Category Archives: LAPD

Random queries

Posted on July 30, 2007 by lmharnisch

The hits for the Daily Mirror blog show that someone is researching the Feb. 13, 1969, robbery of the Bank of America at 3320 S. Hill. Here’s your answer: The Times wrote very little about the case, although police killed … Continue reading →

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Cold case solved

Posted on July 29, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 25-31, 1957Los Angeles Nine minutes after the cyanide pellets were dropped in the gas chamber at San Quentin, James Lewis Feldkamp,  25, who had once tried to become an LAPD officer, was dead. If he hadn’t been turned down … Continue reading →

Posted in Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Attack in Griffith Park

Posted on July 27, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 27, 1957Los Angeles I’m going to describe a neighborhood and you guess where it is: Gay women living together, speaking Armenian and working for nonprofits. (OK, I’m exaggerating slightly). Also lots of foreign-born urbanites and “makin’ it singles.” That’s … Continue reading →

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Voices–Lew Irwin

Posted on July 27, 2007 by lmharnisch

Longtime broadcaster Lew Irwin operates Studio Briefing, an Internet-based daily digest of entertainment industry news. This is his story about reporting on the NAACP brutality lawsuits against the Police Department. I was working for KPOL… I was the news director … Continue reading →

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Never seen again

Posted on July 26, 2007 by lmharnisch

When Dr. George Ripley Fuller vanished, he left few clues and countless questions. What we don’t know about him would fill a book while the facts cover a page or two at most. We know he was 27 when he … Continue reading →

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Matt Weinstock

Posted on July 25, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 25, 1957 You know how some newspapermen are–gay and carefree. Well, a reporter–let’s call him Mac–was driving home the other day after suitably observing the decline of common sense with a few literate friends. Two blocks from his home, … Continue reading →

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Police shakeup

Posted on July 25, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 25, 1957Los Angeles As surprising as it seems now, there was a time when the Los Angeles newspapers actively covered top-ranking personnel at the LAPD. Most readers would be hard-pressed to name the current head of Robbery-Homicide (Capt. Kyle … Continue reading →

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CSI–2007

Posted on July 24, 2007 by lmharnisch

I had the good fortune to attend the first day of the International Assn. for Identification convention in San Diego yesterday and although most of the sessions are focused on new technologies, I was there to talk about the past, … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, @news, books, Crime and Courts, Current Affairs, Homicide, LAPD, Robberies, Science | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on CSI–2007

What happened on Dunsmuir

Posted on July 20, 2007 by lmharnisch

These appear to be four rather ordinary West Adams district homes from the late 1920s and early ’30s and in many ways they are. Photographs by Larry Harnisch Los Angeles Times This is 2435 S. Dunsmuir Ave. This is 2308 … Continue reading →

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Liberace’s mother beaten

Posted on July 19, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 19, 1957Los Angeles Hours after Liberace gave a deposition in his $25-million libel suit against Confidential magazine, two masked intruders attacked his mother in the garage of Liberace’s home, 15405 Valley Vista Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Frances Liberace Casadonte, (68, … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, LAPD, San Fernando Valley | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

You, the jury, Part II

Posted on July 19, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 19, 1957 Los Angeles The jury convicted Wallace LeRoy Schiers of second-degree murder on July 18, 1957. But Schiers continued to insist that he did not kill his wife. He said: “I have nothing on my conscience. Somewhere along … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Homicide, LAPD, San Fernando Valley | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Matt Weinstock

Posted on July 18, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 18, 1957 Don Bailey Jr. has no red tab on his rear license plate. He applied for it like other motorists during the renewal period but never received it. Apparently it was lost in the processing at Sacramento or … Continue reading →

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Missing woman found

Posted on July 18, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Mildred Hall, 44, who vanished Nov. 15, 1956, and was the subject of a Paul Coates column, resurfaced in April 1959, posing as many baffling questions as she did when she disappeared after leaving a note for her husband, … Continue reading →

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Paul V. Coates–Confidential File

Posted on July 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 15, 1957 SUBJECT’S NAME: Mildred Dolores Hall. SUBJECT’S DESCRIPTION: Age, 42, height, 5 feet, 6 inches. Weight, 118 lbs., Red-blond hair. Brown eyes. Slim-medium build. Any person with information as to the subject’s whereabouts is requested to contact the … Continue reading →

Posted in Columnists, LAPD, Paul Coates | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

You, the jury, Part I

Posted on July 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 16, 1957 Los Angeles Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have heard the witnesses and seen the evidence. Now you must decide whether to find Wallace LeRoy Schiers, 34, guilty of second-degree murder in the killing his … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1957, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD, San Fernando Valley | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Sea bag murder

Posted on July 13, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 12-13, 1957 Los Angeles Two men from the Harbor Department were picking trash out of the main channel at Terminal Island when they saw the big canvas bag–twice the size of a Navy sea bag–drifting against the pier … Continue reading →

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Matt Weinstock

Posted on July 11, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 11, 1957 There was a traffic tie-up at the Harbor turnoff the other day as Inspectors Ed Walker and Bob Houghton were traveling inbound on the Hollywood Freeway. They threaded their way through it and came upon a woman … Continue reading →

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Bar brawl

Posted on July 11, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 10-11, 1957Los Angeles There isn’t much in doubt about what happened that night in NorthHollywood; the only mystery comes much later. That night, Frank “Puggy”Sica, 40, and Salvatore Di Giovanni, 39, were having a few drinks withRonnie Kopp … Continue reading →

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Literary diversions

Posted on July 7, 2007 by lmharnisch

Detective Sgt. Joe Wambaugh gets in trouble for writing a book. Nov. 18, 1970. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

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Gail Russell–in memoriam

Posted on July 5, 2007 by lmharnisch

Photographs by the Los Angeles Times Sgt. C.H. Specht examines damage to Jan’s Restaurant, 8424 Beverly Blvd., caused by Gail Russell’s convertible.  Below right, Russell fails a test for intoxication administered by Specht. July 6, 1957 Los Angeles You poor … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Cemeteries, Film, Hollywood, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , | 21 Comments