December 4, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on December 4, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 4, 1959: Mirror Cover

Touhy, Jake Factor, J. Edgar Hoover. Et Al.

Paul Coates, in coat and tieRoger (The Terrible) Touhy, prohibition era gangland boss who was released from Illinois State Penitentiary last week, is remembered most for his kidnapping of John (Jake the Barber) Factor.  That crime earned him a 99-year sentence back in ’34.

But the Touhy story which melted that one into insignificance happened in 1942. That’s when he and six fellow Statesville inmates practically drove World War II out of the Chicago newspapers by pulling off one of the most implausible prison escapes in penal history.

After smuggling a small arsenal into the pen, Touhy commandeered a prison garbage truck, which he couldn’t get started until some by-standing inmates rocked it back and forth for him. Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Countdown to Watts, Mickey Cohen, Paul Coates | Comments Off on December 4, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

December 4, 1959: Mickey Cohen Arrested

Posted on December 4, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 4, 1959: Mickey Cohen arrested in killing of Jack "The Enforcer" Whalen.
Mickey Cohen is booked on suspicion of murder in the shooting of Jack “the Enforcer” Whalen, along with George Piscitelle and Sandy Hashagen, 18, who was found by The Times at 2284 1/2 Holly Drive. Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Front Pages, Mickey Cohen | Comments Off on December 4, 1959: Mickey Cohen Arrested

December 4, 1911: Man Arrested for ‘Masquerading in Female Attire’

Posted on December 4, 2025 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

December 4, 1911

Clarence Westfall, 22 years old, was taken into custody at San Pedro yesterday afternoon when a boat from San Diego docked. He was arrested for having masqueraded in female attire and was taken to the Central Police Station, where he told a story that nearly resulted in his being liberated. When the police received the report from the station at San Pedro, however, that Westfall, in posing as a woman, had endeavored to be assigned to a woman’s stateroom, he was locked up.

He said he was frequently obsessed with the desire to don women’s clothing, do fancy work and generally “act like a girl.” He had about convinced the detectives that he was a fit subject for alienists to examine when he was recognized as a former prisoner. He was locked up on a charge of vagrancy.

A random discovery too good not to share.

Posted in 1908, 1911, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Crime and Courts, Fashions, LAPD, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Streetcars | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on December 4, 1911: Man Arrested for ‘Masquerading in Female Attire’

December 4, 1907: Shooting on Baldwin Ranch Raises Tensions Between Chinese, Latino Workers

Posted on December 4, 2025 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

December 4, 1907
Arcadia

Charley Chew, the water superintendent on the Lucky Baldwin ranch, had fired two Mexican workers several months ago and one dark night near the Unruh residence, they ambushed him, shooting him in the back. Chew drew his pistol and shot Francisco Ramirez and Miguel Palamoratz in the stomach, then fled.

Badly wounded, Ramirez and Palamoratz struggled to walk about a mile to a friend’s house in a small settlement near the Baldwin store in Santa Anita, leaving a trail of blood along the railway tracks through Baldwin’s vineyard.

Continue reading →

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December 3, 1907: Gunman Kills LAPD Officer; Dies in Slow Agony Awaiting the Gallows

Posted on December 3, 2025 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

December 3, 1907
Los Angeles

Officer Patrick Lyons had been on the force for four months when he was shot in the head while trying to arrest two robbers a little after 11 p.m. at Central Avenue and 14th Street.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD, Streetcars, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on December 3, 1907: Gunman Kills LAPD Officer; Dies in Slow Agony Awaiting the Gallows

December 2, 1958: Model stabbed, dumped off mountain highway

Posted on December 2, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 3, 1958: Model Found Stabbed Beside Road
People v. Feasby (1960) 178 Cal.App.2d 723 [3 Cal.Rptr. 230]

[Crim. No. 6783.Second Dist., Div. Three.

Mar. 9, 1960.]

THE PEOPLE, Respondent, v. GERALD BYRON FEASBY, Appellant.

COUNSEL

Ellery E. Cuff, Public Defender (Los Angeles), Richard S. Buckley and Richard W. Erskine, Deputy Public Defenders, for Appellant. {Page 178 Cal.App.2d 726}

Stanley Mosk, Attorney General, William E. James, Assistant Attorney General, and Jack K. Weber, Deputy Attorney General, for Respondent.

OPINION

VALLEE, J. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1958, Courts, Crime and Courts, Front Pages, Homicide | Comments Off on December 2, 1958: Model stabbed, dumped off mountain highway

Black Dahlia: Ask Me Anything, December 2025

Posted on December 2, 2025 by lmharnisch

In the December Ask Me Anything on the Black Dahlia case, I gave an update on my work in progress, Heaven Is Here!

