Dec. 23, 1947: Baby Girl Abandoned at Downtown Restaurant With Christmas Card Pinned to Blanket

Posted on December 23, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1947

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

The young mother asked the waitress at the cafe in the Subway Terminal Building to hold her baby for just a moment—and then she was gone.

Four-month-old Nancy Joyce Morris, with light blue eyes and blond hair, was wrapped in a purple quilt and a pink blanket to which her young mother had pinned a Christmas card: To Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lane, 1711 N. Alexandria, with a return address of C.H. Wagoner, 4256 Troost Ave., in North Hollywood. It was signed Bonnie.

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Black Dahlia: 6 Reasons Dr. George Hodel Didn’t Kill Elizabeth Short — No. 4 Clinic Served Poor Blacks of Bronzeville

Posted on December 22, 2018 by lmharnisch

bronzeville
Los Angeles, May 25, 1944: At a Shinto shrine near City Hall, Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron, second from left, Dr. George M. Uhl and Nicola Giulli of the city housing authority talk to black residents of Bronzeville. Courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library.

Here are six reasons Dr. George Hodel did not kill Elizabeth Short that you will need to know before watching the TNT mini-series “I Am the Night” or listening to the eight-part podcast accompanying the production.

Reason No. 4: George Hodel operated a clinic serving poor African Americans living in Bronzeville, the nickname for Little Tokyo, left vacant by the internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry.

Previously:

Reason No 1: George Hodel was never “a prime suspect” in the Black Dahlia case.

Reason No. 2: George Hodel was found not guilty of morals charges.

Reason No. 3: George Hodel was not pals with Man Ray.

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Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Downtown, Homicide, LAPD, Medicine, Television, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Dec. 22, 1907: For I Was Homeless and You Ran Me In — L.A. Prepares for ‘Hobo Season’

Posted on December 22, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Homelessness is a more than century-old problem in Los Angeles — there are no easy or quick fixes. And yes, homeless people were put on the chain gang in 1907.   

Dec. 22, 1907
Los Angeles

As Police Capt. Flammer approached Yuma, Ariz., to take custody of George White, he noticed the smoke of hundreds of campfires made by hobos burning old railroad ties.

The hobos, Flammer learned, were avoiding Yuma because the marshal meted out hard justice to vagrants, as he warned in posters all over town. But Flammer also learned all those homeless men were heading for Los Angeles.

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Black Dahlia: 6 Reasons Dr. George Hodel Didn’t Kill Elizabeth Short — No. 3 Not Pals With Man Ray

Posted on December 21, 2018 by lmharnisch

The “minotaur love/death cult of Hollywood” is apparently getting a big play in “I Am the Night.” Oh dear.

Here are six reasons Dr. George Hodel did not kill Elizabeth Short that you will need to know before watching the TNT mini-series “I Am the Night” or listening to the eight-part podcast accompanying the production.

Reason No. 3: George Hodel had nothing more than a minor business transaction with Man Ray for a photo session. Dr. Hodel also had a book of photos.
__________
Correction: A previous version of this post said Dr. Hodel bought a book of photos. It’s unclear how he obtained the book.
__________

Previously:

Reason No 1: George Hodel was never “a prime suspect” in the Black Dahlia case.

Reason No. 2: George Hodel was found not guilty of morals charges.

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Posted in 1947, Art & Artists, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, Homicide, LAPD, Libraries, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Dec. 21, 1947: ‘Tubby the Tuba’ and Music for Children

Posted on December 21, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1947

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

Bonus factoid: The Jewish “defense army” Haganah was reported to have made a major attack—the largest since the U.N. partition decision—against Arabs in Lydda and Bet Nabala, where troops of the Trans-Jordan Arab Legion are camped.

Listen to Victor Jory read “Tubby the Tuba”

Listen to “Uncle Don’s Playland”

Listen to “The Great Gildersleeve”

Links to mp3 files of 78 rpm children’s records

While you’re it, listen to “Grumpy Shark”

 

Quote of the day: “For a redhead who worked her way through law school as a floorwalker in a department store and by washing dishes, that’s not bad!”
The Times, on Municipal Judge Mildred L. Lillie, whose 1971 nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court by Richard Nixon predated Justice Sandra Day O’Connor by 10 years. When a 12-member bar panel rated Lillie, who had 24 years on the bench, “unqualified” because the men feared a woman would be “too emotional” for the Supreme Court, Nixon withdrew her name in favor of William Rehnquist.

