Category Archives: Uncategorized

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Just out of curiosity, I did a Google image search for “loyalty.” I got Johnny Cash flipping the bird (turned into a mock motivational poster); another poster for the Army on its … Continue reading →

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. So what’s your point, Harnisch? Isn’t there a little schadenfreude here in dismantling Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles”? Didn’t … Continue reading →

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Oh dear…. oh dearie, dearie, dear. Just out of curiosity, I decided to check the address Wolfe gave as his home when Bugsy Siegel was killed. This was 803 N. Roxbury Drive … Continue reading →

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. I have a poor track record with movie screenings, being one of the few people to walk out halfway through a sneak preview of “Boogie Nights,” which I thought was terrible. Of … Continue reading →

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. There is an individual on ebay who sells copies of Elizabeth Short’s FBI file for $22 and some bidders drive the price even higher. The fact that the files are available online … Continue reading →

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Our story so far, the two-minute executive summary: Donald H. Wolfe’s book “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles” has introduced the character of … Continue reading →

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Above, one of the formative publications of my youth, which was included with the purchase of the World Book Encyclopedia. The Lookies had a wonderful motto: “We don’t guess, we look it … Continue reading →

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. I was all set, or so I thought, for today’s entry. And then something fell in my lap that I simply couldn’t ignore. Let’s suppose you are an established author with a … Continue reading →

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Several years ago, I was interviewed by a writer for the German magazine Stern about the Black Dahlia case. In explaining what was wrong with the various Dahlia books, I said: “They … Continue reading →

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. I always cut my roses on Jan. 15 as a memorial to Elizabeth Short, because I remember that on the night before the body was found a neighbor had a strange encounter … Continue reading →

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Page 16 In the Black Dahlia books, all roads lead to William Randolph Fowler and it would be interesting to see how a sociologist would make a graph of the incestuous literary … Continue reading →

Note: This is an encore post from 2007. Page 14 “Hansen studied the body and the ‘sacred setting’ for some time before he stood up and said to Finis, ‘We won’t know what we’re really dealing with here until we … Continue reading →

Look what I found while watching the opening of “Some Like It Hot.” Why it’s signage for a 1950s Standard gas station. Hey isn’t that going to be in the shot? Naw, don’t worry about it.

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Pages 12-15 Here’s a riddle: Let’s suppose for a moment that you are writing a historical piece; nothing terribly esoteric for a scholarly journal but something for the average reader. You have … Continue reading →

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Today is the anniversary of the Feb. 10, 1947, Jeanne French murder. Frequently linked to the Black Dahlia in the popular imagination and absurdly claimed as one of the umpteen victims of … Continue reading →

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. I was at a signing at Book Soup last night for Kim Cooper’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” (important note: there’s parking behind the store, otherwise you have to contend with … Continue reading →

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Page 8 In those days Leimert Park was a nice, middle-class neighborhood on the fringe of the more fashionable Adams District west of downtown Los Angeles. Here, in a few words, “Mogul” … Continue reading →

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Page 7 What’s this? Another day on Page 7? Theological scholars don’t scrutinize the Bible this carefully and this is a book you could read in a few hours waiting for a … Continue reading →