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

Somehow I’d like to think that Brooke wrote the marijuana bust story as she was studying for her role in “I Cover Big Town” (apparently not yet out on DVD). I can’t say I’ve ever seen it, but I love the title. One interesting note: The price of marijuana in 1947 ($20) equals $189.28 in USD 2005.

The other note is that I was lucky enough to know one of the arresting officers, Ed Walker, who retired with the rank of inspector and headed the LAPD’s public information office. Ed was the officer who arrested Errol Flynn on statutory rape charges and told Khrushchev that he couldn’t go to Disneyland. He was a wonderful man.

Bonus factoid: Shirley MacLaine worked as an elevator operator at The Times when she was preparing for her role in “The Apartment.”

On March 8, 1920, the city of Los Angeles opened a drug clinic, offering morphine at 10 cents a grain ($1.07 USD 2005) with the idea of cutting down on crimes by addicts and weaning them from drugs. The Los Angeles Examiner opposed the clinic while it was favored by The Times, which noted that it had treated 364 addicts as of May 2, 1920. It was located on the Temple Block, now the site of City Hall.