Reminder: Boxie and I will be doing a live Ask Me Anything on the Black Dahlia case Tuesday, August 4, 2026, at 10 a.m. Pacific time on YouTube. The next Black Dahlia Book Club is August 18, 2026, at 10 a.m. Pacific time on YouTube.
Can’t make the live session? Email me your questions and I’ll answer them!
This week’s mystery movie was the 1935 Paramount film The Devil Is a Woman, with Marlene Dietrich, Lionel Atwill, Edward Everett Horton, Alison Skipworth, Cesar Romero, Don Alvarado, Tempe Piggott and Paco Moreno. Continue reading
Welcome to the seventh session of the Black Dahlia Book Club!
I finally got tired of talking about George Hodel and Steve Hodel (at this point, I know Steve’s monologues from memory) so I decided to spend some time looking at portrayals of the murder and the investigation. I consider myself first and foremost a historian of the Black Dahlia case, and think it’s important to examine the source material in detail to emphasize the challenges of researching the murder of Elizabeth Short.
Next month: Black Dahlia Ask Me Anything, August 4 on YouTube.
Black Dahlia Book Club: The Los Angeles city archives, August 18 on YouTube.
Reminder: July 29 is Elizabeth Short’s birthday. If you observe it, please be respectful, especially at her grave. She didn’t drink, so don’t leave liquor at her grave, and she didn’t smoke, so don’t leave cigarettes. Be Respectful. Above all, don’t be like paranormal “influencer” Dalen Spratt and try to communicate with Elizabeth Short using a ridiculous “spirit box.” Continue reading
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
Her name was Andrea and she was 24. His name was Sylvester and he was 26, a World War II veteran working at Lockheed. And they were in love. So like many young couples, they wanted to get married.
But unlike every other couple, they were refused a marriage license at the Los Angeles County clerk’s office because Andrea Perez was white and Sylvester S. Davis Jr. was black. And Section 60 of the California Civil Code stated: “All marriages of white persons with Negroes, Mongolians, members of the Malay race, or Mulattoes are illegal and void” while Section 69 forbid issuing licenses for such marriages.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006 and reflects the minimal online resources that were available then.
August 2, 1907
Los Angeles
The Times reports the death of Dr. Lucy Hall-Brown, a prominent woman physician who was active in the Red Cross. Although we know where she lived (Vermont and 30th Street), we have no idea where she went to school, her age or whether she had any survivors. Nor are we told why she was buried at the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, N.Y., rather than Los Angeles.
A Google search reveals that Hall-Brown was a frequent correspondent with Clara Barton, but not much more.
Note: This is an encore post from 2018 that is getting lots of interest on Reddit.
This is a story that involves a $1 lottery ticket, a new Cadillac and an incredible amount of stupidity by members of an ostensibly charitable organization who were determined to uphold racist attitudes. And it really happened.
The story, as told by the Associated Negro Press, begins with Harvey Jones, a black Navy veteran who was a tenant farmer near Ahoskie, N.C. Jones paid $1 (current value $11.72) for a ticket in a lottery held by the Ahoskie Kiwanis Club with the first prize of a new Cadillac, worth about $3,200 (current value $37,000.)
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
July 31, 1907
Los Angeles
After a delay due to illness, newsboy Charles “Winnipeg” Wilson took the stand to testify against Evelyn Ferguson, who is accused of shooting him because he was attacking her friend Grace Ryan.
Although “she was not in a condition at the time of the shooting to remember much about how it happened,” Ryan testified that she and Ferguson had returned from a day at the beach when they began fighting with Wilson and a group of companions.
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
She was born Mildred Strange in Oklahoma in 1910. Raised by her uncle, a Methodist minister, she taught Sunday school in Shawnee, east of Oklahoma City. For a while, she ran a bookstore in a small town.
And then she joined Minsky’s burlesque as Peaches Strange. On her first trip west, she and co-star Myrna Dean broke 20-year box office records at the Follies Burlesque, 337 S. Main St., a theater that is a story in itself.
July 30, 1944
The youthful glamour department at MGM is in the hands of two young ladies whose widely divergent careers started about the same time. June Allyson, without five minutes’ training, went to Broadway and got herself a job in the chorus. Gloria de Haven, the daughter of the Carter de Havens, has been trained to be an actress from the day she learned to walk, and this training was backed by an education in private schools.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer via Fultonhistory.com.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
July 30, 1907
Los Angeles
A horse and buggy had been hitched outside Jevne’s grocery store at 6th Street and Broadway when a furniture van hit the buggy, frightening the horse.
As the terrified animal ran down Broadway, it swerved onto the sidewalk at 7th Street to avoid a streetcar and plunged through a plate glass window in the lobby of the Hotel Lankershim, scattering a room full of guests. Continue reading
“Great Scott! I’ve Kept You Rigid for Almost Two Hours! Why Didn’t You Stop Me, Miss Simmons?
It appears that Bob Lee, who, as reported here, was knocked down by an unidentified object, which turned out to be a young man, while wading at Newport Beach, has cast a slur upon a noble sport, body-surfing — riding the waves to shore without benefit of boards, water wings or other appurtenances.