I also discussed: Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Black Dahlia: Ask Me Anything, December 2025

December 2, 1958: 90 die in Chicago school fire

Posted on December 2, 2025 by lmharnisch

1958_1202_extra
Continue reading →

Posted in 1958, @news, Front Pages | Comments Off on December 2, 1958: 90 die in Chicago school fire

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Shopping Guide

Posted on December 2, 2025 by lmharnisch

Book_Cover
Recommended for your gift lists: Mary Mallory’s latest, First Women of Hollywood.
Available at:
—Book Soup.

—Larry Edmunds Bookshop.

—Skylight Books.

—Vroman’s Bookstore.

And from Amazon.

Posted in Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Shopping Guide

December 1, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on December 1, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 1, 1959: Comic panel from Out Our Way. Outdoors, a cowboy with his back to a fire complains that the rivets in his jeans get hot.

A Lucky Man

Matt Weinstock Lee Shippey sat smiling at a table in the Broadway Department Store yesterday, chatting with friends and autographing copies of his new book, his 11th, “The Luckiest Man Alive.”  Lee, a glowing, healthy 76, means himself.  The book is autobiographical.

Lee, columnist for The Times for 30 years, now living in Del Mar, writes near the end of his book,

“I have been able to do what I wished to do and live as I wished to live.  I have a house full of good books and a world full of friends.

“It is only through our appreciations that we live.  Without them we would be mere clods, even if wealthy and powerful clods.  The man who can appreciate kindness, courage, faith and beauty is very rich. Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Comics, Matt Weinstock | Comments Off on December 1, 1959: Matt Weinstock

December 1, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on December 1, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 1, 1959: Mirror Cover
Arab League bans Elizabeth Taylor’s movies!

Jerry Lewis at Bat for Actor Robinson

Paul Coates, in coat and tieStrange guy, Jerry Lewis.

I’ve known him for years.  I knew him when he was a kid on Broadway, when he had a partner named Martin, and when they were lucky if — between them — they had a sandwich to split.

I remember when they hit the top and split themselves.

I recall, at the time I blamed Jerry in print for the break, and this couldn’t please him at all.

But we still keep in touch.

I hear from him now two, maybe three times a year.
Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, broadcasting, Columnists, Front Pages, Paul Coates, Television | Comments Off on December 1, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

December 1, 1938: California prepares to execute two killers at San Quentin

Posted on December 1, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 1, 1938: Babe Ruth's secret to a happy marriage? White Owl cigars!

The secret of Babe Ruth’s happy marriage: White Owl cigars.

December 1, 1938: California prepares to use the gas chamber for executions rather than hanging. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1938, @news, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD, Politics, Religion, Sports | Comments Off on December 1, 1938: California prepares to execute two killers at San Quentin

L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Shopping Guide

Posted on December 1, 2025 by lmharnisch

Sept. 16, 1957, Parker T-Ball Jotter

Note: This is a repost from 2013. True style never goes out of date, after all.

We are being bombarded by stories about Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with videos of long lines at stores and the attendant consumer frenzy.

The L.A. Daily Mirror prefers a more subdued approach to buying gifts during the holiday season. Here’s proof that an ideal retro gift can be practical and inexpensive. It’s the Parker T-Ball jotter, which has changed very little since this 1957 ad.

2025 update: It’s increasingly difficult to find the Parker T-Ball jotter, but not impossible.

Available from Amazon for $8.98.
Available from Walmart for $22.72.

We like ours with the gel refill, medium point. Perfect for doing crossword puzzles.

What’s on your shopping list? If you have a good gift idea, share it with us.

Posted in 1957, Art & Artists, Books and Authors | Tagged , , | Comments Off on L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Shopping Guide

Movieland ‘Unsuitable’ Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on December 1, 2025 by lmharnisch

Main Title: Lettering over Art Deco artwork

This week’s “unsuitable” mystery movie was the 1933 Warner Bros. film Lady Killer, with James Cagney, Mae Clarke, Margaret Lindsay, Leslie Fenton, Douglas Dumbrille, Russell Hopton, Raymond Hatton, Henry O’Neill, Robert Elliott, Marjorie Gateson, Willard Robertson, William Davidson and Douglas Cosgrove. Continue reading →

Posted in 1934, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , | 32 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights – Altadena’s Lovely Christmas Tree Lane

Posted on December 1, 2025 by lmharnisch

Christmas Tree Lane
Christmas Tree Lane in a vintage postcard, courtesy of Mary Mallory.

Note: This is an encore post from 2012.

Nothing says Christmas like the sight of beautiful outdoor twinkling lights lending a bit of romanticism and happiness to the holiday season. Homes and businesses spiffily decorate themselves. Cities light up parks and outdoor trees. The granddaddy celebration of them all is Altadena’s  Christmas Tree Lane, the oldest and largest celebration of its kind in the world.

Merchants thought up ways of drumming up business during the Christmas season even in the 1920s. Pasadena merchant Fred Nash conceived of the idea of lighting outdoor fir trees in December to lure business to his store, drawing the support of his community organization, the Kiwanis. As the Los Angeles Times reported on Dec. 4, 1920, “Santa Rosa Ave., Altadena, will be a lane of illuminated Christmas trees during the holidays. Following out a plan proposed some weeks ago, the beautiful deodar trees on that street will be festooned with colored lights and trimmings, the Kiwanis Club having voted to share the expense with the city.” Only about a quarter of the trees were lit that year for its inaugural season.

Continue reading →

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December 1, 1907: L.A. Author Writes of Life in the Hollow Earth (No Sign of Lizard People)

Posted on December 1, 2025 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

December 1, 1907
Los Angeles

The Times runs a small blurb on writer Willis George Emerson, noting that the National Magazine has begun serializing a new story, “The Smoky God.”

The Times notes: “The story has to do with the discovery of the North Pole, and inhabitants of the interior of the Earth. It is the supposed story of Olaf Jansen, a Swedish sailor, and is told by Mr. Emerson as selections from papers left by the adventurer.”

Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Books and Authors | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on December 1, 1907: L.A. Author Writes of Life in the Hollow Earth (No Sign of Lizard People)

November 30, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on November 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

The Education Race

Matt WeinstockEver since the Russians launched their first Sputnik there has been a furor in American education.

It has been charged that students graduate from high school without a knowledge of fundamentals necessary in today’s society.

It has also been stated that they are coddled and that schooling to most of them is little more than a pleasant social experience.  If we are to meet Russia on equal terms, the outcry goes, we must tighten up, particularly in math and science.

Let us now pay attention to the mother of a child in a west side junior high school. Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Education, Matt Weinstock, Sports | Comments Off on November 30, 1959: Matt Weinstock

November 30, 1959: Paul Coates – Confidential File

Posted on November 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 24, 1959: Author suggests Charles Dickens had an illegitimate child.

Nothing, but Nothing Is Sacred Any More

Paul Coates, in coat and tieIt’s every reporter’s dream to lay aside his battered old felt hat, shred his press card into confetti, turn his World War II surplus trench coat over to the Salvation Army, take his smudgy copy pencils one by one and snap them into little pieces, and — casting a defiant look at his city editor as he leaves — go home, strip down to his waist, put on his imported silk smoking jacket, retreat up to the attic with his favorite pipe, wipe the dust off his lonely, long-idle portable, sit down, squeeze into his slippers, and knock out the great American novel.

(And if his novel includes one sentence like the above, he might just as well forget the whole thing.)

Anyway, that’s every reporter’s dream — but mine.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Animals, books, Caryl Chessman, Columnists, Paul Coates | Comments Off on November 30, 1959: Paul Coates – Confidential File

November 30, 1958: Former deputy strangles wife, kills himself as police close in

Posted on November 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

This is one of those stories where I wouldn’t change a word. We can only speculate as to who the anonymous rewrite man was, but he did a first-class job. All I can say is the obvious, which is that it’s tragic for everyone involved.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1958, Front Pages, Homicide, Suicide | Comments Off on November 30, 1958: Former deputy strangles wife, kills himself as police close in

November 30, 2006: Architectural Rambling

Posted on November 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

Here’s the former Calvary Presbyterian Church in South Pasadena, now the Grace Brethren church.

Note: This is an encore post.

November 30, 2006
Los Angeles

I don’t think anyone who knows both of us will ever confuse me with Nathan Marask; certainly not when it comes to architectural photography. In fact, I don’t really do architectural photography. I take snapshots of buildings—and lousy ones at that. Nor do I have Nathan’s charm in wangling my way into historic structures (see the 1947 Project entry on the “Cafeteria of Doom!” for example)

But I do have a couple of pictures to share. Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Architecture, Freeways, Hollywood, Pasadena, Photography, Streetcars | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on November 30, 2006: Architectural Rambling