Author Archives: lmharnisch

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About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times

Jan. 18, 1947: L.A. Examiner’s Front Page ‘Crime Box’

Posted on January 18, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project. 163 Crimes in 24 Hrs. Here; 86 of Them Thefts In the last 24 hours, 163 crimes were committed in Los Angeles. They were: 86 thefts 42 burglaries … Continue reading →

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Jan. 18, 1907: California’s Racial Bans in Public Schools

Posted on January 18, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007. Jan. 18, 1907 San Francisco In what is surely an embarrassing and awkward oversight, the California Constitution only prevents “Mongolian” children from attending white public schools when separate campuses have been created. … Continue reading →

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Found on EBay: Souvenir of Club Mecca, Site of Deadly 1957 Firebombing

Posted on January 17, 2018 by lmharnisch

A vendor has listed a cocktail napkin advertising four Los Angeles night spots, including the Mecca Cafe at 5841 S. Normandie Ave. Six people were killed when a man who had been thrown out of the club threw a five-gallon … Continue reading →

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Jan. 17, 1947: Big Bill Tilden Gets Jail for Morals Case Involving Teenage Boy

Posted on January 17, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project. Jan. 17, 1947: William (Big Bill) Tilden, 54-year-old internationally known tennis star, yesterday was sentenced to serve nine months in the County Jail with a road gang recommendation … Continue reading →

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Jan. 17, 1907: The Changing Face of the City

Posted on January 17, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007. Jan. 17, 1907 Los Angeles On a trip from Utah to visit his daughter, H.E. Gibson keeps getting lost as he wanders around Los Angeles. No, it’s not because Gibson is 80, … Continue reading →

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Jan. 16, 1947: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Driver’s License Revoked!

Posted on January 16, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project. I never cease to be amazed at the placement of this story on Page 1 of The Times. While the major competing newspapers—the Examiner, Herald-Express and Daily News—are … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Jan. 16, 1947: Teachers Call ‘Song of the South’ Racist Propaganda

Posted on January 16, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 16, 1947: Chef Tubbs is opening a restaurant at 1305-7 E. Olympic Blvd. Olympic Boulevard and Central Avenue, via Google Street View. Jan. 16: Local 27 of the American Federation of Teachers, meeting in Washington, called the Disney feature … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Oscar Apfel, Paramount’s Forgotten Man

Posted on January 16, 2018 by lmharnisch

  Oscar Apfel in Motion Picture News. Multi-talented, smart, ambitious, hard-working, Oscar Apfel rose to the top of the early movie industry only to see evolving business practices, lack of luck, and bad choices push him down the ladder into … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Union Rescue Mission

Posted on January 16, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

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Black Dahlia: Today Is Jan. 15 — Trim Your Roses

Posted on January 15, 2018 by lmharnisch

Today is Jan. 15, and the Daily Mirror marks the anniversary of Elizabeth Short’s death by pruning back the roses.

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Meet Victor Segno — L.A. Mystic and Con Man

Posted on January 15, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007. Jan. 15, 2007 Los Angeles While making my daily check of EBay, I found another envelope from 1907, this one addressed to A. Victor Segno, 701 N. Belmont. A brief check of … Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, 1908, 1911, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Education, Found on EBay, LAPD, Streetcars | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on January 15, 2018 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie has been the 1949 Columbia film “The Reckless Moment,” with James Mason, Joan Bennett, Geraldine Brooks, Henry O’Neill, Shepperd Strudwick, David Bair and Roy Roberts. The screenplay was by Henry Garson and Robert W. Sodeberg, adapted … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 51 Comments

At the Del

Posted on January 14, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

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Not in My Back Yard

Posted on January 13, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007. Jan. 13, 1907 Los Angeles The Times takes a light, humorous look at the destructive wanderings of Eaton Wash: a docile stream, if not entirely dry, most of the year, turned into … Continue reading →

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

1907: Last Rites for an Early Church

Posted on January 12, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007. Jan. 12, 1907 El Monte For half a century, the Baptist Church of El Monte and the Mason’s Lexington Lodge No. 104 shared a clapboard building on Main Street, the worshipers on … Continue reading →

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Black L.A. Laura Bowman Cast in All-Black Production of ‘Anna Lucasta’

Posted on January 12, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 9, 1947:  Laura Bowman, who died in 1957 after a long illness, is to appear in an all-black production of “Anna Lucasta” at the Biltmore Theater. ” Anna Lucasta,” written by Philip Yordan, was originally produced by the American … Continue reading →

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Jan. 11, 1907: USC Medical School Cadavers Found in Garbage Dump

Posted on January 11, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007. Jan. 11, 1907 Los Angeles A woman living on a hog ranch near the Santa Fe railroad crossing over the Los Angeles River contacted police after seeing dismembered human bodies in the … Continue reading →

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Black Dahlia: ‘Who Is the Black Dahlia?’ Script on Craigslist

Posted on January 10, 2018 by lmharnisch

Someone on Craigslist has listed a copy of the shooting script for “Who Is the Black Dahlia?” the TV movie that featured Lucie Arnaz as Elizabeth Short and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Detective Harry Hansen (with an amusing turn by … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, 1974, 1975, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, LAPD, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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

Posted on January 10, 2018 by lmharnisch

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 … Continue reading →

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The Floods

Posted on January 10, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007. Jan. 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 … Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Downtown, LAPD, Pasadena, San Fernando Valley, Streetcars, Transportation | Comments Off on The Floods