Posted in 1947, Music | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Dec. 21, 1907: Desperate Girl, Alone and Friendless in L.A., Steals $10

Posted on December 21, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Dec. 21, 1907
Los Angeles

Lillian Poelk was new to Los Angeles, with no friends and little more than a job as a waitress that didn’t quite cover the rent of her room at 831 S. Hope.

“While other girls were getting pretty things and preparing for a pleasant Christmas, she was shut up in a cheerless room,” The Times said.

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Black Dahlia: 6 Reasons Dr. George Hodel Didn’t Kill Elizabeth Short — No. 2 Not Guilty of Morals Charges

Posted on December 20, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1949
Here are six reasons Dr. George Hodel did not kill Elizabeth Short that you will need to know before watching the TNT mini-series “I Am the Night” or listening to the eight-part podcast accompanying the production.

Reason No. 2: George Hodel was found not guilty of molesting his daughter, Tamar.

Previously:

Reason No 1: George Hodel was never “a prime suspect” in the Black Dahlia case.

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Posted in 1947, 1949, 1950, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Homicide, LAPD, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Holiday Shopping Guide: ‘Making Black Los Angeles’

Posted on December 20, 2018 by lmharnisch

Making Black Los Angeles

I only recommend books that I have read, which is why I haven’t listed Susan Orlean’s “The Library Book” or Stephen Gee’s “Los Angeles City Hall: An American Icon.” I look forward to reading both of them, but I’m not there yet.

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Marne L. Campbell also appears in a video on Archive.org.

“Making Black Los Angeles,” by Marne L. Campbell, 2016. University of North Carolina Press.

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Posted in 2016, African Americans, Books and Authors, History | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

December 20, 1947: Pulp Author Rob Eden Dies | Author of ‘Short Skirts: A Story of Modern Youth’

Posted on December 20, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 194

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

And at the age of 55, after dozens of novels and countless short stories, he died. Not that you’ve heard of him or any of his books—unless you collect potboiler novels of the 1930s.

The list of his works is impressive in bulk if nothing else, with titles that tell the entire plot in two or three words: “Dancing Feet,” “In Love With a T-Man,” “Love or Money,” “Modern Marriage” and my favorite: “Short Skirts: A Story of Modern Youth.”

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Posted in 1947, Books and Authors, Obituaries | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Dec. 20, 1907: Miracle Doctor Fer-Don Cures Man of 90-Foot Tape Worm!

Posted on December 20, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Dec. 20,1907
Los Angeles

Mr. C.D. Roberts of 1900 E. Main was feeling a bit unwell. He had bad headaches, an irregular appetite, saw dark spots before his eyes and felt as if something in his stomach was alive.

Not sure what to do, Roberts consulted the European Medical Experts at 745 S. Main St., where he was treated with the secret cure of “The Great Fer-Don.” “He was prevailed upon to try it, with the result that his system was quickly relieved of this monster scores of feet in length,” surely the Loch Ness creature of internal parasites.

 

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Posted in 1907, 1908, 1909, LAPD, Medicine, Pasadena, Streetcars | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Black Dahlia: 6 Reasons Dr. George Hodel Didn’t Kill Elizabeth Short — No. 1 Not a Prime Suspect

Posted on December 19, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1949
Here are six reasons Dr. George Hodel did not kill Elizabeth Short that you will need to know before watching the TNT mini-series “I Am the Night” or listening to the eight-part podcast accompanying the production.

Reason No. 1: Dr. George Hodel was never “the prime suspect” or even “a prime suspect” in the Black Dahlia case.

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Posted in 1947, 1949, 1950, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Dec. 19, 1947: Going Down – City Hall Bans Clever Nicknames for Its Floors

Posted on December 19, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1947

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

City Hall’s elevator operators have been having a little too much fun on the job. Instead of calling out the numbers of the floors, they have been using nicknames and building superintendent Ralph Hoffman wants them to stop.

The operators say that the passengers were the ones who were using the nicknames:

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Dec. 19, 1907: No, None of It Was His Fault

Posted on December 19, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Dec. 19, 1907
Los Angeles

What you have to understand first about George White is that he isn’t to blame. Oh he’ll take his prison sentence for robbing the Hot Rivet Saloon, 1006 N. Main St., but it’s not his fault; he fell in with the wrong man. He just hopes that when he’s released he won’t be turned over to the Army as a deserter.
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A Walk in L.A., 1951

Posted on December 18, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is a video I made in 2005 using clips from a police training film.

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Dec. 18, 1947: Jacobowicz Brothers, Orphaned in Holocaust, Arrive in L.A. (Also Turkey Stuffing With Fritos)

Posted on December 18, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1947

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

The Jacobowicz brothers—Karl, 16, Joseph, 13, and Rudolph, 10—stood on the metal ramp leading from the gleaming airliner that carried them on the final leg of their journey from Vienna.

