Monthly Archives: May 2018

May 24, 1907: LAPD Motorcycle Officers Charge Driver and Passengers With Speeding

Posted on May 24, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. May 24, 1907 Los Angeles Otis Skinner, the actor starring in “The Duel” at the Mason Opera House,” is under arrest because of a curious regulation in which passengers of a speeding … Continue reading →

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Black L.A. 1947: America’s First Black Ballet Company Founded in L.A.

Posted on May 23, 2018 by lmharnisch

May 22, 1947: I cannot do justice to Joseph Rickard in a brief blog post. It’s enough to say that he was a visionary who began what is probably America’s first black ballet troupe, predating the Dance Theatre of Harlem … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Dance | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

May 23, 1947: Lloyd Osbourne Dies; Inspired Stepfather Robert Louis Stevenson to Write ‘Treasure Island’

Posted on May 23, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 that originally appeared on the 1947project. The May 23-24 papers are full of great, crazy stories. It’s hard to choose just one: Is it Britain about to partition India, which got buried … Continue reading →

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Black L.A. 1947: Racism on the Menu as Bullock’s Tea Room Refuses to Serve Blacks

Posted on May 22, 2018 by lmharnisch

The former Bullock’s downtown store at 7th and Hill Streets, via Google Street View. May 22, 1947: The campaign to integrate the tea room of Bullock’s downtown store apparently began with Edith Cotterell, who had an account at the department … Continue reading →

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May 22, 1947: Art Club Calls LACMA Exhibit ‘Subversive Propaganda’

Posted on May 22, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project. The California Art Club yesterday lambasted the current Los Angeles County Museum art exhibit—the museum’s eighth annual show—as favoring “radical art” and containing “subversive propaganda.” …Edward … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Art & Artists, Museums | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Trash

Posted on May 22, 2018 by lmharnisch

  Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: 6533 Cahuenga Terrace, Designed for a Diva

Posted on May 21, 2018 by lmharnisch

An overhead view of 6533 Cahuenga Terrace, via Google Street View. Hyperbole reigns in the world of real estate listings, inflating a dump into a dream palace or attempting to gild a lily. Nowhere is this more prevalent than around … Continue reading →

Posted in Another Good Story Ruined, Architecture, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Music, Stage | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on May 21, 2018 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie has been the 1970 film “The Boys in the Band,” with Kenneth Nelson, Frederick Combs, Cliff Gorman, Laurence Luckinbill, Keith Prentice, Peter White, Reuben Greene, Robert La Tourneaux and Leonard Frey. Written and produced by Mart … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 44 Comments

May 21, 1947: South Carolina Jury Acquits 28 in Lynching

Posted on May 21, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project. For the record An earlier headline on this post incorrectly reported the length of the jury’s deliberations. It was five hours and 15 minutes, not 15 … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Crime and Courts | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

May 21, 1907: J.G. Fleenor ‘Barefoot Burglar’ Talks!

Posted on May 21, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. In a jailhouse interview before he was taken to San Quentin, James G. Fleenor, the barefoot burglar, set the record straight on his escapes, his relationship with a white woman and how … Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Real Estate, Streetcars | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

May 20, 1947: Madman Muntz Sells Cars at a Bargain

Posted on May 20, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

Posted in 1947, Transportation | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

May 20, 1907: James G. Fleenor, L.A.’s ‘Barefoot Burglar,’ Recaptured!

Posted on May 20, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. May 20, 1907 Los Angeles Night jailer O.L. Gilpin thought the man in the drunk tank looked familiar—and indeed he was. Despite passing himself off as George Thompson, it was our old … Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, LAPD, Streetcars | 2 Comments

Black Dahlia: A Note to Fans of Piu Eatwell’s ‘Black Dahlia, Red Rose’

Posted on May 19, 2018 by lmharnisch

Dear fans of Piu Eatwell’s “Black Dahlia, Red Rose” (I know there’s at least a few of you because you write to me): Leslie Dillon was absolutely, positively in San Francisco when Elizabeth Short was killed. Nothing else matters. Not … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

May 18, 1947: Friends Raise Money to Buy Prosthetic Legs for Boy Injured by Unexploded Bazooka Shell

Posted on May 18, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 that originally appeared on the 1947project. Members of Cub Scout Pack 522-C gathered more than 32 tons in a paper drive to help buy artificial legs for injured pack member Jackie Cooper, … Continue reading →

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Black L.A. 1947: Sheriff’s Deputy Reprimanded for Striking Sentinel Staffer With Gun

Posted on May 18, 2018 by lmharnisch

Florence Avenue and Hooper Avenue, via Google Street View. May 15, 1947: About 3 a.m. on April 17, 1947, Louis V. Cole of the Sentinel advertising department was delivering tear sheets of that week’s ads when his car stalled. Cole … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Crime and Courts | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

May 18, 1907: Black Worker on Search for Lost Lumber Gets in Fatal Fight

Posted on May 18, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. May 18, 1907 Los Angeles William Mullen, a black strikebreaker for the Pioneer Truck Company, was delivering a shipment of lumber when he realized that he had lost some of his load … Continue reading →

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Black L.A. 1947: ‘Whites Only’ Jobs as Black Unemployment Rises

Posted on May 17, 2018 by lmharnisch

May 15, 1947: The Sentinel calls for a federal fair employment practices act. Below, racial preferences in classified ads in the Los Angeles Times.  

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May 17, 1907: Wife-Beating, Speeding Drivers and a Slashed Burro

Posted on May 17, 2018 by lmharnisch

May 17, 1907 Los Angeles Note: This is an encore post from 2006. The Le Canns continued their spat in court after Mrs. Le Cann showed Judge Chambers a piece of skin she said was torn from her lip when … Continue reading →

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Black Dahlia: ‘We Got Our Asses Handed to Us’

Posted on May 16, 2018 by lmharnisch

Here’s a follow-up on Episode 5 of “It Was Him.” Wayne Wolfe Jr. sums up my interview on John Cameron’s theory about Ed Edwards and the Black Dahlia case.

Posted in 1947, 2018, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Television | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Black L.A. 1947: World War II Veteran Kills Wife, Commits Suicide

Posted on May 15, 2018 by lmharnisch

May 15, 1947: Robert B. Hudson, 30, was “ambitious, quiet and conservative in his activities,” the Sentinel said. He was discharged from the service with the rank of staff sergeant after 27 months in the South Pacific. He and his … Continue reading →

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