June 14, 1907: 3 Berkeley Students Walk Home to L.A. in 27 Days

Posted on June 14, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

June 14, 1907
Los Angeles

Like many young men, Stuart, Sayre and Maynard decided to walk home from school—but it was a bit farther for these college friends because they were going to Berkeley.

It was apparently an uneventful trip aside from the distance—the three friends covered more than 500 miles in 27 days, leaving the morning after commencement. They traveled lightly, wearing sombreros, khaki and hobnailed boots, carrying water and packs weighing about 8 pounds, while shipping a heavier trunk ahead of them.

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Posted in 1907, Education, Hollywood, LAPD, Transportation | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

‘Little Shoes’: An Author’s Journey of Discovery in Unlocking a Family Tragedy From 1930s L.A.

Posted on June 13, 2018 by lmharnisch

little_shoes_cover

A family’s history is tricky even in the best of circumstances; the past may be sanitized and rewritten for consumption by the next generation. When tragedy is involved, family stories become murky or are simply locked away.

So it was with the tale of the “Three Babes of Inglewood”:  Madeline Everett, 7;  her sister Melba, 9; and their playmate, Jeanette Stephens, 8; who were kidnapped from Centinela Park in Inglewood and killed June 26, 1937. The case, with the trial and execution of Albert Dyer, was one of the most sensational crimes of Los Angeles in the 1930s, along with the Harry Raymond bombing.

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Posted in 1937, Books and Authors, Crime and Courts, Homicide | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Black L.A. 1947: Ask Evangeline — In Love With a Married Man

Posted on June 13, 2018 by lmharnisch

June 12, 1047

Posted in 1947, African Americans | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

June 13, 1947: California Takes First Steps to Reduce Smog

Posted on June 13, 2018 by lmharnisch

Ringelmann Smoke Chart
A sample card from the Ringelmann Smoke Chart.

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

Shall we talk about noir? Let’s start with the skies over Los Angeles, which are so dirty that visibility is sometimes less than a mile. And while the word “smog” has been used by the U.S. Weather Service since at least 1914, it has taken on new urgency in postwar Los Angeles, resulting in the state’s first anti-smog law, signed by Gov. Earl Warren and reported in The Times, June 11, 1947.

The Times has seldom lobbied so militantly for any measure. It has written editorials, run several multipart series by Ed Ainsworth and even imported an air pollution expert from St. Louis, Raymond R. Tucker, to analyze Los Angeles’ problems.

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

Black Dahlia: Who Is This Man?

Posted on June 13, 2018 by lmharnisch

Boy on Bicycle

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

I recently obtained an original copy of The Times’ March 28, 1971, story “Farewell, My Black Dahlia,” which includes the account of the “Boy on the Bicycle.” Here’s a color picture of the purported “Bobby Jones.”


Boy on Bicycle
Here’s a better look.

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Posted in 1947, Another Good Story Ruined, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Donald Wolfe, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

June 13, 1907: Now That’s a Headline

Posted on June 13, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

June 13, 1907
Los Angeles

Voters approved a $23-million bond issue ($472,042,116.32 USD 2005) for the Owens River Aqueduct, 21,923-2,128. The Times helped mount a turnout campaign in which automobile owners volunteered to ferry voters to the polls.

Interestingly enough, The Times put the story on the first page of the second section rather than the front page.

Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, LAPD, Streetcars | Comments Off on June 13, 1907: Now That’s a Headline

Black L.A. 1947: The Case of Godwin ‘Buddy’ Bush, Who Escaped From a Lynch Mob

Posted on June 12, 2018 by lmharnisch

Los Angeles Sentinel, June 12, 1947

June 12, 1947: Juanita Washington Goodman’s columns were a weekly feature in the Sentinel. In this one, she’s writes about Godwin/Goodwin “Buddy” Bush, who escaped from a mob that had taken him from the Jackson, N.C., jail May 23, 1947.

Bush, a 24-year-old sawmill worker accused of attempted rape, hid with friends until he could surrender to officials who could guarantee his safety. Seven men were held in the attempted lynching, but the Northampton County Grand Jury failed to indict them.

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Posted in 1947, African Americans, Crime and Courts | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

June 12, 1907: Woman Dies After Abortion, but Leaves Statement Against Doctor

Posted on June 12, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

June 12, 1907
Los Angeles

At 19, Florence Grover was old enough to be in love and living with a man, and at 19, she was old enough to become a mother. Her boyfriend, L.C. Lutzen of the National Messenger Service, with whom she lived at 120 N. Broadway, testified that he had made preparations to raise their child as his own.

Instead Florence sought out Dr. C. Van Peter Watson. On May 28, she took a streetcar to his home at 2652 W. Pico. When she left 30 minutes or an hour later, she was so weak that she couldn’t walk and someone sent for a carriage.

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Posted in 1907, Abortion, Black Dahlia, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Medicine, Streetcars | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on June 11, 2018 by lmharnisch

The Man Who Talked Too Much
This week’s mystery movie has been the 1940 Warner Bros. film “The Man Who Talked Too Much,” with George Brent, Virginia Bruce, Brenda Marshall, Richard Barthelmess, William Lundigan, George Tobias and John Litel. The screenplay was by Walter DeLeon and Earl Baldwin, from a play by Frank J. Collins, photography by Sid Hickox, art direction by Hugh Reticker, gowns by Howard Shoup, makeup by Perc Westmore, music by H. Roemheld, arrangements by Ray Heindorf and musical direction by Leo F. Forbstein. Directed by Vincent Sherman.

”The Man Who Talked Too Much” has never been commercially released, as far as I can determine. It does air on TCM occasionally.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 48 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Celebrity Politicians, Hollywood’s Honorary Mayors 2

Posted on June 11, 2018 by lmharnisch

image
Oct. 25, 1954: Betty White becomes honorary mayor of Hollywood.

Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

During the 1930s and 1940s, neighborhoods and cities surrounding Los Angeles named celebrities as honorary mayors to help gain their areas vital city services like flood control, better roads, and new schools, post offices, and banks. Most who served did so as an act of public service, gladly giving back to their communities for all the success they had achieved. By the 1950s, however, serving as honorary mayor often meant earning greater publicity opportunities rather than performing a needed civic duty.

The city of Los Angeles boomed after World War II, with many veterans returning to a city they had passed through on their way overseas.  African Americans flocked here for what they saw as greater opportunity and freedom. Manufacturing plants exploded, leading to a higher standard of living for many people. This growing prosperity allowed the city to provide more and better services as the metropolitan area expanded.

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June 11, 1947: Hillary Brooke Tries Out Job as Reporter

Posted on June 11, 2018 by lmharnisch


image

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

Somehow I’d like to think that Brooke wrote the marijuana bust story as she was studying for her role in “I Cover Big Town” (apparently not yet out on DVD). I can’t say I’ve ever seen it, but I love the title. One interesting note: The price of marijuana in 1947 ($20) equals $189.28 in USD 2005.

The other note is that I was lucky enough to know one of the arresting officers, Ed Walker, who retired with the rank of inspector and headed the LAPD’s public information office. Ed was the officer who arrested Errol Flynn on statutory rape charges and told Khrushchev that he couldn’t go to Disneyland. He was a wonderful man.

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Posted in 1947, Film, Hollywood, LAPD | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Sandow Returns

Posted on June 11, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

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1935 Bugatti Type 57 Ventoux

Posted on June 10, 2018 by lmharnisch

1935 Bugatti Type 57 Ventoux

One of the joys of living in Southern California is the random opportunity to see gorgeous cars – new and vintage – in the wild. We saw this 1935 Bugatti Type 57 Ventoux a few blocks from the Daily Mirror HQ. As far as we can determine, it lives at the Petersen Automotive Museum and was taken out for a few hours – we’re guessing at the San Marino Motor Classic.

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Posted in 1935, Museums, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

June 10, 1947: Artist John Decker Speaks at His Funeral Via Recording

Posted on June 10, 2018 by lmharnisch


June 11, 1947

June 11, 1947, L.A. Times

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

From a transcription he made six weeks before his death, Artist John Decker’s voice came back to intone his philosophy at his funeral yesterday.
In his flower-decked studio at 1215 Alta Loma Road, where the private services were conducted, came the voice reciting a speech of Rostand’s “Cyrano de Bergerac.”

“…to sing, to laugh, to dream, to walk in my own way, and be alone.”

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Posted in 1947, Art & Artists | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on June 10, 1947: Artist John Decker Speaks at His Funeral Via Recording

Feb. 2, 1933: James M. Cain Writes Appreciation of Ice Cream Truck Driver Robert D. ‘Red’ Shay

Posted on June 9, 2018 by lmharnisch

Feb. 2, 1933, Los Angeles Times  

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

“Red” Shay, 26, was riding with his girlfriend, Nancy Reed, in the rumble seat a car driven by his roommate, L.W. Sinclair, when it struck a Pacific Electric train on Huntington in Arcadia at the edge of the Baldwin Ranch, Jan. 22, 1933. Sinclair and his girlfriend, Lorraine Gaines, apparently survived. Shay and Reed did not.

Shay, the beloved ice cream man of Burbank, was buried at Forest Lawn, Glendale.

A happy discovery. I’ll never be able to think of the author of “The Postman Always Rings Twice” and “Double Indemnity” in the same way.

Posted in 1933, Books and Authors, Obituaries | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

June 9, 1907: Woman’s Bizarre Death Exposes a Family’s Curse

Posted on June 9, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

June 9, 1907
Los Angeles

Olga Miller was a comely young thing who worked at the Hotel Rosslyn and was considered quite attractive despite the scar on her temple from shooting herself in the head.

One day she fell ill and was taken to County Hospital, where she went into convulsions and died after a visit from Richard Hardy, who forced his way into her room and made her drink a glass of milk that police suspected was poisoned.

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Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Crime and Courts, Homicide, Streetcars | Tagged , , | Comments Off on June 9, 1907: Woman’s Bizarre Death Exposes a Family’s Curse

Movieland Mystery Photo

Posted on June 8, 2018 by lmharnisch

Library of Congress Mystery Photo
For Friday, we have our last photo from the Library of Congress. The library says this picture was taken by “Katherine Russell Bleecker, the first female cinematographer in film history,” but there’s no more information. Any ideas?

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

June 9, 1947: Personals

Posted on June 8, 2018 by lmharnisch

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

To a certain party in Beverly Hills: Some Las Vegas casino executives should close those swank drapes when they sit in the living room and read the paper. It’s hard to clean the matching fabric on the sofa.

Posted in 1947 | Tagged | 1 Comment

June 8, 1947: Neighbors Organize to Block Workers for Trackless Trolleys

Posted on June 8, 2018 by lmharnisch

image 

L.A. Times, 1947

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

Perhaps one of most the common and ingrained bits of wisdom about old Los Angeles is the vast conspiracy of bus companies and car dealers that did away with the streetcars.

But to delve into mass transit in the 1940s is to plunge headfirst into the rabbit hole of “Alice in Wonderland” and never return. Master plans, freeways, congested traffic, parking, one-way streets, buses, comparisons with Seattle’s solutions to mass transit, newspaper editorials and letters from angry readers; it’s all there, just as hotly debated as today.

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Posted in 1947, Streetcars, Transportation | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo

Posted on June 7, 2018 by lmharnisch

Library of Congress Mystery Woman

For Thursday, we have a mystery woman, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

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