| Larry Harnisch Reflects on L.A. History | Page 150

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

Posted on January 5, 2018 by lmharnisch

“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.

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.

(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, Music | Tagged #Jazz, 1947, boogie, Los Angeles Sentinel, police brutality | Comments Off

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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Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, LAPD, Streetcars | Comments Off

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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Posted in 1947, African Americans, Black Dahlia, Crime and Courts, Fires, LAPD | Tagged #Skid Row, 1947, Edward A. Pavlischak, Fires, Harry Fremont, lapd, quote of the day | 1 Comment

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

Posted on January 4, 2018 by lmharnisch

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.

(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, Medicine, Obituaries | Tagged 1947, American College of Surgeons, Dr. Leroy R. Weekes, Los Angeles Sentinel, medicine | Comments Off

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.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, City Hall, LAPD, Streetcars | Comments Off

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:

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.

Posted in 1947, Crime and Courts, Hollywood, Music, Transportation, Vietnam | Tagged 1947, Artie Shaw, Helen Walker, hollywood, Streetcars, Vietnam | 2 Comments

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

Posted on January 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

Charles H. Matthews

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.

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 1946, 1947, African Americans, LAPD | Tagged 1946, 1947, African Americans, Charles Matthews, crime and courts, Los Angeles Sentinel | Comments Off

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

Posted on January 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

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.

“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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Posted in 1863, Education, Los Angeles Star, Medicine, Obituaries | Tagged #DTLA, #Lincoln, 1863, 213, Beaudry, Emancipation Proclamation | Comments Off

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 Trust Jan. 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?”

Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Comics, Medicine | Tagged 1947, comics, medicine | 1 Comment

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

Posted on January 2, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan.

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.

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.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1946, 1947, African Americans | Tagged #Los Angeles Times, 1946, 1947, African Americans, Los Angeles Sentinel, The Equalizer | Comments Off

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

Jan. 1, 1947: New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on January 1, 2018 by lmharnisch

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.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Art & Artists, Comics, World War II | Tagged 1947, comics, World War II | 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…

… 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.

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.

(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, Sports | Tagged 1947, African Americans, Bert Piggott, Bob Mike, Buddy Young, football, Ike Owens, Los Angeles Sentinel, Paul Patterson, Rose Bowl | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on January 1, 2018 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie has been the 1947 Warner Bros. picture “Escape Me Never,” with Errol Flynn, Ida Lupino, Eleanor Parker, Gig Young, Reginald Denny, Isobel Elsom, Albert Bassermann and Ludwig Stossel. The screenplay was by Thames Williamson, from the novel and play by Margaret Kennedy. The ballet sequences were staged and directed by LeRoy Prinz, with Milada Mladova and George Zoritch and the corps de ballet. The photography was by Sol Polito, art direction by Carl Weyl, set decorations by Fred M. MacLean, special effects by Harry Barndollar and Willard Van Enger, wardrobe by Bernard Newman, ballet costumes by Travilla, makeup by Perc Westmore, orchestration by Hugo Friedhofer and musical direction by Leo F. Forbstein. Music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The producer was Henry Blanke and the director was Peter Godfrey.

“Escape Me Never” is available from Warner Archive for $21.99.

Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged film, hollywood, mystery photo | 51 Comments

Alive!

Posted on January 1, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

Dec. 7, 1906-Dec. 22, 1906,
Bakersfield

Jan. 1, 1907
Los Angeles

For 15 days, miner Lindsay P. Hicks lay trapped by a cave-in that killed his five companions tunneling in a mountain above the Kern River for an Edison hydroelectric project. On the 16th day, crews finally cut through the last of the steel and scraped away rocks and debris to free the man who had been kept alive with gallons of milk poured down a 60-foot iron pipe.

At first, Edison officials assumed that no one survived the collapse of the tunnel. Then someone heard the faint signal tapped on one of the steel rails for the mining cars: the code for “trapped miner.” The iron pipe was driven through the side of the mountain to provide air and food as Hicks lay either under a rail car or next to it, sheltered by a pile of collapsed timbers that prevented him from being crushed.

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Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Food and Drink, LAPD, Pasadena, Streetcars, Theaters | Comments Off

Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – Mack Sennett’s Rose Parade Gag

Posted on January 1, 2018 by lmharnisch

Photo: “The Sleuths at the Floral Parade.” Credit: Mary Mallory, the Collections of the Margaret Herrick Library.

Note: This is an encore post from 2011.

The Tournament of Roses Parade is going on its 122th year, and grows more elaborate and beautiful every year. Bands, floats, cars, horses, and even celebrities take part in this festive annual event. This year, Paramount Pictures is even entering a float celebrating its 100th anniversary, honoring “Titanic” and “Wings,” the first feature film awarded the Best Picture Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927/1928.

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Posted in 1913, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Photography | Comments Off

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Drinking Guide — Pisco Punch

Posted on December 30, 2017 by lmharnisch

New York Sun, April 23, 1934

Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

Just in time for New Year’s, we’ll take a look at a “lost drink,” making a brief inquiry into San Francisco’s Pisco Punch, made famous by Bank Exchange saloon owner Duncan Nicol (often spelled Nichol or Nicoll), who died in 1926 without revealing the recipe.

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Posted in 1915, 1934, 1939, Food and Drink, San Francisco | Tagged food and drink, Pisco Punch, San Francisco | 2 Comments

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

Posted on December 29, 2017 by lmharnisch

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).

Continue reading →

Posted in 1935, 1937, Food and Drink | Tagged 1935, 1937, food and drink, Queens Cocktail | 3 Comments

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

Posted on December 29, 2017 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.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1934, Food and Drink, Suicide | Tagged 1934, food and drink | 2 Comments

Black L.A. 1947: Cross Burnings and Jim Crow Trains in Los Angeles – The Biggest Stories of 1946

Posted on December 29, 2017 by lmharnisch

Los Angeles Sentinel, Jan. 9, 1947

Jan. 2, 1947, Los Angeles Sentinel

In its Jan. 2, 1947, issue, the Los Angeles Sentinel looked back at the major stories of 1946, a good introduction to the year ahead: Job discrimination, Jim Crow laws, segregated housing, police beatings and racial violence. We will be revisiting some of these stories as 2018 unfolds, but many of these subjects are far too complex for a simple blog.

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.

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 1946, 1947, African Americans, History, LAPD | Tagged #courts, 1946, 1947, African Americans, housing, Jim Crow, lapd, lynching | Comments Off