused the reassignment of a commander. U.S. Marines gave Oba the nickname "The Fox."


title: Battle of Saipan

text: At least 25,000 Japanese civilians lived on Saipan at the time of the battle. Civilian shelters were located virtually everywhere on the island, with very little difference from military bunkers noticeable to attacking Marines. The standard method of clearing suspected bunkers was the use of high-explosive and/or high-explosives augmented with petroleum (e.g., gelignite, napalm, diesel fuel). The weapons used and the tactics of close quarter fighting resulted in high civilian casualties.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: The U.S. erected a civilian prisoner encampment on 23 June 1944 that soon had more than 1,000 inmates. Electric lights at the camp were conspicuously left on overnight to attract other civilians with the promise of three warm meals and no risk of being shot in combat accidentally.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: More than 1,000 Japanese civilians committed suicide in the last days of the battle to take the offered privileged place in the afterlife, some jumping from places later named "Suicide Cliff" and "Banzai Cliff". These would become part of the National Historic Landmark District as Landing Beaches; Aslito/Isley Field; & Marpi Point, Saipan Island, designated in 1985. Today the sites are a memorial and Japanese people visit to console the victims' souls.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: In addition to William O'Brien, Ben L. Salomon and Thomas A. Baker, Gunnery Sergeant Robert H. McCard and PFC Harold G. Epperson, were each posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: PFC Guy Gabaldon, of Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, was credited with capturing more than 1,000 Japanese prisoners during the battle. Gabaldon, who was raised by Japanese-Americans, used a combination of street Japanese and guile to convince soldiers and civilians alike that U.S. troops were not barbarians, and that they would be well treated upon surrender. For his outstanding bravery, which earned him the nickname, "The Pied Piper of Saipan," Gabaldon received a Silver Star, which was upgraded to the Navy Cross. During the war, his commanders had requested that he receive the Medal of Honor for his actions; however, his initial award was the Silver Star. In 1998, efforts were re-initiated to secure the Medal of Honor for Gabaldon. The effort was ongoing in 2006.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: With the capture of Saipan, the American military was now only away from the home islands of Japan. Holland Smith said: "It was the decisive battle of the Pacific offensive [...] it opened the way to the Japanese home islands." The victory would prove to be one of the most important strategic moments during the war in the Pacific Theater, as the Japanese archipelago was now within striking distance of United States' B-29 bombers. From this point on, Saipan would become the launch point for retaking other islands in the Mariana chain and the invasion of the Philippines in October 1944. Four months after capture, more than 100 B-29s from Saipan's Isely Field were regularly attacking the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands and the Japanese mainland. In response, Japanese aircraft attacked Saipan and Tinian on several occasions between November 1944 and January 1945. The U.S. capture of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945) ended further Japanese air attacks.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: The loss of Saipan was a heavy blow to both the military and civilian administration of Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tōjō. According to one Japanese admiral: "Our war was lost with the loss of Saipan." Shortly after Saipan was taken, a meeting at the Imperial General Headquarters was convened where it was decided that a symbolic change of leadership should be made: Tōjō would step aside and Emperor Hirohito would have less involvement in day-to-day military affairs, even though he was defined as both head of state and the Generalissimo of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces according to the Meiji Constitution of 1889. The general staff believed it was now time to distance the Imperial House of Japan from blame as the tide of war turned against the Japanese. Although Tōjō agreed to resign, Emporer Hirohito blocked his resignation because he considered Tōjō to be Japan's strongest war leader. But after Tōjō failed to shuffle his Cabinet due to excessive internal hostility, he conceded defeat. On 18 July, Tōjō again submitted his resignation, this time unequivocally. His entire cabinet resigned with him. Former IJA General Kuniaki Koiso became Prime Minister on 22 July. However, due to the legacy of Saipan, Koiso was nothing more than a titular Prime Minister, and was prevented by the Imperial General Headquarters from participating in any military decisions.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: Saipan also saw a change in the way Japanese war reporting was presented on the home front. Initially, as the battle started, Japanese accounts concentrated on the fighting spirit of the IJA and the heavy casualties it was inflicting on American forces. However, any reader familiar with Saipan's geography would have known from the chronology of engagements that the U.S. forces were relentlessly advancing northwards. No further mention of Saipan was made following the final battle on 7 July, which was not initially reported to the public. However, after Tōjō's resignation on 18 July, an accurate, almost day-by-day, account of the defeat on Saipan was published jointly by the Army and Navy. It mentioned the near total loss of all Japanese soldiers and civilians on the island and the use of "human bullets". The reports had a devastating effect on Japanese opinion; mass suicides were now seen as defeat, not evidence of an "Imperial Way". This was the first time Japanese forces had accurately been depicted in a battle since Midway, which had been proclaimed a victory.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: On 16 July US forces began the bombardment of the nearby island of Tinian as a prelude to the successful Battle of Tinian (24 July-1 August).


