Black Dahlia and … Zodiac?? Ask Me Anything, January 2026

Posted on January 6, 2026 by lmharnisch

In the January Ask Me Anything on the Black Dahlia case, I gave an update on my work in progress, Heaven Is Here! and discussed the recent claims about the “solution” of the Black Dahlia and Zodiac cases made by Alex Baber and reported by the Los Angeles Times, Daily Mail and Michael Connelly’s podcast Killer in the Code.

January 15 is the anniversary of Elizabeth Short’s death. If you mark the date, please do it respectfully (also a reminder to trim your roses).

I also discussed: Continue reading →

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Black Dahlia: William J. Mann’s ‘Murders, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood’ — Not a Better Answer in the Dahlia Case, Just a Different One

Posted on September 8, 2025 by lmharnisch

Book cover: Lettering over mug shot of Elizabeth Short.
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 →

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January 10, 1909: Addicted to Gambling

Posted on January 10, 2026 by lmharnisch

January 10, 1909: A gambling dandyJanuary 10, 1909: If you strip away the moralistic tone used by the anonymous Times reporter, the problems of the young men caught up in gambling (in this case horse racing) a century ago are quite modern.

Wrecked on the rocks of the betting game! Of how many young men of Los Angeles, who but a few months ago held positions of honor or trust, and are now serving time on the chain gang, is this true?

At right, Frank Reynolds, vagrant.

Continue reading →

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Black L.A., January 9, 1947: LAPD Detectives Cleared of Brutality Against Drunk Woman

Posted on January 9, 2026 by lmharnisch

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Note: This is an encore post from 2018.

Jan. 9, 1947: The Sentinel reports on the ruling by the Los Angeles Police Commission in the case of Edythe L. Galloway, 434 E. 48th St.

On Nov. 6, 1946, the Police Commission voted to investigate the allegations of brutality by Detectives Hansen (No. 7495) and Grutsch (No. 3964) against Galloway.

Nov. 6, 1946, Los Angeles Police Commission Minutes

Note: For those who just tuned in, we’re going to reboot the concept of the 1947project (founded by Kim Cooper and Nathan Marsak) by going day by day through 1947 – but using the Los Angeles Sentinel, an African American weekly, rather than the very white and very conservative Los Angeles Times. We promise you an extremely different view of Los Angeles.

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(The historic Los Angeles Sentinel is available online from the Los Angeles Public Library. We encourage anyone with a library card to delve into the back issues and explore the history of black L.A.

Continue reading →

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January 9, 1913: The Day’s News – Pestilence and Starvation

Posted on January 9, 2026 by lmharnisch

Jan. 9, 1913, News Map
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January 9, 1913: We like to think that the past was a kinder, simpler time — when life moved at a slower pace. But no.

The Times publishes a Page 1 news map “as an aid to the busy reader helping him to devour a body of news many columns in length.”

Continue reading →

Posted in 1913, A Kinder, Simpler Time, Broadway, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Latinos | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

January 9, 1907: The Floods

Posted on January 9, 2026 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

January 9-10, 1907

The worst storm in 23 years blew across Southern California with the force of a gale, dumping more than an inch of rain in Pasadena, killing an Orange County rancher, washing out railroad tracks and collapsing tunnels, and leaving nearly every small ship in Santa Barbara sunk, driven ashore or pounded to pieces.

Floodwaters destroyed a railroad bridge under construction near Ventura, cutting off the Southern Pacific’s coastal rail service, and at Summerland, oil rigs along the shore were ripped to pieces. The San Fernando Valley was especially hard hit: The Times reports that a bridge over the Big Tujunga Wash was underwater and that the river was a mile wide and impassible. The roar of water at Pacoima can be heard two miles away, The Times says.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Downtown, LAPD, Pasadena, San Fernando Valley, Streetcars, Transportation | Leave a comment

January 8, 1958: Matt Weinstock

Posted on January 8, 2026 by lmharnisch

January 8, 1958

Matt WeinstockMonday at 6:30 a.m., as Marvin Hanks of East L.A. walked from his home to his garage to drive to work, he observed that the full moon in the western sky was green–grass green.”What goes on here?” he asked himself. Later in the day, he referred his wonderment here.

What you saw, Marv, was a celestial phenomenon known as a green flash. It’s unusual but not rare and has long been the subject of study.

