Author Archives: lmharnisch

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About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times

Pot pad raided

Posted on June 14, 2007 by lmharnisch

June 15, 1957 Los Angeles Deputies arrested 13 people after finding them hiding in tunnels dug beneath at house at 12117 Jersey Ave., Norwalk, apparently intended as a bomb shelter. Investigators found 22 marijuana cigarettes in the house and 22 … Continue reading →

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Future shock

Posted on June 14, 2007 by lmharnisch

  June 14, 1957Los Angeles Sometimes predictions for the future are simply painful to read. The people living in 1957 were prolific in sketching out hopeful plans. Some of them were foolish (I think we can safely eliminate the atomic-powered … Continue reading →

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Name the Dodgers!

Posted on June 14, 2007 by lmharnisch

What should we call our new team? Hey I know!

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Prowler terrorizes L.A.

Posted on June 14, 2007 by lmharnisch

  June 14, 1957 Los Angeles As Marjorie Hipperson was laid to rest, raw terror swept over Los Angeles and reports of attacks rained down on the police. Women fought off intruders and in senseless, unreasoning fright, men fired shots … Continue reading →

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Kill crazy

Posted on June 13, 2007 by lmharnisch

    June 14, 1957 Los Angeles Charles Hilbert Dodd was eager to kill someone. If he couldn’t find his estranged wife, Dolores, then he’d shoot whomever he could get. Armed with a 16-gauge shotgun, Dodd, 47, of 6415 Balcom … Continue reading →

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You Have Got to Be Kidding Me

Posted on June 13, 2007 by lmharnisch

June 13, 1957  

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Traffic forecast

Posted on June 13, 2007 by lmharnisch

They said it: City Councilman Edward R. Roybal: Chavez Ravine is "the worst possible place for a major league park." Roybal said he favored Wrigley Field or a location in East L.A., predicting that putting a baseball stadium in Chavez … Continue reading →

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Visions of tomorrow

Posted on June 13, 2007 by lmharnisch

June 13, 1957Los Angeles There was a time when IBM’s standard office equipment included signs that said "THINK." Although  William B. Thompson was an economist with Prudential Insurance, rather than IBM, he was certainly thinking about the future. He couldn’t … Continue reading →

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Paul V. Coates–Confidential File

Posted on June 12, 2007 by lmharnisch

June 12, 1957 "Marijuana," you don’t say out loud. You whisper it. Because, in the last few years, it has become a hysterical word. And the hysteria has reached a point, today, whereby guilt can be decided by association. But … Continue reading →

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Hollywood’s peeping Toms

Posted on June 12, 2007 by lmharnisch

June 12, 1957 Los Angeles

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Frank Gehry, please note

Posted on June 12, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Downtown Los Angeles: Huge, efficient and beautiful with 52-story skyscrapers and subways, the hub of a developed area stretching from the Mexican border to Pismo Beach. Part 1 Part 2 Email me

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Sex slaying suspect

Posted on June 12, 2007 by lmharnisch

June 12, 1957 Los Angeles An illegal U-turn at Sunset Boulevard and Virgil Avenue at 1 a.m. led to the arrest of Charles Lawrence Dahlquist, a 6-foot-5, 211-pound fugitive from Chicago wanted for questioning in the sex slayings of three … Continue reading →

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1957 Chevy

Posted on June 11, 2007 by lmharnisch

In February 1957, after adding 300,000 square feet, the General Motors' Van Nuys plant (note: it's really in Panorama City) began making station wagons and convertibles.  A spokesman says the plant is producing 150 cars a day in five different … Continue reading →

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Random shot

Posted on June 11, 2007 by lmharnisch

Figueroa Street, Highland Park Photograph by Larry Harnisch Los Angeles Times

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Paul V. Coates–Confidential File

Posted on June 11, 2007 by lmharnisch

June 11, 1957 Our national concern for the plight of soldier William Girard has, from the start, struck me as oddly misplaced. As well as I can understand it, we’re upset because the United States has failed to stand behind … Continue reading →

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Strangler attacks

Posted on June 11, 2007 by lmharnisch

  June 11, 1957 Los Angeles We’re parked outside a two-story apartment house at 3737 Los Feliz Blvd. It’s late, after 1 a.m. I’ll warn you before we go in: I hate this case. I can’t say I like any … Continue reading →

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Suicide on Crenshaw

Posted on June 10, 2007 by lmharnisch

  June 10, 1957 Los Angeles Elsa Klumbis O’Neil saw no hope. The 37-year-old woman wanted a divorce from her husband, Mark, who was due back in a few days from a voyage with the merchant marine. But since she … Continue reading →

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Literary diversions

Posted on June 10, 2007 by lmharnisch

Ray Bradbury, Jan. 19, 1958

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John Fante file

Posted on June 9, 2007 by lmharnisch

March 5, 1980 Page 1 Page 2

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Detour to 1904

Posted on June 9, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Saturday’s New York Times features an article by Craig R. Whitney about the enormous pipe organ at Macy’s in Philadelphia, a massive instrument from the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair that was built in Los Angeles. And indeed, the … Continue reading →

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