Dec. 9, 1935: For the sixth installment, Times artist Charles Owens and columnist Timothy G. Turner visit the old Plaza.
Turner says: “Historically, it was never much, never a really Mexican plaza with parking and a kiosk for a municipal band. When Los Angeles was a Mexican-American town (it still is down in Old Town) the Plaza was never parked and was a mudhole in wet weather.
[By “parking,” Turner isn’t referring to cars. He means sitting for a long time.]
My Los Angeles Times colleague Scott Harrison does wonderful work going through The Times photo archives. Here’s his latest post on a “new”method of directing traffic in which police stopped using whistles. This is Officer F.M. Wilson at Broadway and 5th Street in 1915. (Notice the streetcar in the background)
The Richfield Building in an undated postcard.
After years of deprivation, darkness and worry during World War I and its aftermath, America was ready to look toward a shining future of prosperity and sunshine in the 1920s. Overnight, fashion, music and the arts embraced change, style and risk-taking. Much was modeled after the 1925 Exposition International des Arts Decoratifs et Industriel Modernes in Paris, which displayed bold conceptions of applied arts, reveling in eclectic, glorious design. The new style embraced technology and the machine age, reflecting a belief in a dynamic, energetic future.
Architecture celebrated the Moderne style as well. Color, geometric shapes and lavish ornamentation replaced monochromatic massing in buildings. Triangles, sunbursts and zigzags screamed progress in modern buildings as they stretched toward the sky. New York’s Chrysler Building exemplified the new look, bold, sleek and gorgeous. The American Radiator Building also embraced the modern by daring to wreath itself in gold and black colors, a glamorous and contemporary design.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available at Amazon.
Sorry, folks. No mystery movie this week. Everything should be back to normal next week. But wait! I think I’ve fixed it!
This postcard, marked 1909, showing Broadway, looking north just below 4th Street, has been listed on EBay. Bidding starts at $8.95.
And for comparison, here’s what it looks like on Google Street View.
Let’s take a closer look.
Oct. 18, 1943: Los Angeles is in the middle of a paternity suit brought by Shirley Evans Hassau, 21, against Errol Flynn. Hassau charged that Flynn was the father of her daughter Marilyn, who was 3. Hassau was seeking $1,750 a month child support, $10,000 in attorneys fees, $5,000 for hospital expenses and $2,000 in court costs.
An aunt, Florence Muller of San Francisco, had raised Marilyn since she was 5 weeks old and refused to let Hassau see her, The Times said.
Hassau’s suits against Flynn were dismissed in 1951. In 1940, two weeks after Marilyn was born, Flynn agreed to pay Hassau $2,000 although he denied being the father. The actor said he wanted to avoid a long court trial and adverse publicity.
In case you just tuned in, we are looking at the unsolved Sept, 12, 1943, killing of actor David G.G. Bacon, who appeared in Republic’s “Masked Marvel” serial.
In Part 1, witnesses described Bacon driving erratically on Washington Boulevard, then crashing into a bean field, where he died of a deep stab wound.
In Part 2, we found that Bacon went to Venice by himself, leaving his pregnant wife, singer Greta Keller, at home. He also didn’t take his three dogs, as was his custom when he went swimming. Police said that robbery probably wasn’t the motive, because he had $13 in his wallet and was wearing two valuable rings. They also noted that he habitually picked up hitchhikers.
In Part 3, we looked at his personal life and his marriage to singer Greta Keller, who was 11 years his senior and apparently more established in her career. Of particular interest was his arrest for contributing to the delinquency of a minor – which was reported in a United Press story, with no further details.
In Part 4, police were trying to determine the mysterious contents of a diary that Bacon kept in code.
In Part 5, it was revealed that Bacon rented a studio apartment a mile from his home.
Today we will look at the mysterious sweater found in his car.
David Bacon’s secret getaway, from the Sept. 18, 1943, Los Angeles Herald-Express, courtesy of Steven Bibb.
In case you just tuned in, we are looking at the unsolved Sept, 12, 1943, killing of actor David G.G. Bacon, who appeared in Republic’s “Masked Marvel” serial.
In Part 1, witnesses described Bacon driving erratically on Washington Boulevard, then crashing into a bean field, where he died of a deep stab wound.
In Part 2, we found that Bacon went to Venice by himself, leaving his pregnant wife, singer Greta Keller, at home. He also didn’t take his three dogs, as was his custom when he went swimming. Police said that robbery probably wasn’t the motive, because he had $13 in his wallet and was wearing two valuable rings. They also noted that he habitually picked up hitchhikers.
In Part 3, we looked at his personal life and his marriage to singer Greta Keller, who was 11 years his senior and apparently more established in her career. Of particular interest was his arrest for contributing to the delinquency of a minor – a 15-year-old newsboy – which was reported in a United Press story.
In Part 4, police were trying to determine the mysterious contents of a diary that Bacon kept in code.