As Ray Holmes, APCD senior meteorologist, explained it, the light rays from the moon bend as they pass through different atmospheric densities, creating a rainbow effect that can change from pale yellow or orange to blue. The green is more easily seen that the others. Continue reading →

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January 8, 1958: Paul Coates

Posted on January 8, 2026 by lmharnisch

January 8, 1958

Paul Coates, in coat and tieThere are businessmen in this town whose professed interest in humanity I question.

Among them is the owner of a local tire agency who advertised in an East Los Angeles paper this week:

“If you are riding on smooth tires, you’re only fooling yourself. It’s bad enough to risk your own life, but how about the lives of your loved ones?”

And then followed his dramatic appeal to the readers’ consciences with:

“Planning to buy a new car?

“If so, let’s trade tires. Let us put tires on your old car not quite as good as yours and pay you the difference. It’s money found.” Continue reading →

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January 8, 1947: Judge Denies ‘Hollywood’ Divorce for Actress Virginia Engels ‘The Orchid Queen’

Posted on January 8, 2026 by lmharnisch

Nancy, Jan. 8, 1947

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project.

January 8, 1947: The apartment was so small that her husband, James Robert Dennis, asked her to go home to live with her parents. He said he’d call but she didn’t hear from him for four days. She gave him $300 to build a prefabricated house on one of his lots in Benedict Canyon but he put it into his business. He agreed to a divorce.

But not in Judge Charles S. Burnell’s court. There would be no divorce for Virginia Engels, “Miss Los Angeles, 1940,” “Miss Streamline” and “The Orchid Queen.”

Continue reading →

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January 8, 1907: A Cold Dose of Reality

Posted on January 8, 2026 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

January 8, 1907
Los Angeles

Perhaps Mayor Arthur C. Harper and the incoming slate of officials are focused on how they will divide the spoils of the city and assign patronage jobs, although the mayor says the “last seat at the pie counter” was taken days ago.

The average Angeleno is more worried about getting even a bit of coal for the furnace. Conditions in Pasadena have been so dire that people are going to the coal yards with wheelbarrows in hopes of getting enough to scrape by. The Times notes that throughout the city, people are rummaging through attics and basements looking for anything that might be burned for a little heat.
Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Food and Drink, LAPD, Pasadena, Photography, Streetcars | Leave a comment

January 7, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on January 7, 2026 by lmharnisch

News From Detroit

Matt WeinstockA group of grimly playful fellows at SC who call themselves Asthmatics Anonymous advise that at a raw-lunged meeting in the basement which serves as headquarters they have regrouped as Asthmatics Militant.

First move was to change the association’s motto from “As I live and breathe” to “You should live so long.” (“Here’s crud in your eye” was considered but deemed inappropriate.)

Second action was to wire their Detroit operative, a talented wheezer, inquiring what goes on back there. His reply has just come zinging through.

Frenzy Motor Co., he reports, already has its 1960 pride at the road-testing stage. It will be longer, lower, have deeper chest-cough acceleration and be known as the Flatulente Four Fifty- 450 h.p. that is. Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Environment, Freeways, Matt Weinstock, Transportation | Leave a comment

January 7, 1959: Paul Coates — Confidential File

Posted on January 7, 2026 by lmharnisch

CONFIDENTIAL FILE

Current Skull Doily Scene, With Larceny

Paul Coates, in coat and tieI don’t know what you do for kicks, but my friend Tiger Small snatches toupees.

Not just anybody’s toupees, understand. The Tiger’s selective. He’s been working the Catskill-Manhattan-Miami circuit for years, dealing only with the best
people. The cream of the show business crowd. Doctors. Professional men.

When he came to Hollywood last month he brought quite a reputation with him.

“But in this town,” he was telling me yesterday, “they bloat everything way out of proportions.”

The Tiger — an animated conversationalist — explained that it was just a
sideline with him. That he lifted his first toupee strictly as a favor for a chorus girl friend and then sort of fell into the habit. Continue reading →

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January 7, 1947: Man Uses Same Coffee Cup for 27 Years

Posted on January 7, 2026 by lmharnisch

Jan. 7, 1947, Man Uses Same Coffee Cup for 27 Years

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project.

Same Coffee Cup
Used 27 Years
WHITTIER, Jan. 6—Truman B. Carl, a city employee, today rounded out 27 consecutive years of coffee drinking from the same oversized china cup.

The cup, which has a capacity of one and one-half ordinary cups, was given to Carl by a friend more than a quarter of a century ago and he has used it regularly ever since.

Carl, who handles the cup with extraordinary care, said he dropped it 10 years ago and broke off the handle. It also has accumulated a chip or two in the years. However, he continued to use the cup for his daily coffee drinking as he considers it just the right size.

Now 66, Carl came to California 21 years ago from Maine, and has been employed in jobs in the city administration for that time. He lives at 402 W. Orange Drive.

Continue reading →

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January 7, 1907: TLC

Posted on January 7, 2026 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

January 7, 1907
Long Beach

Elizabeth Mahler, a dainty brunette with a “sunny and jolly disposition,” is one of the bright spots at Long Beach Hospital. She had many male suitors and a few a months ago became engaged to a young man from Rialto whose last name was Kingman.

In tending to the afflicted of Long Beach, however, she became well-acquainted with Lynn E. Babcock, the business partner of one of her patients, Jay Cooke.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Religion, Streetcars | Leave a comment

January 5, 1962: Examiner, Mirror Fold; L.A. Becomes Two-Newspaper Town

Posted on January 5, 2026 by lmharnisch

Jan. 6, 1962, Mirror Folkds
Jan. 6, 1962, Mirror Folds

Note: This is an encore post from 2012.

January 5, 1962: A dark, painful day in the history of Los Angeles journalism. Virtually overnight, the city becomes a two-newspaper town. The evening Mirror ceases publication Jan. 5, merging with The Times, and the morning Examiner merges with the evening Herald-Express on Jan. 7, prompting a congressional investigation of possible collusion.

A tearful Norman Chandler, president of Times-Mirror Co.,  tells Mirror employees: “This is to me the most difficult, heart-rending statement I have ever had to make. The Mirror was my dream — this paper was conceived by me. I believed in its reason for being. I had confidence in its ability to grow with the community and to mature as a successful metropolitan paper.”

“Unfortunately, the economics have proved to be such that my original concept has not worked out.”

Continue reading →

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January 5, 1959: LAPD Suspends Officer for – Uh-Oh

Posted on January 5, 2026 by lmharnisch

Jan. 5, 1959, LAPD suspends officer

January 5, 1959: Chief William Parker suspends Officer Charles Wolf serial No. 4115 for 15 days for … oh dear. Banging “a known prostitute and dissolute person” and letting her get possession of his firearm.

This material is from the city archives and was published on latimes.com in 2009 from research by then-UCLA intern Catriona Lavery. The original post is available via Archive.org.

Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights – 1938 Floods Wreak Havoc on Los Angeles Area

Posted on January 5, 2026 by lmharnisch

 North Hollywood Flood House Collapse

Flooding in North Hollywood, courtesy of Mary Mallory.

Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

Seventy-five years ago, a deluge of rain hit Los Angeles and the surrounding area, leading to massive floods and causing millions of dollars in damage and a devastating loss of life. Many factors led to this destruction: too much rain, inadequate construction of bridges and roads, and homes and businesses located in flood-prone areas. One of the unfortunate consequences of the floods was the eventual concreting of the Los Angeles River, ruining its beauty.

Although other areas of the country suffered through droughts and dust storms in the 1930s, Los Angeles and Southern California endured large amounts of rainfall. Most years saw higher than normal annual rain levels. 1937 saw 17.85 inches fall by March 1, while 1934 saw the largest amount of rain since the 1860s.

1938 started out with heavy rains, growing worse through February. Small patches of flooding caused concerns throughout the city. On Feb. 28, a severe storm hit the area, leading to five days of disaster.

The March 1, 1938, Los Angeles Times noted that gale winds hit the coast, and more than 2.5 inches of rain fell on Feb. 28. Seasonal rain totals reached 14.43 inches, more than 4 inches above average.

Mary Mallory will present “Washed Away:  The Great 1938 Flood and Its Effects on Studio City” at 3:30 p.m. on March 24 at the Studio City branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, 12511 Moorpark St. Admission is free.

Continue reading →

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January 5, 1947: Two Black 15-Year-Olds Set for Electric Chair After Losing Plea

Posted on January 5, 2026 by lmharnisch


Jan. 5, 1947, Buck Rogers

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project.