title: Battle of Saipan

text: Suicide Cliff and Banzai Cliff, along with a number of surviving isolated Japanese fortifications, are recognized as historic sites on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The cliffs are also part of the National Historic Landmark District Landing Beaches; Aslito/Isley Field; & Marpi Point, Saipan Island, which also includes the American landing beaches, the B-29 runways of Isley Field, and the surviving Japanese infrastructure of the Aslito and Marpi Point airfields.


title: Battle of Saipan

text: The American Memorial Park on Saipan commemorates the U.S. and Mariana veterans of the Mariana Islands campaign.


title: James Vanderbilt

text: James Platten Vanderbilt (born November 17, 1975) is an American filmmaker best known for the films "Zodiac" (2007), "White House Down" (2013), "The Amazing Spider-Man" (2012), "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" (2014), "" (2016), "Murder Mystery" (2019) and "Scream" (2022). He also contributed as producer for the films "The House with a Clock in Its Walls" (2018) and "Ready or Not" (2019), where he cameoed as demon Mr. Le Bail.


title: James Vanderbilt

text: A member of the Vanderbilt family of New York, James Vanderbilt is the son of Alison Campbell ("née" Platten) and Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt III. His paternal great-grandfather Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Sr. died on the in the 1915 sinking, his paternal grandfather, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Jr., once chaired the New York Racing Association, and his maternal grandfather, Donald Campbell Platten, was the chief executive and chairman of Chemical Bank.


title: James Vanderbilt

text: Vanderbilt was raised in Norwalk, Connecticut, and attended school at New Canaan Country School. He is a graduate of St. Paul's School and the University of Southern California.


title: James Vanderbilt

text: His production company, Mythology Entertainment, started in 2011. It was later reincorporated into Project X Entertainment as of 2019.


title: James Vanderbilt

text: In May 2016, Mythology acquired intellectual property rights to Slender Man from the character's creator Eric Knudsen. Vanderbilt later produced a film adaptation of the character in 2018.


title: James Vanderbilt

text: In 2020, Vanderbilt co-wrote the script for the fifth installment of the "Scream" franchise, starring Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Marley Shelton, Dylan Minnette, Mason Gooding, Kyle Gallner, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mikey Madison and Sonia Ben Ammar. The film was released on January 14, 2022.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was a counterculture rock concert in the United States, held on Saturday, December 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway outside of Livermore, California. Approximately 300,000 attended the concert, and some anticipated that it would be a "Woodstock West". The Woodstock festival was held in Bethel, New York, in mid-August, less than four months earlier.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: The event is remembered for considerable violence, including the stabbing death of Meredith Hunter and three accidental deaths: two by a hit-and-run car accident, and one by an LSD-induced drowning in an irrigation canal. Scores were injured, numerous cars were stolen (and subsequently abandoned) and there was extensive property damage.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: The concert featured (in order of appearance): Santana, Jefferson Airplane, the Flying Burrito Brothers and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY), with the Rolling Stones taking the stage as the final act. The Grateful Dead were also scheduled to perform following CSNY, but shortly before their scheduled appearance chose not to due to the increasing violence at the venue. "That's the way things went at Altamont—so badly that the Grateful Dead, the prime organizers and movers of the festival, didn't even get to play," staff at "Rolling Stone" magazine wrote in a detailed narrative on the event, terming it in an additional follow-up piece "rock and roll's all-time worst day, December 6th, a day when everything went perfectly wrong."


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: Filmmakers Albert and David Maysles shot footage of the event and incorporated it into the 1970 documentary film titled "Gimme Shelter".


