Category Archives: LAPD

LAPD Losing Staff to War Effort

Posted on August 1, 2012 by lmharnisch

Aug. 1, 1942: Chief C.B. Horrall announces that the LAPD has lost 22 men and two women to the armed services. By the end of the war, many more officers and staff will have gone into the military, leaving the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD, World War II | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on LAPD Losing Staff to War Effort

Gang Members Seize Prisoners in Police Brawl

Posted on July 31, 2012 by lmharnisch

July 31, 1942: A brawl breaks out at Pomeroy Avenue and Mark Street  when LAPD officers try to break up a dice game involving gang members. The group took three prisoners from police officers, injuring a officer’s hand, sprayed police … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Comics, LAPD, Transportation, World War II | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Remembering Elizabeth Short on Her Birthday

Posted on July 29, 2012 by lmharnisch

July 29 is the birthday of Elizabeth Short. She would have been 88. I prefer to honor this day rather than the date she was found, Jan. 15, 1947.

Posted in 1924, 1947, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, LAPD | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Mickey Cohen on the Record – Talking With Author Tere Tereba

Posted on July 26, 2012 by lmharnisch

Photo: Tere Tereba’s “Mickey Cohen: The Life and Crimes of L.A.’s Notorious Mobster.”   Note: I have been talking with author Tere Tereba about her book “Mickey Cohen: The Life and Crimes of L.A.’s Notorious Mobster.” Was he nothing more  … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and Authors, History, Hollywood, LAPD, Mickey Cohen | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Drunken Brawl at Errol Flynn’s Birthday Party

Posted on June 26, 2012 by lmharnisch

June 26, 1942: A brawl at Errol Flynn’s  32nd birthday party involves Barbara Hutton’s butler – Eric Gosta Hadler —  and Flynn’s secretary and stand-in, James Fleming. Hadler says: “It all happened so suddenly I can’t remember what happened.” Judging … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, LAPD | 1 Comment

Saving L.A. History, One Page at a Time

Posted on June 19, 2012 by lmharnisch

Photo: The LAPD Daily Police Bulletin for Jan. 16, 1947, the day after the Black Dahlia’s body was found. Notice that the Dahlia isn’t mentioned. Credit: Larry Harnisch/LADailyMirror   My latest column for The Times is about Joan Renner and … Continue reading →

Posted in History, LAPD | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Coming Attractions – Vintage Crime, May 24

Posted on May 19, 2012 by lmharnisch

I’m going to be appearing in next week’s Thursdays @ The Globe gathering at The Times at noon on May 24. Jessica Gelt and Julie Makinen are going to talk about the downtown hipster renaissance. I will be on hand … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Dahlia, Coming Attractions, LAPD | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Wife Stabs Abusive Husband to Death as Children Sleep

Posted on May 16, 2012 by lmharnisch

Tips on how to tell Chinese (allies!) from Japanese (enemies!) by cartoonist Milton Caniff. May 16, 1942:  Earl Blaisure came home drunk at 2:30 a.m., picked up his .22 rifle and pointed at his wife, Molly, the latest in what … Continue reading →

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Battle of the Coral Sea, 1942

Posted on May 9, 2012 by lmharnisch

May 9, 1942: Allied forces fight the first what would be six major aircraft carrier battles with the Japanese, the next being the Battle of Midway. On the jump, a war map by Times artist Charles Owens, whom you may … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Comics, LAPD, Obituaries, Stage, World War II | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Battle of the Coral Sea, 1942

Miles Corwin – ‘Midnight Alley’

Posted on May 8, 2012 by lmharnisch

The Daily Mirror stopped by Vroman’s in Pasadena on Sunday to hear our old friend and former Times colleague Miles Corwin discuss his latest book, “Midnight Alley.”

