Author Archives: lmharnisch

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About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times

October 18, 1957: Matt Weinstock

Posted on October 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 18, 1957: The city health department has a complaint desk and some of the calls would test anyone’s sanity, Matt Weinstock says. Continue reading →

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October 18, 1947: S.S. General Saw Mass Executions as ‘Necessary to Win War’

Posted on October 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

NEURNBERG, Oct. 17 (A.P.)—S.S. Gen. Erich Naumann, whose commandos killed thousands of Jewish men, women and children on the eastern front, told a war crimes court today he saw nothing wrong with that. Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Crime and Courts, World War II | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

October 18, 1943: Errol Flynn Named in Paternity Suit

Posted on October 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 18, 1943: Shirley Hassau charges that Errol Flynn is the father of her 3-year-old daughter. Her lawsuits were dismissed in 1951. Continue reading →

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October 18, 1907: Newspaper Cartoonist Ted Gale Makes His Point

Posted on October 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 18, 1907: The Los Angeles Times features pen and ink drawings by “Gale.” That’s Edmund Waller “Ted” Gale, who contributed to The Times for years, creating “Miss L.A.,” then quit in 1934 to go to the Examiner. Continue reading →

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October 17, 1957: Matt Weinstock

Posted on October 17, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 17, 1957: Matt Weinstock interviews George B. Murphy, an aircraft inspector for whom Murphy’s Law was named. Continue reading →

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October 17, 1957: Paul V. Coates–Confidential File

Posted on October 17, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 17, 1957: Paul Coates talks to a man who fled because he was suspected in the still-unsolved killing of Marguerite Keota in 1954. Continue reading →

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October 17, 1907: All-White USC Football Team Starts Race Riot Over Tackle by Black Player From Whittier

Posted on October 17, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 17, 1907: A Black player from Whittier State tackles a player for USC’s all-white team, setting off a fight between the teams. Continue reading →

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October 16, 1957: Matt Weinstock

Posted on October 16, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 16, 1957: Matt Weinstock writes about a man who claimed he saw Saturn from his backyard — without a telescope. Which was impossible. Was it spacemen? Continue reading →

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October 16, 1957: Paul V. Coates–Confidential File

Posted on October 16, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 16, 1957: Paul Coates has a moving tribute to a dead man and a son who loved to play the piano. Continue reading →

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October 16, 1947: LAPD Issues Guns to Policewomen!

Posted on October 16, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 16, 1947: The LAPD changes the uniform for policewomen and issues them guns — to be fashionably carried in a shoulder-slung black purse, also convenient for carrying handcuffs. Continue reading →

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October 16, 1907: Man With Three Wives Believes in Marriage but Not Divorce

Posted on October 16, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 16, 1907: George S. Best is a great believer in marriage and strongly opposes divorce, which is why he has three of one and none of the other. Continue reading →

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October 15, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on October 15, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 15, 1959: Matt Weinstock takes a look at Caryl Chessman’s case and his grounds for appeal. Chessman remains the only person executed in California who never killed anyone. Continue reading →

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Reminder: Don’t Dress Up Like the Black Dahlia for Halloween!

Posted on October 15, 2025 by lmharnisch

Reminder: Do not dress up like the Black Dahlia for Halloween. Don’t. Do. It. Continue reading →

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1944 on the Radio – NBC Symphony With Marian Anderson, October 15, 1944

Posted on October 15, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 15, 1944: Marian Anderson performs with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Continue reading →

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October 15, 1907: Fire Threatens Orpheum

Posted on October 15, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 15, 1907: Fire breaks out in the four-story building housing the Orpheum Theater and the Elks Hall. Entertainer Minnie Seligman made the smoke and sound of fire engines part of her act. Continue reading →

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October 14, 1957: Matt Weinstock

Posted on October 14, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 14, 1957: The Dodgers are coming, but there’s a reason to believe the Battle of Chavez Ravine is not quite over. Twelve families there are sitting tight, some of them on land their grandfathers bought and built homes on and they don’t think the city has done right by them, Matt Weinstock says. Continue reading →

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October 14, 1957: Paul V. Coates–Confidential File

Posted on October 14, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 14, 1957: Paul Coates has the story of Rosalee Cartwright, 14, who ran away five weeks ago and hasn’t been seen since. Continue reading →

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October 14, 1947: Capt. Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier

Posted on October 14, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 14, 1947: Capt. Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager breaks the sound barrier. But the Los Angeles Times holds the story until June 1948 “in the interest of national security.” Continue reading →

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1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, October 14, 1944

Posted on October 14, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 14, 1944: Danton Walker says: David Sarnoff, RCA president, predicts a television gadget that will be worn on the wrist but contains a practical television screen. Continue reading →

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October 14, 1907: ‘In 9 cases out of 10, Where There Is a Shooting, There Is Also a Woman’

Posted on October 14, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 14, 1907: There was Oscar E. Otto, a young chauffeur with a hot temper and a gun. There was his 19-year-old wife, the former Irene E. Jester, “a silly little creature with futile tears and French heels.” And there was J.C. Henderson, another chauffeur with a gun and better aim or more luck. Continue reading →

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