Category Archives: Downtown

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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September 18, 1933: Bandit Killed, LAPD Officers Wounded in Burlesque Theater Shootout

Posted on September 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 18, 1933: Jack Keating, 30, and John Melvin Early, 35, had a plan to rob the Girlesque Theater at 510 S. Main St., but when the shooting was over, Keating was dead and Early and two men who helped plan the robbery were in jail. Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Olvera Street, Salute to Los Angeles’ Spanish Past

Posted on September 16, 2025 by lmharnisch

Mary Mallory looks at the history of the Avila Adobe and Olvera Street in an encore post from 2019. Continue reading →

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September 15, 1947: On Rosh Hashanah, a Call to Mobilize for Peace

Posted on September 15, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 15, 1947: For Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Ernest Trattner tells the congregation that “New beginnings come, not in new seasons, but in new attitudes. Solutions of life’s problems come, not in the passing of time, but in self-discipline and self-dedication.” Continue reading →

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Los Angeles City Hall, September 11, 2011

Posted on September 11, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 11, 2011: On the 10th anniversary of 9/11 a huge flag hangs on the side of Los Angeles City Hall. Continue reading →

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September 6, 1953: Barbara Graham Sobs During Son’s Visit to Jail

Posted on September 6, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 6, 1953: Barbara Graham, on trial in the Mabel Monahan killing, sobs “almost hysterically” as she holds her 18-month-old son, Tommy, during a visit at the Hall of Justice, The Times says. He was in the custody of his grandmother Anne Webb. Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Downtown, Film, Hill Street, Obituaries | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

September 4, 1933: Man Kills Wife and Daughter, Commits Suicide Over Pink Bedroom

Posted on September 4, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 4, 1933: A man fatally stabs his estranged wife and daughter, then slits his throat after an argument because his wife had the bedroom painted pink. Continue reading →

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September 4, 1781: Los Angeles Is Founded

Posted on September 4, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 4, 1781: Los Angeles is founded. A look at various chronicles of its birth. Continue reading →

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September 3, 1943: Los Angeles Tattoo Shops

Posted on September 3, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 2, 1943: One of my favorite finds from the city archives — a visit to Los Angeles’ tattoo shops. Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, Art & Artists, City Hall, Crime and Courts, Downtown, Libraries, Photography, World War II | Comments Off on September 3, 1943: Los Angeles Tattoo Shops

Schaber’s Cafeteria and Einar Petersen

Posted on September 1, 2025 by lmharnisch

Mary Mallory profiles Schaber’s Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles, which featured murals by Einar Petersen. An encore post from 2012. Continue reading →

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