Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 3 — Extra! Extra!

Posted on February 4, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore of a post I wrote in 2006.

P. 5

Extra! Extra!

I was raised on the wrong side of the tracks in Beverly Hills.

This is the most marvelously amusing statement. I suppose there are people—somewhere—who might find this believable. But for anybody local, especially a homebuyer, a comment like this is almost indescribably hilarious and I’m starting to wonder if Wolfe was a comedy writer at some point in his career.
In the 1940s, Beverly Hills was a ritzy, exclusive, lily white enclave separate from the city of Los Angeles, with rigidly enforced deed restrictions to keep out non-whites. The only people of color ever seen in Beverly Hills in this era were the maids and chauffeurs. The deed restrictions were so vital to the people of Beverly Hills that several of them filed lawsuits that forced non-whites out of their homes; a very ugly period in Los Angeles history.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 3 — Extra! Extra!

Feb. 4, 1907: Architectural Ramblings — South Pasadena

Posted on February 4, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2007.
Feb. 4, 2007
South Pasadena

The Times publishes three architectural drawings of “artistic bungalows” prepared by the firm of Wilson and Barnes. One is being built by W.E. Fox on Columbia near Sunset Boulevard, the second by Dr. T.H. Lowers on Main Street in Alhambra and the third by A.J. Padau on Marengo in South Pasadena “near the Monrovia car line.”

The Times says of Padau’s home: “This, perhaps, is the best located of the three houses, as from its windows can be seen the entire panorama of mountain and valley to the north and east. It is strictly modern in its design. A feature of the exterior is the broad span from corner to corner of the porch, affording an unobstructed view from the large living room in the front of the house. There are five rooms in the little structure. The cost was $2,500 ($51,308.93 USD 2005).”

Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, LAPD, Pasadena, Streetcars | Tagged | Comments Off on Feb. 4, 1907: Architectural Ramblings — South Pasadena

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files,’ Part 2: "The Monster"

Posted on February 3, 2018 by lmharnisch



Note: This is an encore of a post I wrote in 2006.

Page 3

There wasn’t much nightlife in Los Angeles back in the 1940s.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files,’ Part 2: "The Monster"

Black Dahlia: Blogging Donald Wolfe’s ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Begins, Part 1

Posted on February 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

People keep asking me: “Have you read the Wolfe book?” meaning Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” My answer is always the same: I bought a copy but I haven’t read it yet.

Still, people keep telling me it’s a wonderful job and solves the murder, usually prefaced by the statement that “I don’t know anything about the case, but…”

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Black Dahlia: Blogging Donald Wolfe’s ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Begins, Part 1

Feb. 3, 1907: LAPD Officer Kills Homeless Man Who Shot Partner

Posted on February 3, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is a post I wrote in 2007.
Feb. 3, 1907
Los Angeles

About 1 a.m. on a dark corner at East Adams and South San Pedro, the hard, shabby life of William Ross ended when he said, “What in hell are you fellows up to?,” drew a pistol and shot plainclothes Officer C.A. May.

May and his partner, J.M. Hoover, were walking east on Adams when they encountered Ross, described as a “rather roughly dressed man.” Earlier in the evening, Hoover and May, who were working plainclothes as part of a crackdown on burglaries in the area, investigated an incident at 223 E. Jefferson Blvd., where L.C. Kelker had reported that two men were on his front porch.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, LAPD, Streetcars, Transportation | Comments Off on Feb. 3, 1907: LAPD Officer Kills Homeless Man Who Shot Partner

Feb. 2, 1907: Zoo Operator Charged With Abusing Animals

Posted on February 2, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is a post I wrote in 2007.
Feb. 2, 1907
Los Angeles

Conditions at Chutes Park are so bad that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is making a second inspection to see whether operator J.B. Lehigh has made any improvements before his Feb. 20 trial on charges of abuse and neglect.

Chutes is nothing more than a mud-filled stockyards of suffering animals, The Times says. “The ‘park’ is a long puddle of filth, reeking with slime and mud. In the pen where three little does are confined, one of them so emaciated that it is literally hidebound, a thick green scum has formed over the stagnant pool of slime that occupies a good share of the particular part of the ‘park’ where these poor little animals are shut up.”

Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, LAPD, Streetcars | Comments Off on Feb. 2, 1907: Zoo Operator Charged With Abusing Animals

Black Dahlia: Blogging Donald Wolfe’s ‘Black Dahlia Files,’ an Encore From 2006

Posted on February 1, 2018 by lmharnisch

Black Dahlia Files

Starting Saturday, I’ll begin reposting all 88 entries that I wrote in 2006 when I blogged in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s awful “The Black Dahlia Files,” a book that refutes Piu Eatwell’s claim in “Black Dahlia, Red Rose” that she was the first to look at the Los Angeles County district attorney’s files.  (For the record, Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez; “Black Dahlia Avenger” author Steve Hodel; Jacque Daniel, author of “Curse of the Black Dahlia”; and I had all looked at the files before Eatwell.)

This series of posts was a ridiculous amount of work and consumed several months. Which is why I’m not going to bother with a page-by-page debunking of Eatwell’s “Black Dahlia, Red Rose.” (Executive summary: Eatwell’s supposed “killer,” Leslie Dillon, was in San Francisco on the day Elizabeth Short was murdered – oops).

All the posts, which ran from Feb. 3, 2006, to May 1, 2006, in 88 entries, are already online if you want to skip ahead.

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Donald Wolfe, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Black Dahlia: Blogging Donald Wolfe’s ‘Black Dahlia Files,’ an Encore From 2006

Feb. 1, 1907: A Look at Lynchings

Posted on February 1, 2018 by lmharnisch

Feb. 1, 1907, Human Pincushion

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2007.

Feb. 1, 1907
Los Angeles

I was all set to write about Leroyxez, “The Human Pincushion,” being nailed to a cross promptly at 4 p.m. at Chutes Park, and then a story about lynching in the U.S. caught my eye.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, African Americans, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD, Streetcars | 1 Comment

Jan. 31, 1947: Herald-Express Publishes Name and Address of Rape Victim

Posted on January 31, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 31, 1947, Comics

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

It is difficult to believe that there was a time when newspapers published rape victims’ names and addresses, but the Herald-Express had no misgivings about it. Aggie Underwood, Herald reporter and eventually the city editor of the Herald Examiner, said she once had to go out eight weeks in a row and interview rape victims. Since this woman may still be alive, I’ve deleted her name and address.

Attacker
Masked Man Assaults
Girl at Gun Point

A young masked gunman early today attacked an attractive 18-year-old girl in the Hawthorne district after forcing her to enter his automobile on 161st Street near Hawthorne Boulevard.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Crime and Courts | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Jan. 31, 1947: Herald-Express Publishes Name and Address of Rape Victim

Jan. 31, 1907: L.A. Health Officials Fight Legislature’s Bid to Repeal Mandatory Smallpox Shots

Posted on January 31, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2007.
Jan. 31, 1907
Los Angeles

Showing once again that Los Angeles is out of touch with Sacramento, local health officials are fighting an education bill that would lift mandatory smallpox vaccinations for schoolchildren.

Vaccinations were opposed for several reasons in the Legislature. Assemblyman Sackett objected to placing the burden of enforcement on schools. Assemblyman Percival, a Christian Scientist, apparently objected to the measure on religious grounds. Other opponents said the only reason health officials supported the shots is to protect their jobs.
Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Education, LAPD, Religion, Streetcars | Comments Off on Jan. 31, 1907: L.A. Health Officials Fight Legislature’s Bid to Repeal Mandatory Smallpox Shots

Jan. 30, 1947: Salesman on Main Street Corner Sets Off Riot

Posted on January 30, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 30, 1947, Comics
Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project.

The rewrite desk in action:

The Examiner:
Free Cash, Nylons and Gum—
Then They Took Him Away!

Dollar bills, nylons and bubble gum pelted persons at 6th and Main Streets yesterday.

It started a near-riot and brought police on the double. One woman was injured slightly.

The pelter was Benny Stone, diminutive candy salesman, of 5754 West Fourth Street.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Comics, Crime and Courts, Downtown | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Jan. 30, 1947: Salesman on Main Street Corner Sets Off Riot

Jan. 30, 1907: Driver Abandons Wagon Stuck in Pothole at 1st and Spring

Posted on January 30, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2007.
Jan. 30, 1907
Los Angeles

Recent rains have left the city’s streets in terrible shape, as The Times shows in a photo taken at 1st Street and Spring.

This wagon, pulled by a strong team, plunged up to its hubs in one of the potholes and the horses were unable to free it. “Under the whip and vociferous admonitions of their driver, they were helpless to pull it out from the stinking muck in which, hub deep, it stood,” The Times says.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, LAPD, Streetcars | Comments Off on Jan. 30, 1907: Driver Abandons Wagon Stuck in Pothole at 1st and Spring

Black L.A. 1947: Four African Americans File for City Council 7th District Race

Posted on January 29, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 30, 1947, Carver Manor
Jan. 30, 1947: An ad in the Sentinel announces a preview of a model home in Carver Manor, a housing development designed by Paul R. Williams at 135th Street and Avalon Boulevard.

image
Stanford Avenue in Carver Manor, via Google Street View.

Jan. 30, 1947, 7th Council District
The Rev. J.L. Caston, a Baptist minister; attorney Lucius Lomax, publisher of the Los Angeles Tribune and the father of civil rights attorney Melanie Lomax; dental technician Albert Patrick; and attorney Vince M. Townsend Jr. announce that they are running in the City Council 7th District race against the incumbent, Rev. Carl C. Rasmussen, a Lutheran minister. Rasmussen, who was white and endorsed by the Los Angeles Times, was reelected.

Caston was endorsed by the Sentinel, which noted that he was an official of the NAACP, was active in the YMCA and was an honorary member of the Dining Car Workers Union. He placed third in the election after Rasmussen and Don A. Allen.

Note: We’re rebooting 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 →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Architecture, City Hall, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Black L.A. 1947: Four African Americans File for City Council 7th District Race

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on January 29, 2018 by lmharnisch

Feb. 3, 2018, Crime in the Streets
This week’s mystery movie has been the 1956 Allied Artists film “Crime in the Streets,” a Lindbrook production. With James Whitmore, Sal Mineo, Mark Rydell, Virginia Gregg, Peter Votrian, Will Kuluva, Malcolm Atterbury, Denise Alexander, Dan Terranova, Peter Miller, Steve Rowland and introducing John Cassavetes. Story and screenplay by Reginald Rose, photography by Sam Leavitt. Art direction by Serge Krizman, set decoration by Victor Gangelin, dialogue coaching by David S. Peckinpah and music by Franz Waxman. The producer was Vincent M. Fennelly and the director was Donald Siegel.

The film was adapted from a 1955 episode of “The Elgin Hour,” directed by Sidney Lumet, with Cassavetes, Kuluva and Rydell, with Robert Preston in the role played by Whitmore and Glenda Farrell in the role played by Gregg.

The DVD of the film is available in a boxed set Film Noir Classic Collection, Volume 5 from Warner Archive.

Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 37 Comments

Jan. 29, 1947: Thief Steals Box of Rattlers From Snake Expert’s Car

Posted on January 29, 2018 by lmharnisch


Jan. 29, 1947, comics

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

Wanted: Thief Who
Took 3 Snakes

SAN GABRIEL, Jan. 28—Chief Frank L. Carpenter sent out a police broadcast tonight for capture of the boldest and most daring thief in San Gabriel’s history.

The suspect is wanted for stealing three rattlesnakes.

The reptiles were taken from the automobile of Joseph Gerle, snake authority of North Hollywood. Gerle was lecturing at the Town House, 900 W. Santa Anita Ave. Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Animals, Comics, Crime and Courts | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Jan. 29, 1947: Thief Steals Box of Rattlers From Snake Expert’s Car

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Du Barry Apartments – S. Charles Lee French Normandy Creation

Posted on January 29, 2018 by lmharnisch

 

image Google Street View
The Du Barry Apartments via Google Street View.

March 10, 1929, Los Angeles Times
S. Charles Lee’s design for the Du Barry Apartments, March 10, 1929.

 

Still attracting admiring looks after 89 years, the classy Du Barry Apartments located at 458 S. Catalina St. transports viewers into a delectable fantasy world, all thanks to the talents of renowned theatre architect S. Charles Lee. Following his famous boast, “The show starts on the sidewalk,” the striking architecture of the building serves as an advertisement for luring potential renters and garnering attention from those walking or driving by.

In the early decades of the 1900s, a one-story possibly Craftsman home stood at the site, built in late 1912 by attorney Edmund B. Drake and designed by architect Arthur R. Kelly, who later designed such homes as William S. Hart’s Newhall Ranch and what is now the Playboy Mansion, as well as the Hotel Christie on Hollywood Boulevard. Around 1924, Drake sold to entrepreneur Jacob Kalb.

Hollywood at Play, by Donovan Brandt, Mary Mallory and Stephen X. Sylvester is now on sale.

Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Du Barry Apartments – S. Charles Lee French Normandy Creation

Jan. 28, 1947: Man Leaps From Top of Empire State Building, Lands on Iowa Woman

Posted on January 28, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 28, 1947, comic

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

Yet another of the kind of story that would never see Page 1 of The Times, but was featured on the front of the Examiner, with a picture inside of a detective crouching over Gordon’s mangled remains.

However, The Times did run one interesting story in 1954 about Mirror reporter Cliff Dektar persuading a man not to jump off a building. As Dektar told a recent meeting of the OFTS (a group of retired Times employees), he and photographer Delmar Watson went up to the roof of the building 802 N. Vermont Ave. and Watson got pictures of him persuading the man not to kill himself.

On their way down in the elevator, Dektar said, he met a Herald reporter and photographer on their way up to the roof. It was a great day, Dektar said, “I saved a life and beat the competition.”

Man Plunges
86 Stories
Empire Building Leaper
Falls on Woman

NEW YORK, Jan. 28—(AP) A man identified as David H. Gordon Jr. leaped 1,000 feet to his death today from the 86th floor observation tower of the Empire State Building.

He evaded efforts of guards and another spectator to prevent him from jumping.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Comics, Suicide | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Jan. 28, 1907: William Jennings Bryan, No Longer a Fiery Orator, Visits L.A.

Posted on January 28, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2007.
Jan. 28, 1907
Los Angeles

William Jennings Bryan stepped from the Owl train to be greeted by a long-waiting crowd.

“In appearance, Mr. Bryan has changed but little since he was last in Los Angeles,” The Times says. “In his manner, also, there has been little, if any, change, and he greeted his friends with the same fervor and showed the same remarkable talent for remembering names.”

Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Education, LAPD, Pasadena, Streetcars | Comments Off on Jan. 28, 1907: William Jennings Bryan, No Longer a Fiery Orator, Visits L.A.

Jan. 28, 1907: Meet Gen. Homer Lea, L.A.’s Gift to China

Posted on January 28, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2007.
Jan 28, 1907
Los Angeles

“If my career seems strange to you, it seems stranger and more incredible to me,” Gen. Homer Lea once said. And indeed it was, for Lea’s life was the tale of a poor and badly handicapped boy’s adventures as a leader in an exotic foreign land.

His 1912 obituary in The Times begins: “His great work finished, the pitiful, wasted little body of the American boy who overthrew the tattered old Chinese empire lies silent in his home in Ocean Park. Gen. Homer Lea died yesterday.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, 1912, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Education, LAPD, Obituaries, Religion, Streetcars | 1 Comment

Jan. 27, 1907: L.A. Studies Elevated Trolley Line to Ease Traffic

Posted on January 27, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007.
Jan. 27, 1907
Los Angeles

One thing you can say about Angelenos: We love to talk about traffic. The only thing we love more is to commission studies and draft plans to deal with the problem, and then ignore them.

“With the wonderful growth of Los Angeles as a great city has come to it many problems to be solved. The Owens River and the system of storm drains underway are the solutions of two important ones,” The Times says.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Downtown, Freeways, Hollywood, LAPD, Streetcars | Comments Off on Jan. 27, 1907: L.A. Studies Elevated Trolley Line to Ease Traffic