Category Archives: Crime and Courts

Playwright Clifford Odets Held for DUI

Posted on September 8, 2012 by lmharnisch

Sept. 8, 1942:Playwright Clifford Odets of 8729 Lookout Mountain Ave. is arrested on charges of drunk driving and speeding on Roosevelt Highway (Pacific Coast Highway) at Topanga Canyon.  CHP officers say Odets refused to stop until they forced him off … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Books and Authors, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Stage, World War II | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

30 Firefighters Escape Blaze in Box Canyon

Posted on August 24, 2012 by lmharnisch

Aug. 24, 1942: Sheriff’s deputies break up a planned fight between the Lincoln Heights Square John gang and the Huntington Park Levis gang at Central and Florence avenues, arresting 17 members of the Square John gang (no members of the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, World War II | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

LAPD Losing Staff to War Effort

Posted on August 1, 2012 by lmharnisch

Aug. 1, 1942: Chief C.B. Horrall announces that the LAPD has lost 22 men and two women to the armed services. By the end of the war, many more officers and staff will have gone into the military, leaving the … Continue reading →

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Keaton Sons Change Names to Talmadge

Posted on June 30, 2012 by lmharnisch

July 2, 1942: Buster Keaton’s sons Robert, 18, and James, 20, legally change their last names to Talmadge after a petition to the court by Keaton’s ex-wife Natalie Talmadge. Lee Gilcrease, 29, kills his wife, Ethel, and commits suicide in … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, San Fernando Valley, Suicide | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Keaton Sons Change Names to Talmadge

Man Held as ‘Orchid Bandit’

Posted on June 27, 2012 by lmharnisch

June 27, 1942: James D. Hannah liked orchids. He liked them so much that he usually gave several of them to his girlfriends to put in their hair, a habit that led to his arrest when robbery victim  Elva Sieburg … Continue reading →

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Drunken Brawl at Errol Flynn’s Birthday Party

Posted on June 26, 2012 by lmharnisch

June 26, 1942: A brawl at Errol Flynn’s  32nd birthday party involves Barbara Hutton’s butler – Eric Gosta Hadler —  and Flynn’s secretary and stand-in, James Fleming. Hadler says: “It all happened so suddenly I can’t remember what happened.” Judging … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, LAPD | 1 Comment

Church Organist Accused of Killing Parents

Posted on June 20, 2012 by lmharnisch

June 20, 1942: Officials of San Diego’s streetcar system are dismayed that the 20 surplus cars obtained from New York are in worse shape than the ones San Diego scrapped two years earlier. San Diego acquired the cars in an … Continue reading →

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Judge Cites ‘Right of Battle’ in Sentencing Conscientious Objector

Posted on June 16, 2012 by lmharnisch

June 16, 1942:  Robert Lee Allen is sentenced to five years in federal prison for refusing to enlist in the Army. Judge Jeremiah Neter, 80, noted that Allen had not used the available provisions to file for conscientious objector status … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Food and Drink, Music, Religion, Stage, World War II | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Gang Member Held in Shooting That Sparked Coliseum Riot

Posted on June 14, 2012 by lmharnisch

June 14, 1942:   Police arrest Oscar Fierro, 18, an alleged member of the East First Street Gang, in the shooting of Frank Torres, a purported member of the Clanton Street Gang, who was wounded in the head while leaving the … Continue reading →

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Now Hiring: Douglas Aircraft of Santa Monica

Posted on June 12, 2012 by lmharnisch

June 12, 1942: The Douglas plant in Santa Monica is hiring men – and women! Betty Rowland, the Ball of Fire, is at the Follies Theatre. Lionel Atwill refuses to testify before the Los Angeles County Grand Jury about charges … Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, 1942, Art & Artists, Aviation, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Theaters, Transportation | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Wife Stabs Abusive Husband to Death as Children Sleep

Posted on May 16, 2012 by lmharnisch

Tips on how to tell Chinese (allies!) from Japanese (enemies!) by cartoonist Milton Caniff. May 16, 1942:  Earl Blaisure came home drunk at 2:30 a.m., picked up his .22 rifle and pointed at his wife, Molly, the latest in what … Continue reading →

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Times Wins Pulitzer for Public Service

Posted on May 4, 2012 by lmharnisch

May 5, 1942: The Times wins a Pulitzer Prize for public service. The prize was awarded after The Times fought contempt of court charges for publishing editorials on pending cases. The dispute began in 1938 when a group from the … Continue reading →

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Snake Killer Dies on Gallows

Posted on May 2, 2012 by lmharnisch

May 2, 1942: Major Raymond Lisenba, better known as Robert S. “Rattlesnake” James, becomes the 214th and last person to be executed by hanging in California. James was hanged because the murder of his wife occurred in 1935, before the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Homicide, World War II | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Doolittle Raiders Bomb Tokyo

Posted on April 18, 2012 by lmharnisch

April 18, 1942:  The Doolittle Raiders, flying from the carrier Hornet, bomb Tokyo. According to DoolittleRaider.com, the  five surviving crew members are scheduled to attend the 70th reunion, which is being held through April 20 at the National Museum of … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, African Americans, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Labor, Streetcars, Tom Treanor | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Internment of Japanese Farmers Causes Food Shortage

Posted on April 16, 2012 by lmharnisch

April 16, 1942: If you send all the Japanese farmers to internment camps, there’s no one to grow strawberries, tomatoes, carrots, green peas and onions. Oops. Charlotte LeNordtestifies that she killed her foster mother Celeste Frank — who read palms … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, World War II | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Explosion in Caltech Secret Project Kills 1, Injures 6

Posted on March 28, 2012 by lmharnisch

March 28, 1942: A fiery explosion during a secret experiment at the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory kills Raymond L. Robey and injures six others. Robey was thrown 50 feet by the force of the explosion, which scorched the four-story building, The … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Abortion, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Hollywood | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Manzanar Internment Camp Rising Rapidly in Owens Valley

Posted on March 20, 2012 by lmharnisch

March 20, 1942: A crew of 400 carpenters working 10-hour shifts is hurriedly building the internment camp at Manzanar for “10,000 alien and American-born Japanese from Los Angeles and other Southern California cities,” The Times says. “Manzanar is the former … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, World War II | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Eve Golden: Queen of the Dead

Posted on March 19, 2012 by lmharnisch

Photo: A Johnny Lightning Santa Monica Maniacs Haulin’ Hearse listed on EBay with bids starting at $1.30. Queen of the Dead – dateline March 19, 2012   •  The Telegraph has come through with another corking portrait of a colorful … Continue reading →

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FBI Arrests Buddhist Priests in Japanese Roundup

Posted on March 14, 2012 by lmharnisch

  March 14, 1942: The FBI leads arrests of Buddhist priests, teachers, photographers, housewives, gardeners and businessmen in the continuing roundup of “enemy aliens.” Among the arrested was the Rev. Hiroshi Izumi of the Japanese Congregational Church in Santa Barbara. … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, World War II | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Eve Golden: Queen of the Dead

Posted on March 12, 2012 by lmharnisch

Photo: A 1957 side-loading Cadillac hearse listed on EBay, with bids starting at $15,900 (there is a reserve).   Queen of the Dead – dateline March 12, 2012 •  Photographer Stan Stearns (who died on March 2, age 76) will … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Courts, Eve Golden, Film, Found on EBay, Obituaries, Queen of the Dead, Television | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment