Author Archives: lmharnisch

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About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times

Fatal Fury

Posted on November 16, 2013 by lmharnisch

Note: This is a story I originally wrote in 2006 for the 1947project and I’m reposting it for newer readers. Nov. 16, 1907: Mrs. Amanda Cook (she is also identified as Jennie and Mary) came to Los Angeles from Boston … Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Crime and Courts, Streetcars, Transportation | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Riot at Tule Lake Internment Camp?

Posted on November 15, 2013 by lmharnisch

Nov. 3-16, 1943: It’s almost impossible to get a clear idea from these stories of what was actually occurring at the internment camp at Tule Lake. Early in the saga, one official said “there’s nothing to it,” but later on … Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, Art & Artists, Comics, World War II | 1 Comment

Black Dahlia: George Hodel — Soil Samples at the Sowden House: FAIL

Posted on November 14, 2013 by lmharnisch

Saturday was, in case you had forgotten, the one-year anniversary of Buster the Wonder Dog’s frolic at the Sowden House in a search for evidence to link Dr. George “Evil Genius” Hodel to the Black Dahlia killing. You may recall … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Hollywood, LAPD, Television | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

LAPD: Parker Center Cop Shop Files

Posted on November 14, 2013 by lmharnisch

Several weeks ago, I was given a box of material that was cleaned out of the old press room at the LAPD’s Parker Center headquarters, sometimes called “the cop shop.” The box was a jumble of press releases, photographs, artists’ … Continue reading →

Posted in 1974, Cold Cases, LAPD, Parker Center Cop Shop Files | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Blogging the Wolfe Book — Seven Years Later

Posted on November 13, 2013 by lmharnisch

Note: In 2006, I devoted a daily blog to  fact-checking Donald Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files” on a molecular level. The project was so time-consuming – and “Dahlia Files” is such junk – that I stopped about Page 96 and … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, 2006, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Film, Hollywood, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Rediscovering Los Angeles – Masonic Hall

Posted on November 12, 2013 by lmharnisch

Dec. 30, 1935: For this installment of Rediscovering Los Angeles, Times artist Charles Owens and columnist Timothy Turner visit Los Angeles’ former Masonic Hall, a building from the 1870s on Main street “on the east side just south of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art & Artists, Downtown, Main Street, Nuestro Pueblo | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + +)

Posted on November 11, 2013 by lmharnisch

And for Monday, a mystery chap.

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 44 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights — Greenacres Is the Place to Be

Posted on November 11, 2013 by lmharnisch

Harold Lloyd and Greenacres in New Movie Magazine. At the beginning of the fledgling motion picture industry, actors and other creative types earned adequate salaries, in line with middle-class jobs. They lived in modest bungalows, residential hotels, apartments or rented … Continue reading →

Posted in 1927, Architecture, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

LAPD: Parker Center Cop Shop Files — Mysterious PC Numbers

Posted on November 10, 2013 by lmharnisch

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. This anonymous fellow was captured by a bank security camera and the photo is marked PC 45080. Often in these cases, the PC number will be rendered PC 450 (80), in which … Continue reading →

Posted in 1976, 1980, LAPD, Parker Center Cop Shop Files | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

LAPD: Parker Center Cop Shop Files — A Research Question on LAPD Case Numbering

Posted on November 9, 2013 by lmharnisch

While I’m on the subject of the LAPD Cop Shop Files, let me see if there’s anyone among the Daily Mirror Brain Trust who is familiar with LAPD case numbers. It seems that after many years of following the protocol … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Courts, LAPD, Parker Center Cop Shop Files | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

LAPD: Parker Center Cop Shop Files – Starting Next Week

Posted on November 9, 2013 by lmharnisch

The “Remorseful Rapist” from 1965, one of the items from the Cop Shop Files. Several weeks ago, I was given a box of material that was cleaned out of the old press room at the LAPD’s Parker Center headquarters, sometimes … Continue reading →

Posted in 1965, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Parker Center Cop Shop Files | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

We Are Revolutionists!

Posted on November 9, 2013 by lmharnisch

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project. Nov. 9, 1907: Local sympathizers, anarchists and socialists are organizing a mass meeting to protest the imprisonment of Ricardo Flores Magon, Librado Rivera, Antonio Villareal and L. Gutierrez … Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, History | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photos — Suggestions, Please

Posted on November 9, 2013 by lmharnisch

Another once-famous  face, now forgotten. Gary Martin recently wrote: I am amused by the reader’s comment that this week’s mystery is “too easy” and I guess it is as all the usual suspects have written in with the correct cast … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

‘Love Child’ Abandoned in Movie Theater as Parents Die in Suicide Pact

Posted on November 8, 2013 by lmharnisch

Nov. 8, 1933: Los Angeles history is so rich that all you need to strike gold is to poke a stick in the ground, and today is a perfect example. We have the story of Jack Bodin Sr., 41, who … Continue reading →

Posted in 1933, 1936, Art & Artists, Broadway, Comics, Crime and Courts, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, Suicide, Theaters | 4 Comments

Hartsook Photographs Jack Pickford

Posted on November 7, 2013 by lmharnisch

This Fred Hartsook portrait of Jack Pickford, the brother of actress Mary Pickford, has been listed on EBay. Hartsook (d. 1930) was one of the leading photographers in the silent era. There is more about him in Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Photography | Comments Off on Hartsook Photographs Jack Pickford

The ‘Masked Marvel Murder’ – Part 12

Posted on November 7, 2013 by lmharnisch

The 1942 marriage of Greta Keller and David G.G. Bacon, Albany Times-Union, Sept. 14, 1943, courtesy of Steven Bibb.  I have spent far more time than I intended on the “Masked Marvel Murder” and not just because it’s an intriguing, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, World War II | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments

L.A. Becomes N.Y.

Posted on November 6, 2013 by lmharnisch

Dear New Yorkers: You love to make fun of us, but here we are at Spring and 5th last night, watering down the street for yet another production set in your fair city but filmed in downtown Los Angeles. And … Continue reading →

Posted in Downtown, Film, Hollywood, Location Sleuth, New York, Spring Street | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The ‘Masked Marvel Murder’ — Part 11

Posted on November 6, 2013 by lmharnisch

David G.G. Bacon, far right, in “The Masked Marvel,” courtesy of Steven Bibb. So far, the David G.G. Bacon killing is relatively pristine, at least compared to the Black Dahlia case; the killing doesn’t appear in “Hollywood Babylon” or any … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Lou Costello’s Son Drowns in Swimming Pool

Posted on November 5, 2013 by lmharnisch

Nov. 5, 1943: Lou Costello Jr. drowns in the swimming pool of the family home at 4124 Longridge Ave., Van Nuys. Here’s a post I wrote about the tragedy in 2007.

Posted in 1943, Film, Hollywood, San Fernando Valley | Tagged , , , , | 16 Comments

Rediscovering Los Angeles — Pershing Square

Posted on November 5, 2013 by lmharnisch

Dec. 23, 1935: For this installment of Rediscovering Los Angeles, Times artist Charles Owens and columnist Timothy Turner visit Pershing Square. Not the concrete moonscape we know today, designed to repel the homeless, but a lushly landscaped park with a … Continue reading →

Posted in 1935, Art & Artists, Columnists, Downtown, Hill Street, Nuestro Pueblo, Olive, Parks | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment