Category Archives: LAPD

On the menu: domestic strife

Posted on September 13, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Sept. 13, 1957 Los Angeles Information on Gene Leonard Cornforth is a bit sketchy, but he certainly had interesting taste in women. Take the first Mrs. Cornforth, Maureen. After she and Gene divorced, her boss at Hughes Aircraft, David … Continue reading →

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Mystery guest revealed

Posted on September 11, 2007 by lmharnisch

Anthony Brancato, killed Aug. 6, 1951, 1648 N. Ogden Drive, Hollywood, along with Anthony Trombino in the “Two Tonys Murder.” Jimmy “The Weasel” Fratianno eventually confessed to the killings.

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Stag film raid

Posted on September 10, 2007 by lmharnisch

Feb. 10, 1957Los Angeles I stumbled across this story while researching yesterday’s post on South-Central vice raids and it was too wonderful to ignore. It sounds almost like one of the “Honeymooners” episodes involving Ralph Cramden, Ed Norton and the … Continue reading →

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South-Central Vice

Posted on September 9, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Sept. 8-12, 1957 Los Angeles Let's suppose you are the mayor of the nation's third-largest city. Let's further suppose that your wife has received several letters complaining about rampant crime in a heavily minority neighborhood. You might turn the … Continue reading →

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Police and the courts

Posted on September 8, 2007 by lmharnisch

I missed this op/ed piece when it came out July 19, 1957. It was certainly a different era for the police.

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A rambling man

Posted on September 6, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Sept. 6, 1957 Los Angeles Kindly, mild-mannered and quiet, The Traveler, 51, was the last person anyone would suspect of a crime. He seemed more like a Sunday school teacher, which he had been, or perhaps an itinerant newsman. … Continue reading →

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Matt Weinstock

Posted on September 5, 2007 by lmharnisch

Matt Weinstock Sept. 5, 1957 An Altadena family took off recently on a trip to Europe. The other day, the next-door neighbor, Ed Murray, was advised by his youngster that a skunk was trapped in the cement crawl hole at … Continue reading →

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Fried Rice

Posted on August 31, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Aug. 29-30, 1957 Los Angeles The poor thing died as hardboiled as she had lived: Renting a junky room in an old house that had been cut up into apartments. The landlord said she’d been sick for the last … Continue reading →

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Fuzzy Pink Nightgown

Posted on August 23, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Aug. 23, 1957Los Angeles Bad things happen when two men (Ralph Meeker and Keenan Wynn) abduct a movie star (Jane Russell). It turns out that her upcoming film is "The Kidnapped Bride" and everyone–including the studio and the alleged … Continue reading →

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The Choirboys

Posted on August 22, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 17-22, 1957 Los Angeles Officers Robert J. Steele, 25, and James K. Sherratt, 28, were sitting in Steele’s car at 4 a.m. after finishing their shifts at Newton Division when a gunman tried to rob them, The Times said. … Continue reading →

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Los Feliz strangler

Posted on August 20, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 20, 1957Los Angeles It’s late afternoon and we’re parked outside a 1926 bungalow at 4020 Holly Knoll Drive. Pretty soon the street will be full of police and reporters, but right now everything is quiet. Ready? Let’s go in. … Continue reading →

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The vexations of research

Posted on August 19, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Aug. 18, 1957 Los Angeles Nearly a century ago, Los Angeles had the wisdom and foresight to appoint the first policewoman in the United States–or was she? Alice Stebbins Wells is usually given that distinction today, but the record … Continue reading →

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You Have Got to Be Kidding Me

Posted on August 14, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 15, 1957Los Angeles

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Jean Spangler

Posted on August 12, 2007 by lmharnisch

  I was listening to the prayers of the people during today’s church service and was shocked to hear "Jean Spangler"  among the names. I told myself it could be a coincidence. Maybe it was someone else named Jean Spangler, … Continue reading →

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Four-time loser

Posted on August 12, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 12, 1957Los Angeles John Gordon Fawcett, 42, had enough. His last three marriages had ended with his wives getting boyfriends and so when he found his fourth wife in the bedroom with another man…. “This happens every time,” he … Continue reading →

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Mickey Cohen–author

Posted on August 4, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 4, 1957 Oceanside Box 7, Folders 216-229 of the Ben Hecht archives at the Newberry Library in Chicago appear to contain whatever was produced during the time Hecht worked with gangster Mickey Cohen on the story of the mobster’s … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, art and artists, books, Film, LAPD, Mickey Cohen, Nightclubs | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

‘I Hate Cops!’

Posted on August 2, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 2, 1957Los Angeles It was St. Patrick’s Day, 1957, and a few customers got rowdy in a bar at Pico Boulevard and Figueroa Street. Police Officer Leo Wise separated a couple of men who were fighting and ordered them … Continue reading →

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Countdown to Watts

Posted on August 2, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 1-7, 1957Los Angeles A search through The Times for early August reveals several stories about Chief William H. Parker being honored for 30 years service with the Los Angeles Police Department. In a luncheon at the Biltmore Bowl hosted … Continue reading →

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Spanish blood

Posted on August 1, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 1, 1957Los Angeles Maybe it’s heat, maybe it’s the smog (what would be a Stage 3 alert today), but The Times is full of odd crime news. A rabid 2-year-old fox terrier mix went on a rampage starting at … Continue reading →

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Women attacked

Posted on July 31, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 31, 1957Los Angeles In the continuing assaults across the city, a North Hollywood housewife fought off an intruder while a 60-year-old Hollywood woman was saved from strangling by the staff of her Hollywood apartment building after she was grabbed … Continue reading →

Posted in Hollywood, Hollywood Division, Homicide, LAPD, San Fernando Valley | 1 Comment