Category Archives: Food and Drink

January 8, 1907: A Cold Dose of Reality

Posted on January 8, 2026 by lmharnisch

January 8, 1907: Los Angeles is dealing with a severe coal shortage. Coal was rationed to five sacks per customer and the buyers had pick them up at the coal yard. “The only place that hasn’t complained for the lack of coal is hell.” Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Food and Drink, LAPD, Pasadena, Photography, Streetcars | Leave a comment

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide — Pisco Punch

Posted on December 31, 2025 by lmharnisch

For New Year’s Eve, the last of our retro drinking guides: Pisco Punch. Continue reading →

Posted in 1915, 1934, 1939, Food and Drink, San Francisco | Tagged food and drink, Pisco Punch, San Francisco | Comments Off

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide – The Queens Cocktail

Posted on December 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

In today’s edition of the Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide, we have the Queens cocktail, not as in royalty but as in the borough of Queens, New York. Continue reading →

Posted in 1935, 1937, Food and Drink | Tagged 1935, 1937, food and drink, Queens Cocktail | Comments Off

December 30, 1907: Old Soldiers of the Civil War, Held as Drunks, Get Free Run of Jail

Posted on December 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 30, 1907: Six Civil War veterans are jailed on charges of being drunk and rowdy in Sawtelle, the settlement outside the gates of the veterans home. Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Civil War, Crime and Courts, Downtown, Food and Drink, LAPD, Streetcars, Transportation | Tagged #Civil War, 1907, alcohol, crime and courts, food and drink, jails, Sawtelle, veterans | Comments Off

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide — The Bronx Cocktail

Posted on December 29, 2025 by lmharnisch

In our year-end look at retro drinking, The Bronx Cocktail! Continue reading →

Posted in 1934, Food and Drink, Suicide | Tagged 1934, food and drink | Comments Off

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide — The Brooklyn Cocktail

Posted on December 28, 2025 by lmharnisch

In looking at retro drinks, today’s subject is the Brooklyn Cocktail. No, really. Continue reading →

Posted in 1937, Food and Drink | Tagged 1937, food and drink | Comments Off

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide: The Harvey Wallbanger

Posted on December 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

Young persons: This is what grandma and grandpa used to drink (along with the Tequila Sunrise) when they went out in the 1970s. Continue reading →

Posted in 1971, Food and Drink, Music | Tagged 1971, food and drink | Comments Off

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide: A Brief History of the Tom and Jerry

Posted on December 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

Retro Drinking Guide: A brief history of the Tom and Jerry, and no, the drink came before the cartoon characters. Continue reading →

Posted in 1862, Books and Authors, Food and Drink | Tagged 1862, Books and Authors, food and drink | Comments Off

December 26, 1947: No Sympathy for Alcoholics!

Posted on December 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 26, 1947: A Los Angeles Times editorial shows no sympathy for alcoholism or alcoholics. Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Food and Drink, LAPD | Tagged 1947, alcoholism, food and drink, lapd | Comments Off

Los Angeles Celebrates Christmas, 1913

Posted on December 25, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 13, 1913: Celebrating Christmas in Los Angeles by having dinnor at the Cafe Bristol or taking an invigorating bath at Melrose and Gower, location of the Radium Sulphur Springs, which advertises: Drink the most radioactive natural curative mineral water. Continue reading →

Posted in 1913, Art & Artists, Food and Drink, Medicine | Tagged #Christmas, 1913, comics, food and drink, radioactive insanity | Comments Off

December 18, 1947: Jacobowicz Brothers, Orphaned in Holocaust, Arrive in L.A. (Also Turkey Stuffing With Fritos)

Posted on December 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 18, 1947: Orphaned in the Holocaust, the Jacobowicz brothers—Karl, 16, Joseph, 13, and Rudolph, 10—arrive in Los Angeles on the final leg of their journey from Vienna. Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Food and Drink, Frightening Food From the 1940s, Immigration, Religion, World War II | Tagged #Holocaust, 1947, Frightening Food From the 1940s, immigration, religion, World War II | Comments Off

Deccember 17, 1947: Frightening Food From the 1940s — ‘Unusual’ Fruitcake

Posted on December 17, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 17, 1947: A recipe for an “unusual” fruitcake. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a $2,500 fine against Hollywood book dealer Marcell Rodd for selling the obscene book “Call House Madam.” The book, by Serge G. Wolsey, is now available at the Los Angeles Public Library. Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Books and Authors, Comics, Crime and Courts, Food and Drink, Frightening Food From the 1940s | Tagged 10 eggs, 1947, 4 cups flour, crime and courts, food and drink, Frightening Food From the 1940s, fruitcake, obscenity | Comments Off

December 15, 1942: Stripper Discharged From Waacs Was Out of Uniform – and Everything Else

Posted on December 15, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 15, 1942: Kathryn Doris Gregory, a stripteuse who performs as Amber d’Georg, is out of the Waacs for going AWOL. The former chorus girl reported for training, then disappeared and was arrested after performing in a Thanksgiving matinee in Des Moines. Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Columnists, Comics, Food and Drink, Stage, Tom Treanor, World War II | Tagged #wwii, 1942, burlesque, Japanese internment | Comments Off

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, 1938: Breakfast of death; voodoo cult killings

Posted on December 11, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 11, 1938: A family’s ‘Breakfast of Death’; Voodoo Killer Suspect Seized; Man Dressed as Woman Found Hanging From Tree Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1938, Food and Drink, Front Pages, Homicide, LAPD | Comments Off

L.A. Celebrates a Wartime Thanksgiving, 1943

Posted on November 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

Thanksgiving 1943: A wartime Thanksgiving in Los Angeles, with many service personnel welcomed into people’s homes for a holiday meal. Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, Food and Drink, World War II | Tagged #Thanksgiving, 1943, World War II | Comments Off

An 1890s Thanksgiving in the Kitchen

Posted on November 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

Here’s a traditional roast turkey recipe from the “Every-Day Cook-Book and Family Compendium,” written about 1890 by Miss E. Neill. Be sure your fire is bright and clear and watch out for the gall-bag. Continue reading →

Posted in 1890, Food and Drink, From the Stacks | Tagged #1890s, #cookbooks, #recipes, #Thanksgiving, #turkey | Comments Off

November 23, 1947: ‘Lonesome’ Woman Sought Threesomes and Husband, Ex-Wife Says

Posted on November 23, 2025 by lmharnisch

Kitty Higgins in all its uproarious humor. Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project. This was rather a racy edition of The Times, especially for a Sunday paper. Next to the Kertz’s saga, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Chicago, Comics, Crime and Courts, Food and Drink | Tagged 1947, Chicago, comics, crime and courts, higher education, UCLA | Comments Off

November 23, 1938: Nuestro Pueblo — Lincoln Heights

Posted on November 23, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 23, 1938: Artist Charles Owens and reporter Joe Seewerker visit Sam’s Lunch Room, across from the Lincoln Heights Jail. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Food and Drink, Homicide, LAPD, Nuestro Pueblo | Comments Off

November 3, 1958: 44 shopping days until Christmas

Posted on November 3, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 3, 1958: Only 44 shopping days until Christmas. And check out those aluminum trees! Continue reading →

Posted in Fashion, Food and Drink, Religion | Comments Off