Here’s a quick reminder that the Black Dahlia Book Club will convene next Tuesday, March 17, 2026, at 10 a.m. Pacific time on YouTube. The Book Club replaces my George Hodel and Steve Hodel Ask Me Anything as I got tired of talking about them.
Note: The next Ask Me Anything on the Black Dahlia case will be April 14 at 10 a.m. Pacific time, a week later than usual.
For Monday, we have an extremely mysterious guest! Continue reading
In the March 2026 Ask Me Anything on the Black Dahlia case, I give an update on my work in progress, Heaven Is Here!
Note: The Black Dahlia Book Club (formerly Ask Me Anything about George Hodel), which looks at the resource material on the Black Dahlia case, is March 17 at 10 a.m. Pacific time on YouTube. The next Black Dahlia session is April 14, 2026, also at 10 a.m. Pacific time on YouTube.
In this session, I talked about being invited to appear on Michael Connelly’s podcast, which is still under discussion.
I noted Steve Hodel’s claims that he gave Alex Baber a large amount of his research material and that Baber then “ghosted” him. And that the website of Alex Baber’s Cold Case Consultants of America has been scrubbed of all people except for him.
I also covered: Continue reading
Welcome to the second 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 the portrayals of the Black Dahlia case. 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.
I also discussed Michael Connelly’s podcast Killer in the Code on purported links between the Black Dahlia and Zodiac cases, and the problems with his “source,” Alex Baber. Steve Hodel wrote recently that Baber engaged in an extended email exchange in which Hodel shared his material, after which Baber “ghosted” him.
I read a February 4, 2026, text from retired homicide Detective Rick Jackson, a Connelly consultant, inviting me to appear on their show. I read my responding February 5, 2026, text agreeing on condition that they also invite author Elon Green and Zodiac cipher expert David Oranchak, and make a donation in memory of Elizabeth Short to a charity of Connelly’s choice in an amount of Connelly’s choosing. So far, no response.
Retired FBI profiler Julia Cowley of “The Consult” podcast on the differences between the Black Dahlia and Zodiac cases.
Black Dahlia: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood, by William J. Mann, Simon & Schuster, 464 pages, January 27, 2026, $31.
Like a game of Clue with an actual cold case to solve, a well-worn list of suspects in the 1947 Black Dahlia killing released 22 years ago continues to provide the “true” crime community and the multimillion-dollar industry that feeds it with endless possibilities for speculation and, occasionally, another book.
Was it the murderous Dr. George Hodel at the Sowden House in a gruesome attempt at surrealist art? Mob nightclub owner Mark Hansen at the Florentine Gardens hiring morgue-trained assassin Leslie Dillon to take care of a troublesome dame? Army butcher Carl Balsiger in a fit of violence?
All of them are fakery and fraud by writers Steve Hodel (the ongoing Black Dahlia Avenger franchise launched in 2003), Piu Eatwell (Black Dahlia, Red Rose, 2017) and Eli Frankel (Sisters in Death, forthcoming in October 2025) who, if they read all of their source material, knew their suspect wasn’t the killer and proceeded anyway. Truth is the first victim for a “true” crime author with hopes of making The New York Times bestseller list and everything that goes with it. Continue reading
March 10, 1914:
Here’s another item I found at the city archives. Non-Asian women working at “Oriental cafes” except entertainers “does not comport with public welfare and morals.”
Note: This is an encore post from 2007.
March 10, 1907
Los Angeles
Someone who opened the Los Angeles Times on this Sunday might be forgiven for wondering what had become of the world, for Page 1 was full of news about the demise of two religious leaders.
The first was the death of John Alexander Dowie, the founder of Zion, Ill., who considered himself the reincarnation of the biblical prophet Elijah. The second was the decline of Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science.
Pier Angeli and her adorable little friend remind Daily Mirror readers that Daylight Saving Time begins today and to set your clocks forward one hour. Hi Eve!!
Through the 1950s, Police Officer Ector A. Garcia became a minor celebrity for producing sketches of crime suspects that were astonishingly accurate. But he wanted the excitement of being on the streets and that’s what he got.
Garcia and his partner, Detective Jose L. Castellanos, were working homicide
March 5, 1959, when they got a call that a gunman had gone on a deadly rampage at an East Los Angeles restaurant and was probably heading for the home of his estranged wife.
The gunman ambushed the detectives as they escorted the woman and her uncle to safety, killing Castellanos instantly. Although Garcia was struck by a shot that “seared across his eyes,” the police artist was able to return fire, killing George J. Arevalo, 2844 Whittier Blvd.
“We always knew he would do something like this,” Arevalo’s wife said. “He would go crazy every time he drank. Last March 27 we separated because of his drinking. He
told me when he left he would come back some day and kill the children and me.” Continue reading
Comedian Lou Costello dies at Doctor’s Hospital in Beverly Hills after
collapsing the week before while watching television. He was 52. His partner, Bud Abbott, died in 1974. Continue reading
March 4, 1907: Los Angeles’ sainted streetcar system has a bad day.
Beacon and 6th streets, minus the streetcars, via Google Street View.
One of the most deeply held and ardently expressed beliefs about Los Angeles’ past is the shadowy conspiracy that did away with its magnificent streetcar system.