The Nazis took their Jewish father away in 1940 but left their mother because she was Catholic. Then on Christmas Eve 1942, the Gestapo made their mother get rid of her children because they were half-Jewish. She died less than a year after turning them over to Catholic nuns.

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Posted in 1947, Food and Drink, Frightening Food From the 1940s, Immigration, Religion, World War II | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Dec. 18, 1947: Jacobowicz Brothers, Orphaned in Holocaust, Arrive in L.A. (Also Turkey Stuffing With Fritos)

Dec. 18, 1907: County Coroner Dead Drunk at Bordello

Posted on December 18, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Dec. 18, 1907
Los Angeles

Los Angeles County Coroner Roy S. Lanterman was arrested on charges of being drunk and disorderly at the Navajo, a bordello run by Ida Hastings, 309 Ord St. Hastings called police, who arrested Lanterman.

A Mills Seminary graduate nicknamed “Suicide Ida” because of her attempts to kill herself “every time she has a serious setback in her numerous ‘love’ affairs,” Hastings had contacted police earlier in the evening, asking for protection from Lanterman, saying that he had attacked her. Hastings notified police when Lanterman, who was married, returned to the bordello, went to her bedroom and after a fierce fight, removed several photographs of himself as well as a letter.

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Posted in 1907, 1908, 1909, City Hall, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD, Photography | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Dec. 18, 1907: County Coroner Dead Drunk at Bordello

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on December 17, 2018 by lmharnisch

A Belated Premiere
This week’s mystery movie was the 2004 film “A Belated Premiere” on the amazing work of Alexander Shiryaev, written and directed by Viktor Bocharov, photographed by Inna Tiktinskaya, artwork by Yury Solovev and music by Sergei Banevich.  It’s on YouTube in four parts.

See “Ghosts of ‘Nutcracker’ Past, Preserved on Film” by Marina Harss from the New York Times, Dec. 11, 2018.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 24 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Cafe Montmartre Ushers in Hollywood Nightlife

Posted on December 17, 2018 by lmharnisch

 

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6757 Hollywood Blvd., former location of the Cafe Montmartre, via Google Street View.

Constructed in 1922 as part of the expanding restaurant empire of impresario Adolph “Eddie” Brandstatter, the Cafe Montmartre ushered in Hollywood nightlife as its first swanky nightclub during the town’s transformation from rural farming community into high-end factory town.

Brandstatter, born Adolph E. Brandstatter in 1884, served as one of Los Angeles’ top restaurateurs by the early 1920s. Possessing experience working in restaurants in London, Paris, and New York before arriving in Los Angeles in the teens, Brandstatter had served as the maitre d’hotel of Victor Hugo’s before partnering with fellow cafe man Mike Lyman to open such hotspots as Santa Monica’s Sunset Inn and Club Marcell in the early 1920s.

Mary Mallory’s latest book, “Living With Grace: Life Lessons from America’s Princess,”  is now on sale.

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Posted in Architecture, Film, Food and Drink, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Dec. 17, 1947: Frightening Food From the 1940s — ‘Unusual’ Fruitcake

Posted on December 17, 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..

 

Bonus factoid: The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a $2,500 fine against Hollywood book dealer Marcell Rodd for selling the obscene book “Call House Madam.” The book, by Serge G. Wolsey, is now available at the Los Angeles Public Library.

Quote of the day: “I don’t give a so-and-so what you think.”
Tallulah Bankhead, continuing her feud with Lynn Fontanne, when Fontanne and Noel Coward visited Bankhead backstage to give their compliments after a performance of “Private Lives.” Bankhead asked: “What did you think of me, Noel?”

 

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Dec. 16, 1947: Back Broken and Skull Fractured, Girl, 2 Dies of Abuse; Mother Gets 10 Years in Prison

Posted on December 16, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1947

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

Somewhere, there’s 57-year-old man; maybe his name is Steven, or maybe his foster parents changed it. He doesn’t know much about himself except that his birthday is March 7, 1948. He doesn’t know that he was born in the jail ward of what’s now County-USC Medical Center. He doesn’t know that before his mother, Shirleen, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing his older sister, Denise, Juvenile Court Judge A.A. Scott told her, “You shall never see this baby again!”

Denise Kunin was nearly 2 years old when she died in 1947 of a broken back and fractured skull. During the trial, it took Dr. Frederick Newbarr, the autopsy surgeon, 15 minutes to describe her injuries. The testimony and color pictures left the jurors devastated.

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