Author Archives: lmharnisch

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About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times

Dodgers are coming to L.A.?

Posted on July 18, 2007 by lmharnisch
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Meltdown II

Posted on July 17, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 17, 1957 Our friend, Mr. Atom, at the Santa Susana Field Lab.

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Countdown to Watts

Posted on July 17, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 17, 1957 Los Angeles The painful comparison: "800 Negroes Lose Jobs"  and "Deep South Editors Here, See Race Tension Ending." And to make things even worse, the Southern editors were entirely well-meaning and sincere. The Mirror interviewed editors … Continue reading →

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Aerospace crashes

Posted on July 17, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 17, 1957 Los Angeles With the cancellation of the Navaho cruise missile program, North American Aviation made plans to lay off 15,600 employees, nearly a third of the workforce at its plant in Downey. Efforts were made to … Continue reading →

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Architectural Ramblings

Posted on July 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Photograph by Larry Harnisch Los Angeles Times Here’s something fun to do on a Saturday morning: Meet friends for breakfast at a restaurant where a drunk movie actress plowed her new convertible through the front window in 1957. The … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Film, Food and Drink, Hollywood | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Matt Weinstock

Posted on July 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 16, 1957 Account 727-1 in the auditor's office of the Southern Pacific is known within the company as the "Conscience Fund." It consists of money sent in by people for services rendered but unpaid for. An average of $200 … Continue reading →

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Paul V. Coates–Confidential File

Posted on July 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 15, 1957 SUBJECT’S NAME: Mildred Dolores Hall. SUBJECT’S DESCRIPTION: Age, 42, height, 5 feet, 6 inches. Weight, 118 lbs., Red-blond hair. Brown eyes. Slim-medium build. Any person with information as to the subject’s whereabouts is requested to contact the … Continue reading →

Posted in Columnists, LAPD, Paul Coates | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Meltdown

Posted on July 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 16, 1957 Los Angeles At a field lab in the Santa Susana Mountains, an experimental nuclear reactor has begun generating electricity for San Fernando Valley housewives, thanks to our friend, Mr. Atom, the Mirror says. Housewives "wouldn’t know … Continue reading →

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You, the jury, Part I

Posted on July 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 16, 1957 Los Angeles Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have heard the witnesses and seen the evidence. Now you must decide whether to find Wallace LeRoy Schiers, 34, guilty of second-degree murder in the killing his … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1957, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD, San Fernando Valley | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Matt Weinstock

Posted on July 15, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 15, 1957 Farther and farther go the freeways, preceded by roaring monsters which sweep aside or reduce to rubble everything in their paths, then claw and shape the earth. But all is not lost. Every Tuesday, Lenard Kester takes … Continue reading →

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July 15, 1957: The laughter dies

Posted on July 15, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 15, 1957Los Angeles They had been through triumph and tragedy, and spent more time together than many married couples. But it was time for a change. The scripts were lousy and getting worse. One of them wanted to … Continue reading →

Posted in 1957, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

In the News

Posted on July 15, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 15, 1957 The painting on the cover of Time speaks to us a bit differently now than it did to the readers of 1957. There is little room for subtlety in an illustration intended to compete on newsstands … Continue reading →

Posted in @news, City Hall, Current Affairs, Downtown | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Dodgers Staying in Brooklyn

Posted on July 15, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 15, 1957Los Angeles Not so fast, Los Angeles. The Bums aren’t coming!

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Literary diversions

Posted on July 14, 2007 by lmharnisch

Carey McWilliams, the author of "Southern California: An Island on the Land," catalogues a few morose, quirky poets in The Times, Aug. 9, 1931.

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Branding

Posted on July 14, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 14, 1957Los Angeles The very name connotes elegance in home electronics: The Granada Hills. Really. And an early American TV at that, back in the days when television sets were supposedly to look like fine furniture instead of big … Continue reading →

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The Nina mystery

Posted on July 14, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 11, 1957 Los Angeles Here’s a vintage Al Hirschfeld drawing done for “The Pride and the Passion,” starring Frank Sinatra, Sophia Loren and Cary Grant. Hirschfeld is famous not only for being a fabulous artist but for hiding the … Continue reading →

Posted in art and artists, Film | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

One for the books

Posted on July 13, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 14, 1957 Los Angeles At 95, Mary Foy has the formula for longevity: Watch your health, keep mentally active and be Irish.  The Times catches up with Foy and her "double cousin," Ella Foy O'Gorman, as the women … Continue reading →

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Time warp to 1910

Posted on July 13, 2007 by lmharnisch

Dec. 10, 1910Los Angeles I came across this article in looking for something else and found it too fascinating not to share. That’s why I love research. Email me

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Sea bag murder

Posted on July 13, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 12-13, 1957 Los Angeles Two men from the Harbor Department were picking trash out of the main channel at Terminal Island when they saw the big canvas bag–twice the size of a Navy sea bag–drifting against the pier … Continue reading →

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A bill of goods

Posted on July 12, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 12, 1957 Los Angeles Harold D. Jensen was apparently quite a salesman, because he certainly sold his fiancee a bill of goods. Before marrying Barbara Jean Burton, 26, 8343 Clarence Ave., Jensen wrote a prenuptial agreement promising her … Continue reading →

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