Category Archives: Downtown

December 12, 1907: Recreation Center to Be Built in Heart of Industrial District

Posted on December 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 12, 1907: In the gritty, industrial heart of the 8th Ward at Holly Street and St. John, officials are planning a large recreation facility “as an oasis in the wilderness,” The Times says. The building, designed by the firm of Hunt, Eager and Burns, will offer an alternative to “those who have no pleasure grounds but the streets and the saloons,” The Times says, noting: “Happy people are nearly always good people.” Continue reading →

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December 4, 1907: Shooting on Baldwin Ranch Raises Tensions Between Chinese, Latino Workers

Posted on December 4, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 4, 1907: Shooting on Lucky Baldwin’s ranch raises tensions between Chinese and Latino workers. Continue reading →

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November 19, 1960: Gene Autry a Contender in American League Expansion Team

Posted on November 19, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 19, 1960: Gene Autry is a potential bidder for an American League baseball team hoping to start in Los Angeles in 1961. Continue reading →

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November 18, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on November 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 18, 1959: Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-Ill) responds to taxpayers’ fury over a resolution to take all 100 senators to Hawaii for its statehood ceremonies, Paul Coates writes. Continue reading →

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November 15, 1907: Charles Mulford Robinson Drafts a Los Angeles of the Future

Posted on November 15, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 15, 1907: Charles Mulford Robinson proposes a grand boulevard for downtown Los Angeles, from a proposed Union Station ending at a new public library and art gallery. And a new City Hall. Continue reading →

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November 14, 1909: Nude Man Prances on Bunker Hill

Posted on November 14, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 14, 1909: Women call police to report a nude man prancing on Bunker Hill — around Angels Flight. But none of them got a good look at him (ahem) and can’t identify him. Continue reading →

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Rediscovering Los Angeles: Pennies Arrive in L.A., 1881

Posted on November 13, 2025 by lmharnisch

As some (perhaps only collectors) mourn the passing of the penny, here’s a story about the introduction of the 1-cent coin in 1881. From the Los Angeles Examiner’s ‘Rediscovering Los Angeles,” November 13, 1924, Continue reading →

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November 12, 1941: Crowds Line Broadway for Armistice Day Parade

Posted on November 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 12, 1941: Crowds line Broadway in downtown Los Angeles for the annual Armistice Day parade, which marked the end of what used to be called the Great War or the World War – until we had another one. Continue reading →

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November 9, 1941: Roosevelt Declares Early Thanksgiving

Posted on November 9, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 9, 1941: President Roosevelt moves up the date of Thanksgiving to add an extra week of Christmas shopping. Continue reading →

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November 7, 1947: Santa Makes Second Appearance in Downtown L.A.

Posted on November 7, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 7, 1947: Santa Claus makes his *second* visit to downtown Los Angeles. Continue reading →

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October 28, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on October 28, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 28, 1959:  LADIES DAY IN TOKYO:  The flowery era of Madame Butterfly is dying, but not quite dead in the postwar life of Japan, Paul Coates writes, Continue reading →

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October 28, 1938: Mayor investigates honorary LAPD badges

Posted on October 28, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 28, 1938: Mayor Fletcher Bowron calls for an investigation into so-called juice badges given to celebrities and others by the LAPD. This eventually resulted in an overhaul of the badge to its current design. Continue reading →

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October 25, 1943: Restaurant Manager Turns Tables on Robbers

Posted on October 25, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 25, 1943: Three bandits who hit a handful of businesses met their match at a cafe at 1306 S. Main St. when they tried to hold up assistant manager Joe D. Poindexter. As one man leaned across the counter to get the cash, Poindexter grabbed his gun, chased them as they fled and shot one of them. Continue reading →

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October 18, 1957: Matt Weinstock

Posted on October 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 18, 1957: The city health department has a complaint desk and some of the calls would test anyone’s sanity, Matt Weinstock says. Continue reading →

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October 15, 1907: Fire Threatens Orpheum

Posted on October 15, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 15, 1907: Fire breaks out in the four-story building housing the Orpheum Theater and the Elks Hall. Entertainer Minnie Seligman made the smoke and sound of fire engines part of her act. Continue reading →

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October 4, 1943: American Troops Enter Bomb-Shattered Naples

Posted on October 4, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 4, 1943: Tom Treanor says of the liberation of Naples: The Germans left Naples in a truly deplorable condition. In a huge hospital for incurables I myself saw 70 rotting corpses of men, women and children. They were killed in street fighting during the past week and authorities were unable to move their bodies because of the lack of transportation. Continue reading →

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October 1, 1910: ‘A Terrible Roar’

Posted on October 1, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 1, 1910: The Los Angeles Times Building is bombed, killing 20 employees. Continue reading →

Posted in 1910, Crime and Courts, Downtown, Fires, Labor, LAPD | Tagged , | 1 Comment

September 27, 1957: Matt Weinstock

Posted on September 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 27, 1959: Matt Weinstock writes an ode to the single-chamber incinerator, which have been banned. Continue reading →

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September 24, 1957: Matt Weinstock

Posted on September 24, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 24, 1957: Matt Weinstock profiles Red Rowe, host of Panoramic Pacific on KNXT, Channel 2 Continue reading →

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September 20, 1907: Suicide Note — ‘Everything Is Boiling’

Posted on September 20, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 20, 1907: For weeks, Colorado mining investor John Geisel, 57, had confided in his diary as he felt his mind and his life coming unraveled “Good God,” he wrote, “for the first time today I began to fear that I could not control my thoughts.” Continue reading →

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