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: According to Jefferson Airplane's Spencer Dryden, the idea for "a kind of Woodstock West" began when he and bandmate Jorma Kaukonen discussed the staging of a free concert with the Grateful Dead and Rolling Stones in Golden Gate Park. Referring to the Stones, Dryden said, "Next to the Beatles they were the biggest rock and roll band in the world, and we wanted them to experience what we were experiencing in San Francisco."


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: As plans were being finalized, Jefferson Airplane were on the road, and by early December they were in Florida, believing the concert plans for Golden Gate Park were proceeding. But by December 4, the plans had broken down, in Paul Kantner's account, because the city and police departments were unhelpful; innate conflict between the hippies of Haight-Ashbury and the police was manifested in obstructiveness. Sears Point Raceway was then the venue, but its owners wanted $100,000 in escrow from the Rolling Stones.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: At the last moment, Dick Carter offered his Altamont Speedway in eastern Alameda County for the festival. Jefferson Airplane flew out of Miami on December 5. Kantner said the location was taken in a spirit of desperation: "There was no way to control it, no supervision or order." According to Grace Slick, "The vibes were bad. Something was very peculiar, not particularly bad, just real peculiar. It was that kind of hazy, abrasive and unsure day. I had expected the loving vibes of Woodstock but that wasn't coming at me. This was a whole different thing."


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: During the Rolling Stones' 1969 U.S. tour, many (including journalists) felt that the ticket prices were far too high. In answer to this criticism, the Rolling Stones decided to end their tour with a free concert in San Francisco.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: The concert was originally scheduled to be held at San Jose State University's practice field, as there had recently been a three-day outdoor free festival there with 52 bands and 80,000 attendees. Dirt Cheap Productions was asked to help secure the property again for the Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead to play a free concert. The Stones and the Dead were told the city of San Jose was not in the mood for another large concert and the grounds were out of bounds. Golden Gate Park in San Francisco was next on the list. However, a previously scheduled Chicago Bears–San Francisco 49ers football game at Kezar Stadium, located in Golden Gate Park, made that venue impractical, and permits were never issued for the concert. The venue was then changed to the Sears Point Raceway near Sonoma. However, a dispute with Sears Point's owner, Filmways, Inc., arose over a $300,000 up-front cash deposit from the Rolling Stones and film distribution rights, so the festival was moved once again. The Altamont Raceway, east of Livermore, was chosen at the suggestion of its then-owner, local businessman Dick Carter.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: The concert was to take place on Saturday, December 6; the location was switched on the night of Thursday, December 4.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: In making preparations, Grateful Dead manager Rock Scully and concert organizer Michael Lang helicoptered over the site before making the selection, much as Lang had done when the Woodstock Festival was moved at the last moment from Wallkill, New York, to Bethel, New York.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: The hasty move resulted in numerous logistical problems, including a lack of facilities such as portable toilets and medical tents. The move also created a problem for the stage design; instead of being on top of a rise, which characterized the geography at Sears Point, at Altamont the stage would now be at the bottom of a slope. The Rolling Stones' stage manager on the 1969 tour, Chip Monck, explained that "the stage was one metre high – 39 inches for us – and [at Sears Point] it was on the top of a hill, so all the audience pressure was back upon them". Because of the short notice for the change of location, the stage couldn't be changed. "We weren’t working with scaffolding, we were working in an older fashion with parallels. You could probably have put another stage below it...but nobody had one," Monck said.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: Because the stage was so low, members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, led by Oakland chapter head Ralph "Sonny" Barger, were asked to surround the stage to provide security.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: By some accounts, the Hells Angels were hired as security by the management of the Rolling Stones, on the recommendation of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane (who both had previously used the Angels for security at performances without incident), for $500 worth of beer. This story has been denied by some parties who were directly involved. According to the road manager of the Rolling Stones' 1969 US Tour, Sam Cutler, "the only agreement there ever was ... the Angels would make sure nobody tampered with the generators, but that was the extent of it. But there was no way 'They're going to be the police force' or anything like that. That's all bollocks." The deal was made at a meeting including Cutler, Grateful Dead manager Rock Scully, and Pete Knell, a member of the Hells Angels' San Francisco chapter. According to Cutler, the arrangement was that all the bands were supposed to share the $500 beer cost, "[but] the person who paid it was me, and I never got it back, to this day."


