Category Archives: Downtown

Found on EBay

Posted on April 9, 2008 by lmharnisch

Here’s a pretty little postcard I spotted on EBay. The building on the left is quite distinctive, although I can’t identify it. Maybe someone will recognize it. The photographer was looking north when he snapped this image of a day … Continue reading →

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April 7, 1938

Posted on April 7, 2008 by lmharnisch

Above, the Nazis begin taxing synagogues retroactive to Jan. 1, 1938, and ship former Austrian officials to Dachau. The Rev. Martin Niemoeller, by the way, survived the war. Below, Police Capt. Earle Kynette hires former state Sen. George W. Rochester … Continue reading →

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April 2, 1908: Great White Fleet Out of Tunes, Seeks Songs in the Key of Sea

Posted on April 2, 2008 by lmharnisch

Above, the tars of the Great White Fleet are fed up with the same old songs. I’m not sure about “I’m Afraid to Go Home in the Dark,” but I did find a song titled “I Used to Be Afraid … Continue reading →

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March 31, 1938

Posted on March 31, 2008 by lmharnisch

Above, film novice Charlie McCarthy blows his top. Below, vegetable peddler George Sakalis, a key witness in the Earle Kynette case, gets additional protection after complaining that he is being followed by private detectives … The head of the VFW … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, City Hall, Downtown, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, LAPD | Tagged , | 1 Comment

March 30, 1938: Times Opposes U.S. Haven for Jewish Refugees Fleeing Hitler

Posted on March 30, 2008 by lmharnisch

Above, The Times editorial page opposes allowing wholesale immigration of German and Austrian Jews to America. The Times notes that they would be penniless and that many of them would either go on welfare or take jobs from Americans. Instead, … Continue reading →

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Downtown rebirth

Posted on March 27, 2008 by lmharnisch

March 27, 1938Los Angeles Above, plans to modernize Philharmonic Auditorium at 5th Street and Olive, across from Pershing Square and on a diagonal from the Biltmore. And yes, today it’s a parking lot. A postcard of the new auditorium in … Continue reading →

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March 22, 1938

Posted on March 22, 2008 by lmharnisch

Above, "Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife," from Ernst Lubitsch. Below, Earle Kynette’s last attempt to get out of jail is rejected as his defense prepares for a trial to begin April 12 … Carl Warr is arrested 25 years after strapping a … Continue reading →

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March 22, 1908: Plans for a New Hall of Records

Posted on March 22, 2008 by lmharnisch

Above, an artist’s concept of the proposed Hall of Records, a white gingerbread building between Broadway and New High Street that was one of the landmarks of old Los Angeles.

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Main Street

Posted on March 18, 2008 by lmharnisch

Photograph by Bruce H. Cox / Los Angeles Times Goodfellows (or Good Fellows, the restaurant used both names) Grotto, 341 S. Main St., shortly before it closed. Notice the old-fashioned "Family Entrance." Until it closed on New Year’s Eve in … Continue reading →

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March 9, 1938

Posted on March 9, 2008 by lmharnisch

Above, two movies you will not find on Netflix … The Harry Raymond bombing takes a crucial turn with the beginning of a campaign to recall Mayor Frank Shaw … A writ of habeas corpus is denied for Police Capt. … Continue reading →

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March 3, 1908

Posted on March 3, 2008 by lmharnisch

Above, Judge Smith tries to sort out a drunken brawl between neighbors … Police arrest John Herr, a local red agitator, during a speech at 7th and Grand as the nation fears the spread of anarchy …   Three reds are … Continue reading →

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Raymond bombing

Posted on March 1, 2008 by lmharnisch

March 1, 1938 Los Angeles Reinforcements pour into Graz, Austria, in an effort gain control over Nazi unrest. Below, The Times spills lots of ink over "industrial freedom" … Officers are assigned to protect vegetable peddler George Sakalis, a witness … Continue reading →

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LAPD HQ

Posted on February 29, 2008 by lmharnisch

Photograph by Larry Harnisch / Los Angeles Times The new police headquarters under construction at Spring and 2nd streets, Feb. 28, 2008. Email me

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Pacific Electric station

Posted on February 28, 2008 by lmharnisch

Regular reader Callbox Sam passes along a photo showing the Pacific Electric building on Hill Street. Hmm. This doesn’t look like the drawing in the Feb. 28, 1908, Times. Aha! Note that the story says the 1908 station is only … Continue reading →

Posted in Downtown, Transportation | 1 Comment

Feb. 28, 1958

Posted on February 28, 2008 by lmharnisch

Studio executive Harry Cohn dies … On the jump, the rest of the Cohn obituary … A man commits suicide by jumping from the Subway Terminal Building … Pilot whale Bubbles "celebrates" a year in captivity … The Fire Department … Continue reading →

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Raymond bombing

Posted on February 26, 2008 by lmharnisch

Feb. 26, 1938Los Angeles Above, now playing at the Mason Opera House. Below, Harry Raymond’s wife identifies Police Capt. Earle Kynette as a prowler she saw near their garage before the bombing that nearly killer her husband … Charges of … Continue reading →

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Feb. 26, 1938: ‘Snow White’ Inspires ‘Dopey’ Dance

Posted on February 25, 2008 by lmharnisch

  A dance that apparently didn’t catch on … Below, Police Chief James Davis testifies before the Los Angeles County Grand Jury in the Harry Raymond bombing … And the grand jury considers indictments on charges that a bookmaking syndicate … Continue reading →

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Feb. 25, 1908

Posted on February 25, 2008 by lmharnisch

An "instantaneous heater" explodes while a man is taking a bath and the fire destroys much of the home at 1201 W. 7th. … A fire caused by crossed wires in the attic destroys a home at 2659 Ellendale Place … Continue reading →

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Mass transit

Posted on February 19, 2008 by lmharnisch

Photograph by Bruce H. Cox / Los Angeles Times I went down into the archives last night and pulled the original photo of Ralph P. Merritt, head of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, and our 1958 rapid transit plan. The map … Continue reading →

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Raymond bombing

Posted on February 19, 2008 by lmharnisch

Feb. 19, 1938Los Angeles Antisemitism in Austria … Earle Kynette is indicted in the Harry Raymond bombing … Unrest in the Mideast … On the jump, two men are executed at San Quentin in a double hanging.   Email me

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