Category Archives: Front Pages

November 27, 1964: Secretary Found Stabbed to Death in the ‘Thanksgiving’ Murder

Posted on November 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 27, 1964: Joyce Walker is found stabbed 50 times on Thanksgiving Day, apparently raped and killed by a man who helped her after her car became disabled on the way home from a party. Two Manhattan police officers offered assistance but Walker and the suspect said everything was fine. Continue reading →

Posted in 1964, Front Pages, Homicide, Jack Smith | Comments Off

November 26, 1958: LAPD honors dead officer’s heroism

Posted on November 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 26, 1958: The LAPD posthumously honors Sgt. Gene Nash with a Medal of Valor after he died following a shootout with robbery suspects. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, @news, Cemeteries, Front Pages, Homicide, LAPD, Television | Comments Off

November 26, 1904: UFO over Los Angeles

Posted on November 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 24, 1906: No, this isn’t a flying saucer on a stick. It’s an early attempt at carbon arc street lighting. Continue reading →

Posted in broadcasting, Front Pages, Politics, Science, UFOs | Comments Off

November 22, 1958: Estranged wife kills jealous husband

Posted on November 22, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 22, 1958: Roy Wesley Raines was born in Alabama in 1906 and died on a Burbank street in 1958, killed by his estranged wife, Mary Katherine, with a .22 rifle after he ignored a warning shot. Verdict: Justifiable homicide. Continue reading →

Posted in @news, Front Pages, Homicide | Comments Off

November 22, 1958: Hall of Famer dies after crash

Posted on November 22, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 22, 1958: Hall of Famer Mel Ott, one of the great power hitters of all time, dies after surgery for a kidney injured from a car accident. Continue reading →

Posted in Front Pages, Sports | 3 Comments

November 20, 1958: Valley man killed with hammer

Posted on November 20, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 20, 1958: Ernest Hargis, a city ambulance driver, is found beaten to death with a hammer and shoved under an abandoned car in Pacoima. Continue reading →

Posted in 1958, Front Pages, Homicide | Comments Off

November 19, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on November 19, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 19, 1959: A convicted robber who escaped from jail talks to Paul Coates about why he did it and whether to surrender to police. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1959, Columnists, Front Pages, Paul Coates, Transportation | Comments Off

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 →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Downtown, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD, Parks and Recreation, Paul Coates | Comments Off

November 18, 1958: Mickey Cohen pal back from the dead

Posted on November 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 18, 1959: Mickey Cohen pal is back from the dead! Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1958, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Mickey Cohen | Comments Off

November 17, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on November 17, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 17, 1959: Paul Coates has the story of Beat poet Jerry Baker, arrested while hitchhiking on his way to a coffeehouse. Continue reading →

Posted in Columnists, Front Pages, Paul Coates | Comments Off

November 16, 1958: I Want to Live — The Barbara Graham murder case

Posted on November 16, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 16, 1958: Five years after the execution of Barbara Graham in the Mabel Monahan killing, the story comes to the screen in the Robert Wise film “I Want to Live!” by Nelson Gidding and Don Mankiewicz, starring Susan Hayward in an Oscar-winning performance. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Homicide, San Fernando Valley | Comments Off

November 12, 1958: Teenage hitchhiker killed

Posted on November 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 12, 1958: Daryle Kelch, 17, was kidnapped and killed while hitchhiking. His murder was never solved. Continue reading →

Posted in Front Pages, Homicide, LAPD, Obituaries | 2 Comments

November 8, 1938: Polish Jew shoots Nazi envoy

Posted on November 8, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 8, 1938: In Paris, Herschel Grynszpan, identified as a 17-year-old Polish Jew, shoots the third secretary of the German Embassy, Ernst von Rath. And Nora Ford is at the Follies Burlesque. Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Current Affairs, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Sports | Comments Off

November 3, 1958: Officials turn away football crowds at Coliseum

Posted on November 3, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 3, 1958: More than 100,000 people watch the Rams vs. the Bears at the Coliseum, with 10,000 more people turned away, Keith Thursby writes. Continue reading →

Posted in @news, Film, Freeways, Front Pages, Sports, Transportation | Comments Off

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 →

Posted in #courts, City Hall, Downtown, Front Pages, LAPD, Politics | Comments Off

October 27, 1968: Wilt Chamberlain and Richard Nixon

Posted on October 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 27, 1968: “I’ve never gotten involved in politics before. But you have to get off the fence and declare yourself sometime and this is the time for me. I’ve known Nixon and been impressed by him for 10 years and I decided to join him. It’s intriguing to know that I might have some hand in shaping the future of this country,” Wilt Chamberlain says. Continue reading →

Posted in Front Pages, Politics, Sports | Comments Off

October 22, 1958: Mob suspected in bookie’s killing

Posted on October 22, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 22, 1958: Clifford Rue was a man who was ahead of his time when it came to sports results and behind on the payments to his bookie. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Front Pages, Homicide, LAPD, San Fernando Valley | Comments Off

October 7, 1938: Star pitcher Dizzy Dean walks his last mile

Posted on October 7, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 7, 1938: Dizzy Dean and the Cubs lost to the Yankees, 6-3, in the second game of the 1938 World Series. But it was more than a loss–it might have been the last chapter of a great career. Continue reading →

Posted in Front Pages, Sports | Comments Off

October 6, 1965: Koufax chooses faith over Dodgers

Posted on October 6, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 6, 1965: Sandy Koufax sits out Game 1 of the World Series because it falls on Yom Kippur. Continue reading →

Posted in Dodgers, Front Pages, Religion | Comments Off

October 5, 1958: Lost genius found in homeless camp

Posted on October 5, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 5, 1958: Lost genius Elmer “Mox” Meukel is found living in homeless camp. Continue reading →

Posted in Front Pages, Science | Comments Off