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: Hells Angels member Bill "Sweet William" Fritsch recalled this exchange he had with Cutler at a meeting prior to the concert, in which Cutler had asked them to provide security:


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: We don't police things. We're not a security force. We go to concerts to enjoy ourselves and have fun.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: When Cutler asked how they would like to be paid, William replied, "We like beer." In the documentary "Gimme Shelter", Sonny Barger states that the Hells Angels were not interested in policing the event, and that organizers had told him that the Angels would be required to do little more than sit on the edge of the stage, drink beer, and make sure there were not any murders or rapes occurring.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: I was talking with them, because I was interested in the security of my band—everyone's security, for that matter. In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. They were the only people who were strong and together. [They had to protect the stage] because it was descending into absolute chaos. Who was going to stop it?


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: Grateful Dead manager Rock Scully said that if the Angels hadn't been on the stage, that whole crowd could have easily passed out, and rolled down onto the stage. There was no barrier.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: Stefan Ponek, who helped organize the event, hosted a December 7, 1969 KSAN-FM radio broadcast of a four-hour, "day after" post-concert telephone call-in forum, provided the following for the 2000 release (the four-hour recording is included) of the "Gimme Shelter" DVD:


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: What we learned in the broadcast was pretty much startling: These guys—the Angels—had been hired and paid with $500 of beer, on a truck with ice, to essentially bring in the Stones and keep people off the stage. That was the understanding, that was the deal. And it seemed like there was not a lot of disagreement over that; that seemed to emerge as a fact, because it became rather apparent that the Stones didn't know what kind of people they were dealing with.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: The "Gimme Shelter" DVD contains extensive excerpts from that broadcast. A Hells Angels member who identified himself as "Pete, from Hells Angels San Francisco" (most likely Pete Knell, president of the San Francisco chapter), says "they offered us $500 worth of beer [to] go there and take care of the stage ... we took this $500 worth of beer to do it." Sonny Barger, who also called into the KSAN forum, states: "We were told by one of the [other Hells Angels] clubs if we showed up down there [and] sat on the stage and drink some beer ... that the Stones manager or somebody had bought for us." In his lengthy call, Barger mentions the beer deal yet again:


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: I ain't no cop, I ain't never going to ever pretend to be no cop. I didn't go there to police nothing, man. They told me if I could sit on the edge of the stage so nobody could climb over me, I could drink beer until the show was over. And that's what I went there to do.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: A woman who called in to the program revealed that she had seen at least five fist fights from her vantage point near the stage and that the Angels were involved in all of them. She also described a general uncaring attitude toward people who clearly needed help; a girl who was dragged across the stage by her hair, another who was on a bad acid trip and bystanders kicked and walked on her. She said she felt having the Angels as "security" was an irresponsible move because "we were all in terror of them". When she tried to speak about this at the concert, she was warned to be quiet by the people around her, for fear of being beaten. At this point, KSAN's Scoop Nisker mentioned the bystander effect and the murder of Kitty Genovese.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: Emmett Grogan (founder of the radical community-action group the Diggers), who was intimately involved in the organization of the event (especially at the two earlier-planned venues), confirmed the $500 beer arrangement on that same KSAN forum with Ponek.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: "Pete" also tells host Ponek that the Angels were hired by Cutler because of some rowdy, anxious on-stage incidents during the Stones' Oakland and Miami concerts weeks earlier. As security guards, Pete said "we ain't into that security", but that they agreed after the beer offer. He also claimed that, other than being told to "just keep people off the stage," Cutler gave the Hells Angels very little specific instructions for stage security: "They didn't say nothing to us about any of that." And although the Angels are not security guards, "If we say we're going to do something, we do it. If we decide to do it, it's done. No matter what, how far we have to go to do it." The similar lack of detailed security instructions by the concert's management was also mentioned by Barger during his telephone call-in.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: Altamont Speedway owner Dick Carter had hired hundreds of professional, plainclothes security guards, ostensibly more for the purpose of protecting his property rather than for the safety and well-being of the concertgoers. Barger mentions these guards, as identified by their wearing of "little white buttons".


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: Political scientist and cultural critic James Miller believes that since Ken Kesey had invited the Hells Angels to one of his outdoor Acid Tests, the hippies had viewed the bikers unrealistically, idealizing them as "noble savages" and thus "outlaw brothers of the counterculture". Miller also maintains that the Rolling Stones may have been misled by their experience with a British contingent of self-described "Hells Angels", a non-outlaw group of admirers of American biker gear who had provided nonviolent security at a free Stones concert earlier that year in Hyde Park, London. Cutler, however, denies ever having had any illusions about the true nature of Californian Hells Angels. "That's another canard foisted on the world by the press", he said, but Rock Scully remembers explaining to the Stones what the "real" Angels were like after watching the Hyde Park concert.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: The first act on the stage, Santana, gave a performance that generally went smoothly; however, over the course of the day, the mood of both the crowd and the Angels became progressively agitated and violent. The Angels had been drinking their free beer all day in front of the stage, and most were very drunk. The crowd had also become antagonistic and unpredictable, attacking each other, the Angels, and the performers. A Mick Jagger biographer, Anthony Scaduto, in "Mick Jagger: Everybody's Lucifer", wrote that the only time the crowd seemed to calm down to any degree was during a set by the country-rocking Flying Burrito Brothers. However, Denise Jewkes, lead singer of the local San Francisco rock band the Ace of Cups, six months pregnant, was hit in the head by an empty beer bottle thrown from the crowd and suffered a skull fracture. The Stones later paid all of Jewkes' ambulance and medical services. The Angels proceeded to arm themselves with sawed-off pool cues and motorcycle chains to drive the crowd further back from the stage.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: After the crowd (perhaps accidentally) toppled one of the Angels' motorcycles, the Angels became even more aggressive, including toward the performers. Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane jumped off the stage to try to sort out the problem, only to be punched in the head and knocked unconscious by an Angel during the band's set. When Jefferson Airplane guitarist Paul Kantner sarcastically thanked the Angels for knocking the singer out, Angel Bill Fritsch took hold of a microphone and argued with him about it. The Grateful Dead had been scheduled to play between Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and the Rolling Stones, but after hearing about the Balin incident from Santana drummer Michael Shrieve, they refused to play and left the venue, citing the quickly degenerating security situation.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: During Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's set, Stephen Stills was reported to be repeatedly stabbed in the leg by a "stoned-out" Hells Angel, with a sharpened bicycle spoke.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: By the time the Rolling Stones took the stage in the early evening, the mood had taken a decidedly ugly turn as numerous fights had erupted between Angels and crowd members and within the crowd itself.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: The Rolling Stones waited until sundown to perform. Stanley Booth stated that part of the reason for the delay was that Bill Wyman had missed the helicopter ride to the venue. When the Stones began their set, a tightly packed group of between 4,000 and 5,000 people were jammed to the very edge of the stage, and many attempted to climb onto it.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger, who had already been punched in the head by a concertgoer within seconds of emerging from his helicopter, was visibly intimidated by the unruly situation and urged everyone to, "Just be cool down in the front there, don't push around." During the third song, "Sympathy for the Devil", a fight erupted in the front of the crowd at the foot of the stage, prompting the Stones to pause their set while the Angels restored order. After a lengthy pause and another appeal for calm, the band restarted the song and continued their set with less incident until the start of "Under My Thumb". At this point, some of the Hells Angels got into a scuffle with Meredith Hunter, age 18, when he attempted to get onstage with other fans. One of the Hells Angels grabbed Hunter's head, punched him, and chased him back into the crowd. After a minute's pause, Hunter returned to the stage where, according to "Gimme Shelter" producer Porter Bibb, Hunter's girlfriend Patty Bredehoft found him and tearfully begged him to calm down and move further back in the crowd with her; but he was reportedly enraged, irrational and "so high he could barely walk". Rock Scully, who could see the audience clearly from the top of a truck by the stage, said of Hunter, "I saw what he was looking at, that he was crazy, he was on drugs, and that he had murderous intent. There was no doubt in my mind that he intended to do terrible harm to Mick or somebody in the Rolling Stones, or somebody on that stage."