The truth is that the streetcar system was problematic — like this 1907 accident in which Inter-Urban car No. 603 sped out of control down a hill on Beacon Street in San Pedro, jumped the tracks at the 6th Street curve and crashed into a line of utility poles that prevented it from overturning.
Ten passengers were hurt — none seriously, The Times says — but motorman R.C. Gill had to have his right foot amputated after he jumped from the speeding car and fell, with the car running over his foot.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1926 Arrow Pictures Corp. film My Lady of Whims, with Clara Bow, Carmelita Geraghty, Betty Baker, Donald Keith, Lee Moran, Francis McDonald, John Cossar, Lux MacBride and Robert Rose. Continue reading
Note: This is an encore post from 2007.
March 1, 1907
Los Angeles
Downtown businessmen are at a complete loss over what to do with the garbage from their operations and want the city to either take it or designate a dump they can use.
“They declare that the Board of Health has refused to let further deposits of garbage or refuse be made at the old dumping ground to the southeast of the city and state that if the city does not come forward with a proposition to locate a new dump, or to cremate the stuff, they will be helpless to get rid of the accumulations of each day’s business,” The Times says.
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
Nailed up in the closet of an unoccupied house at 2318 Pontius Ave.., West Los Angeles, the body of Tomas Moreno, 43-year-old Japanese, was discovered yesterday by friends.
Belief that Moreno had been dead since last November was expressed to police by T. Izumi, last employer of the dead man, who found the badly decomposed corpse when he broke open the small closet.
Could Dodger Stadium have been renamed the Dodger Dome?
Capt. Emil Praeger, designer of the Chavez Ravine ballpark, told reporters at Vero Beach, Fla., about plans to add a dome after the stadium was finished.”
I realize that we didn’t have any rainouts in Los Angeles last season and we’re not worried about that,” owner Walter O’Malley said. “But perhaps there would be sufficient demand for a covered stadium in which to present such events as industrial exhibits, conventions and the like.
“If we find, say, in five or 10 years that there is a demand for such a facility as we propose, the dome will be built.”
The Dodgers had discussed the concept of a dome stadium in Brooklyn when the team was searching for ways to replace Ebbets Field.
–Keith Thursby
Feb. 28, 1959: Former Teamsters President Dave Beck is sentenced
to prison. In the preceding two decades, The Times frequently
attacked “Dave Beckism.”
JOHN BALZAR
TIMES STAFF WRITER
28 December 1993
Dave Beck, a laundry driver who rose to president of the Teamsters Union and in the process traveled a rocky highway from working class to wealthy class-and then to the criminal class-has died at age 99.
A family friend announced Monday that the stout, steely-eyed retired labor leader died Sunday at Northwest Hospital “of old age.”
Another friend said Beck had been up and alert on Christmas Day with his family.
February 26, 1944
It’s Saturday in 1944 and today we have:
— Jack Benny is Groucho Marx’s guest on “Blue Ribbon Town.” Courtesy of Otrrlibrary.org.
— “The Clue in the Clouds” on “Casey, Press Photographer.” It’s a helicopter! Courtesy of Archive.org.
— Tonight’s episode is “Dead Witnesses.” It’s another case for “Nick Carter, Master Detective!” Courtesy of Otrrlibrary.org
A dance that apparently didn’t catch on … Below, Police Chief James Davis testifies before the Los Angeles County Grand Jury in the Harry Raymond bombing … And the grand jury considers indictments on charges that a bookmaking syndicate offered officials $2,500 a week for betting privileges at Santa Anita … Gladys Lovinger enrolls as the first full-time female student at City College of New York, and the most important question for the Associated Press is whether she will date any of the male students … Continue reading
Reminder: Boxie and I will be doing a live “Ask Me Anything” on the Black Dahlia case Tuesday, March 3, 2026, at 10 a.m. Pacific time, on YouTube.
Miriam Matthews in undated photo, courtesy of Wikipedia.
Note: Mary Mallory will be speaking about Miriam Matthews and other influential women in Los Angeles history March 7, 2026, at 2 p.m. at the West Valley Regional Branch Library, 19036 Vanowen Street, Reseda, CA 91335
At a time when African Americans found themselves stuck at the back of the bus, denied educational and work opportunities because of their race, black librarian Miriam Matthews set out to acknowledge and honor the achievements and contributions of her fellow citizens. She worked to educate and inform patrons not just through library programs and books, but by her own scholarship, combining her love of learning, curiosity, and service to become one of Los Angeles’ leading librarians and historians for 35 years. Serving as Los Angeles’ first African American librarian, the education dynamo revealed the city’s often hidden and distorted past, acknowledging the leading role people of color played in Los Angeles’ founding.
Born in Pensacola, Florida August 6, 1905, Matthews’ family moved to California in 1907 in search of greater opportunity and freedom from segregation. Discovering a love of reading and researching, she excelled at school, assertively advocating for her full education. After graduating from high school at 16, Matthews spent two years at University of California, Southern branch here in Los Angeles before finishing her degree from University of California, Berkeley, and a certificate in librarianship a year later. Continue reading
This week’s mystery movie was Bad Actor, a 1962 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, with Robert Duvall, Carole Eastman and Charles Robinson. Continue reading
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