Category Archives: Transportation

Removal of Streetcar Tracks Leaves Ugly Mess in Redondo Beach

Posted on January 5, 2012 by lmharnisch

Jan. 5, 1942: Nazi patrols plow through students protesting in Paris’ Latin Quarter, “firing a warning burst from machine guns over the heads of the crowd” and then proceeding to “clean up the situation,” The New York Times reports. “A … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Environment, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, Streetcars, Tom Treanor, Transportation, World War II | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Removal of Streetcar Tracks Leaves Ugly Mess in Redondo Beach

Japanese Americans Held After ‘Hissing Roosevelt’ in Theater

Posted on January 3, 2012 by lmharnisch

Jan. 3, 1942: Manila falls to the Japanese. “The Bare Facts of 1942” opens at the Aztec, 251 S. Main. Movie theater patrons Tombio Ambo and Shigeki Kayama are in custody after Winifred J. Stephens accused them of hissing a … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, Streetcars, Theaters, Tom Treanor, Transportation, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

L.A. Women Are Slackers in Fighting the Axis!

Posted on December 30, 2011 by lmharnisch

Dec. 30, 1941: It seems that local women didn’t get the memo about the being the “Greatest Generation.” They’re a bunch of slackers in the war against the Axis and don’t want to work as air-raid wardens. “Los Angeles women … Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, Streetcars, Theaters, Tom Treanor, Transportation, World War II | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

4 Die as Streetcar Crushes Auto

Posted on December 29, 2011 by lmharnisch

Photo: 115th Street and Hawthorne Boulevard via Google’s Street View. Dec. 29, 1941: A streetcar heading north on Hawthorne Boulevard hits an automobile at 115th Street after the driver, apparently blinded by rain, entered the intersection. “The streetcar struck the … Continue reading →

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November 27, 1941: Streetcar Companies Ask Council to End Bus Ban in Downtown L.A.

Posted on November 27, 2011 by lmharnisch

November 27, 1941: The Pacific Electric and Los Angeles Railways ask the City Council to repeal a ban against buses operating in downtown Los Angeles. Pacific Electric officials said the ban prevented them from routing the line from Los Angeles … Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Streetcars, Tom Treanor, Transportation, World War II | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Crowds Line Broadway for Armistice Day Parade, Nov. 12, 1941

Posted on November 12, 2011 by lmharnisch

We just don’t get deep thoughts in comics anymore. Nov. 12, 1941: Crowds line Broadway in downtown Los Angeles for the annual Armistice Day parade, which marked the end of what used to be called the Great War or the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, A Kinder, Simpler Time, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Streetcars, Theaters, Tom Treanor, Transportation, World War II | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

L.A.’s Traffic Nightmare Threatens Downtown’s Future! Oct. 28, 1941

Posted on October 28, 2011 by lmharnisch

Oct. 28, 1941: Lee Shippey writes about Los Angeles’ congested streets (no, traffic is not a new problem – it’s a very old one that we are still trying to solve). Notice that Shippey says streetcars and automobiles do not … Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Freeways, Hollywood, Lee Shippey, Obituaries, Streetcars, Tom Treanor, Transportation, World War II | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Pasadena’s ‘Fork in the Road’ Returns

Posted on October 23, 2011 by lmharnisch

Pasadena’s famous “Fork in the Road” has returned!