Posted in Books and Authors, LAPD | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Black Dahlia Exhibit – Leslie Dillon

Posted on May 1, 2012 by lmharnisch

This is one of the 1949 photos of Leslie Dillon displayed in the Black Dahlia exhibit at the Los Angeles Police Historical Society. In case you don’t recall, Dillon is the fellow who contacted LAPD psychiatrist J. Paul DeRiver after … Continue reading →

Posted in 1949, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, LAPD, Museums | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Black Dahlia – Los Angeles Police Historical Society

Posted on April 25, 2012 by lmharnisch

The Daily Mirror visited the Los Angeles Police Historical Society on Saturday and stopped in at the Black Dahlia exhibit.

Posted in 1946, Black Dahlia, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Museums | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

‘Full Service’: Fun With Fact-Checking, Part 6

Posted on February 29, 2012 by lmharnisch

In case you just tuned in, I’m doing a little fact-checking as I go through Scotty Bowers’ “Full Service.” This will be fairly tedious except to a research drudge. In our last installment, I didn’t do all that well on … Continue reading →

Posted in 1945, 1946, 1947, Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, World War II | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Over Protests of Racism, ‘The Clansman’ Opens in Los Angeles

Posted on February 9, 2012 by lmharnisch

Feb. 9, 1915: The Los Angeles premiere of D.W. Griffith’s “The Clansman” (later retitled “The Birth of a Nation”) provokes protests and an attempt to prevent Clune’s Auditorium from showing the film, which was based on Thomas Dixon’s “The Clansman.” … Continue reading →

Posted in 1915, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Theaters | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

FBI Smashes Nazi Spy Ring in Beverly Hills: 3 Sent Coded Letters to Third Reich

Posted on January 29, 2012 by lmharnisch

Jan. 29, 1942: The FBI accuses Dr. Hans Helmut Gros, his wife, Frances, and Albrecht Rudolf Curt Reuter of belonging to a Nazi spy ring. According to allegations, Gros, of 328 N. Maple Drive, sent letters to purported relatives that … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, LAPD, Streetcars, Theaters, Transportation, World War II | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Molestation Suspect Questioned in Killing of Girl, 9

Posted on January 25, 2012 by lmharnisch

Jan. 25, 1942: Detectives Harry Fremont and Jack Dwight are questioning Leo M. King, accused of molesting a 5-year-old girl, in the death of Dorothy Lee Gordon. The case of Dorothy Gordon, an African American child who was kidnapped and … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Architecture, Art & Artists, Cold Cases, Columnists, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD, Nuestro Pueblo, World War II | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

The Black Dahlia at 65

Posted on January 15, 2012 by lmharnisch

Photo: Lobby of the Biltmore Hotel, Jan. 9, 2012, 6:30 p.m. Credit: Larry Harnisch/L.A. Daily Mirror. I wandered over to the Biltmore on Monday night to keep my annual appointment. I’m not compulsive about being there, and I don’t bother … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Another Good Story Ruined, Architecture, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Donald Wolfe, Downtown, Film, History, Hollywood, LAPD | Tagged , | 24 Comments

The Black Dahlia: Biltmore Hotel

Posted on January 11, 2012 by lmharnisch

Photo 1: Biltmore Hotel, Jan. 9, 2012, 6:30 p.m. Credit: Larry Harnisch Photo 2: Biltmore Hotel, 1940s The top photo shows the old lobby of the Biltmore on Monday as it was on the anniversary of the night Elizabeth Short … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Architecture, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Donald Wolfe, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, Interior Design, LAPD | Tagged , | 19 Comments

War Workers Start Day With Prayer

Posted on January 4, 2012 by lmharnisch

Photo: The 4200 block of South Olive Street via Google’s Street View. Jan. 4, 1942: William E. Kosdy uses a shovel to dig a two-person bomb shelter in the backyard of his home, 4236 S. Olive St. “I didn’t follow … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Columnists, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, LAPD, Nightclubs, Religion, World War II | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Former LAPD Chief Demoted to Lieutenant

Posted on December 17, 2011 by lmharnisch

Wake Island will fall to the Japanese on Dec. 23, 1941. Dec 17, 1941: Police Chief C. B. Horrall demotes former Chief Arthur C. Hohmann from deputy chief to lieutenant and assigns him to the Highland Park station. Hohmann, who … Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, LAPD, World War II | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Former LAPD Chief Demoted to Lieutenant