About

Welcome to the new home of the L.A. Daily Mirror, examining Los Angeles history one day at a time.

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28 Responses to About

  1. Doug says:
    June 17, 2011 at 4:58 pm

    I liked you blog on latimes.com I already booked mark the site on my computer so I continue to follow the history of Los Angeles.

    Reply
  2. herb nicholas says:
    June 19, 2011 at 10:00 am

    larry, i am also bookmarked on your new site and no longer require daily e mails. thank you herb

    Reply
  3. Barry says:
    June 22, 2011 at 8:50 am

    Congrats on your new home!
    Now please Please PLEASE bring back page 1 click to reads

    Reply
  4. Mike F says:
    July 1, 2011 at 11:12 pm

    I also loved the site when it was on the latimes.com site, and now I have this site bookmarked. I am a radio and Tv history buff so I enjoyed seeing the items related to Southern California’s radio and TV stations. I’ve never lived in California, but I listen to L.A. radio quite a bit.
    Please keep up the good work.

    Mike

    Reply
  5. MiG15 says:
    July 4, 2011 at 2:46 pm

    Like your new site.

    Reply
  6. Rob L. Wagner says:
    July 11, 2011 at 12:59 am

    Glad to see you are still up and running. I can’t get through the day without my daily dose of The Daily Mirror.

    Reply
  7. John Piggott says:
    September 21, 2011 at 5:09 am

    LA’s been part of my life ever since I can remember – which is kind of odd, since I’m a middle-aged Australian who has never set foot in the city. Your town never fails to fascinate me, Larry. I guess it’s the same all over the world. Keep the great stories coming.

    Reply

  8. Pingback: Hollywood Heights – Studio City Nightlife « Film Works L.A.

  9. Pingback: Hollywood Heights – Studio City Nightlife

  10. Jerry Cronin says:
    January 15, 2012 at 2:43 pm

    Just wanted to let you know that your work is appreciated. Thanks for continuing your blog.

    Reply
  11. Gary Martin says:
    January 25, 2012 at 9:47 am

    I came across this in Artinfo …and on-line gallery guide to art stuff in NYC.Lots of nice articles , etc. There is also a west coast trove
    http://blogs.artinfo.com/lacmonfire/2012/01/25/can-hannah-carters-garden-be-saved/
    best regards…gary

    Reply
  12. NewToSeattle says:
    February 7, 2012 at 9:47 am

    What happened to your efforts to vet the writings of Morrow Mayo? And is there a way of searching your site by key word?

    Reply
    • lmharnisch says:
      February 7, 2012 at 10:07 am

      @William: That’s a good question. Mayo’s book, as you may know, has become extremely influential. Most people researching Los Angeles history begin with him and never examine earlier accounts.

      Digging into even a few pages of his treatment of the Marion Parker case was illuminating: He made numerous mistakes — so many that it would be a life’s work to go through the entire book. Frankly, the facts were so mangled in a few pages that at this point I wouldn’t trust anything in it.

      George Morrow Mayo was an interesting character, but unfortunately, little is known about him. He was a pillar of the H.L. Mencken school, but although he wrote with a sharp edge, he lacked the more careful insight of Louis Adamic, another Mencken disciple. Where Mayo is merely shrill, Adamic is equally caustic, but illuminating.

      Mayo certainly had his critics, notably W.W. Robinson, who argued strongly against his version of the Owens Valley story, which I have stashed somewhere in the archives. (Robinson, one of my favorite L.A. writers, also faulted Carey McWilliams, but that’s another saga).

      Reply
  13. NewToSeattle says:
    February 7, 2012 at 11:02 am

    For a book I am writing, I have had occasion to research both the interesting history of Morrow Mayo–Louisville, Ky native, AP newsman, magazine writer, social critic and poet who died in the 1970s–and the bona fides of his one book, “Los Angeles”. I agree that very little in the book can be taken as fact without a third-party verification. Like you, I have run into any number of factual mistakes, including, in my judgment, his account of the Owens Valley water deal. Mayo had a tremendous ability to turn a phrase–in the aftermath of Aimee Semple McPherson, it was hard to top, “Los Angeles leads the world in all the healing sciences, except perhaps medicine and surgery.” But I think part of the enduring influence of “Los Angeles” stems from a chain of circumstances somewhat beyond his control. The brief passage in Carey McWilliams’ “Southern California Country” describing Owens Valley was largely sourced–in the text itself, no less–to Morrow Mayo and “Los Angeles.” And that passage, in turn, was the inspiration for Robert Towne’s Academy Award-winning screenplay for the 1974 movie “Chinatown,” which twisted the story even more (not to mention putting it 30 or so years later). My friends don’t believe me when I say that the only historically accurate thing in the movie (aside, perhaps, from the fleeting reference to the 1928 collapse of the St. Francis Dam) was the notion that tycoons tried to profit from water in the San Fernando Valley.

