| Larry Harnisch Reflects on L.A. History | Page 105

Dec. 31, 1907: Old Watchman, Beaten by Robbers, Revealed as Cocaine Addict

Posted on December 31, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Dec. 31, 1907
Los Angeles

His name was W.H. Reynolds and the old watchman for E.H. Howard Contracting had laid out all night after being beaten up and thrown in the weeds by two robbers who said they were garbage men looking for the closest dump.

A woman who saw the assault contacted the University Station and police searched all night in the area around Alameda Street and Washington Boulevard, where Reynolds lived in a small, ragged tent. It wasn’t until daylight that two patrolmen found him lying face down and he was taken to the Receiving Hospital.

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Posted in 1907, LAPD, Medicine, Streetcars | Tagged 1907, cocaine, crime and courts, drug addiction, medicine | Comments Off

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide – The Queens Cocktail

Posted on December 30, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2017.

Joe Vogel asks if there was a Queens Cocktail. The answer is yes.

According to the Jamaica Long Island Daily Press, Jan. 24, 1935, the Queens Cocktail debuted at the Hotel Commodore in a toast to President Roosevelt. Via Fultonhistory.com.

(No word yet on the Staten Island Cocktail — and boy that sounds like a straight line).

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Posted in 1935, 1937, Food and Drink | Tagged 1935, 1937, food and drink, Queens Cocktail | Comments Off

News Quiz, 1947: How Many Stories of the Year Do You Know?

Posted on December 30, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Tiems, 1947

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

I think of it as a report card from the past. For the last few months, the 47P has explored stories that seemed important or unusual, funny or quirky or simply said something about the city and the era.

At the end of the year, George Gallup polled Americans on the top stories of the year. Some will be familiar to 47P regulars and others didn’t get a mention. Let’s see how it went.

Gallup said the following were the 15 most frequently mentioned in order of votes received:

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Posted in 1947, Fashion, Film, Hollywood, Labor, Middle East, Politics, Sports | Tagged 1947, Baseball, film, hollywood, Jackie Robinson, labor, Rose Bowl, sports | Comments Off

Dec. 30, 1907: Old Soldiers of the Civil War, Held as Drunks, Get Free Run of Jail

Posted on December 30, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Dec. 30, 1907
Los Angeles

James Sullivan, 64, was a prisoner of the Confederates held at Belle Isle, Libby and Andersonville, where he and war correspondent Albert D. Richardson escaped by tunneling for three months with a spoon.

Henry Russell, formerly of the 4th Cavalry, was held at Andersonville and Benjamin L. Gorsuch of the 1st Maryland Infantry was captured and sent to Belle Isle. James Sherwood was with the 10th New Jersey. John Ryan, 77, was with 7th New York Heavy Artillery.

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Posted in 1907, Civil War, Crime and Courts, Downtown, Food and Drink, LAPD, Streetcars, Transportation | Tagged #Civil War, 1907, alcohol, crime and courts, food and drink, jails, Sawtelle, veterans | Comments Off

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide — The Bronx Cocktail

Posted on December 29, 2018 by lmharnisch

Dec. 20, 1934, Holiday Cocktails

Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

Dec. 20, 1934: In case you doubted me (but you wouldn’t, would you?), here’s a recipe for the Bronx Cocktail, from the Amsterdam Evening Recorder, courtesy of FultonHistory.com.

In case you plan to mix one up, a Bronx Cocktail is one part Italian vermouth, three parts brandy and a dash of orange bitters. Shake well!

Notice that there are also three variations of the Manhattan.

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Posted in 1934, Food and Drink, Suicide | Tagged 1934, food and drink | Comments Off

Dec. 29, 1907: The City Grows

Posted on December 29, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Dec. 29, 1907
Los Angeles

The Times real estate pages feature homes under construction around Washington Boulevard west of Hobart Boulevard. “This section is just being built up with a splendid class of dwelling houses,” The Times says. “There are several car lines within a short distance, furnishing a rapid transportation service to the center of the city, and as the whole section is on a mesa, it is high above the fogs and occasional floodwater caused by rain, which obtains a few blocks farther south.”

One home features a bit of whimsy: A Mission-style house on the northwest corner of Washington and Westmoreland Boulevard with an automobile garage designed like a Dutch windmill, including a conical top and sails. Of course, the garage and the house are long gone.

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Posted in 1907, Architecture, Real Estate, Streetcars | Tagged 1907, Architecture, real estate | 1 Comment

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide — The Brooklyn Cocktail

Posted on December 28, 2018 by lmharnisch

March 5, 1937, Brooklyn Cocktail

March 7, 1937, Brooklyn Cocktail

Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

Yes, the Manhattan cocktail once had competition from drinks named for the other boroughs. Here’s a recipe for the Brooklyn Cocktail, from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 7, 1937. The Brooklyn Cocktail as made by Brad Dewey consisted of

Two parts Jamaica rum
One part lime juice
Dash of grenadine

We won’t be toasting the new year with the Brooklyn Cocktail (we’re working) but if someone is brave enough to try one, let us know how it is.

And in case you are wondering, research shows that there was also a Bronx Cocktail. Evidently it, too, has fallen out of favor.

Posted in 1937, Food and Drink | Tagged 1937, food and drink | Comments Off

Architectural Ramblings

Posted on December 28, 2018 by lmharnisch

Dec. 28, 2006
Los Angeles

As promised, here are some photos of a few neighborhoods I visited recently.

Views of South Pasadena

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Posted in 1907, Architecture, Pasadena, Photography | Tagged 1907, Architecture, South Pasadena | Comments Off

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide: The Harvey Wallbanger

Posted on December 27, 2018 by lmharnisch

Harvey Wallbagner

A vintage 1972 iron-on transfer of Harvey Wallbanger himself, on EBay for $12.

Note: This is a repost from 2013.

We have been looking at some historic drinks for this holiday season. To the millennials in the audience: This is what mom and dad used to drink (along with the Tequila Sunrise) when they went out in the 1970s.

Return with us now to the thrilling days of yesteryear:

1 ounce of vodka
4 ounces of orange juice
half an ounce of Galliano.

Poured over ice in a highball glass.

Cue Grand Funk Railroad’s “Gimme Shelter” or Carole King’s “It’s Too Late.”

Posted in 1971, Food and Drink, Music | Tagged 1971, food and drink | 1 Comment

Dec. 27, 1947: Youth Questioned in Georgette Bauerdorf Killing

Posted on December 27, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1947

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

The last words her neighbors heard were “Stop, stop, you’re killing me!” as she fought hard for her life. The housekeeper found the body in the bathtub the next day, when she heard water dripping in the upstairs bathroom.

Because the apartment at 8493 Fountain Ave. is in West Hollywood, rather than the city of Los Angeles, the murder was handled by the Sheriff’s Department rather than the LAPD.

The victim was Georgette Bauerdorf, a Hollywood Canteen hostess who normally shared the apartment with her older sister, Connie, who was in New York, along with their father, George, and stepmother. Two days before she was killed, she wrote in her diary: “Call to Jerry [Pvt. Jerry Brown, a boyfriend] at 6:30 a.m. came thru—Jerry’s a lamb. Letter from Dud and Jerry—wrote Jerry.”
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Posted in 1947, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Homicide | Tagged 1947, Cold Cases, film, Georgette Bauerdorf, hollywood, homicide | Comments Off

Dec. 27, 1907: Oklahoma Lynching — A Grim Record for New State

Posted on December 27, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Dec. 27, 1907
Henryetta, Okla., by the Associated Press

A little more than a month after Oklahoma achieved statehood, James Garden became a wretched statistic: the first black to be lynched there.

