Photo: June 23, 1919, “Auction of Souls.” Credit: Los Angeles Times
Note: This is an encore post from 2011.
Los Angeles has long been a haven for refugees and artists, particularly those fleeing political and militaristic struggles. As early as 1915, Armenians began arriving in Southern California after fleeing from the massacres and pogroms inflicted on them by Kurds and Turks. By December of that year, 1,500 Armenians lived here without knowing the whereabouts of many members of their families back home.
Many continued to come, as the papers warned of massacres, imprisonment, torture, and murder of innocent men, women, and children. Genocide. An article’s headline in the September 27, 1915, Los Angeles Times read, “Massacre of Armenians at Height of Its Fury, … Report States that Five Hundred Thousand Men, Women, and Children Have Either Been Killed by the Turks or Driven to the Desert to Perish of Starvation – Extermination of Non-Moslems is Programme Decided Upon.” 850,000 were reported killed by late October, nearly three quarters of the population of the entire country.
The girls in classified are a little dewy-eyed today over a Public Announcement ad. It states simply, “Happy birthday, pretty Beverly.” But there’s more to it than that.
LADIES DAY IN TOKYO (Part Two) — When General of the Army Douglas MacArthur returned, as he had somehow hurriedly promised to do, Japan got its first taste of democracy.
Above, Police Chief James Davis turns over a list of more than 7,800 people who have received honorary badges from the Los Angeles Police Department. Recipients include Shirley Temple, Clark Gable, Louis B. Mayer, Joe E. Brown, King Vidor, Bela Lugosi and Leo Carrillo.
ladailymirror.com 