    Reply
    • lmharnisch says:
      February 7, 2012 at 11:24 am

      @William: I recall reading that Towne said “Chinatown” was influenced by Carey McWilliams and some pictorial layouts of vintage L.A. in West magazine, which was published by The Times. As Thom Andersen notes in “Los Angeles Plays Itself” the Hollis Mulwray character is actually against the water project in “Chinatown” while William Mulholland was for it.

      Reply
    • lmharnisch says:
      February 7, 2012 at 11:28 am

      @William: W.W. Robinson wrote a critique of Mayo on Owens Valley. Let me see if I can find it. Ah. Here it is: http://bit.ly/omJUQp

      Reply
  14. NewToSeattle says:
    February 7, 2012 at 11:29 am

    Anyway, with fact-checking all the rage in the presidential campaign, you should re-start your efforts to go through “Los Angeles.”

    Reply
  15. NewToSeattle says:
    February 7, 2012 at 11:34 am

    I have read W.W. Robinson’s essay (as well as his terrific 1949 book, “Land in California”). The biggest problem with the Mayo theory about Owens Valley is the notion of conspiracy. I would call it more insider trading–still not great, but not nearly as evil.

    Reply
  16. Riley says:
    February 11, 2012 at 10:40 am

    Larry, Did you catch this? http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-south-la-park-20120210,0,1839556.story

    The old LARY South Park Shops (and carbarns), now lake and open space – here’s an old photo – http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolibraryarchive/3174842231/

    Reply
  17. Jonathan King says:
    March 3, 2012 at 9:14 pm

    Larry – just stumbled across an interesting eBay item — a menu from old Fisch’s deli on Fairfax, which looks like it predated my own arrival in that nabe circa 1963. (I live up north now…) I don’t remember the joint, anyway. An L.A. Times piece about the nabe says that Fisch was partners with Ben Canter (of those Canters) in a deli up the street from the current Canters location. Nice scans, too.

    Here are the relevant URLs:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-pc-Lot-1950s-VINTAGE-Menu-FISCHS-Jewish-DELI-L-A-Copper-SKILLET-Hollywood-/220961243944?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3372510328&ssPageName=RSS:B:SHOP:US:101

    http://articles.latimes.com/1999/mar/24/food/fo-20383

    The auction times out tomorrow, Sunday, so maybe it doesn’t meet your criteria for inclusion … but I just thought it was a terrific item your readers might want to know about anyway.

    Jonathan King

    Reply
  18. Charles Seims says:
    March 14, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    Larry–I haven’t yet checked for myself but I have heard that Thicker ‘n Thieves has been reprinted in paperback and is available through Amazon. This is must reading for noir LA crime fans.

    Reply
    • lmharnisch says:
      March 14, 2012 at 9:45 pm

      @Charles: I have several copies of “Thieves,” (one is autographed — I got it for $10 way back when). I view it in the same light as “Billion-Dollar Blackjack” and Vince Carter’s book on the LAPD: self-published rants by disgruntled authors. None of these books should be given any credence whatsoever except as curiosities.

      Reply
  19. kitchenmudge says:
    March 26, 2012 at 11:40 pm

    I admire your work on the Black Dahlia case, and you’re probably sick of hearing this question, but I must ask: When can we expect your long-promised, definitive book on the subject?

    Reply
  20. Eric V says:
    July 24, 2012 at 3:00 pm

    Larry-Love your column. I have a good question for you or your readers. I was at the site dedicated to Peggy Lee and they have a biographical timeline about her pre-fame years and there are two photos of The Jade Lounge-a “legendary nightspot” at Hollywood Blvd and Cherokee that have really intrigued me. The building is a non-descript two story affair but the pictures show a huge box-looks like a 1980s computer-on the roof. I am wondering what on earth it might be. Since you (and your readers) are my go-to for old Hollywood info I put it to you. Check it out, about a third of the way down the page:
    http://www.peggyleediscography.com/p/Prerecording.php

    Reply
  21. Angel de la Rubia says:
    January 19, 2013 at 3:21 am

    dear Larry,
    thanks for yr column. i am interested on your post on Dashiell Hammett’s death (a little old). In particular I am interested in the article form the L.A. Times that you attach. Any change you have or know how to get a file with bigger resolution? it would be nice to include it in a paper i am working on, and it would need to have enough quality for a a small but easily readable print. thanks whatsoever

    Reply

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