Author Archives: lmharnisch

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About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times

L.A. Celebrates a Wartime Thanksgiving, 1943

Posted on November 24, 2016 by lmharnisch

Note: This is a post from 2013. Happy Thanksgiving! A wartime Thanksgiving in Los Angeles, with many service personnel welcomed into people’s homes for a holiday meal. The Times published cooking tips for war workers, advising cooks who were otherwise … Continue reading →

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An 1890s Thanksgiving in the Kitchen

Posted on November 24, 2016 by lmharnisch

Note: This is a repost from 2011. Happy Thanksgiving! Here’s a traditional roast turkey recipe from the “Every-Day Cook-Book and Family Compendium,” written about 1890 by Miss E. Neill. Be sure your fire is bright and clear and watch out … Continue reading →

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Eve Golden’s YouTube Theater: ‘I Will Be Really Impressed If You’ve Heard of Billie Carleton’

Posted on November 22, 2016 by lmharnisch

  Billie Carlton in a Pathe newsreel. Note: Eve has discontinued her YouTube Theater, but has consented to have me post the entries she has already written. Well, have you? She was a rising British stage starlet in the 1910s … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: North Hollywood Department Stores Appeal to Common Man

Posted on November 21, 2016 by lmharnisch

  Rathbuns enlarges its Baby Shop for new generation of Baby Boomers, Van Nuys News, March 8 1951. As a city or community grows more prosperous, so does its retail establishments. Simple businesses with few choices of product give way … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Fashion, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, San Fernando Valley | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on November 21, 2016 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie has been the 1940 MGM film “And One Was Beautiful,” with Robert Cummings, Laraine Day, Jean Muir, Billie Burke, Ann Morriss, Esther Dale, Charles Waldron, Frank Milan, Rand Brooks, Paul Stanton and Ruth Tobey. It was … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 39 Comments

Black Dahlia and the Hotel Cecil: L.A.’s Noir Folklore

Posted on November 17, 2016 by lmharnisch

The Guardian has jumped into it again with the Black Dahlia case, finding that it can’t resist the yarn about Elizabeth Short “rumored to have had her last drink at the hotel bar.” The Guardian, in case you don’t recall, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Another Good Story Ruined, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, LAPD | 10 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on November 14, 2016 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie has been the 1943 film “The Kansan,” with Richard Dix, Jane Wyatt, Albert Dekker, Eugene Pallette, Victor Jory, Robert Armstrong, Beryl Wallace, Clem Bevans, Hobart Cavanaugh, Francis McDonald, Willie Best, Douglas Fowley, Rod Cameron, Eddy Waller … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 78 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Ravenswood Apartments Attract the Stylish

Posted on November 14, 2016 by lmharnisch

Mae West in her boudoir at the Ravenswood, Life magazine, Feb. 19, 1940. Note: This is an encore presentation of a post from 2014. Built during the early years of the Great Depression, the luxurious Ravenswood Apartment building at 570 … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930, Architecture, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

In the Steps of Raymond Chandler: L.A. Mystery Quotes (Updated +)

Posted on November 12, 2016 by lmharnisch

To accompany my piece on James Ellroy, Michael Connelly and The Wrong Side of Goodbye at the L.A. Review of Books, here are eleven mystery writers strolling Los Angeles in the shadow of Raymond Chandler. Can you identify the authors? … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and Authors | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Eve Golden’s YouTube Theater: Talking About Talkies

Posted on November 8, 2016 by lmharnisch

A program for “The Jazz Singer” at Chicago’s Garrick Theatre (d. 1960), listed on EBay at $141.53. If you tell me that The Jazz Singer was “the first talkie,” I will have to punch you in the throat. I know … Continue reading →

Posted in Eve Golden, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on November 7, 2016 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie has been the 1928 MGM film “The Viking,” with Pauline Starke, Donald Crisp, LeRoy Mason, with a screenplay by Jack Cunningham from Ottilie A. Liljencrantz’s “The Thrall of Leif the Lucky.” The film was produced by … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 30 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: ‘The House I Live In’ Promotes Tolerance

Posted on November 7, 2016 by lmharnisch

  Though the United States is a nation of immigrants, in times of trouble people act of fear and ignorance, hating and blaming the other for their problems. Throughout the country’s history, in times of economic problems, the newest immigrant … Continue reading →

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A Reminder From Pier Angeli and Friend

Posted on November 4, 2016 by lmharnisch

Pier Angeli and her little friend remind Daily Mirror readers to turn back their clocks this Sunday.

Posted in Animals, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Eve Golden’s YouTube Theater: The Party’s Over Now

Posted on November 1, 2016 by lmharnisch

  A Belgian poster for “Humoresque,” listed on EBay for $6.99.   I am going to spoil two films for you, so stop reading now if you have not seen What Price Hollywood? (1932) and Humoresque (1946). Lowell Sherman and … Continue reading →

Posted in Eve Golden, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on October 31, 2016 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie has been the 1950 Universal International film “Woman on the Run,” with Ann Sheridan, Dennis O’Keefe, Robert Keith, John Qualen, Frank Jenks, Ross Elliott, Jane Liddell, Joan Fulton, J. Farrell MacDonald, Steven Geray, Victor Sen Yung, … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 62 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Mon Randall, Caricaturist

Posted on October 31, 2016 by lmharnisch

  Frank Mayo as drawn by Mon Randall. In the world of popular culture, everything is about the sell. Photos, posters, graphics, all becomes a means of ballyhoo in attempts to lure consumers to purchase or view product. In the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Artists, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Mon Randall, Caricaturist

Eve Golden’s YouTube Theater: Betty Grable Was Just Adorable

Posted on October 25, 2016 by lmharnisch

Betty Grable in an undated publicity shot. Betty Grable’s one of those people—a long list—I’d love to write a book about, but can’t. Her daughters were really nice, but said “we just don’t want to go through all that again,” … Continue reading →

Posted in Eve Golden, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: ‘Crazylegs’ Salutes Elroy Hirsch and the Los Angeles Rams

Posted on October 24, 2016 by lmharnisch

An image of Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch, scanned from a negative listed on EBay at $24.99. Los Angeles is currently experiencing the second coming of its professional football team, the Los Angeles Rams, who first arrived in town in 1946 and … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Sports | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: ‘Crazylegs’ Salutes Elroy Hirsch and the Los Angeles Rams

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on October 24, 2016 by lmharnisch

  This week’s mystery movie has been the 1947 Twentieth Century-Fox film “Nightmare Alley,” with Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray, Helen Walker, Taylor Holmes, Mike Mazurki and Ian Keith. It was written Jules Furthman from the novel by William … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 57 Comments

Black Dahlia Halloween Costumes: The Annual Warning

Posted on October 19, 2016 by lmharnisch

Halloween is quickly approaching, which means the internet is brimming with photos of young women practicing their “Chelsea Smile” makeup and otherwise showing off their talent in dressing up like a brutally murdered woman. Regardless of what you may think, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, LAPD | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments