Author Archives: lmharnisch

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About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times

May 4-6, 1907: Barney Oldfield’s Green Dragon Blazes Through Los Angeles

Posted on May 6, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. What is it about Angelenos that as soon as you put them behind the wheel of a car, they want to see how fast it will go? But it’s true. Great-grandpa was, … Continue reading →

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May 5, 1907: The Shriners Ban Water Except for Bathing

Posted on May 5, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Singing loud praises to Allah that strike a curious note in 2006, the special train of Shriners is flying across the Nevada desert brimming with Freemasons and their families pondering the ancient … Continue reading →

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May 4, 1907: Author’s Hardest Sentence — 4 Months in Jail Over ‘Research’

Posted on May 4, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. In grappling with a novel about life in prison, writer Ernest Filer of Chicago decided that he should experience imprisonment for himself , thus he hatched the idea of breaking a window … Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Books and Authors, Crime and Courts | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

From 1937: A Rape Victim’s ‘Night of Horror’

Posted on May 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

And here’s where we go down the research rabbit hole from the L.A. Sentinel, 1947: The California Venereal Disease Control Act of 1937. Which brings us to “California and Western Medicine,” July to December 1937.

Posted in 1932, 1947, African Americans, Crime and Courts, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Black Dahlia: Elizabeth Short Was Last Seen Alive at — Record Scratch

Posted on May 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

Wow. Sorry, Uproxx, this is totally wrong. Elizabeth Short was last seen alive at — before you say the Hotel Cecil —  she was last seen alive at the Biltmore.

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May 3, 1907: Fleenor, Accused ‘Barefoot Bandit,’ Says LAPD Got Him Drunk to Gain Confession

Posted on May 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

  Note: This is an encore post from 2006. On the witness stand, accused “Barefoot Bandit” James G. Fleenor complains that police got him drunk to gain a confession. Fleenor, who was black, had been part of an attempted jailbreak … Continue reading →

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May 3, 1907: Shriners Are Coming to L.A.!

Posted on May 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Preparations are nearly complete for the Shriners Convention, which begins May 7 with the city’s Al Malaikah Temple hosting the gathering. Among the events planned is a parade of Imperial Potentate Alvah … Continue reading →

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May 2, 1907: New Restaurant Inspector Strikes Fear in L.A.’s Dirty Kitchens

Posted on May 2, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Nicholas “Nick” Schwegel (sometimes misspelled Schwegal), the city’s new restaurant inspector, issued a report to the Board of Health that left officials sick to their stomachs—so ill, in fact, that one board … Continue reading →

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Black L.A., 1947: ‘Behold a Cry’ and an Exploration of the ‘Estate of James Crow’

Posted on May 1, 2018 by lmharnisch

May 1, 1947: The Sentinel publishes an ad for Alden Bland’s “Behold a Cry.” (Available on 14-day loan from Archive.org). The New York Times said: ALDEN BLAND, the Negro author of this short novel, has none of the power of … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Books and Authors | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: 2018 TCM Classic Film Festival Salutes the Written Word With Unique Programs

Posted on May 1, 2018 by lmharnisch

Martin Scorsese is presented with the first Robert Osborne Award for film preservation. In its ninth year of celebrating classic film, the 2018 TCM Classic Film Festival highlighted the written word and how film speaks to audiences through a wide … Continue reading →

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Time Clock

Posted on May 1, 2018 by lmharnisch
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May 1, 1907: Runaway Horses and a Fleeing Motorcyclist on the Dangerous Streets of L.A.

Posted on May 1, 2018 by lmharnisch

Motorcycle Hits Her Miss Gertrude Young, who lives at No. 525 Wall St., was knocked down by a motorcycle yesterday as she stepped from a streetcar at 7th and Hope streets. The rider of the machine hastened away. Miss Young … Continue reading →

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on April 30, 2018 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie has been the 1932 MGM picture “Polly of the Circus,” with Marion Davies, Clark Gable, C. Aubrey Smith, Raymond Hatton, David Landau, Ruth Selwyn, Maude Eburne, Little Billy, Guinn Williams, Clark Marshall and Lillian Elliott. From … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 47 Comments

Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – ‘Letty Lynton’

Posted on April 30, 2018 by lmharnisch

  Image: May 18, 1932, “Letty Lynton” is opening in Los Angeles. Credit: Los Angeles Times Note: This is an encore post from 2011. In the novel “Letty Lynton” and the play “Dishonored Lady,” the heroine gets away with murder, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1932, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 89 — The Two-Minute Executive Summary

Posted on April 29, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. From Feb. 3, 2006, to April 28, 2006, I devoted a daily blog to Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, 2006, Another Good Story Ruined, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Donald Wolfe, History, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

April 29, 1907: Blanche Hall Draws Crowds to Burbank Theater in ‘When Knighthood Was in Flower’

Posted on April 29, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Los Angeles theatergoers are transfixed by the new production of “When Knighthood Was in Flower,” Paul Kester’s adaptation of Charles Major’s 1898 novel, forming a mile-long line to buy tickets at Morosco’s … Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, 1910, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, LAPD, Streetcars, Theaters | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on April 29, 1907: Blanche Hall Draws Crowds to Burbank Theater in ‘When Knighthood Was in Flower’

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 88 — Request Line XXII

Posted on April 28, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe uses the “Laura” … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Another Good Story Ruined, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Donald Wolfe, History, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 87 — Request Line XXI

Posted on April 27, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe uses the “Laura” … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Another Good Story Ruined, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Donald Wolfe, History, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 87 — Request Line XXI

April 27, 1907: Man Badly Injured in Attack by Mule

Posted on April 27, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. W.S. Stanton of N. 117½ E. First St. was attacked by a vicious mule at the California Truck Company’s stables, No. 337 Aliso St., last night and seriously injured. When he attempted … Continue reading →

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Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 86 — Request Line XX

Posted on April 26, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe uses the “Laura” … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Another Good Story Ruined, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Donald Wolfe, History, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 86 — Request Line XX