by Paul_Averly » Thu Jan 15, 2015 4:14 pm

Z probably lived downtown and picked these boxes because they were not very close to his home.

-The Taraval box is off the L line, he could have easily taken it from downtown.
http://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/file … k=vYH70c6l

-The Van Ness one is on a major thorofare, he might have just been driving by and dropped off the letter.

*Again, we don’t know for sure that Z used these mailboxes.

I don’t think it would mean anything at all if Z lived downtown,( even if we were sure he posted from these sites) only perhaps that he picked busy intersections to hide in plain sight, so to speak. Probably did the same when picking Mason and Geary to hail a cab.

That said, I’m far more persuaded by the evidence that he lived further north. If that’s so I think it’s worth exploring jobs and businesses these areas might have in common or some connection. I wouldn’t otherwise see the need for him to go so deep into the city.

At the same time I think it’s quite possible a couple of letters were probably identified at pick up…..Collectors were probably told to be on the lookout. Z handwriting must have been well know and with some of the communications being cards with symbol or the halloween envelope with the Z in the return address area, it would be surprising if some one or two were not spotted.

I’m far more persuaded by the evidence that he lived further north.

What evidence is there he lived up north? I’m asking because I don’t know of any, other than the crimes that were committed in Vallejo / Napa areas.

Overall, I’m convinced these posting locations are bogus.

Tom claims 2 mailboxes and there are only two possible unprocessed letters with one being mentioned by Sherwood as to being found in the post office. The other was in 1974 and doubtful letter carriers were looking for one then.

I hope this doesn’t come off as being nit picky but just wanted to point out a couple of things. Weir you’re info on Taraval 23 is spot on with regards to all you said. Only wanted to point out that L Taraval street car runs along Taraval and travels through West portal tunnel passing stops below Market ST.including Van Ness Ave. all the way to the Embarcadero at edge of S.F. Bay. Lombard Van Ness is three blocks from Hyde St. Cable car but since L is an L RV vehicle a connection between Cable cars doesn’t seem to fit. Locations are far apart. T23 being on extreme SW part of town Lombard Van Ness on extreme NE part of city. Only thing I can think of similar are High schools. Lincoln as was mentioned and Galileo, alma mater of Joe DiMaggio and O.J. Simpson.

charliemartin

Just happened to remember after reading the lastest comments here that large office buildings often had "mail chutes" or "mail drops" (not positive which they were called) where people could drop mail in for collection. Some may still have them for all I know. They were really for the convenience of office workers in the building but anyone could drop mail in them. I used to occasionally do that when visiting a dental office located in an old brick building in downtown Los Angeles. As I remember the collection times may have been posted in the lobby and they were usually by the elevators.

Just thinking or wondering if any of Zodiac’s mailings thought to have been mailed from post office drop boxes could instead have been mailed from inside an office building….such as "The Chronicle" or the "Los Angeles Times" building? I think some of the larger hotels had them too.

The 2 mailbox locations are:

-Taraval by 23rd (12 blocks from Toschi’s house)

-The SE corner of Van Ness and Union.

*But we don’t know for sure if this is true or just a rumor*

I think this is all just a rumor because:

-Most envelopes have postmarks, meaning they were processed at a postal facility.
Doubtful a postal worker recognized a letter at the street box and then had it possessed.

-The only two letters without postmarks appear to be the Pines card and the SLA card.

-In this video at 1:33:15, Sherwood talks about how the Pines card was found in the post office:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI0jnsbZwys

Not necessarily. The squiggly lines would be done at a postal facility. The actual post mark could be done anywhere that "acted" like a post office. A general store could do this. A hardware store could do this. They would be non postal employees but the workers could do it.

As far as postal locations, a prime location of interest I think, is the postal location at 7th and mission. Its the federal court of appeals building and it house the post office.

Soze

Small correction. The squiggly lines could also be done at a general store if and only if it were metered mail.

Soze