On Dec. 24, Garden went to see liveryman Albert Bates about renting a rig. When Bates refused, Garden accused him of racism, went across the street to get a gun, returned and shot Bates to death.

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Posted in 1907, African Americans, Crime and Courts | Tagged 1907, African Americans, lynching, Oklahoma | Comments Off

Black L.A. 1947: This Week’s Jukebox Hits

Posted on December 26, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Sentinel, 1947

Dec. 25, 1947: “Call It Stormy Monday” by T-Bone Walker is on the hit parade. On the jump, “Railroad Porter Blues” by Eddie Vinson and “Money’s Getting Cheaper” by Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers.

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Posted in 1947, African Americans, Music | Tagged 1947, Eddie Vinson, Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, Los Angeles Sentinel, T-Bone Walker | Comments Off

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide: A Brief History of the Tom and Jerry

Posted on December 26, 2018 by lmharnisch

A recipe for the Tom and Jerry from the San Francisco Call, June 30, 1912.

Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

Over on Facebook, Christopher McPherson asked whether the Tom and Jerry was named for the MGM cartoon characters. I said I suspected the opposite was true, rather like Disney’s Chip ‘n’ Dale being named for Chippendale furniture.

All the old newspaper stories give credit for the drink to bartender Jerry Thomas, who according to one account was born in New Haven, Conn., in 1825 (or Watertown, N.Y., in 1830).

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Posted in 1862, Books and Authors, Food and Drink | Tagged 1862, Books and Authors, food and drink | Comments Off

Dec. 26, 1947: No Sympathy for Alcoholics!

Posted on December 26, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1947

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

On Christmas Eve 1947, the LAPD arrested 35 adults for drunk driving, 2 juveniles for drunk driving, and 19 for being drunk in an automobile. Of the 188 other arrests involving drunkenness, one was for speeding, one was for manslaughter and one was for hit-and-run.

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Posted in 1947, Food and Drink, LAPD | Tagged 1947, alcoholism, food and drink, lapd | Comments Off

Dec. 26, 1907: Minister Rejects New ‘Godless’ U.S. Coins

Posted on December 26, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Dec. 26, 1907
Pittsburgh, by direct wire to The Times

As Christmas celebrations concluded at Knoxville Presbyterian Church, the congregation presented the Rev. W.A. Jones with $100 ($2,052.36 USD 2005). A banker who was among the worshipers made a point of getting freshly minted gold pieces to present to the pastor.

But the $20 Double Eagles, newly redesigned by sculptor Augustus St.-Gaudens at the request of President Theodore Roosevelt, had a terrible flaw, in Jones’ view.

“This is Godless money, I cannot take it,” Jones said of the coins, example at right. “My mother taught me to look for the motto ‘In God We Trust’ on the coins of our country and when the president announced his new order effacing the inscription from the coins, I swore I would take no money that did not bear the old motto.” Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, 1908, Religion | Tagged 1907, 1908, In God We Trust, religion, U.S. mint | Comments Off

Dec. 25, 1947: The Times Christmas Poem

Posted on December 25, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1947

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

The Times’ front-page Christmas and Easter poems are as forgotten today as their author, James M. Warnack. I’ll leave it to my theological betters to parse the significance of a Christmas poem that’s mostly about the crucifixion, but Warnack was just as contradictory as his work.

He called himself the Foothill Philosopher and was nicknamed around the office as “the Bishop” because of his angular features and long, white hair. An actor in his early life, he appeared in D.W. Griffith’s silent movies, portrayed a priest in the “Mission Play” and Judas in the first “Pilgrimage Play.”

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Posted in 1947, Books and Authors, Obituaries, Religion | Tagged #Christmas, 1947, Easter, film, hollywood, John Warnack, poetry, religion | 2 Comments

Los Angeles Celebrates Christmas, 1913

Posted on December 25, 2018 by lmharnisch

Dec. 25, 1913, Christmas in Los Angeles

Dec. 25, 1913, Christmas

Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

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 Miss Los Angeles, but I don’t recall seeing “Mr. Wad” before. Gale was an institution at The Times for many years, but finally quit in a dispute and went to the Los Angeles Examiner.

One way Los Angeles celebrated Christmas 100 years ago was dinner at the Cafe Bristol, Spring and 4th streets. The 50-cent luncheon deluxe would be $11.80 today.

Or one could take a refreshing, invigorating bath at Melrose Avenue and Gower Street, location of the Radium Sulphur Springs, which advertises: Drink the most radioactive natural curative mineral water.

And there’s a poem by Britain’s poet laureate, Robert Bridges, which you may recognize because John Denver turned it into a song, “Christmas Eve, 1913.”

Best wishes from the Los Angeles Daily Mirror.

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Posted in 1913, Art & Artists, Food and Drink, Medicine | Tagged #Christmas, 1913, comics, food and drink, radioactive insanity | Comments Off

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on December 24, 2018 by lmharnisch

Dec. 29, 2018, Seven Faces of Dr. Lao
This week’s mystery movie has been the 1964 film (copyright 1963) “7 Faces of Dr. Lao,” with Tony Randall, Barbara Eden, Arthur O’Connell, John Ericson, Noah Beery Jr., Minerva Urecal, Frank Kreig, Eddie Little Sky, Lee Patrick, John Qualen, Peggy Rea, Royal Dano, John Doucette, Frank Cady, Argentina Brunetti, Dal McKennon, Chubby Johnson, Douglas Fowley and Kevin Tate.

Music by Leigh Harline, photography by Robert Bronner in Metrocolor, art direction by George W. Davis and Gabriel Scognamillo, set decoration by Henry Grace and Hugh Hunt. Assistant director Al Shenberg, advisor of magic George L. Boston, makeup by William Tuttle, special visual effects by Paul B. Byrd, Wah Chang, Jim Danforth, Ralph Rodine and Robert R. Hoag, film editor George Tomasini, assistant to the producer Gae Griffith, recording supervisor Franklin Milton, hairstyles by Sydney Guilaroff. Screenplay by Charles Beaumont based on the novel “The Circus of Dr. Lao” by Charles G. Finney, directed by George Pal.

“7 Faces of Dr. Lao” is available from Warner Archive.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged film, hollywood, mystery photo | 56 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: ‘White Christmas’ Soothes the Home Front in 1942

Posted on December 24, 2018 by lmharnisch

motionpictureher147unse_0603
Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds and Virginia Dale in “Holiday Inn.”

Note: This is an encore post from 2015.

Recognized today as one of the top selling singles and pieces of sheet music of all time, Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” was just one of eleven songs in the 1942 holiday classic, “Holiday Inn.” First put to paper by Berlin in 1940, the tune evolved over time before becoming the beloved hit sung by the dulcet tones of baritone Bing Crosby.

Jody Rosen, in his book, “White Christmas: The Story of an American Song,” reveals that on Monday, January 8, 1940, Berlin composed forty-eight bars which his secretary Helmy Kresa transcribed to manuscript paper, after the composer flew into the office claiming he had written his greatest song. Nearly fully formed as the song we know today, the most famous sixty-seven notes never changed from the first time they hit the page. These emotion-filled lyrics touched hearts during America’s first year in World War II, nostalgic for better and happier times.“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is now available at Amazon and at local bookstores.

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Posted in 1942, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Music | Tagged film, hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, White Christmas | Comments Off

Dec. 24, 1947: LAPD Seeks 700 Officers and L. Ron Hubbard Answers the Call

Posted on December 24, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1947

L.A. Times, 1947

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

Dec. 24, 1947

One of the applicants appears to have been future Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Records show that he was fingerprinted Dec. 31, 1947, as an applicant with the LAPD.

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Posted in 1947, Books and Authors, LAPD, Religion | Tagged 1947, Books and Authors, L. Ron Hubbard, lapd, religion, Scientology | Comments Off