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Marion Eisenmann: Artist’s Notebook

Posted on October 19, 2011 by lmharnisch

“Coke Beetle” by Marion Eisenmann. Marion Eisenmann sends along a sketch she calls “Coke Beetle,” a Volkswagen painted Coca-Cola red that was at the swap meet in Pomona last weekend. Marion originally sent it to me as a black and … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Artists, Artist's Notebook, Coming Attractions, Marion Eisenmann, Transportation | Tagged , | Comments Off on Marion Eisenmann: Artist’s Notebook

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

John Wayne Gacy Victim to Be Exhumed for DNA Tests

Posted on October 7, 2011 by lmharnisch

Dec. 27, 1978: Four more bodies are found under the home of John Wayne Gacy. Adam Nagourney of the New York Times reports on the slow process of bringing a 21-foot granite boulder to the Los Angeles County Museum of … Continue reading →

Posted in 1978, Architecture, Art & Artists, Crime and Courts, Homicide, Museums, Obituaries, Transportation | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Main Street Revisited

Posted on September 29, 2011 by lmharnisch

I picked up “A Southern California Album: Selected Photographs, 1880-1900” at the Last Bookstore the other day and was pleased to discover a number of pictures by C.C. Pierce, including this shot of Main Street looking south from 3rd Street … Continue reading →

Posted in 1880, 1900, Books and Authors, Downtown, Photography, Streetcars, Transportation | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Daily Mirror Road Trip: Wavecrest 2011 [Updated]

Posted on September 17, 2011 by lmharnisch

Photo: Model A woodie. Credit: Larry Harnisch/LADailyMirror.com I haven’t been to Wavecrest, the annual gathering of woodies at Moonlight Beach, in more than a decade, so I drove down Saturday. Here’s what I saw:

Posted in Photography, Retro, San Diego, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

John Wayne Gacy Victim May Be Exhumed

Posted on September 16, 2011 by lmharnisch

Photo: The last Crown Vic rolls off the Ford assembly line. Leslie Luebbers,the director of the Art Museum at the University of Memphis and head of the Paul Revere William Project will give a lecture on the famed African American … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Architecture, Art & Artists, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Music, Preservation, Transportation | Tagged , , | Comments Off on John Wayne Gacy Victim May Be Exhumed

Cruising Bunker Hill, 1940s

Posted on September 14, 2011 by lmharnisch

Writing for On Bunker Hill, my crime buddy Nathan Marsak has done a breakdown of shots in a 6-minute film that turned up at archive.org. The footage was apparently filmed as background for an unidentified movie. Let’s see if we … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Downtown, Film, Transportation | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

California Raises Speed Limit to 55 mph!

Posted on September 10, 2011 by lmharnisch

Sept. 10, 1941: California gets ready to raise the speed limit to 55 mph and the Auto Club will be posting new signs. That’s right, the Auto Club posted highway signage. Jimmie Fidler says: There’s something sadly amiss when an … Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Transportation, World War II | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Mystery Film of Los Angeles [Updated]

Posted on September 8, 2011 by lmharnisch

Photo: Nathan Marsak tests the latest Ford. Curbed LA’s link to this 1917 Ford travelogue on Los Angeles has been passed around until I finally saw it. How many of these locations do you recognize? Here’s footage of streetcars and … Continue reading →

Posted in 1917, Downtown, Film, Mystery Photo, Streetcars, Transportation | Tagged | 6 Comments

Labor Day, 1886

Posted on September 5, 2011 by lmharnisch

Sept. 7, 1886: The Times publishes a roundup of events marking  Labor Day, but there are no reports of any celebrations in Los Angeles. On the jump, Labor Day, 1891, is celebrated on the West Coast, but there’s nothing about … Continue reading →

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Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on August 31, 2011 by lmharnisch

Here’s another mystery photo courtesy of Steven Bibb! Interesting pose. Look how she’s got her feet. [Update: This is Rosita Diaz, who was reportedly executed by firing squad “for using her Latin charms as a spy.”]

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography, Transportation | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

LAPD Pistol Team – 1934 [Updated]

Posted on August 21, 2011 by lmharnisch

Photo: The LAPD pistol team puts on a demonstration at the Auto Club headquarters in 1934. Credit: “Three Cars in Every Garage: A Motorist’s History of the Automobile and the Automobile Club of Southern California,” Page 164. Did they really … Continue reading →

Posted in 1934, Books and Authors, LAPD, Photography, Transportation | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments