Jan. 7, 1947: Man Uses Same Coffee Cup for 27 Years

Posted on January 7, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 7, 1947, Man Uses Same Coffee Cup for 27 Years

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project.

Same Coffee Cup
Used 27 Years
WHITTIER, Jan. 6—Truman B. Carl, a city employee, today rounded out 27 consecutive years of coffee drinking from the same oversized china cup.

The cup, which has a capacity of one and one-half ordinary cups, was given to Carl by a friend more than a quarter of a century ago and he has used it regularly ever since.

Carl, who handles the cup with extraordinary care, said he dropped it 10 years ago and broke off the handle. It also has accumulated a chip or two in the years. However, he continued to use the cup for his daily coffee drinking as he considers it just the right size.

Now 66, Carl came to California 21 years ago from Maine, and has been employed in jobs in the city administration for that time. He lives at 402 W. Orange Drive.

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TLC

Posted on January 7, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

Jan. 7, 1907
Long Beach

Elizabeth Mahler, a dainty brunette with a “sunny and jolly disposition,” is one of the bright spots at Long Beach Hospital. She had many male suitors and a few a months ago became engaged to a young man from Rialto whose last name was Kingman.

In tending to the afflicted of Long Beach, however, she became well-acquainted with Lynn E. Babcock, the business partner of one of her patients, Jay Cooke.

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Jan. 6, 1947: Artist Dies While Hanging From Ceiling to Ease Spinal Pain

Posted on January 6, 2018 by lmharnisch

Aggie Mack, Jan. 6, 1947

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project.

Jan. 6, 1947: Charles Clyde Atchison, 66, a sculptor and stone mason, had back problems—at least that’s what he told his sister Leona of 1110 W. 30th St. So he made a padded wooden collar and used it to hang by a rope from a pipe in his room at 6415 Loma Vista Ave., in Bell.

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Architectural Ramblings

Posted on January 6, 2018 by lmharnisch

A Trip to Oxford Avenue

Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

Here’s an interesting contrast: Oxford Avenue between Washington Boulevard and the Santa Monica Freeway and Oxford Avenue north of Washington.

South of Washington, Oxford seems a bit wider and the land between the curb and the sidewalk is fairly generous. Not so, north of Washington and the lots seem a bit smaller. Wide strips of land between the curb and the sidewalk (more than the 5 feet that is common in much of Los Angeles) were one of the points urged by Charles Mulford Robinson in his “city beautiful” proposal.

Bonus fact: Robinson also said Angelenos should plant lots of jacaranda trees along the streets, so you can thank him for all those purple blooms. First of all, here’s our featured house at 2045 S. Oxford Ave. from 1907.

Note the stucco.

And here are some of the neighboring homes:


Note: More stucco!



All things considered, I’d have to say this stretch of Oxford is a one of the more interesting areas that I’ve visited. The neighborhood is mostly intact and there’s a 1920s-style church at the end of the block next to the Santa Monica.

Now for one of the homes in the 1700 block of Oxford Avenue, which is a little funkier. Recall that the precise address listed in The Times couldn’t be located.

And for the vehicle of the week, here’s a stretch limo I saw at the Los Angeles County Arboretum in Arcadia:

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Engine Company 10 Weeps

Posted on January 6, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

Jan. 6, 1907
Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Fireman’s Relief Association is staging a benefit for the young widow of ladderman Adolph Hermansen, who plunged out a window and fell five stories while fighting a spectacular blaze that destroyed the new Cohn and Goldwater Building at 216 S. Los Angeles St.

According to some accounts, Hermansen was struck by a blast of water from a fire hose that knocked him out the window, while others say he stumbled or was knocked backward while moving a hose. He fell to the street and although he wasn’t killed, doctors said he was paralyzed below the waist and had a 1 in 100 chance of survival.

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Jan. 5, 1947: Two Black 15-Year-Olds Set for Electric Chair After Losing Plea

Posted on January 5, 2018 by lmharnisch


Jan. 5, 1947, Buck Rogers

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project.

Jan. 5, 1947, Will Durant

Jan. 5, 1947: “The majority of Americans belong to one minority group or another,” said Dr. Will Durant, author and lecturer, yesterday in outlining the scope of the Declaration of Independence, Inc., in promoting inter-racial appreciation and in describing the theme of the organization’s banquet next Friday at the
Ambassador.

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Examiner, Mirror Fold; L.A. Becomes Two-Newspaper Town

Posted on January 5, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 6, 1962, Mirror Folkds
Jan. 6, 1962, Mirror Folds

Note: This is an encore post from 2012.

Jan. 5, 1962: A dark, painful day in the history of Los Angeles journalism. Virtually overnight, the city becomes a two-newspaper town. The evening Mirror ceases publication Jan. 5, merging with The Times, and the morning Examiner merges with the evening Herald-Express on Jan. 7, prompting a congressional investigation of possible collusion.

A tearful Norman Chandler, president of Times-Mirror Co.,  tells Mirror employees: “This is to me the most difficult, heart-rending statement I have ever had to make. The Mirror was my dream — this paper was conceived by me. I believed in its reason for being. I had confidence in its ability to grow with the community and to mature as a successful metropolitan paper.”

“Unfortunately, the economics have proved to be such that my original concept has not worked out.”

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Black L.A. 1947: Mary Lou Williams ‘Waltz Boogie’

Posted on January 5, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 21, 1947, Los Angeles Sentinel

“Leon Wheaton of 1011 E. 43rd Place, Los Angeles, one of the latest local victims of police brutality,” in a photo published Jan. 2, 1947, in the Los Angeles Sentinel.  Unfortunately, there is no further information in the Sentinel about this incident.

image

Jan. 2, 1947: The Sentinel calls Mary Lou Williams “Waltz Boogie” “a fantastic concoction.” On the other side, “Humoresque. “Mary Lou’s present piano style leans more to Tatum than to Hines. But it is still rich, dark and exciting,” the Sentinel says.

Also check out Jimmie Lunceford’s “Them Who Has – Gets” and “Shut-Out”; and Herbie Fields’ “Blue Fields” and “A Huggin’ and a Chalkin’ ”

Finally, there’s Meade “Lux” Lewis’ “Be Ba Ba Le Ba Boogie.”

Note: For those who just tuned in, we’re going to reboot the concept of the 1947project (founded by Kim Cooper and Nathan Marsak) by going day by day through 1947 – but using the Los Angeles Sentinel, an African American weekly, rather than the very white and very conservative Los Angeles Times. We promise you an extremely different view of Los Angeles.

image

(The historic Los Angeles Sentinel is available online from the Los Angeles Public Library. We encourage anyone with a library card to delve into the back issues and explore the history of black L.A.

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A Fatal Can of Beans

Posted on January 5, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

Jan. 5, 1907
Los Angeles

Charles Edward Abbott, 23, of Artesia had lived his entire life in California without seeing snow except on faraway mountains and suggested that Mabel Carter, 28, and her father, Henry, 63, join him on a trip to Cucamonga Canyon.

The Carters, who once owned a grocery story at 10th Street and Alvarado before moving to Ontario, and Abbott went to Cucamonga, expecting to spend several days there.

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Jan. 4, 1947: Angry Sailor Sets Fire to Skid Row Hotel After Being Rolled

Posted on January 4, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 4, 1947, Nancy


Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947Project.

Jan. 4, 1947: Suppose, for a moment, that you are a 19-year-old mess cook second class stationed in San Pedro. Suppose further that while you are on leave in Los Angeles you get drunk, check into a cheap skid row hotel and someone rolls you for $30 ($283.93 USD 2005).

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Black L.A. 1947: 10 Black Doctors Admitted to Leading Surgical Society, Raising Number to 14

Posted on January 4, 2018 by lmharnisch

image

Leon H. Washington Jr., left, publisher of the Sentinel, marches in a picket line with a sign that says “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” in a photo published Jan. 2, 1947.

Jan. 2, 1947, American College of Surgeons admits 12 Negroes

Jan. 2, 1947: At its convention in Cleveland, the American College of Surgeons admits a delegation of 10 black surgeons — none of them from Los Angeles.

“The initiation of the 10 fellows of the college brought to a close one of the most effective campaigns ever waged to crack an existing color bar in medicine,” the Sentinel said.

Founded in 1913 to promote high standards in surgical care, the association had one black charter member, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, FACS, of St. Luke’s Hospital in Chicago, who died in 1931. Dr. Louis T. Wright, director of surgery at Harlem Hospital of New York, became the next African American member in 1934.

Note: For those who just tuned in, we’re going to reboot the concept of the 1947project (founded by Kim Cooper and Nathan Marsak) by going day by day through 1947 – but using the Los Angeles Sentinel, an African American weekly, rather than the very white and very conservative Los Angeles Times. We promise you an extremely different view of Los Angeles.

image

(The historic Los Angeles Sentinel is available online from the Los Angeles Public Library. We encourage anyone with a library card to delve into the back issues and explore the history of black L.A.

Continue reading →

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The Mayor Departs From His Prepared Remarks

Posted on January 4, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

Jan. 4, 1907
Los Angeles

Mayor-elect Arthur C. Harper stood before 200 members of the Municipal League and their friends in a dinner at Levy’s who were eager to hear what he planned for his incoming administration.

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Jan. 3, 1947: Actress Helen Walker Hurt in Crash That Kills Soldier, Injures 2 Others

Posted on January 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

Brenda Starr
Yes, this is the Jan. 2, 1947, comics page, which pops up for Jan. 3, 1947.

Note: This is a post that I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project.

This is one of those days where there’s too much to choose from:

image A streetcar at the junction of Sunset, Santa Monica and Sanborn west of Silver Lake Reservoir drags a pedestrian 160 feet, only stopping when other streetcar operators blow their whistles and people on the street begin yelling . . . an underground explosion at 9th Street and Grand blows tons of concrete, asphalt and overhead trolley cables into the street and sends manhole covers shooting into the air . . . at the inquest for his dead son, Jacob J. Satton tries to attack his estranged wife’s boyfriend, an 19-year-old AWOL soldier who is charged with beating the baby to death while Viola Satton was at work.

But then there’s Artie Shaw: Three convictions for speeding in 1944, three convictions for speeding in 1945, five traffic convictions—and a warning—in 1946. Now the DMV wants to take Shaw’s license.

Bonus factoid: Gov. Earl Warren declares Jan. 5 as George Washington Carver Day.

Quote of the day: “We cannot negotiate when Viet Nam snipers are firing at French officials.”
An unidentified French spokesman rejecting peace overtures from Ho Chi Minh.

 

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Black L.A. 1947: First African American Named to L.A. Police Commission

Posted on January 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

Charles H. Matthews

image

Jan. 2, 1947: The Los Angeles Sentinel publishes the photo of Charles H. Matthews on Page 1 as part of its roundup of major stories from 1946. Matthews, a former deputy district attorney and an NAACP executive at the time, was appointed to the Los Angeles Police Commission by Mayor Fletcher Bowron. The mayor also appointed Agnes Albro, identified universally as Mrs. Curtis Albro, the first woman named to the commission; and Bruno Newman, a mining engineer and attorney for the Mexican Consulate who had lived in Mexico for many years.

Matthews, who was rejected twice by the Los Angeles County Bar Assn. on racial grounds, was finally given an honorary membership in 1980. Then-Mayor Tom Bradley, who delivered the eulogy at Matthews’ funeral, spoke of working in Matthews’ law offices. Bradley said he learned more from working with Matthews than he did in law school.

We will see more of Matthews as 1947 unfolds.

For those who just tuned in, we’re going to reboot the concept of the 1947project (founded by Kim Cooper and Nathan Marsak) by going day by day through 1947 – but using the Los Angeles Sentinel, an African American weekly, rather than the very white and very conservative Los Angeles Times. We promise you an extremely different view of Los Angeles.

image

The historic Los Angeles Sentinel is available online from the Los Angeles Public Library. We encourage anyone with a library card to delve into the back issues and explore the history of black L.A.

 

Continue reading →

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Jan. 3, 1863: L.A. Paper Calls Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation an Outrage

Posted on January 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

image

Read all of the Jan. 3, 1863, Los Angeles Star at USC’s digital library.

Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

Jan. 3, 1863: Of all that you may know about the Emancipation Proclamation, I doubt you have read anything negative (unless you’re a historian), so the coverage in the Los Angeles Star will come as quite a shock. Remember that the Star was a staunchly pro-Southern publication.
image

“By the stroke of his pen, Mr. Lincoln frees every slave in rebeldom — robs every master of his servant, every household of its property. Was ever such an outrage perpetrated in the name of law, or such foul perjury committed, as by this man, sworn to maintain the Constitution and govern by the laws.”

Los Angeles schools had problems 150 years ago: The city was suffering an outbreak of smallpox, and students had to show proof of vaccination before being admitted when the new school year started.

P. (Prudent) Beaudry (d. 1893) has opened a store in his house at 15 and 16 Aliso St. Born in Canada in 1819, Beaudry came to Los Angeles in  1852. He served on the City Council from 1873 to 1875 and was mayor for two terms, The Times obituary says.

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Jan. 2, 1947: Second Child Dies as Tragedy Strikes Family Again

Posted on January 2, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 2, 1947, Mary Worth 


Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project.

Jan. 2, 1947, Douglas TrustJan. 2, 1947: In the fall of 1939, The Times carried a series of heart-wrenching stories about Dicky Trust, a toddler who was diagnosed with leukemia, which was then incurable.

“I’ve cried when I had time, but I can’t now,” his mother, Bernice, told a Times reporter. “I’ve prayed and prayed and cried—but now there is so much to do and nothing helps. Oh, nothing helps—and he’s been failing so fast today.”

“Please, God, let my baby live,” his mother sobbed as she knelt next to his crib. “My child can’t die. My child can’t die.”

The boy rallied as nurses volunteered to help him and an unidentified Riverside doctor used an unidentified injection to reduce his white blood cells. Around Thanksgiving, his mother said: “I’m sure my baby isn’t going to die.” Dicky’s appetite returned and he asked his mother: “Can I go out and play?”

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Black L.A. 1947: Racist Street Sign Removed; Advertisers, Officials Repudiate ‘The Equalizer’

Posted on January 2, 2018 by lmharnisch

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Jan.

image

Jan. 2, 1947: The Los Angeles Sentinel publishes a photo of a street sign reading “Dixiana Circle” at 23rd Street and Long Beach Avenue. The Sentinel reported June 6, 1946, that the street had been renamed Staunton.  Not too surprisingly, the Los Angeles Times did not report this story. The records at the City Archives don’t show any relevant listings for “Dixiana” or “Staunton.” The 1946 and 1956 Thomas Bros. Guides are similarly unhelpful.

image
Long Beach Avenue and 23rd Street as shown by Google Street View. There’s no trace of what was once Dixiana Circle.

The Sentinel also reports on a race-baiting local publication named The Equalizer, which published the juvenile crime records of several individuals, even though such records were typically unavailable to reporters.

 

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Some Nice Boring Statistics

Posted on January 2, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

Jan. 2, 1907
Los Angeles

Some diligent soul at The Times dug through the number of marriage licenses and divorces and put together a small story that traced the city’s growth through the increase in couples that joined or separated. This is the kind of information you could never find if you were looking for it; only through happenstance can you discover this data.

So here we go:

 

Year

Marriages

Divorces

1906

4,714

719, 13 annulments

1905

3,841

567

1904

3,283

557, 10 annulments

1903

3,005

473, 7 annulments

1902

2,351

386

1901

1,917

 

1900

1,503

 

1899

1,505?

 

1898

1,381?

 

1897

1,432

 

1896

1,405

 

1895

illegible

 

1894

1,251

 

1893

1,201

 

1892

1,023

 

1891

 

 

1890

1,182

 

1889

576

 

Apparently Los Angeles did not have a thriving reputation as an early day Reno. Divorces were only granted to those who had lived here for a year. The Times writer notes a difference between a final decree and an interlocutory decree: Those with a final decree could remarry while those with an interlocutory decree had to wait a year. For 1906, the figures were 719 interlocutory decrees and 542 final decrees.

The Times also notes that given the Episcopal Church’s tight restrictions on performing marriages of divorcees, the number of ceremonies by justices of the peace has increased markedly.

As regular blog readers will recall, getting a divorce in 1907 could be quite a challenge.

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Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, City Hall, LAPD, Streetcars | Comments Off on Some Nice Boring Statistics

Jan. 1, 1947: New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on January 1, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 1, 1947, Ella Cinders

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project.

Also notice that because newsprint was scarce, the Los Angeles Times didn’t publish the classified ads so it could provide adequate space for stories – I cannot imagine any American newspaper doing that today.

Dogpatch
Noo Yars Day, 1947
Spoke by Pansy Yokum
Writ (by hand) by Available Jones

 

Li'L Abner Deer Fokes:
All us 100% red blooded Americans done our customary number of stooped things in 1946 an no doubt will do ‘em all over again come 1947.

Likewise we done some good things. Fo’ instance Mistah Capp done tole me how, visitin’ Army horse-pittles, he seen us doin’ a good job for our handy-capped boys whose laigs an eyes an innards we had to use up during the late, lamented (espeshly by our enemies) war.

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Posted in 1947, Art & Artists, Comics, World War II | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Black L.A. 1947: Buddy Young — First African American to Score a Touchdown in the Rose Bowl

Posted on January 1, 2018 by lmharnisch

1947_rose_bowl_program

A 1947 Rose Bowl program, listed on EBay, with bids starting at $10.50.

 

Jan. 1, 1947: On the program’s cover, the players are white…

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… but the Sentinel’s sports section highlights five African Americans playing in the Rose Bowl: Claude “Buddy” Young, Ike Owens, Bert Piggott and Paul Patterson of the University of Illinois, and Bob Mike of UCLA.

Los Angeles Sentinel, 1947
Los Angeles Sentinel, 1947

Much could be written about this game, in which Illinois dealt an upset to UCLA 45-14, but that’s way beyond the scope of this blog. I’ll stick to the five African Americans playing in the game, highlighting Claude “Buddy” Young, a 5-foot-4 running back who scored two touchdowns, the first by an African American in the Rose Bowl.

Note: For those who just tuned in, we’re going to reboot the concept of the 1947project (founded by Kim Cooper and Nathan Marsak) by going day by day through 1947 – but using the Los Angeles Sentinel, an African American weekly, rather than the very white and very conservative Los Angeles Times. We promise you an extremely different view of Los Angeles.

image

(The historic Los Angeles Sentinel is available online from the Los Angeles Public Library. We encourage anyone with a library card to delve into the back issues and explore the history of black L.A.

Continue reading →

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