Author Archives: lmharnisch

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About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times

Coming Attractions: L.A. Voices by James Curtis

Photo: Dick Lane and Helen Wallace in “Sioux City Sue,” 1946. Coming up Wednesday: Biographer James Curtis shares his interviews in L.A. Voices, beginning with Part 1 of a 1975 Q&A with actor Dick Lane.

Posted in 1946, Books and Authors, Brain Trust, Coming Attractions, Film, Hollywood, Television | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated ++++]

“Rope” opens in Los Angeles, Sept. 24, 1948. Credit: Los Angeles Times [Update: This is a 1949 photo of Joan Chandler (d. 1979), who appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rope.”] Here’s our mystery gal! There’s another photo on the jump!

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | Tagged , , , | 28 Comments

Slash and Burn History: Mike Davis on Gen. Otis

Photo: Times President Gen. Harrison Gray Otis. Credit: Press Reference Library, 1912 Gen. Harrison Gray Otis, the favorite pinata of Los Angeles historians, is the subject of a new biography by Mike “City of Quartz” Davis, now being serialized in … Continue reading

Posted in Another Good Story Ruined, Books and Authors, Downtown, History, Libraries | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Eve Golden: Queen of the Dead

Photo: New, horse-drawn hearse for sale on EBay, $9,500. Credit: Justin Carriage Works Queen of the Dead—dateline July 18, 2011   • All the silent movie stars are long-gone, now we are down to memorializing their children. Rex Bell, Jr., … Continue reading

Posted in Brain Trust, Eve Golden, Film, Hollywood, Obituaries, Politics, Queen of the Dead, Television | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Leesa Jo Shaner – Update

Photo: Leesa Jo Shaner An attempt to resolve one of the nation’s most baffling unsolved crimes is quietly unfolding in federal court in Tucson: The mystery of Leesa Jo Shaner, who vanished May 29, 1973,  on her way to the … Continue reading

Posted in 1973, Cold Cases, Homicide | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Found on EBay – Oviatt’s

We’ve been rambling about “navy blue ghosts” and otherwise reciting “Facade” at the Daily Mirror HQ after finding this cocktail shaker from Oviatt’s on EBay. Bidding starts at $99.99.

Posted in Food and Drink, Found on EBay, Retro | Tagged , | Comments Off on Found on EBay – Oviatt’s

#history, #museum 7|17|2011

Photo: Mail sent by airplane from the 1912 Aviation Meet at Dominguez Field.  Credit: New York Public Library   7|17|2011DEATHSArdis Butler James, 85, co-founder of the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska. Margalit Fox in … Continue reading

Posted in 1912, Aviation, Baseball, Books and Authors, History, Museums, Music, Obituaries | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on #history, #museum 7|17|2011

#history, #museum 7|16|2011

Photo: The Dodge House. Credit: latimes.com SPOTLIGHT The New York Times’ Michael Kimmelman visits the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia. Kimmelman writes: Devised like most true collections from somebody’s crazy obsession, the Mütter dressed up good old ghoulish midway spectacle in … Continue reading

Posted in Art & Artists, History, Museums | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Found on EBay – Louis Adamic and Aimee Semple McPherson

The disappearance and return of evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson made 1926 a prolific year for Los Angeles author Louis Adamic (d. 1951), best remembered today for his 1931 book “Dynamite.” Like Morrow Mayo and other writers in H.L. Mencken’s shock … Continue reading

Posted in 1926, Books and Authors, Found on EBay, Religion | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Found on EBay – Louis Adamic and Aimee Semple McPherson

CARMAGEDDON: Woman Designs 405-10 Interchange!

Speaking of  CARMAGEDDON, here’s an April 6, 1964, profile by The Times’ Dorothy Townsend of freeway engineers Marilyn Reece, who designed the 405-10 interchange  and Carol Schumaker, who designed and 405-605 interchange. It may be a man’s world, but don’t … Continue reading

Posted in 1964, Freeways | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Attorney Storms Office, Seizes D.A.’s Bugging Equipment

July 15, 1941: Defense attorney Samuel Rummel (shot to death Dec. 11, 1950) breaks a door and seizes a dictograph wired to a microphone in his office in the William Fox Building, 608 S. Hill. Rummel was defending Deputy Charles … Continue reading

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Cold Cases, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, Jimmie Fidler, Lee Shippey, Mickey Cohen, Tom Treanor, World War II | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Attorney Storms Office, Seizes D.A.’s Bugging Equipment

Random Shot: Downtown L.A.

Photograph by Larry Harnisch/LADailyMirror Someone has hung this little figure from an overhead wire at Hill and College streets on the way into downtown. Until I got a good look, I thought it was Boris Badenov – and maybe it … Continue reading

Posted in Downtown, Photography | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Marion Eisenmann: Artist’s Notebook ‘Bastille Day’

“Bastille Day” by Marion Eisenmann It’s Bastille Day, so I thought I would repost a sketch Marion Eisenmann did a year ago during a gathering in Elysian Park. July 16, 2010: Marion Eisenmann called Sunday and suggested we visit a … Continue reading

Posted in 2010, Art & Artists, Artist's Notebook, Marion Eisenmann, Parks | Tagged , | Comments Off on Marion Eisenmann: Artist’s Notebook ‘Bastille Day’

Broadway Revisited — Part 2

This gallery contains 3 photos.

Here’s a better look at the courthouse at Temple and Broadway, where Wednesday’s photo of Broadway was probably taken. In what I call “seismic Darwinism,” the courthouse was demolished after being damaged in the Long Beach quake. The Hall of … Continue reading

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7|14|2011 #LA, #history, #museums

Photo: Los Angeles Public Library. Credit: LAPL FEATUREDA celebration will be held at the downtown library on Monday at 9:30 a.m. as the L.A. library system restores Monday service at all branches. Sunday closures are continuing, however. Saturday will be … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Books and Authors, Coming Attractions, Crime and Courts, Film, History, Libraries, Museums, Preservation | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on 7|14|2011 #LA, #history, #museums

CARMAGEDDON on the 405

OK, as long as we’re satirizing Carmageddon with a Hitler rant, here’s my favorite humorous video set on the 405. It’s by Bruce Branit and Jeremy Hunt.

Posted in Film, Transportation | Tagged | 3 Comments

Broadway Revisited

I got this postcard on EBay because the details are sharp and it shows The Times Building before it was blown up in 1910. The picture was most likely taken from the beautiful old courthouse farther north on Broadway that … Continue reading

Posted in 1910, Downtown, Photography | Tagged , | 3 Comments

7|13|2011 #history, #museum

Photo: Pierre Loti’s house. Credit: Discover Poitou Charentes RECOMMENDEDElaine Sciolino’s new travel column Lumiere in the New York Times takes a look at the house museum of Pierre Loti. Sciolino says: “On an unremarkable street in the unremarkable town, the … Continue reading

Posted in Books and Authors, Film, History, Hollywood, Museums, Religion, World War II | Tagged , , | Comments Off on 7|13|2011 #history, #museum

Coming Attractions: Genealogy Research at the L.A. Public Library

The Los Angeles Public Library will present a program on getting started in genealogical research. The free presentation will be from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 16, 2011. Folks should gather at the reference desk in the … Continue reading

Posted in Coming Attractions, Immigration, Libraries | Comments Off on Coming Attractions: Genealogy Research at the L.A. Public Library

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated +]

Here’s our mystery tennis player! Thanks to Steven Bibb for sharing this photo. [Update: This is Lida Baarova. Please congratulate Jenny M, Don Danard and Rick for identifying her and her mystery companion Joseph Goebbels.] There’s a new photo on … Continue reading

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