Jan. 5, 1947, Will Durant

January 5, 1947: “The majority of Americans belong to one minority group or another,” said Dr. Will Durant, author and lecturer, yesterday in outlining the scope of the Declaration of Independence, Inc., in promoting inter-racial appreciation and in describing the theme of the organization’s banquet next Friday at the
Ambassador.

Continue reading →

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January 5, 1907: A Fatal Can of Beans

Posted on January 5, 2026 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

January 5, 1907
Los Angeles

Charles Edward Abbott, 23, of Artesia had lived his entire life in California without seeing snow except on faraway mountains and suggested that Mabel Carter, 28, and her father, Henry, 63, join him on a trip to Cucamonga Canyon.

The Carters, who once owned a grocery story at 10th Street and Alvarado before moving to Ontario, and Abbott went to Cucamonga, expecting to spend several days there.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, LAPD, Streetcars | Leave a comment

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on January 5, 2026 by lmharnisch

Main Title: Letters over Art Deco design.

This week’s mystery movie was the 1933 RKO film Flaming Gold, with Bill (William) Boyd, Mae Clarke, Pat O’Brien, Robert McWade, Helen Ware and Rollo Lloyd.

harrisonsreports00harr_8_0175Screenplay by Malcolm Stuart Boylan and John Goodrich.

From the story by Houston Branch.

Photographed by Charles Rosher.

Settings by Van Nest Polglase and Carroll Clark.

Recorded by Earl A. Wolcott.

Directed by Ralph Ince.

Associate producer Sam Jaffe.

Executive producer Merian C. Cooper.

Further information on Flaming Gold is available from the AFI Catalog.

Flaming Gold isn’t commercially available but turns up on YouTube, as several of you discovered!

::

I was looking for a mystery film and the subject of the oil industry looked timely. At least it did on Sunday. As a Pre-Code, Flaming Gold has its racy moments, and it’s a watchable film – though not much distinguished from all the other films set among oil drillers. As Harrison’s Reports says, there is lots of footage of oil drilling, an oil derrick catching fire, etc., though the idea that these scenes would “appeal to male audiences” is amusing. Rather than Mae Clarke as a high-class escort.

I don’t imagine it got high marks from The New York Times, but one never knows.

Apparently The Times did not review the movie.

Man in coat, vest and tie, sitting at desk and speaking on a phone.
For Monday, we have a mysterious fellow.

Update: This fellow plays Mr. Dill, but he is, alas, unidentified in the credits. I always hope someone will recognize these folks….

Woman sitting a table. She's wearing a low-cut dress and a lot of jewelry.

For Tuesday, we have a mystery woman.

Update: This is Helen Ware, who delivers the line: “I’m a 23 model with a 33 paint job.”

Balding man with mustache in three-piece suit sitting at desk.
For Wednesday, we have a dapper mysterious fellow.

Update: This is Robert McWade.

Man standing in doorway of cabin
For “Aha Thursday,” we have a mysterious gent.

Update: This is Pat O’Brien.

Brain Trust roll call: Mary Mallory (Wednesday’s mysterious fellow) and Mike Hawks (Wednesday’s mystery gent).

Man and woman riding in Central Park carriage.
For Friday, we have our mysterious leading man and leading lady (yes, again).

Update: This is Mae Clarke and Bill (William) Boyd.

Brain Trust roll call: Mary Mallory (mystery movie and Tuesday’s, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s mystery guests), Anne Papineau (Thursday’s mysterious fellow), Greg (mystery movie and all mysterious guests), Sylvia (Thursday’s mystery gent), Stacia (Thursday’s mystery fellow, right era), Mike Hawks (mystery movie, Tuesday’s and Thursday’s mysterious guests) and Sheila (mystery movie and Tuesday’s, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s mysterious guests).

Posted in 1933, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , | 20 Comments

January 4, 1947: Angry Sailor Sets Fire to Skid Row Hotel After Being Rolled

Posted on January 4, 2026 by lmharnisch

Jan. 4, 1947, Nancy


Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947Project.

January 4, 1947: Suppose, for a moment, that you are a 19-year-old mess cook second class stationed in San Pedro. Suppose further that while you are on leave in Los Angeles you get drunk, check into a cheap skid row hotel and someone rolls you for $30 ($283.93 USD 2005).

Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Black Dahlia, Crime and Courts, Fires, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment