Category Archives: Medicine

June 4, 1907: ‘Tiger Fat’ and ‘Nerve Balls’: State Medical Board Charges Chinese Herbalists

Posted on June 4, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. June 4, 1907 Los Angeles After months of inquiries that involved undercover investigators posing as patients, the State Board of Medical Examiners has taken action against Chinese herbalists in Los Angeles. In … Continue reading →

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June 3, 1907: Runaway Couple, Aided by Minister, Leave Parents at the Altar

Posted on June 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. June 3, 1907 Los Angeles It was to be one of the grandest society weddings of the season: An orchestra was hired, a caterer had been selected after lengthy interviews, gowns for … Continue reading →

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May 18, 1947: Friends Raise Money to Buy Prosthetic Legs for Boy Injured by Unexploded Bazooka Shell

Posted on May 18, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 that originally appeared on the 1947project. Members of Cub Scout Pack 522-C gathered more than 32 tons in a paper drive to help buy artificial legs for injured pack member Jackie Cooper, … Continue reading →

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Black L.A. 1947: 10 Black Doctors Admitted to Leading Surgical Society, Raising Number to 14

Posted on January 4, 2018 by lmharnisch

Leon H. Washington Jr., left, publisher of the Sentinel, marches in a picket line with a sign that says “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” in a photo published Jan. 2, 1947. Jan. 2, 1947: At its convention in Cleveland, … Continue reading →

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Jan. 3, 1863: L.A. Paper Calls Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation an Outrage

Posted on January 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

Read all of the Jan. 3, 1863, Los Angeles Star at USC’s digital library. Note: This is an encore post from 2013. Jan. 3, 1863: Of all that you may know about the Emancipation Proclamation, I doubt you have read … Continue reading →

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Jan. 2, 1947: Second Child Dies as Tragedy Strikes Family Again

Posted on January 2, 2018 by lmharnisch

  Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project. Jan. 2, 1947: In the fall of 1939, The Times carried a series of heart-wrenching stories about Dicky Trust, a toddler who was diagnosed with leukemia, which … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Comics, Medicine | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Los Angeles Celebrates Christmas, 1913

Posted on December 25, 2014 by lmharnisch

Dec. 25, 1913: The Times carries a biblical passage across the nameplate (notice the artwork of the new and old Times buildings) and a Page 1 cartoon by Edmund Waller “Ted” Gale. “Cartoonist Gale” frequently drew a character known as … Continue reading →

Posted in 1913, Art & Artists, Food and Drink, Medicine | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights — 4418 Vineland Ave. Yesterday and Today

Posted on May 19, 2014 by lmharnisch

Over the decades, towns and cities undergo great change as they evolve from agrarian societies into metropolitan areas. Multi-unit residential properties, modern office buildings and skyscrapers replace older buildings and styles of architecture, now considered too old-fashioned by some. Many … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Medicine, Preservation | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Chaplin Indicted on Mann Act!

Posted on February 11, 2014 by lmharnisch

Feb. 11, 1944: A P-38 rushes from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara and back in an hour to get penicillin for a Jimmy Doyle, 15 months old, who has peritonitis. “Precious little of the stuff is available and that is … Continue reading →

Posted in 1944, Art & Artists, Aviation, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Medicine, New York, Tom Treanor, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Los Angeles Celebrates Christmas, 1913

Posted on December 25, 2013 by lmharnisch

Dec. 25, 1913: The Times carries a biblical passage across the nameplate (notice the artwork of the new and old Times buildings) and a Page 1 cartoon by Edmund Waller “Ted” Gale. “Cartoonist Gale” frequently drew a character known as … Continue reading →

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Navy Doctors Defuse ‘Human Bomb’

Posted on September 19, 2013 by lmharnisch

Sept. 19, 1943: In a story delayed for wartime, the Associated Press reports that Allen L. Gordon, 23, of Rock Island, Ill., fire control operator third class, was struck Dec. 2 with a 20-millimeter antiaircraft shell that lodged in his … Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, African Americans, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Hollywood, Labor, Medicine, Music, Tom Treanor, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

On the Frontiers of Medicine

Posted on September 3, 2013 by lmharnisch

The complete Sept. 5, 1863, edition of the Los Angeles Star is available at USC and the California Digital Newspaper Collection. Sept. 5, 1863: Dr. J.C. Welsh is apparently too early to be listed in George H. Kress’ “A History … Continue reading →

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Parents Sue Doctor Who Said Baby Girl Was a Boy!

Posted on August 29, 2013 by lmharnisch

Aug. 29, 1943: The family of Marine Cpl. Carroll E. Trego, a radio operator captured in the fall of Wake Island, receives a letter written from a prisoner of war camp in Shanghai. Dr. John M. Andrews is being sued … Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Medicine, Streetcars, Transportation, World War II | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Smallpox Epidemic – Los Angeles, Feb. 7, 1863

Posted on February 5, 2013 by lmharnisch

Read the entire Feb. 7, 1863, edition of the Los Angeles Star from the Huntington Library, scanned by USC. Feb. 7 1863: The coroner holds an inquest in the killing of Christian Hutt. George Wright, the father of accused killer … Continue reading →

Posted in 1863, Animals, Crime and Courts, Homicide, Medicine | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Millennial Moment: Ban on Blood Donations From Gay Men Urged

Posted on January 18, 2013 by lmharnisch

Jan. 18, 1983: Gay men are “known to be at increased risk of acquiring a mysterious and often fatal new disease that suppresses the body’s immune system” so the National Hemophilia Foundation is seeking to bar them from donating blood, … Continue reading →

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Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln’s Outrage!

Posted on January 2, 2013 by lmharnisch

Read all of the Jan. 3, 1863, Los Angeles Star at USC’s digital library. Jan. 3, 1863: Of all that you may know about the Emancipation Proclamation, I doubt you have read anything negative (unless you’re a historian), so the … Continue reading →

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Peace Talks Between U.S., Japan on Verge of Collapse

Posted on December 4, 2011 by lmharnisch

Dec. 4, 1941:Dr. Richard A. Carter, head of the Carter Neurological Clinic in Garden Grove, is accused of negligence in administering a fatal dose during insulin shock treatments for Virginia Lamb, 22, of Anaheim for dementia praecox. It’s unclear from … Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, Medicine, Tom Treanor, World War II, Zoot Suit | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Peace Talks Between U.S., Japan on Verge of Collapse

On the Frontiers of Science – The Virgin Rabbit

Posted on November 23, 2011 by lmharnisch

Nov. 23, 1941: Dr. Herbert Shapiro of the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia has discovered that if you place a bag of ice cubs on the side of a rabbit for 90 minutes, the rabbit may become pregnant. “The ice … Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Animals, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Medicine | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Hollywood Model Dies of Botched Abortion, Nov. 19, 1941

Posted on November 19, 2011 by lmharnisch

This post has be edited. See note at bottom for explanation. Nov. 19, 1941: Angelka Rose Gogich was 18 when she died at Glendale Emergency Hospital after undergoing an abortion. She had be working as a model, hat check girl … Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Abortion, Art & Artists, Black Dahlia, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD, Medicine, Obituaries | Tagged | 1 Comment

Remembering ‘Injun Summer’ – But Not in a Good Way

Posted on October 16, 2011 by lmharnisch

Image: Detail of “Injun Summer” (d. 1992), by John T. McCutcheon, once an annual fall tradition of the Chicago Tribune. The old man tells the boy: “Don’t be skeered — hain’t none around here now, leastways no live ones.’” An … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art & Artists, Chicago, Medicine, Museums, Native Americans, Preservation, Transportation | Tagged , | 1 Comment