Monthly Archives: December 2025

December 14, 1907: L.A. Schools Ban Mention of Christ at Christmas (Uh-Oh)

Posted on December 14, 2025 by lmharnisch

Dec. 14, 1907: Los Angeles residents are furious after the school superintendent bans the mention of Christ at Christmas. Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Education, Music, Religion | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

December 13, 1953: Father charged with leaving son, 4, in car parked on skid row

Posted on December 13, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 13, 1953: Police find Kenny Ross, 4, sleeping in a car parked on skid row. He’s taken to Juvenile Hall and his father is charged with child endangerment. Kenny wants to be a writer and asks for a typewriter for Christmas. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1953, Front Pages, LAPD | Leave a comment

December 13, 1941: Roundup of Aliens Overwhelms L.A. Jails

Posted on December 13, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 13, 1941: So many alien Japanese, Germans and Italians are being taken into custody that Chief Jailer William Bright of the County Jail is being forced to send some of his other inmates to county prison farms. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Fashion, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, Nightclubs, Nuestro Pueblo, World War II | Tagged , | Leave a comment

December 13, 1907: The Annual Rite of ‘Messiah’ at Cold, Drafty Shrine Auditorium

Posted on December 13, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 13, 1907: An unidentified Times critic attends a performance of Handel’s ‘Messiah’ at Shrine Auditorium. An exercise in decrypting a music review of another era. Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Music, Religion, Streetcars | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

December 12, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on December 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 12, 1959: In the days when the phone company had monopoly, getting a phone installed was a financial challenge, and Matt Weinstock has the story. Continue reading →

Posted in Columnists, Comics, Matt Weinstock | Leave a comment

December 12, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on December 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 12, 1959: With all the talk of payola, the first Christmas DJ Johnny Grant received was … a wallet. From a record company, Paul Coates says. Continue reading →

Posted in Columnists, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Paul Coates, Suicide | Leave a comment

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Holiday Shopping Guide

Posted on December 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

Another standard gift suggestion is Glen Creason’s “Los Angeles in Maps,” a great resource for seeing the way depictions of Los Angeles have changed over the years. Continue reading →

Posted in 2010, Books and Authors, Libraries | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

December 12, 1907: The .45-Caliber Newspaper Ombudsman

Posted on December 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 12, 1907: Goldfield, Nev.—J. Holtman Buck, editor of the Western Nevada Miner in Mina, Nev., shot Francis L. Burton to death during a fight over a scathing editorial in which Buck said Burton should be run out of town. Continue reading →

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December 12, 1907: Recreation Center to Be Built in Heart of Industrial District

Posted on December 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 12, 1907: In the gritty, industrial heart of the 8th Ward at Holly Street and St. John, officials are planning a large recreation facility “as an oasis in the wilderness,” The Times says. The building, designed by the firm of Hunt, Eager and Burns, will offer an alternative to “those who have no pleasure grounds but the streets and the saloons,” The Times says, noting: “Happy people are nearly always good people.” Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, 1910, Architecture, Downtown | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

December 11, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on December 11, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 11, 1959: Ida Gutierrez has a nightmare encounter with the legal system after a woman accuses her of “stealing” two sweaters that Gutierrez just bought. Why? “The police officer said derogatory things about Mexicans,” though she is from South America. Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Food and Drink, LAPD, Matt Weinstock | 1 Comment

December 11, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on December 11, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 11, 1959: George Bergeman Jr., 24, commits suicide because he lost so much money gambling on pinball and Paul Coates has the story. Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Paul Coates, Suicide | Leave a comment

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Holiday Shopping Guide

Posted on December 11, 2025 by lmharnisch

Today’s retro holiday shopping suggestion in Don Normark’s excellent book “Chavez Ravine, 1949.” Continue reading →

Posted in 1949, Books and Authors | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Voices — Bettie Page, 1923 – 2008

Posted on December 11, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 11, 2008: Bettie Page dies at the age of 85. An interview from 2006. Continue reading →

Posted in art and artists, books, Obituaries | Leave a comment

December 11, 1957: Heroic dog shot

Posted on December 11, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 11, 1957: A gunman shoots a dog during the robbery of a liquor store. After a previous holdup, the clerk kept a .45 under the counter and taught his dog to attack. In the next holdup, the robber fatally wounded the clerk. The suspects? Two teenagers, one of them a ‘good boy’ who didn’t need the money. Continue reading →

Posted in 1957, Homicide, Robberies | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

December 11, 1938: Breakfast of death; voodoo cult killings

Posted on December 11, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 11, 1938: A family’s ‘Breakfast of Death’; Voodoo Killer Suspect Seized; Man Dressed as Woman Found Hanging From Tree Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1938, Food and Drink, Front Pages, Homicide, LAPD | Leave a comment

December 10,1958: White mothers bar black child from Cub Scouts

Posted on December 10, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 10, 1958: The white den mothers of Cub Scout Pack 298 refuse to admit Lewis “Butch” Harris because he’s Black — and Paul Coates has the story. Continue reading →

Posted in 1958, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Holiday Shopping Guide

Posted on December 10, 2025 by lmharnisch

One of my favorite books on Los Angeles is the 1940 Nuestro Pueblo, collected from pieces in the Los Angeles Times, with artwork by Charles Owens and text by Joseph Seewerker. Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Artists, Books and Authors, Nuestro Pueblo | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

December 9, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on December 9, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 9, 1959: A reporter for Ici Paris is assigned an interview with Caryl Chessman, and Matt Weinstock has the story. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1959, art and artists, broadcasting, Caryl Chessman, Columnists, Comics, Matt Weinstock, Television | Leave a comment

December 9, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on December 9, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 9, 1959: A man calling himself Tony tells Paul Coates that he killed Jack “The Enforcer” Whalen, but Coates is skeptical. Continue reading →

Posted in Columnists, Mickey Cohen, Paul Coates | Leave a comment

‘Ask Me Anything’ on George Hodel – December 16

Posted on December 9, 2025 by lmharnisch

Reminder: I will do an Ask Me Anything on George Hodel and Steve Hodel next Tuesday, December 16, at 10 a.m. Pacific time on YouTube. Have questions? Leave them in the comments. Continue reading →

Posted in Ask Me Anything, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases | Tagged , , | Leave a comment