Today, Bacon’s secret hideaway.
A Witzel studio photo of what appears to be silent film actress Jackie Saunders has been listed on EBay. Witzel was one of the leading portrait studios in Los Angeles and took many publicity photos in the early days of movies. This photo is listed as Buy It Now for $99.95. According to imdb, Saunders worked in films from 1911 to 1925.
Dec. 2, 1935: In this installment of Rediscovering Los Angeles, Times artist Charles Owens and columnist Timothy Turner visit El Capricho de los Dorados, a tiny Mexican restaurant on Aliso “below Alameda Street.”
Turner says: “These little places are generally run by a family, a man and his wife with daughters serving the table. A widow with a lot of daughters can do very well (sometimes better, they say) than with a man around.”
He also mentions the restaurant in his book “Turn Off the Sunshine.”
I know, I know. I just did newsboy caps. But I couldn’t resist. Look: It’s an actual newsboy wearing a newsboy cap. I’ll bet you can guess the studio just from this crowd scene.
How to Wear a Hat — Newsboy Cap Edition
How to Wear a Hat — ‘Grapes of Wrath’ Edition
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition I
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition II
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition III
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition IV
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition V
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition VI
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition VII
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition VIII
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition IX
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition X
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition XI
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition XII
How to Wear a Newsboy Cap — Marc Chevalier Edition
Note: Due to a technical problem, this post was published without the final paragraphs. These have been added.
The movie-going public has always craved learning fascinating tidbits about their favorite movies and motion picture stars. Any fact, however obscure or perhaps slightly tawdry, attracts the interest of rabid fans. Studios happily churn plenty of hyperbolic prose promoting new film releases, rising stars, stars in need of a comeback, even film grosses, to boost movie attendance.
While the motion picture industry began disseminating trade publications around 1906 with Views and Film Index (later The Film Index), mass consumption fan magazines popped up in February 1911, when film pioneer J. Stuart Blackton introduced Motion Picture Studio Magazine, per Anthony Slide in his book, “Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine.” Others like Motion Picture Magazine, Motion Picture Classic and Photoplay, quickly followed. These early magazines eagerly documented the budding film industry and its growing legion of stars. Cheap and affordable, these slick sheets never let truth stand in the way of a good story.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available at Amazon.
Read the November 1920 issue online via Archive.org.
A photograph showing the bombed-out ruins of the Los Angeles Times Building has been listed on EBay. Bidding starts at $5.
By the way, I am tardy in writing about Lew Irwin’s book on The Times bombing. Lew is a longtime newsman who was one of the few white reporters who paid any attention at all to what was going on in Los Angeles’ African American community in the 1950s. In “Deadly Times,” Lew has produced an extremely readable account of the incident and it’s well worth a look. I am way overdue on writing about it. So many stories, only one Larry Harnisch.
I wrote extensively about the bombing when the L.A. Daily Mirror was at latimes.com. You can find those entries here.
An EBay vendor has listed a program from the 1947 World Inventors Exposition. According to ads in The Times, this is where the Tucker automobile had its “premiere public showing.” Bidding on the program starts at $19.95.
I wrote a brief post about the expo for the 1947project in 2005 – here it is:
Note: Here’s a post I originally wrote for the 1947project back in 2005.
Pat and Gunner, 6-year-old Irish setters who were left a $30,000 estate by their late master, Carleton R. Bainbridge, retired attorney, yesterday were disinherited by a jury of eight men and four women.
Mary Mallory and Marc Wanamaker will be speaking at this event on Oct. 19 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Studio City Library, 12511 Moorpark St., Studio City.
The annual Archives Bazaar snuck up on me this year. It’s tomorrow at USC!
The annual bazaar will be held at USC’s Doheny Memorial Library from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Featured sessions include the Archives Roadshow, from 10 a.m to 4 p.m., in which people can bring in historical materials to have them assessed.
Los Angeles Public Library map librarian Glen Creason will speak in the 10 a.m. session on Public Collections, Private Obsessions, along with Joseph Hawkins of the ONE Archives and Wally Shidler, a collector of transportation history.
Pecha Kucha will give five-minute presentations on Los Angeles archives from 11 a.m. to noon
Beyond the Archives Bazaar will be held from 1 to 1:50 pm.; Craft Brewing in L.A. from 2 to 2:50 p.m. and the documentary “The Good Giants” will be screened from 3 to 5 p.m.
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A 1908 program from the Mason Opera House has been listed on EBay with an ad for an upcoming production of “The Clansman,” a play adapted from Thomas Dixon’s novels “The Leopard’s Spots” and “The Clansman” and turned into D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation.” The program is listed as Buy It Now for $17.95.
The play was controversial – resulting in a stabbing in a fight between two African Americans – but Times columnist Harry Carr dismissed the play and the books, saying that rather than inciting race hatred “The Clansman” was more likely to produce a case of indigestion.
