Category Archives: Books and Authors

October 26, 1942: Lon Chaney’s Ghost Haunts Hollywood and Vine!

Posted on October 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 26, 1942: Councilman Norris Nelson tells a story about the ghost of Lon Chaney sitting on a bench at Hollywood and Vine. Continue reading →

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October 20, 1907: Winsor McCay, ‘Little Nemo’ and The Imp

Posted on October 20, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 20, 1907: Winsor McCay and his cartoons never completely go out of fashion and are periodically rediscovered. Living in the era of legacy comics, bland writing. weak drawing, and panels the size of postage stamps, it’s easy to forget comics once ran a full page. And then there’s Imp. 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 13, 1907: 2 Die in Tong War

Posted on October 13, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 13, 1907: Gunmen imported from out of town by the Hop Sing Tong entered the tailor shop of Lem Sing at 806 Juan St. in Chinatown and under the pretense of having some clothing made, wounded him and killed Wong Goon Kor. Continue reading →

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October 3, 1947: Full House – Burglar Slips In on Mystery Writer’s Poker Game

Posted on October 3, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 3, 1947: Reddest face in town yesterday belonged to Charles Bennett, writer of screen mysteries in which the brilliant detective always catches the crook. While he had a few friends in for a card game, a burglar crawled through a window and stole his wife’s purse and a pair of earrings. Continue reading →

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October 1, 1947: Meet Matt Weinstock, Author of ‘My L.A.’

Posted on October 1, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 1, 1947: Meet Matt Weinstock, author of “My L.A.” Everybody’s parents or grandparents seem to have purchased this little red-bound book with the blue title on the spine. There was a time when you could find a copy in just about any secondhand store or used bookshop in the Southwest next to “Inside U.S.A.” or one of the WPA guides. Continue reading →

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September 30, 1907: The Quick Brown Fox and Friends From A to Z

Posted on September 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 30, 1907: A list of sentences using all the letters of the alphabet. “Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs seems to have fallen out of favor.” Continue reading →

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September 28, 1947: City Librarian Althea Warren Announces Retirement

Posted on September 28, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 28, 1947: City librarian Althea Warren is retiring after 14 years. She entered the profession despite the comment from an uncle who said: “A librarian leads a terrible life. She has to wear plain dresses and flat heels and the salary is ridiculous.” Continue reading →

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1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, September 24, 1944

Posted on September 24, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 24, 1944: Why is young Van Johnson the idol of the bobby sox brigade and at this moment crowding Frank Sinatra and Alan Ladd for top honors? Van isn’t handsome, he hasn’t a striking physique and he hasn’t Frankie’s ability to sing, Louella Parsons says. Continue reading →

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September 24, 1907: A Poem on the First Day in L.A.

Posted on September 24, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 24, 1907: Walter Adolf Roberts writes a poem about his first day in Los Angeles. Continue reading →

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September 23, 1947: Janet Flanner, The New Yorker’s ‘Genet,’ Visits L.A .

Posted on September 23, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 23, 1947: Janet Flanner, European correspondent for the New Yorker, says: “The carpetbagging of our American soldiers went on for two years until the Army stopped it. It made cigarettes legal tender. American money still rates high, but our morality rates low….Just now we Americans are trying to run a checkbook empire. It can’t be done.” Continue reading →

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1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, September 17, 1944

Posted on September 17, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 17, 1944: All her life Vivian Blaine will be grateful to Victoria Elizabeth James and Phyllis Faye Harris for starring parts, for if these young ladies hadn’t elected to be born Vivian would still be just one of the bevy of pretty girls on the 20th lot, Louella Parsons says. Continue reading →

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September 11, 1943: Escaped Soldier Denies Attacking Former Screen Star

Posted on September 11, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 11, 1943: Pvt. George P. Rimke, who was convicted of “attacking” screen dancer and actress Lina Basquette (d. 1994), escapes from March Field, but surrenders to attorney S.S. Hahn.   Continue reading →

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September 11, 1907: In Praise of the Corset for the ‘Woman Who Weighs a Ton’

Posted on September 11, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 11, 1907: “The woman who gets the proper sort of corset will have the fashionable figure, even if she weighs a ton,” says Elizabeth A.C. White. Continue reading →

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1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, September 3, 1944

Posted on September 3, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 3, 1944: Phil Terry, the tall bespectacled young man whose career took a terrific nose dive just before and after his marriage to Joan Crawford, is on the beam again, Louella Parsons says. Continue reading →

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August 30, 1907: Rabbi Leads Campaign to Open Hebrew University in L.A.

Posted on August 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 30, 1907: Rabbi Alfred Arndt of Congregation Beth Israel leads an effort to open what The Times describes as “the only Hebrew university within the entire United States.” Continue reading →

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1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, August 27, 1944

Posted on August 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 27, 1944: Go to any Hollywood party and you will hear very little discussion about the newest marital rift or the latest cafe battle. But on every side you hear stories about babies, babies babies — by proud parents, Louella Parsons says. Continue reading →

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1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, August 20, 1944

Posted on August 20, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 20, 1944: Hedy Lamarr hates the word “beautiful,” Louella Parsons writes. “History of Rome” and “I Never Left Home” top the bestsellers list. Continue reading →

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August 18, 1947: John Steven McGroarty, California Poet Laureate, Honored in Memorial Tribute

Posted on August 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 18, 1947: John Steven McGroarty, California’s poet laureate, is remembered with poems and stories. Continue reading →

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August 12, 1947: Distinguished UCLA English Instructor Dies in Plunge from S.F. Building; ‘He Was Not Married’

Posted on August 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 12, 1947: Dr. Stanley Dean Johnson, a specialist in the works of John Donne at UCLA, has been spending the summer at the Huntington Library. He is a brilliant scholar and popular with faculty and staff. But in August 1947 he plunged from the 15th floor of San Francisco’s Russ Building. He was 39 and “not married.” Continue reading →

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