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: Following his initial scuffle with the Angels as he tried to climb onstage, Hunter, as seen in concert footage wearing a bright lime-green suit, returned to the front of the crowd and drew a long-barreled .22 caliber revolver from inside his jacket. Hells Angel Alan Passaro, seeing Hunter drawing the revolver, drew a knife from his belt and charged Hunter from the side, parrying Hunter's pistol with his left hand and stabbing him twice with his right hand, killing him.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: The footage was shot by Eric Saarinen, who was on stage taking pictures of the crowd, and Baird Bryant, who climbed atop a bus. Saarinen was unaware of having caught the killing on film. This was discovered more than a week later when raw footage was screened in the New York offices of the Maysles Brothers. In the film sequence, lasting about two seconds, a two-meter (six foot) opening in the crowd appears, leaving Bredehoft in the center. Hunter enters the opening from the left. His hand rises toward the stage, and the silhouette of a revolver is clearly seen against Bredehoft's light-colored vest. Passaro is seen entering from the right and delivering two stabs with his knife as he parries Hunter's revolver and pushes him off-screen; the opening then closes around Bredehoft. Passaro was reported to have stabbed Hunter five times in the upper back, although only two stabs are visible in the footage. Witnesses also reported Hunter was stomped on by several Hells Angels while he was on the ground. The gun was recovered and turned over to police. Hunter's autopsy confirmed he was high on methamphetamine when he died. Passaro was arrested and tried for murder in the summer of 1971, but was acquitted after a jury viewed concert footage showing Hunter brandishing the revolver and concluded that Passaro had acted in self-defense.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: The Rolling Stones were aware of the skirmish, but not the stabbing ("You couldn't see anything, it was just another scuffle", Jagger tells David Maysles during film editing). But it soon became apparent they could see something of what had happened because the band stopped playing mid-song and Jagger was heard calling into his microphone, "We've really got someone hurt here... is there a doctor?" After a few minutes the band began playing again and eventually completed their set. Jagger told Maysles they all agreed that if they abandoned the show at that point, the crowd would have become even more unruly, perhaps degenerating into a full-scale riot.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: In 2003, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office initiated a two-year investigation into the possibility of a second Hells Angel having taken part in the stabbing. Finding insufficient support for this hypothesis, and reaffirming that Passaro acted alone, the office closed the case for good on May 25, 2005.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: The Altamont concert is often contrasted with the Woodstock festival that took place fewer than four months earlier. While Woodstock represented "peace and love", Altamont came to be viewed as the end of the hippie era and the "de facto" conclusion of late-1960s American youth culture: "Altamont became, whether fairly or not, a symbol for the death of the Woodstock Nation." Rock music critic Robert Christgau wrote in 1972 that "Writers focus on Altamont not because it brought on the end of an era but because it provided such a complex metaphor for the way an era ended." Writing for "The New Yorker" in 2015, Richard Brody argued that what Altamont ended was "the idea that, left to their own inclinations and stripped of the trappings of the wider social order, the young people of the new generation will somehow spontaneously create a higher, gentler, more loving grassroots order. What died at Altamont is the Rousseauian dream itself." More contemporary perspectives challenge that, since the Manson family murders, also ascribed to counter-cultural hippies, occurred even before Woodstock.


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: The music magazine "Rolling Stone", in a 14-page 11-author article on the event entitled "The Rolling Stones Disaster at Altamont: Let It Bleed" published in their January 21, 1970, issue, stated that "Altamont was the product of diabolical egotism, hype, ineptitude, money manipulation, and, at base, a fundamental lack of concern for humanity". The article covered the many issues with the event's organization and was very critical of the organizers and the Rolling Stones; one writer stated: "what an enormous thrill it would have been for an Angel to kick Mick Jagger's teeth down his throat." Another follow-up piece in "Rolling Stone" called the Altamont event "rock and roll's all-time worst day". In "Esquire" magazine, Ralph J. Gleason observed, "The day The Rolling Stones played there, the name "[Altamont]" became etched in the minds of millions of people who love pop music and who hate it as well. If the name 'Woodstock' has come to denote the flowering of one phase of the youth culture, 'Altamont' has come to mean the end of it."


title: Altamont Free Concert

text: The film "Gimme Shelter" was criticized by Pauline Kael, Vincent Canby and other reviewers for portraying the Stones too sympathetically, and for staging a concert for the sole reason that it could be filmed, despite all the problems leading up to it. "Salon"'s Michael Sragow, writing in 2000, said many of the critics took their cues from the "Rolling Stone" review, which heavily blamed the filmmakers for being part of a "staged event" so that the Rolling Stones could profit from making a "concert" film. Sragow pointed out numerous errors in the "Rolling Stone" coverage and added that the Maysles did not make "major motion pictures" in the traditional way; instead, a variety of factors contributed to the tragedy.