“In the old days,” B.G. of Wilmington writes, “before the shoreline was filled with feather merchants (turistas) and the beaches were cluttered by breakwaters, the sport was wonderful. Now we practice it at the mercy of every wave jumper. I am a native and I have been playing the surf for 30 years, taking time out to eat, of course, and have yet to be struck by a body surfer. However, my husband, also a native, recently had four stitches taken in his chin to repair the damage caused by an idiot who attacked him with his thick skull. These people should get out of the way before they really hurt someone.” Continue reading
July 29, 1959: The “Orientals” being sent to Congress from Hawaii include future Sen. Daniel K. Inouye. And notice the story about Nikita Khrushchev being invited to visit the U.S.
I present you with my recently completed thesis on the subject: “Proper Protocol to Get a Wildcat Out of Your Back Yard.”
My collaborator on this project was Mr. Keith White, an engineer.
Mr. White, who lives in Northridge, first suspected that there was a wildcat in his back yard several weeks ago.
For no apparent reason, huge branches of eucalyptus trees began crashing down on the premises in the middle of the night. Two of them — 5 or 6 in. thick — were snapped off last weekend. Continue reading
Note: This is an encore post from 2010.
July 29, 1945: “For two minutes the pinnacle of the chromium-girt Empire State stood out sharp and clear in the drizzle while orange-red flames licked around. Then the soft fog closed in again to hide the scene from the horrified sight of thousands of midtown office workers who had rushed to the windows at the sound of the explosion, which echoed over central Manhattan like a blockbuster.”
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and appeared on the 1947project.
July 29 is Elizabeth Short’s birthday—she would have been 81. Although horoscopes were a regular feature in the Examiner in the 1940s, The Times didn’t begun running them until Jan. 8, 1951, when Carroll Richter’s Astrological Forecast appeared next to the weather report. The Times, however, was certainly in the vanguard in offering star charts for pets.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
July 28, 1907
Los Angeles
City officials, hampered by a bramble bush of old and unenforced laws, have appointed deputy prosecutor Eddie to prune back outdated and unnecessary regulations from the early days of Los Angeles.
Among the old regulations are bans on “rabbit coursing,” in which the animals were released to be chased down by dogs; bear baiting (an event dating to the days of Shakespeare involving a fight to the death between a chained bear and dogs); fighting between a bull and bear that were chained together; and cockfighting on public streets.
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
“Knowledge is desirable, but learning is pleasure.”
That is one of the sayings of Author Helena Kuo, who came a long way from her native China by way of Europe—but does not pose as a Lady Confucius.
The pretty young author of “I’ve Come a Long Way,” “Westward to Chungking” and other books, never seems to stop. She writes articles, book reviews, short stories. She takes lessons. It was the lessons that inspired that “saying.”
Above, Mayor Harper’s goals for his administration. Note especially item No. 11–more police officers–and item No. 17: new schools.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
July 27, 1907
Los Angeles
One of Mayor Harper’s promises in taking over City Hall, along with completing the Owens Valley aqueduct and building a library, is to purify the city’s billboards.
Although the City Council presented him with a new billboard law in March 1907, Harper vetoed the measure because it was too lax, despite lobbying by companies that said tighter laws would affect 300 sign painters and other workers.
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
One night in July, Bernard Robert Monday Jr. finally had enough.
The violence had been going on at least a decade, maybe longer. In 1937, when Bernard was 8, his father attacked one of two deputies serving a warrant and tried to grab the officer’s revolver out of its holster.
July 25, 1944
George Raft has always hankered after romantic parts. Time after time he has turned down “heavy” roles that have brought fame to other actors. But George has always argued that fans like romance and adventure, so it’s interesting that RKO has bought “Mr. Angel Comes Aboard,” the Charles Gordon Booth book. It gets the new title of “Johnny Angel” and George plays a modern swashbuckler and adventurer. He goes to RKO as soon as he finishes “Nob Hill” at 20th. Speaking of George – he’s about 20 pounds thinner and looks much better.
Loretta Young and Col. Tom Lewis have not bought “Bugsey” Siegel’s mansion. Too expensive, they decided, and the baby, due in a month, will have its first nursery in the house where they now live.
LEO: Power of thought, predicated with determined action, should render effectual assistance in solving tasks successfully. Don’t abuse or dissipate health.
Note: This is an encore post from 2014.
“Here’s a good spot to shoot, baby” are the probably the last words spoken by William B. Smith, 39, a dental technician (or a shipyard worker, depending on the story) who was confronted by his angry girlfriend, waitress Mildred Cook, 30, after he told her that he was reconciling with his wife, according to a Times story.
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
Her name was Vesta Belle and she was 17, an honor student at Jefferson High, a mile and a half from her home at 5320 Holmes Ave. You might think she got her name in the paper for earning a scholarship or receiving an academic award.
Instead, her 14-year-old brother, Carlisle, came home from a playground and found Vesta Belle Sapenter’s body in her bedroom. She was partially undressed and had been strangled with a thin hemp cord. With so many murders of women in Los Angeles, you might expect The Times to give it decent play, but Vesta Belle got two paragraphs on Page 8. Just enough to give a few details and that fact that she was black.
ladailymirror.com 