Category Archives: Columnists

December 12, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on December 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 12, 1959: In the days when the phone company had monopoly, getting a phone installed was a financial challenge, and Matt Weinstock has the story. Continue reading →

Posted in Columnists, Comics, Matt Weinstock | Comments Off on December 12, 1959: Matt Weinstock

December 12, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on December 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 12, 1959: With all the talk of payola, the first Christmas DJ Johnny Grant received was … a wallet. From a record company, Paul Coates says. Continue reading →

Posted in Columnists, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Paul Coates, Suicide | Comments Off on December 12, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

December 11, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on December 11, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 11, 1959: Ida Gutierrez has a nightmare encounter with the legal system after a woman accuses her of “stealing” two sweaters that Gutierrez just bought. Why? “The police officer said derogatory things about Mexicans,” though she is from South America. Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Food and Drink, LAPD, Matt Weinstock | 1 Comment

December 11, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on December 11, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 11, 1959: George Bergeman Jr., 24, commits suicide because he lost so much money gambling on pinball and Paul Coates has the story. Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Paul Coates, Suicide | Comments Off on December 11, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

December 9, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on December 9, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 9, 1959: A reporter for Ici Paris is assigned an interview with Caryl Chessman, and Matt Weinstock has the story. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1959, art and artists, broadcasting, Caryl Chessman, Columnists, Comics, Matt Weinstock, Television | Comments Off on December 9, 1959: Matt Weinstock

December 9, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on December 9, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 9, 1959: A man calling himself Tony tells Paul Coates that he killed Jack “The Enforcer” Whalen, but Coates is skeptical. Continue reading →

Posted in Columnists, Mickey Cohen, Paul Coates | Comments Off on December 9, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

FBI Rounds Up Japanese in Hunt for Subversives, Dec. 8, 1941

Posted on December 8, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 8, 1941: The FBI begins rounding up 200 “alien Japanese suspected of subversive activities.”
Several truckloads of Japanese were seen passing through Brea toward Pomona, Brea police reported, and orders to stop all cars bearing Japanese and to confiscate maps and binoculars or radios were given. Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Artists, Aviation, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, Nuestro Pueblo, Tom Treanor, World War II | Tagged , , | Comments Off on FBI Rounds Up Japanese in Hunt for Subversives, Dec. 8, 1941

December 4, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on December 4, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 4,1959: Matt Weinstock looks at the public relations industry’s attempts to improve its image. Continue reading →

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December 4, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on December 4, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 4, 1959: Paul Coates has the story of Roger “The Terrible” Touhy, Prohibition gangland boss who was finally released from prison. Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Countdown to Watts, Mickey Cohen, Paul Coates | Comments Off on December 4, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

December 1, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on December 1, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 1, 1959: Matt Weinstock writes about Los Angeles Times columnist Lee Shippey and discusses Shippey’s blindness. Continue reading →

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December 1, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on December 1, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 1, 1959: Jerry Lewis is a strange guy, Paul Coates writes, but this time the comedian is going to the aid of actor Jay Robinson, “Hollywood’s forgotten man.: Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, broadcasting, Columnists, Front Pages, Paul Coates, Television | Comments Off on December 1, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

November 30, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on November 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 30, 1959: The mother of a middle school student tells Matt Weinstock: “You would be surprised at the number of students at this school who are being tutored just to make a C.” One girl is taking tranquilizers because she can’t keep up. Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Education, Matt Weinstock, Sports | Comments Off on November 30, 1959: Matt Weinstock

November 30, 1959: Paul Coates – Confidential File

Posted on November 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 30, 1959: An author claims that Charles Dickens and actress Ellen Ternan had an illegitimate child, and Paul Coates has the story. Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Animals, books, Caryl Chessman, Columnists, Paul Coates | Comments Off on November 30, 1959: Paul Coates – Confidential File

November 27, 1941: Streetcar Companies Ask Council to End Bus Ban in Downtown L.A.

Posted on November 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 27, 1941: The Pacific Electric and Los Angeles Railways ask the City Council to repeal a ban against buses operating in downtown Los Angeles. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Streetcars, Tom Treanor, Transportation, World War II | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

November 26, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on November 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 26, 1959: Matt Weinstock has the story of robbery Detective Dalton Patton, a man with a long memory who finally gets his safe-cracker. Continue reading →

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November 26, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on November 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 26, 1959: Paul Coates has the story of E.B. (Jet) Simrell, a former market owner wanted by the FBI for threatening the lives of seven judges. Simrell is waging a crusade against the “un-feminine, all-powerful American woman.” Continue reading →

Posted in Columnists, Homicide, Paul Coates | 1 Comment

November 25, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on November 25, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 25, 1959: The health department says the Fern Dell water hole, fed by a mountain spring, is unsafe to use because of pollution, Matt Weinstock says. Continue reading →

Posted in Columnists, Comics, Environment, Matt Weinstock | Comments Off on November 25, 1959: Matt Weinstock

November 25, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on November 25, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 25, 1959: Paul Coates has the story of a desperate young mother, her husband in jail and her children going hungry, rejected by all welfare and assistance programs, who abandons her children in a church. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Columnists, Paul Coates, Richard Nixon | Comments Off on November 25, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

November 21, 1959: Matt Weinstock, Nov. 21, 1959

Posted on November 21, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 21, 1959: Matt Weinstock has the story of a man who keeps getting tickets for not having a front plate on his French Panhard. The problem is there’s no place for a license plate. Continue reading →

Posted in #gays and lesbians, Columnists, Comics, Matt Weinstock, Music, Rock 'n' Roll | Comments Off on November 21, 1959: Matt Weinstock, Nov. 21, 1959

Paul V. Coates – Confidential File, Nov. 21, 1959

Posted on November 21, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 21, 1959: A secretary writes to Paul Coates to tell him how she gets even with her practical-joker boss. Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Paul Coates | Comments Off on Paul V. Coates – Confidential File, Nov. 21, 1959